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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.

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Christmas-tide on the Road

Lutterworth.

11. Seal of Gusion.

Cherup ascending

Hush! Central Will Hear!

The Grotesque (Le Stryge)

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Gargoyle, brighter version

Gothic Window

Cherub with paintbrush

Sir Isaac Newton

Cairo, from the East

Inside a feudal castle hall

Harvest Time

53.8.—IHS

Field Worker

891.—Trapeze artist walking a tightrope or high wire

Portrait of Włodzimierz Czacki

Dark Passion Flowers

Drawn Picture Frame

Schoolwork

Cherub Facing Right

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Spring Song, Frühlingslied

Portrait of Ludwig Knaus

Collared Peccary (Tayassin tayassu)

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Alchemy Full Page Border

Alchemical dragons fighting

Title Page, Musaeum Hermeticum

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

Front Cover

Naked angel with caduceus

49.—St. Sebald’s Church at Nuremberg.

Full-page border with hearts and moons

84.—The Alcazar at Toledo (Begun 1548)

60.—Doorway from Church at Batalha (Begun 1385)

The Battle

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Give me a Ham Sandwich

Haigha and Hatta

Map XIX. Ireland

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Map XVII. british Isles; Showing places of greatest Historical Interest.

Hymn to the Seasons

Bless the Lord O My Soul

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

The front cover, with gold foil

Initial letter capital V with mountain rescue

Helmsman on a Vltava steamer

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Title Page

157.—Uncial Gothic Letters. 14th Century.

Front Cover

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

The Storming of Jerusalem by Titus

Buddhist Priest of Annam—TYPE

Chaldean Slaves

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

A Christmas-Box From China

Decorative initial letter C with holly and icicles and snow

Indra, God of Atmosphere

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

The Keep, Walmer

Title Page

The Stocks. Monkton

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Niccolò Paganini on the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Death

The Engraver

The Painter

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

The Novel

Front cover in red and gold

The Counsel (a Scotch Terrier)

The Virgin Mary

Frontispiece: Don’t Cry

Tortured with feet to the fire

Zeus and Europa

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

Poppies and Tiger Lillies

Menu Card 3: Celler Master

Menu Card 1: Court Jester

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Menu Card 2: Chef

Menu Card 4: Waitress

Initial Letter I With Art Nouveau Swirls

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

Venus danced for Apollo

Chapterhead with Boy’s Head

Sacrificial Rites of the Ancient British Druids

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

English Manufacturing

Helen and Paris

Front Cover

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

That wall of stone

Title page, The Defence of Guenevere

Jesus and Moses

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

145.—Leading a Horse

Foliated initial capital letter S, coloured

Oval frame, scalloped

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Tailpiece with peacock

Front Cover With Alice

Foliated Initial Letter S

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

Tailpiece of hunting paraphernalia

Convolvulus Tricolor

70.—Border of cherubs climbing in trees

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Classical full-page border with goddess

Simon de Montfort: Knight on his Horse

Buckingham Palace

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Heralds’ College

Indian Civet, Fossa, Genet

The old tollbooth in Canongate, Edinburgh

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

The Cow Doctor

Gold endpaper

Vintage endpaper border with flowering vine

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Mephistophiles

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