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

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 ...

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.

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 ...

This fairy tale was written by Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baronne d'Aulnoy, who wrote extensively and is credited with actually coining the term "fairy tale." The images and text are available elsewhere, but I decided to put up some nice sized and cleaned up scans.  Too often what you can find is either dirty or needs to be edited to be made usable.   The text, too, I have posted, although it is also available at Project Gutenberg.  The version I have posted is that from the 1909 book, and is slightly different from the original, which can be found synopsized here at Wikipedia. Title: Princess Belle-Etoile Author: Traditional Artist: Walter Crane Publisher: John Lane Date Published: 1909 The images below are linked to the gallery pages where I have made them available for download in various sized high resolution JPEG's.  The main gallery page for this book is HERE. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="174" caption="The Corsair Finds the Children "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="174" caption="Feintise and Belle-Etoile "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="174" caption="Prince Cheri saves the turtle-dove "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="174" caption="Prince Cheri and the two-headed monster "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="174" caption="Prince Cheri falls into the spacious hall "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="174" caption="Cheri and Belle-Etoile "][/caption] Full Text Once upon a ...

Johnny Gruelle, of course, is the beloved creator of the Raggedy Ann dolls, and subsequently the Raggedy Ann and Andy series books.  He illustrated extensively prior to this, including classics such as Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and this book is a great example of his other work.   Many of his books are digitized at Project Gutenberg. "Rhymes for Kindly Children" is subtitled "Modern Mother Goose Jingles."  It is more blatantly geared toward teaching children proper manners, though, and even the titles reveal this end.  Children, of course, will not always embrace such obviousness, and perhaps this is why the rhymes themselves never became quite as popular as the traditional Mother Goose fare.   The illustrations are nice though, and especially of interest to any Gruelle fan. I have placed some representative images below, all linked to the GALLERY.  The full list is viewable there. Title: Rhymes for Kindly Children:  Modern Mother Goose Jingles Author: Ethel Fairmont Artist: Johnny Gruelle Publisher: P. F. Volland Company Date Published: 1916 Click a thumbnail to visit the gallery page for the image where it can be downloaded in many very high resolution sizes. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="130" caption="Albert's Pet Bunny "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" caption="Bird Friends"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="137" caption="Gathering Berries "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" ...

This is a scarce little book.  Full of many of the standard fairy tales from various sources, 19th century and earlier, it also boasts a wonderful collection of overlooked illustrations by the likes of Richter and Pletsch. Most books with Pletsch's work are in German, and I have not seen another copy of this particular work.  He was fairly prolific in the late 1800's.  Typically, books included four to ten full page color illustrations, with many smaller cuts distributed throughout the text.  This book is typical in this regard. Ludwig Richter was another prolific German illustrator, with archetypal period illustrations appearing in many children's books and fairy tales as well as other media.   He was influential in the use of woodcut illustrations at the time.  With this current book it is not always easy to tell who executed which illustration, nor the identities of the "other" referred to on the title page. While I have not seen this book other than the copy I have in hand, it is referenced in various ads from scanned books from the same publisher at Google Books, such as HERE. Title: Wonder-World:  A Collection Of Fairy Tales, Old and New Author: Translated from the French, German and Danish Artist: L. ...

Walter Crane was one of the most popular and prolific children's book illustrators in the late 19th century.  His style should be recognizable to almost everyone, whether they know his name or not, and his books have been mainstays for families for generations. His illustrations here make a nice contrast to those of Virginia Frances Sterrett, who illustrated Hawthornes' other children's book derived from Greek mythology.  I have scanned and posted those images, from Tanglewood Tales, as well. These images have been edited and enhanced to bring out the colors and remove some of the age toning.  The complete text as well as full page, unedited scans, are available at the Library of Congress web site, HERE. Title: A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne Illustrator: Walter Crane Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin Date Published: 1892 The Images below all link to the gallery where they are available for free download in many high resolution sizes of JPEG files. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" caption="Perseus & The Graiae"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" caption="Perseus Armed by the Nymphs"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" caption="Perseus & The Gorgons"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" caption="Perseus Showing The Gorgons Head"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" caption="The Stranger Appearing to Midas"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="135" caption="The Stranger Appearing to Midas"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" ...

Knights of the Round Table, Medieval Chivalry, Errant Warriors, Castles, Magic and Sorcery. Pyle offered one of the classic tellings of Arthurian lore and legends, profusely illustrating this and others of his own books. Pyle (1853-1911) also wrote and illustrated classic retellings of other Arthurian tales as well as Robin Hood. He also authored original stories which he illustrated, along with many other titles such as He was perhaps one of the most influential children's book illustrators, influencing such artists as N.C. Wyeth, Frank Schoonover and others. The Brandywine River Museum in Pennsylvania, just north of Wilmington, DE has a very good collection of Pyle's work along with those he influenced. Title: The Story of King Arthur and His Knights Author: Howard Pyle Artist: Howard Pyle Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons Date Published: 1903 Below are some representative image of the found in the GALLERY. Each image is linked to a page where it may be downloaded in various sized high resolution formats. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="177" caption="King Arthur of Britain"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Herald"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Angel"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="178" caption="Uther-Pendragon"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Herald"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="177" caption="Sir Kay breaketh his sword at ye Tournament."][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Two knights colliding in a tournament. The both ...

