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Vintage Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

Over 4,200 free images from old, rare, antique and vintage books. High-resolution images for sale.

Chapterhead with Boy’s Head

Sacrificial Rites of the Ancient British Druids

English Manufacturing

11. Seal of Gusion.

Helen and Paris

Title page, The Defence of Guenevere

Front Cover

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

That wall of stone

Jesus and Moses

145.—Leading a Horse

Sir Isaac Newton

Foliated initial capital letter S, coloured

Oval frame, scalloped

Tailpiece with peacock

53.8.—IHS

Front Cover With Alice

Foliated Initial Letter S

Tailpiece of hunting paraphernalia

Dark Passion Flowers

Convolvulus Tricolor

70.—Border of cherubs climbing in trees

Classical full-page border with goddess

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Simon de Montfort: Knight on his Horse

Buckingham Palace

Heralds’ College

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Indian Civet, Fossa, Genet

The old tollbooth in Canongate, Edinburgh

The Cow Doctor

clipart: initial letter S from late 15th century printed book

Vintage endpaper border with flowering vine

Gold endpaper

Faust

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Faust, detail from title page

Mephistophiles

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Frontispiece: A bride’s dream

On the Terrace

Usk Bridge

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Usk Bridge, Monmouth, Coloured from aon old painting

733.—Oxford Cathedral.

Mount Edgcombe

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

Our Father Who Art In Heaven

clipart: initial letter P from late 15th century printed book

clipart: initial letter O from late 15th century printed book

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Fig. 37. — Tunnel in the Catacombs of Rome

Fig 36. — A staircase of the catacombs

One Bay of the “Angel Choir,” Interior, Lincoln Cathedral

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Initial letter I with Transitional Capital

Title Page

Portrait of Ebeneezer Sibly, M.D>, F.R.H.S.

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

The white horse carried the earth king’s son and the princess over the sea

Front Cover

Her mirror was the smooth water of the tide pool

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Front Cover

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter R from XIV. Century No. 1

Wooden Church, Greenstead, Essex, A.D. 1013 (as it was in 1748)

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

Title Page

The Virgin Mary

Summary of the Law, in gold

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Free clip-art: Eighteenth-century Border from Figures pour les Missels

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Fig. 86.—Curves.

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Title Page

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter B from XIV. Century No. 1

And then began a murder, grim and great

Gibeon

Cupid with a Butterfly

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter N from XIV. Century No. 1

December Night (Dezembernacht)

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Taymouth Castle

Free clip-art: Victorian border of brown twigs and green leaves

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

Old Bologna (1850s)

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Battle of Knights

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter D from XIV. Century No. 1

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Christmas Still Life

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

The giants tore up trees

initial letter R with small girl

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Adrift from The Snow Queen

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Title Page

Monroe Colliery Co.

Visit the full list of Recently added images and of the most popular images.

Vintage Borders and Initials

Decorative Initials and Drop Caps: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T Th U V W X Y Z
See all initials, or all alphabets, or the Decorative borders and frames

Quirky Old-Time Holiday Images

Curious Old Texts, Slang and Dictionaries

A Provincial Dictionary by Francis Grose (1790); 66 regional proverbs.
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer (1894); over 17,000 entries! New 2008-02-15.
Smiley's Recipe and Housekeeping Guide, historical recipes transcribed and annotated by CatamountClyde Studios.
Canting Dictionary by Nathan Bailey (1736), a dictionary of the slang of the underworld, of thieves, gypsies and vagrants. Text complete
Dictionary of the Canting Tongue by Francis Grose (1811)
Musa Pedestris: Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536-1896] edited by John S. Farmer, 1896.
The Nuttall Encyclpædia, by the Rev. James Wood (1907) (over 14,000 entries)
Oratio Dominica, or, The Lord’s Prayer in over a hundred Languages, Versions and Characters (Scripts) by Dan Brown (1713). I have scanned every page, and also an insert folded in the back, so this book is complete.
Dictionary of Proverbs by Nathan Bailey, 1721. The whole book in text and images (complete)
The Grammar of Heraldry, by Samuel Kent 1718. I have typed the first chapter on how to Blazon, etc., and will do more if requested.
Universal Etymological English Dictionary, edited by Nathan Bailey, 1736. A little under 500 entries, but very incomplete; this is a transcription I started in 1991. It is a different book than the dictionary containing the Canting Dictionary.
The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary edited by Thomas Hearne, 1745. 122 page images including cover and title page; I have started to transcribe names that appear in the text.
More wonderful old texts at words.fromoldbooks.org

The Pictures: Woodcuts, Engravings & Clip art

Pictures of Old Books