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" ...

Woodroffe made these illustrations in the late 19th century.   The text is straight Shakespeare, selected and edited by Rhys.  The initial scans came through quite age toned.  It was difficult to correct, as some of the detail kept getting lost, so I have included both the raw scans as well as the edited versions in the GALLERY for this book. Woodroffe was a prolific illustrator of the period.  His work included a lot of Shakespeare, Bible stories, children's books, and the like. I have put the accompanying text with some of the illustrations. The book, including lower resolution scans of these pictures, is fully digitzed HERE. Title: Songs from the Plays of Shakespeare Author: William Shakespeare, Ernest Rhys (editor) Illustrator: Paul Woodroffe Publisher: The Guild of Women-Binders Date Published: 1901 The Images below all link to the gallery where they are available for free download in many high resolution sizes of JPEG files. YOU spotted snakes, with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms do no wrong, Come not near our fairy Queen! Weaving spiders, come not here; Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence! Beetles black, approach not near; Worm nor snail, do no offence. Philomel, with melody Sing in our sweet lullaby; Lulla, lulla, lullaby, Lulla, lulla, lullaby: Never harm Nor spell nor charm Come our lovely lady nigh: So, ...

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 ...

Joel Tyler Headley is remembered in the annals of Adirondack history, and by book collectors and aficionados, as one of the first writers, if not the first, to draw true, widespread attention to the region. The Adirondack; or Life in the Woods, written after a pair of trips north in the 1840’s, sold well and promoted interest in the Adirondacks as an unspoiled wilderness and a potential health and recreational retreat. Headley’s long career, though, was hardly defined by the book. He went on to work in the New York City newspaper business, he was elected to the assembly, and he served as New York’s Secretary of State for a brief term. His trips, enforced vacations taken soon after his ordination as a Presbyterian minister, were dictated by what was apparently over-work, a mental breakdown, or some similar situation. In his words, an “attack on the brain first drove me from the haunts of men to seek mental repose and physical strength in the woods.” Whatever the reason, the book is seminal. He paints the mountains and the journey in the light of similar European tours historically taken to the Scottish Highlands or the Alps, and helps set the tone ...

Evelyn Paul lived in the late 19th and the early 20th century and worked to beautifully illuminate and illustrate many books. Many had art with Christian themes such as this, but her work was much broader as well. Most if not all of her work was done in the first quarter of the 20th century. Many people feel that she did her best work for the books (such as La Vita Nuova) put out by Harrap. Because the text is available elsewhere, I have not scanned or included that much here. The complete texts and illustrations of this as well as some of the other manuscripts she illuminated are available (off this site) CLICK HERE. I have included two versions of most images. The paper and colors were fairly age toned, so I removed some of this. I tried to fix any color distortion or brightness issues, but I cannot say how well teh touched up images reflect the original state of the illustrations. The only copies I have seen have been similarly ages. Some images, such as the angel from page 115, I have posted in a few versions to reflect the colors brought ...

The University of Oldenburg has digitized and made available a wonderfully extensive collection of old children's books, mostly from the 19th century. I came across the collection a couple of years ago when I was researching an old German children's picture book a colleague had come across. The title was vague enough to begin with, but even with a fairly accurate (if overly literal) translation I could not find any information. Finally I came across the Oldenburg site, and was very pleased with the extent of titles and images available. I found the book, too, one out of about 400 titles they have scanned and posted. Oldenburg's images are not the highest quality. For about 20 euros they will sell you a CD of a title with higher resolution images, which is not a bad deal if you need (or want) them. Most books available for free online will yield usable images of between 800 and 1500 pixels, though, so many people will be perfectly happy with what is available. The images are dirty rough though, and need a lot of cleaning. I here have pulled the images from this 1876 guide ...

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 ...

Based on the journals of Union Army prisoners, this book was published right after the Civil War. It details the harsh conditions and atrocities of prison life in Andersonville, Florence as well as some details of the war in general. It has 13 full page illustrations, all of which have been edited to correct a lot of age toning and a few tears and spots. Title: Life and Death in Rebel Prisons Author: Robert H. Kellogg Artist: Various Publisher: L. Stebbins Date Published: 1867 The full size, high resolution images are all available for free download in the gallery. Each picture below links directly to the page for that image. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="The Midnight Storm: Our Miserable Lodgings"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="127" caption="Andersonville Stockade"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Rebel Mode of Capturing Escaped Prisoners"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Prisoners Receiving Rations"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Hanging Union Prisoners"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Break Away of the Stockade by the Flood"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="130" caption="Plan of Hospital, Andersonville"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Interior View of Hospital"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="118" caption="Plan of Stockade at Florence"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Hanging by the Thumbs"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="View of Libby Prison"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="129" caption="Execution of Captain Wirz"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" ...

