In 1832, Karl Bodmer met Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian, ruler of the small state of Neuwied, Prussia (now part of Germany).   Known as Prince Maximilian of Wied, or Prince Max, Maximilian was a German explorer, naturalist and ethnographer searching for a draftsman to accompany him to North America.   He selected Bodmerfor the expedition to the Great Plains region of the United States, along the Missouri River.  Prince Max had led another well publicized expedition to South America, and the North American trip was to bring more notice with the publication of the 3 volume book from which these pictures were scanned. Of the many images he made from the trip, 81 were reproduced as aquatints for the book.  Scenes include subjects from the entire journey, from Boston, through New York and Pennsylvania, down the Ohio to Cairo, up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and all the way to the headwaters of the Missouri.  Bodmer's works from this trip were recognized as among the most painted images ever made of the region at that time, and included many depiction of local culture, artifacts and scenery. On the return trip they went via Cleveland, Lake Erie, and the Erie canal to Albany ...

This is another book I posted to the gallery quite a while ago, but I never got around to making a post here on the main page. Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a British architect, decorative artist, author and educator. Through his efforts to publish his findings on the historic use of colour in decoration, he also became one of the pioneers of chromolithography. He published many seminal and definitive works, including The Grammar of Ornament (1856), a highly influential book in ornamentation and decorative arts. The borders alone make this illuminated book memorable, and the illustrations are wonderful too. These images come from a completely disbound and very discolored, spotted and darkened copy I came across. I had to do a lot of image enhancement after the initial scans, and while I have restored most of the luster there may be some distortion from the original shades. This is seen on some of the matched borders, which originally were identical but are now slightly different in some of the images. In any case, the images and the borders could have a lot of uses, so feel free to download and use however you please.  These are all public domain as I did all ...

This is an update of an older post.  I have finally gotten around to labeling all the images, so I am bumping the post closer to the front of the site and have added some more links to show specific images.  This is a fun collection of small drawings by Paul Mercuri from an early to mid 19th century book, Costumes Historiques (Paris, 1850's or 6o's).  I received the scans from a colleague and they were quite dirty, so I have done a lot of touch-up.   Unfortunately, the resolution is not as high as I would like, but they are more than adequate for most online uses, clipart, illustrating reports and the like. As always, these public domain jpg images are free of charge and may be used for any purpose.  Although I have put a lot of effort into cleaning spots and smudges, as well as enhancing the colors, they are still in the public domain and have no usage restrictions.  Donations for my efforts and for the costs of running this site are always appreciated, but are by no means expected or necessary. All 130 or so items may be browsed and downloaded in the gallery.   Images may be downloaded ...

I had posted half of these a long time ago, but the links got broken and most images were inaccessible. So, I made a new folder in the gallery a while ago, and loaded the rest of the images. So, I am updating the page and posting a new notice. In 1838 and 1839, Roberts spent eleven months traveling and sketching throughout Egypt from Alexandria to Abu Simbel and through Sinai to Petra, Jerusalem, Palestine, and Lebanon. The 247 lithographs that Belgian engraver Louis Haghe then produced at the rate of one a month from the drawings executed during Roberts' trip were published in six volumes as "The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia" (1842-1846) and "Egypt and Nubia" (1846-1849). While these are available elsewhere, they are not usually very large or in an easy to use format (or they cost money).  These are from the Library of Congress, which has them in unedited TIF files.  I have cropped them , edited them, cleaned up any glaring dirtiness, and converted them to JPEG for easy download in the GALLERY. Title: Egypt and Nubia and: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia Author: David Roberts Artist: David Roberts / lithographed by Louis Haghe Publisher: ...

This is where a lot of my effort has been going lately. As soon as I got this book, I knew I had to get all the images edited and posted, as they are some of the nicest bird plates I have ever seen. The book not only has beautiful illustrations, but is historically notable because it was the first time hand-colored lithographs were used to illustrate a state bird book.   It is one of the favorite books in my library, and the scans do not even begin to do justice to the depth of color on the plates. It is a very hefty book, and the binding is fairly weak. The cover is in very good condition, though, and is intact and clean complete with the gilt picture of a bird, so I will be putting the book up for sale in my bookstore soon. While the plates have unfortunately been stamped by an overzealous Australian librarian, the book remains one of the nicer extant copies I have come across. This is largely because the cover is in such good shape, not to mention that the book is still intact (there were only 300 or so ...

