https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Aubrey-HistoryOfEngland-Vol2/pages/438-Border-of-twigs/
A Victorian engraved full-page border drawn to look like twigs. This originally contained portraits of King Henry VIII of England and his six (sequential) wives - https://fromoldbooks.org/r/5/pages/438-King-Henry-VIII-and-His-Six-Wives/
Henry had to have a legitimate heir in order to prevent another War of the Roses.
Borders like this are great for menus, weddings, name cards, jam labels, all sorts.
Desecration!
Rušení posvŕtných hájů lípových, or, Disruption of sacred linden groves.
It seems a bunch of yobbos have invaded a sacred ritual held in a clearing in a forest.
The treatment of light and shade is exquisite in this 1884 engraving, published in a book “Bohemia: oint work of Czech writers and artists”, by František Adolf Šubert, lead, and František Adolf Borovský, co-editor.
#pagan #ritualMagic #druids #fromOldBooks #engraving #vintageArt
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Subert-Cechy-Vol2/pages/131-initial-letter-v-with-mermaid/
A decorated letter V for a dropped capital, formally an inhabited initial, from an 1884 book about Vltava in Bohemia (Czechia). The V has a mermaid in it, & fishes & an eel swim about her. She’s naked (do mermaids wear clothes?).
Decorated initials are used in print at the start of a chapter, or at the start of a section without a title so you can find it easily.
Battle of Knights
Drawing by (i think) Hugo Vogel (1855-1934)
Men are being nasty to one another, as men are wont to do, some on foot and some riding horses, in this close mêlée or fight. It’s a vignette from the titel page of “Gaskonští Kadeti” (1906) by Henri de Gorsse and Joseph Jaquin, a Czech edition of the French Les Cadets de Cascogne, a swashbuckling novel in the spirit of Star Trek.
I posted this just after Halloween this year, which might sound silly, but i’ve found you have to post months to a year in advance for a lot of uses, so maybe it’s all right.
“Avenue of Sighs” or “Leaf Walk”, from a painting by Ferdinand Keller (1842 – 1922), known for his paintings of mystical views of nature. With hidden creatures and faces.
Reproduced in Moderne Kunst in Meister-Halzschnitten, Vol. XV (1901), 230x320mm/9x12inches.
A Christmas Gift from 1901
The waiter in his top hat has quite the platter, not to mention a basket of bottles of wine. Amazon delivery was never this good.
Chromolithograph (i think) from 1901 German magazine Moderne Kunst, vol 15 by Edward Cucel (1879-1954 so no commercial use until January). Picture was approx A4 sized.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Lloyd-Familienbuch-V/pages/105-musician-on-the-wall/
A man in top hat and tails plays the flute outside a bedroom window, standing on the top of a wall. Vintage engraving ‘The Serenade” from Lloyd’s 1857 family book (Illustrirtes Familienbuch zur Unterhaltung & Belehrung häuslicher Kreise).
The book describes him as a dreamy youth.
From a painting by G. Neumann & engraved by Heinrich Petersen (1806-1870)
A schoolroom in Tunisia (1883)
The boys are learning to read Arabic and to recite the Koran in this 1883 engraving from a drawing by Edmund Berninger (1843 - 1910).
Scanned from El Mundo Ilustrado - https://www.fromoldbooks.org/ElMundoIlustrado-1897/ that i bought when i had an unexpected night in Lisbon on W3C business in 2017, after helping a blind passenger had resulted in me missing my flight.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Cassell-TheBritishIsles/pages/v2s2-000-frontispiece-llanthony-priory/
A photograph of the ruins of Llanthony Abbey published in 1905 using a proprietary photogravure process from the Rembrandt Intaglio Printing Co.
The abbey ws built around 1200CE by Augustinian monks, and closed at the Dissolution by King Henry VIII; it was abandoned, and eventually used as a farm.
A full-page border that surrounded a page in “The Art of Illuminating As Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times” by W R Tymms (London, UK, 1860). A fabulous book i bought at Geoffry Aspin’s bookshop in Hay-on-Wye in the 1980s.
I made versions in different colours; you can also use the Colour tab on the Web page to change colour. It’s one of the most popular images i’ve posted.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/pages/p27-border-antique-green/
Llanthony Priory, Vally of the Honddu, Wales, UK, from a 1905 photograph.
The priory was built around 1200 by Augustinian monks, but was closed at the Dissolution in the 16th century, and fell into a ruin; it was partly reused as a farm.
Process: Rembrandt Photogravure.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Cassell-TheBritishIsles/pages/v2s2-000-frontispiece-llanthony-priory/
Another #arthurRackham picture; i have a few books that he illustrated, and his illustrations are now out of copyright.
Alas, they are all (if in colour) printed with the four-colour process, which actively resists scanning. I’ve wondered about training an “AI”, although others have reported poor results.
Anyway, here is Adrtift, from The Snow Queen.
#watercolour #painting #fear #child #littleGirl #scared #fromoldbooks #watercolor #england #english
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/ArthurRackham-LifeAndWork/pages/103-migrant-girl-adrift/
A painting by Arthur Rackham (1867--1937) for a 1906 edition of The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
I also made the border available as a separate image.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Creighton-EnglishShires/pages/254-Leicester-Hospital-Warwick/
This alms-house (low-income public housing they might say today?) was originally a chapel in Warwick, built in 1126 CE. It was used by trade guilds and then became an alms-house in 1571. It is still an alms-house today, almost 500 years later.
It's also open to the public.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/DasBuchFurAlle/pages/421-washing-the-viola/
The washer-woman or maid has already put the violin through the tub or hot water and soap and is now orking on the viola. The owner rushes into the room in a panic!
An engraving from 1890.
The original painting was auctioned in 2021, as “Spring Cleaning, or, A Diligent Housekeeper.”
Amusing but strong classist undertones.
Is that a quidditch snitch in her hand?
This engraving was made to sell the borders in it, & appeared in a printer’s catalogue of 1917.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Strong-BookOfDesigns/pages/36a-banner-with-woman-and-sphere/
More at https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Strong-BookOfDesigns/
#artDeco #artNouveau #jugendStile #fromOldBooks #vintageEngraving #quidditch #harryPotter #GIMP #xsane
PS: mention of quidditch is NOT an endorsement of the views of its inventor...
“Chaldee Woman” taken from John Clark Ridpath’s “Great Races of Mankind” Vol III (1893).
The drawing is credited to Emile Bayard “From a photograph”.
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Ridpath-GreatRacesOfMankind-Vol3/pages/201-costume/414x750-q75.html
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Ridpath-GreatRacesOfMankind-Vol3/pages/200-land-of-the-semites/
Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan. From John Ridpath’s 1893 “Great Races of Mankind”. Described in the text as showing Palestine.
Art nouveau border (#JugendStile) by Walter Crane,
https://www.fromoldbooks.org/WalterCrane-PanPipes/
Taken from an edition of Theo Marzials’ “Pan Pipes” from 1883, bought at Temple Books, now in Welland Ontario.
Karl Heffner (1849 – 1925) was a Bavarian musician who became interested in art after working for an English art dealer, Tom Wallis, and ended up exhibiting and even being commissioned by Edward Prince Regent (the future king Edward VII).
This picture may have been painted on a wooden frame in this shape, i’m not sure; the reproduction i scanned was an engraving.
