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Vintage Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

Over 4,400 free images from old, rare, antique and vintage books. High-resolution images for sale. M

The man in the iron mask.

932.—Salisbury

Destruction of Printing Presses in Mayence

11. Seal of Gusion.

Chapterhead: angel, or truth breaking free

Chapterhead for Opening of Chapter One of Homer’s Odyssey

Withdrawal from Troy

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Title page from Homers Odyssey

Front Cover, Homer’s Odyssey

Inside the Imperial Palace, Delhi

Sir Isaac Newton

Pentagram of Solomon

Decorated. Stoke Golding. Leicestershire.

257.—Harrowing and Sowing (Bayeux Tapestry.)

53.8.—IHS

The Royal Porter dressed for an event

Border with cherubs, arrow piercing hearts, flowers and leaves

Emperor of Germany Three Days at the Pope’s Gate

Dark Passion Flowers

At the Wine Festival

Mazeppa

Lions in a Cage

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Lion Face, detail from Lions in a Cage

Initial Letter W With Demon and Woman and Crescent Moon

Hexenschlaf (Witch’s Sleep, or, Burning a Witch)

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Front Cover, Volume Three of Modern Art

Harvest-time

Border with flowers

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

Penrhyn Castle

Jesus with raised hand: holy admonition

owl from full-page border

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Angel with thurible from full-page border

Coucy Castle, Bird’s Eye Drawing with labels

Full-page border with flowers, vines, figures

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

2113.—James I.’s Cradle. (From a Print inNichols’s Progresses.)

A giant wooden statue of a warrior with shield and sword

Front Cover, Pied Piper of Hamelin

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Into the cellar, into the dungeon!

Chilren on the beach, with full-page border

Sounding the irons

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

London Driving

The founding of Paris

Thomas William Crackfort is cut into six pieces

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Decorated Initial letter C with holly

Old College, Warwick Lane, London

Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

He blew out his lantern

Haunted Chest of Drawers

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Man with hand in darkness

Christmas Choir

Bibury, Arlington Row

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

In the Forest Cathedral

Full-page border, hillside path through ruined castle

Ornament with Roses

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Danaë

Barefoot boy guzzles beer

Family with barefoot boy

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

Lady Justice (Justitia)

The Dragon of Putrefaction

castle medallion with ribbons

The Virgin Mary

Strawberry Season (Erdbeerenzeit)

Córdova: The Door of the Mosque

Chiquon and Cochegrue, from Count Dracula

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

Cupid’s Hunting Fields

The Catapult, Painted by E. J. Poynter, R.A.

Don Quixote in his Study

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Reconciled

Queen Dagmar of Denmark

An Orphan Family’s Christmas

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

Art Nouveau Bookplate

Bookplate without name

Effect of the League

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

Three Queens

Chapel of St. John’s College, Cambridge

Coucy Castle, Bird’s Eye Drawing

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

87.—Designs for Window Heads

Constantinople Firemen

Initial letter J with piper and rats

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Prisoner Chained in the Dungeon

Imploring the moon from th castle courtyard

Happy New Year!

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Owl border

The new chain of office for the Mayor of Wiesbaden

A Workshop for Stafe Costumes: The Chiseling

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

Hexagram of Solomon

The Thames Subway at Tower-Hill

Omnibus Carriage

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

First tube train passengers

The insects look upon a giant dam

Queen Alice Knocking at the Door

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Birth of the League

At Laundry

When the angel blew the other trumpet

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Front Cover

Tomb of Hiram.

Packing a Trunk

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Nazareth

The First Lesson

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