I first posted the pictures from Through the Looking Glass a few years ago, and promised to update them with better versions when I got the time.  So,I have done that (the post is HERE) and am also adding similar pictures from Alice in Wonderland.  For both books I am providing both very large scale JPG (or jpeg) versions, and smaller but still useful PNG images with transparent backgrounds.  This transparency is useful for many applications.  The jpg's are available and easy to download in a number of sizes, up to a maximum of about 1800 pixels.  The PNG's are available in one size only: 584 pixels on the longest side; you will need to resize them on your own. The Wonderland Gallery is HERE.  The first item on the page is the subfolder with the PNG images. Title: Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There Author: Lewis Carroll Artist: John Tenniel Date Published: 1865

These images have been in my queue for posting here for some time.  I have not had a chance to edit them to the degree I desire, and as I have no idea when I will get to it I am posting the full, unedited page scans for now.  The folder is HERE Any further images posted will be in the same folder, but for now there are simply the 26 full page images. These are very nicely done and historically important chromolithographed plates from a book which was unfortunately damaged and coming apart when I acquired it.  The book, The Hawks and Owls of the United States in Their Relation to Agriculture, itself was an important study that helped to establish that, with few exceptions, hawks and owls were beneficial to farmers and not the scourge they were commonly perceived as. I have very large digital copies available for download in the gallery.  The originals have been put up for sale in my bookstore, and can be seen for sale HERE. Title: The Hawks and Owls of the United States U.S. Department of Agriculture Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy Bulletin No. 3 Prepared under the Direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Ornithologist, by A. K. Fisher, M.D., ...

I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted new material here.  I've been working on a few projects on the side, and time has just slipped by.  I should be posting some nice bird images soon as well. I bought this atlas a couple of years ago, and as the binding was falling apart they were very easy to scan.   I have decided that the atlas itself is not salvageable as at least one map seemed to be missing,  the binding was disintegrating, the spine was missing, and the covers had fallen off.  Thus, I am selling the maps individually in my bookstore, ZephyrusBooks.com, on this page HERE. There are about 100 maps in the book.  This atlas had maps of all the French Departments and overseas possessions of the time.  Every department of France at the time is represented on its own page, with political, demographic and other information on the reverse Vuillemin issued may version s of this atlas over the years, changing the border details, title decorations, fonts and the like over from edition to edition.   The size would also vary, and while not the larges examples, these are larger than many. Alexandre Vuillemin (1812-1880) ...

Des Kindes erstes Lesebuch Illustrierte Fibel mit farbigen Bildern (The Child's Alphabet Book Primer Illustrated with Colored Pictures) was published in a number of editions in the late 19th century.  This is an earlier edition, I believe, possibly from the 1880's, but I am not positive.  It lacks a colored cover, which some later editions had, but that is hardly conclusive.  No dates are found in the book itself. I post it mainly for the numerous color and black & white illustrations, but I have added a folder of the entire book (unedited, raw scans in very high resolution) for anyone interested in the book as a whole.  It is written in, but then again it was a child's school book. I have not been able to edit and post the cleaned up pictures yet, but will get to it shortly.  In the meantime the full page scans (very large) are HERE. Title: Des Kindes erstes Lesebuch Illustrierte Fibel mit farbigen Bildern (The Child's Alphabet Book Primer Illustrated with Colored Pictures) Author: Rudolf Dietlein Artist: Various Publisher: J. F. Schreiber Date Published: 1880's (circa) Here is what the images currently look like.   They are very large, so there is plenty of room to play with if you want ...

Mary Ashton Rice Livermore (1820–1905) joined the war effort with the U.S. Sanitary Commission.  Her book is very comprehensive, and attractive artistically for the black and white plates, portraits, and eight colored plates of old flags. The book opens with an extensive description of the Battle Flags.   I cannot transcribe it all, but the text is available at Google Books, HERE. As quoted from Reynolds Historical Library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham: "Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the most well-known female figures in the Union relief movement. Before the Civil War broke out, Mary had already devoted her life to social, humanitarian and charitable causes. In her early twenties, she worked as a family tutor on a large rural Virginia plantation. In this position, she came face to face with the injustices of slavery and became a staunch abolitionist. During these pre-war years, Mary also became known for her involvement in the temperance movement, which especially thrived after her marriage to fellow temperance supporter and Universalist minister, Daniel Parker Livermore, in 1845. Mrs. Livermore organized a juvenile temperance group, the Cold Water Army, for whom she wrote short stories and read them aloud (Holland ...