Most Libraries have map collections of one sort or another. Some, such as the Library of Congress (LOC), have digitized such a vast number that it seems as though you could never browse through them all. The LOC is also so big as to be unwieldy at times, and they archive their images in an assortment of formats which are sometimes cumbersome to download and convert in to a more easily readable form. Smaller collections such as Michigan State University's are often more focussed, and when you are lucky they even offer good sized images. I say "smaller" when in fact, to quote their website: "The Map Library houses a collection of general and thematic maps and atlases for every area of the world. The collection consists of approximately 212,000 sheet maps, 14,000 folded geologic maps, and 4,000 atlases, gazetteers and other reference aids including wall maps, globes, CDs and Internet-accessible resources. The collection is especially strong in Michigan, United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, and Latin America, though all areas are collected at some level. Specialized collections include 19th-21st century Michigan county atlases and plat books; a small Braille map and atlas collection of U.S. states and ...

I bought this atlas by a mistake (sight unseen). The person selling it claimed it was an atlas from the mid 1800's by Louis-Etienne Dussieux, and I got it at a price I thought was a steal. I found out soon enough that it was in fact a rebound assortment of maps, most of which cam from various editions of Monin's atlas. All but a few appear to be from the 1822 edition, while a few are from the later editions through 1835. One map, of France, was by Dussieux which led to the misidentification. The entire volume was bound up with coarse thread and sewn into a makeshift cover of two tattered boards which may or may not have been original. I did not complain; it was a nice assortment of maps and I eventually ended up selling the collection for more than a fair profit, but not before I scanned the maps. Here they are, 40 out of the 42 that should be here. Some are from a later edition, as I said, and I am not sure what the two missing maps are. It is hard to find references on the atlas. ...

64 illustrations of fish, birds and mammals. I found this tattered and broken book in a lot of old books sorted into moldy and decrepit boxes. The book was not salvageable and many plates were missing, but those remaining were free of any major defects or stains. The illustrations of the fish, birds and mammals are not the best quality, but I was able to get good scans without having to any major editing or restoration, and the range of species was good enough for me to make an album out of it. Title: Five Hundred Fascinating Animal Stories: With Numerous Colored Plates Author: Alfred H. Miles Artist: Various. Publisher: The Christian Herald Date Published: 1895 The images in the gallery are in the order of fish, birds, and then mammals. Below are some representative images, linked to the gallery page where you can download various high resolution sizes at no cost. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Lobster"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Searobin"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Sawfish"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Blowfish"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Moonfish"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Crab"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Eel"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="117" caption="Shaft Tailed Bunting"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="118" caption="Emeu Wren"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="116" caption="Parrot Finch"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="117" caption="Pine Grosbeak"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="125" ...

As with some other images, I was surprised that good quality reproductions of images by Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne) were not more readily available for free. Being public domain and all, and having existed for almost 200 years, one would think they would be easier to find. He illustrated a number of Charles Dickens' works, and although I found some samples on the internet there are few if any complete collections. This is a start, at least. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, AKA The Pickwick Papers, was published serially in 1836-1837, and the first complete edition soon followed. I must confess that I have never read the complete book. The chapters are related, but reflecting their origin the are able to be read and enjoyed individually to a degree. There is a good biography of Phiz at The Victorian Web. These images are from a late 19th century reprint, although there were seemingly hundreds of editions produced from the mid 19th century and on (I'm sure someone has tallied them all). The entire book (an early 20th century edition) is digitized at Google Books HERE. Title: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club Author: Charles Dickens Artist: Phiz Publisher: Chapman and ...

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 ...

This is fairly common but often sought after school book or primer first published in 1832. It is a sequel to "First Book of History, by the Author of Peter Parley's Tales" which was for younger students. It went through at least 30 or 40 editions before 1850, which in this case meant printings, and often there was little to differentiate between editions. These images are from the Eleventh Edition , copyright 1835 and printed in 1836. The text is full of woodcuts or a similar type of engraving. These images are small illustrations primarily showing figures in the national dress of various countries,as well as people from English and British history. The maps are, unfortunately, the weakest part of this book. They are woodcuts or likely some other type of engraving. They are beautifully rendered, but they were bound facing each other with no tissue guards, as this was an inexpensive textbook for children. The result is a great deal of shadowing or bleeding from adjacent maps, resulting in a ghost image on each page. I have not tried to correct for this. A feature I find particularly nice about these maps is the mountains. A light black, the ...