Tenniel's drawing are the classic images many of us associate with both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Reproduced here are the 50 images, along with the cover art, from Through the Looking Glass. The main folder in the Gallery is HERE, and there are 3 sub folders each with a different version of the images. The cleaned up images are HERE.  They are all about 1800 pixels on the longest side, so are nicely high resolution for many purposes. Smaller, PNG versions are in a subfolder, HERE.  These have the background removed, or set to transparent, which is useful for a lot of applications and uses. The originals were a bit dirty, and when I first posted this I said I would replace them if and when I got the chance.  I have now done so, but have kept the earlier versions.   The original, dirtier images are now in a subfolder, HERE.   They are a bit lower rez and not as sharp, but closer to the original as seen in the book. To see or download the full text of the book (off this site and without illustrations) at Project Gutenberg CLICK HERE. Title: Through the Looking Glass, and What ...

The Oz books have, of course, gone though countless reprintings and adaptations. As with some other books, I was surprised that the images were not more readily and freely available online. This, the second book in the series, introduces many of the major characters who appear throughout the rest of the books. It also revises the history of Oz a bit, re-casting the Wizard in a less flattering light and changing the history to get Ozma (Tip) into the framework. The entire text of the book (no illustrations) online at Project Gutenberg. Links to the the full text of the first 15 books in the Oz series are available through Gutenberg as well HERE. Title: The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman and Also the Strange Experiences of the Highly-Magnified Woggle-Bug, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Animated Saw-Horse and the Gump Author: L. Frank Baum Artist: John R. Neill Publisher: Reilly & Britton Date Published: 1904 All the images are available for download at full resolution in the GALLERY. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="149" caption=""Tip stood the figure up and admired it""][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="151" caption=""The boy stretched himself upon the grass""][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="147" caption=""'It's the fashion here,' said ...

A fun little retelling of this childhood classic. This was one of a series put out by M. A. Donohue & Company in the early 20th century, none of which indicated authorship or gave credit to an artist. Others in the series included Peter Rabbit, Chicken Little, The Three Bears, and other popular stories of that type. I have also scanned and reproduced here the endpapers, which include all the character from the different stories in a forest together. Granny doesn't get eaten. The woodman is homeless. Little Red Riding Hood climbs on top of the canopy bed and fall asleep there. A few things were changed for this telling. I have included at the end of the gallery full scans of the book so the text is viewable as well. Title: Little Red Riding Hood - Retold Author: unattributed Artist: unattributed Publisher: M. A. Donohue & Company Date Published: 1921 Following are some samples form the book. There are 27 in all, not including the unedited scans of the full text. I have edited them a bit to brighten the tones and eliminate some aging and other small flaws. All the images, large format JPEG and available ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) rewrote six famous classic Greek myths for this book, first published in 1853. It followed by a year his equally famous A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys. These two books were among his last works and were aimed specifically at a younger audience. The stories in this edition include: The Minotaur The Pygmies The Dragon's Teeth Circe's Palace The Pomegranate Seeds The Golden Fleece Sterrett (1900-1931) died tragically young from tuberculosis. During her short career she illustrated this book as well as works such as "Old French Fairy Tales" by Comtesse de Segur, and "Arabian Nights." Some of these other illustrations (which may not be in the public domain) can be found off this site HERE. Many volumes of the book are digitized on line with the full text available. This edition is available at Archive.org and Google Books also has some texts digitized. There are also sites with Sterrett's images available, although often for a fee. I have made reproductions available for sale HERE, although you may download them for no cost in the gallery by using the link below. As always, the images are free to download in a range of high ...

Many of us, through the generations since their original publication in 1916, automatically associate Wright's drawings with the Mother Goose rhymes. For thousands of people, they are the quintessential images that come to mind whenever a Mother Goose Rhyme is recited. As with many books, I was surprised to find that these images really were not available online in large, quality format. Thumbnails are available, as at Project Gutenberg which has digitized the entire text, but high resolution copies were available only for a fee, if even then. I am grateful to Project Gutenberg in that I was able to use their text to accompany the image i scanned and posted here. Mother Goose, of course, is not the true author of these rhymes. Many have been around for half a millennium or more, and the authorship is considered "traditional." A French author, Charles Perrault, compiled a group of these in the late 17th century. English translations followed and new material was added over the years. The term Mother Goose has some to mean tradition nursery rhymes, even those not technically associated with this historic collection. For this book, I have included extra large versions ...