Here, unedited but for the straightening and cropping of the margins, are 14 map and chart images from the Library of Congress.   As with other LOC images, these are free and Public Domain.  I have converted them to JPEG format for easier access, as otherwise you would need to download them via special viewing software. These are from a 16 century book: "Portolan atlas of 9 charts and a world map, etc. Dedicated to Hieronymus Ruffault, Abbot of St. Vaast. (Agnese, Battista).  The notes state: Manuscript, pen-and-ink and watercolor, on vellum. I have no plans to edit or enhance these for posting here.  They could not be much improved by casual editing, so I will leave them as be.  They are available at full scale in the GALLERY. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Atlantic Ocean "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, Turkey"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="182" caption="Compass Rose"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Armillary Sphere"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Black Sea "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Central Mediterranean with Italy, Sicily"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Frontis"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Indian Ocean "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Northern Europe "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Pacific Ocean"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Straits of Gibraltar with Northwest Africa and Spain "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Western ...

I had these scanned and ready to post seven or eight months ago at least. They kept getting shoved to the back burner, and only when I got an email from someone who saw a reference I had made to them was I finally prompted to actually get them organized and posted here. The folder is HERE in the GALLERY. A SUBFOLDER has the images without the text. I will link to some images soon as I get the time. Title: The Flower Children: The Little Cousins of the Field and Garden Author: Elizabeth Gordon Artist: M. T. Ross Publisher: P. F. Volland (Chicago) Date Published: 1910 The Flower Children Store is a shop where you can purchase many items with these images. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="150" caption="Flower Children Zazzle Store"][/caption] I will soon add images linking directly to the Gallery.

I am in the process of scanning this entire atlas.   I acquired this very dilapidated 1883 edition of Cram's popular atlas, and while the binding was shot the pages were in fairly good condition.  I have looked on line and there are few good images available for free public access, so I decided I would post not only the maps and charts but the whole book as well.  Having an entire edition online will hopefully be of help as a reference that goes beyond the pleasures of simply seeing the maps and art. So far I have scanned the first 125 pages or so.   I am posting them in their entirety in THEIR OWN SUB-FOLDER of the atlas' primary folder.  I have not edited the maps yet so for the time being you will only see these full page images.  I have not re-oriented or retitled them, so maps may be sideways, and two-page maps appear in parts.  They do appear in order, though, and the numbers in the titles correspond to the page numbers. The maps and images are not that scarce, but remain collectible and are an affordable way for collectors and map enthusiasts to obtain a desirable, vintage 1800's ...

Here are some nice pictures from Diamonds and Toads, an 1870's book.  These were forwarded to me by Janice Wald, who scanned the images from the book, which belonged to her great grandmother.  You can see the notation from 1894 on the top of the first page of text. These are from the McLoughlin Brothers American edition, which was slightly altered from the original English edition.  Any edition prior to 1900 is rather scarce, and in good condition is sought after by collectors. The story is adapted from Charles Perrault, one of the seminal figures in the birth of the modern fairy tale.   The illustrator was Kate Greenaway, who was a prolific illustrator of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.   Some of her other illustrations are catalogued online and available HERE at the Illuminated Books Project. I have posted all the pages as originally scanned in their own folder.   Thus you can read the full text.  I could not find this exact version of the text online, so posting as text instead of images is not possible now (as I am not about to transcribe it).  I will update this post if I find the text.   The images I have cleaned ...

I acquired some very nice high resolution scans of an old butterfly book, "Europe's Best-Known Butterflies" (F. Nemos, Berlin, 1895).  The images were available at Wikimedia Commons, but needed a lot of cleaning up for me to post them here.  I separated the individual butterflies and caterpillars from the larger plates, and did some color enhancement and editing of smudges. The result is close to 200 images in the Gallery here at Old Book Art.   The original 18 full plates (cleaned up) are in their own folder here. The individual butterfly and caterpillar images range from quite small (less than 500 pixels) to very large (3000 pixels or so.)  Some of these look like moths, but I cannot always tell a butterfly from a moth that easily.  The full plates are each about 3850 by 5450 pixels.  As always, these pictures are free and available for no charge here at Old Book Art.  Donations are appreciated but by no means required as these are public domain images that I have simply cleaned up and collected. Here are a few samples.  If you want to browse them all go to the GALLERY. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="141" caption="European Butterflies Plate 10"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Arctia caja ...