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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

Death and the Cherubs

Capstan turned by monks at the Metamorphosis Monastery

Front Cover

11. Seal of Gusion.

Berlin’s Victory Avenue in Winter

Souls on the Acheron River

On Vacation (Auf Urlaub)

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Tea-Roses (Iheerosen)

Faith and Devotion

Johannes Kepler (1571‒1630)

Sir Isaac Newton

Dedication: art deco scroll in floral border

The dream they had laid out in their lives was over

King Ixion naked on the burning wheel

53.8.—IHS

Front Cover, by Klimsch

Winged monster of the night

Weeping child

Dark Passion Flowers

The Fairy Court

Template: knight and castle

Frontispiece: Hindoo Temple at Goruckinath

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

clipart: initial letter D from beginning of 16th Century

clipart: initial letter E from beginning of 16th Century

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

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

The man in the iron mask.

932.—Salisbury

Destruction of Printing Presses in Mayence

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

Chapterhead: angel, or truth breaking free

Chapterhead for Opening of Chapter One of Homer’s Odyssey

Title page from Homers Odyssey

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Withdrawal from Troy

Front Cover, Homer’s Odyssey

Inside the Imperial Palace, Delhi

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Pentagram of Solomon

Decorated. Stoke Golding. Leicestershire.

257.—Harrowing and Sowing (Bayeux Tapestry.)

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

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

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

At the Wine Festival

Mazeppa

Lion Face, detail from Lions in a Cage

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Lions in a Cage

Initial Letter W With Demon and Woman and Crescent Moon

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

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Front Cover, Volume Three of Modern Art

Border with flowers

Harvest-time

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Penrhyn Castle

Jesus with raised hand: holy admonition

owl from full-page border

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Angel with thurible from full-page border

Coucy Castle, Bird’s Eye Drawing with labels

Full-page border with flowers, vines, figures

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

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

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

Into the cellar, into the dungeon!

Chilren on the beach, with full-page border

Sounding the irons

The Virgin Mary

London Driving

The founding of Paris

Thomas William Crackfort is cut into six pieces

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

Decorated Initial letter C with holly

Old College, Warwick Lane, London

Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Haunted Chest of Drawers

He blew out his lantern

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

Man with hand in darkness

Christmas Choir

Bibury, Arlington Row

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

In the Forest Cathedral

Full-page border, hillside path through ruined castle

Ornament with Roses

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

Danaë

Family with barefoot boy

Barefoot boy guzzles beer

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Lady Justice (Justitia)

The Dragon of Putrefaction

castle medallion with ribbons

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Strawberry Season (Erdbeerenzeit)

Córdova: The Door of the Mosque

Chiquon and Cochegrue, from Count Dracula

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

Cupid’s Hunting Fields

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

Don Quixote in his Study

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Reconciled

Queen Dagmar of Denmark

An Orphan Family’s Christmas

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Art Nouveau Bookplate

Bookplate without name

Effect of the League

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Three Queens

Chapel of St. John’s College, Cambridge

Coucy Castle, Bird’s Eye Drawing

Victorian vine-leaf page border

87.—Designs for Window Heads

Constantinople Firemen

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