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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. Mastodon M

Souls on the Acheron River

On Vacation (Auf Urlaub)

Tea-Roses (Iheerosen)

11. Seal of Gusion.

Faith and Devotion

Johannes Kepler (1571‒1630)

Dedication: art deco scroll in floral border

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

The dream they had laid out in their lives was over

King Ixion naked on the burning wheel

The Fairy Court

Sir Isaac Newton

Front Cover, by Klimsch

Winged monster of the night

Weeping child

53.8.—IHS

Template: knight and castle

Frontispiece: Hindoo Temple at Goruckinath

clipart: initial letter E from beginning of 16th Century

Dark Passion Flowers

clipart: initial letter D from beginning of 16th Century

clipart: initial letter C from beginning of the 16th Century

The man in the iron mask.

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

932.—Salisbury

Destruction of Printing Presses in Mayence

Chapterhead: angel, or truth breaking free

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Chapterhead for Opening of Chapter One of Homer’s Odyssey

Withdrawal from Troy

Title page from Homers Odyssey

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

Front Cover, Homer’s Odyssey

Inside the Imperial Palace, Delhi

Pentagram of Solomon

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Decorated. Stoke Golding. Leicestershire.

257.—Harrowing and Sowing (Bayeux Tapestry.)

The Royal Porter dressed for an event

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Border with cherubs, arrow piercing hearts, flowers and leaves

Emperor of Germany Three Days at the Pope’s Gate

At the Wine Festival

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Mazeppa

Lions in a Cage

Lion Face, detail from Lions in a Cage

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

Initial Letter W With Demon and Woman and Crescent Moon

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

Front Cover, Volume Three of Modern Art

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Border with flowers

Harvest-time

Penrhyn Castle

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Jesus with raised hand: holy admonition

owl from full-page border

Angel with thurible from full-page border

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Coucy Castle, Bird’s Eye Drawing with labels

Full-page border with flowers, vines, figures

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

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

A giant wooden statue of a warrior with shield and sword

Front Cover, Pied Piper of Hamelin

Into the cellar, into the dungeon!

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Chilren on the beach, with full-page border

Sounding the irons

London Driving

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

The founding of Paris

Thomas William Crackfort is cut into six pieces

Decorated Initial letter C with holly

The Virgin Mary

Old College, Warwick Lane, London

Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren

He blew out his lantern

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

Haunted Chest of Drawers

Man with hand in darkness

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Christmas Choir

Bibury, Arlington Row

In the Forest Cathedral

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

Full-page border, hillside path through ruined castle

Ornament with Roses

Danaë

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

Family with barefoot boy

Barefoot boy guzzles beer

Lady Justice (Justitia)

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

The Dragon of Putrefaction

castle medallion with ribbons

Strawberry Season (Erdbeerenzeit)

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Córdova: The Door of the Mosque

Chiquon and Cochegrue, from Count Dracula

Cupid’s Hunting Fields

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

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

Don Quixote in his Study

Reconciled

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

Queen Dagmar of Denmark

An Orphan Family’s Christmas

Bookplate without name

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Art Nouveau Bookplate

Effect of the League

Three Queens

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Chapel of St. John’s College, Cambridge

Coucy Castle, Bird’s Eye Drawing

87.—Designs for Window Heads

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Constantinople Firemen

Initial letter J with piper and rats

Prisoner Chained in the Dungeon

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Imploring the moon from th castle courtyard

Happy New Year!

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