Alpha Portland Cement Company Blueprints and Concrete Plans These came in a folder that I found in an old box of maps and blueprints from an architect's estate.  Although not a book, they are in the public domain and interesting so I thought I would post some crude copies. I have not edited them or cleaned them up, and there is some loss to the margins on most of them because they were a bit too large for a scanner.   The actual plans are almost all there, though.  I figure anyone who is interested can clean them up after download if need be (although they are perfectly usable as they are now).   I have posted them at very high resolution (about 6500 by 4500 pixels) to preserve details and lettering. I gather this series, all from 1910-1920, was an effort by the Alpha Portland Cement Company to promote the use of concrete and cement in building.   I think I have almost a complete set here, but I have no definitive reference as to what plans were included. As always, these high resolution JPEG  images are all free of charge and ready to be downloaded one at a time or in bulk via a ...

Collected from my own atlases and maps, others that have been shared with me, and from various online collections, these are available together in one album for ease of browsing and comparison, both here and at Alamy.  Most original scans are in TIFF or other archival format, and I have cleaned them up extensively and converted them for easy use into JPEG format. The images here on OBA are free and sufficient for most web purposes.  To license much larger images of these and/or similar world maps for editorial or other purposes go to:  www.alamy.com/lbx.asp?1087656 Each map image below leads to the OBA gallery page for that map.  The main OBA album is HERE. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200"] Oronce Fine, 1531, Noua, et Integra Uniuersi Orbis Descriptio[/caption] A very interesting double hemisphere with polar projections. Terra Australis dominates the south pole, while the Americas are very undefined. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200"] Fernando Bertelli, 1565, Universale Descrittione di Tutta la Terra Conosciuta Fin Qui[/caption] Two wind heads adorn the upper corners. The continental edges are jagged and undefined, and North America is shown as almost wholly contiguous with Asia. Sea monsters and ships roam the oceans. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200"] Jodocus Hondius, 1595, Vera Totius Expeditionis Nauticæ, With ...

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 ...

This title is quite scarce, if not actually rare, at least in English. First published in Europe in the 1840's, these woodcut images were scanned from the 1845 American edition, likely the first edition in the U.S. but I am not sure. I am also unsure if these are all the images, as the book was damaged and missing few leaves of text. It did not look as though any illustration pages were missing, but the only bibliographic references I found were sketchy so it is hard to tell. In the preface the translator writes "The following graphic and authentic descriptions of the incredible barbarities and wickedness of the Spanish Inquisition is written by a Roman Catholic. Whilst many of the characters who figure in the following story are fictitious, the author has adhered closely to facts in every thing relating to the usages of the horrid tribunal which he describes. The portrait of the monster is exact, but the drapery is artificial. The immense popularity of the work on the continent of Europe will surprise no one who peruses its pages. They present unquestionably the most thrilling exhibition of the atrocious wickedness of the Inquisition any where recorded, and this ...

This edition from 1921 is the first American edition, I believe. The plates are identical or very similar to the originals. The image titles and quotes are verbatim from the tissue guards. (The quotations are themselves text excerpts.) It is sometimes hard to determine how extensively to edit my images. The toning and loss of color over decades or centuries will almost always have some effect, but in many cases this actually looks very nice and is what some people either want or expect. Depending on your tastes and the use you have for the image, the aged affect is often preferable. Nevertheless, I have often removed to age toning and brightened the colors, as the cleaner image is a lot fresher, often more useful for certain applications, and will in a lot of cases actually be closer to what the artist intended. I will not pretend to know what Detmold intended, let alone what the color was like at the time of printing, but I here offer  the images in both forms.  The whiter, brighter images are very nice, even if not accurate restorations. The Gallery has links to all the plates, both edited and as scanned.   The images below link ...

This is a collection of images shared with me by the man who scanned them from various antique bibles and other old books, including:  Mathematical Astronomy by C.W.C. Barlow & G.H. Bryan (1893); Dawn of Astronomy by Sir Norman Lockyer (late 1800's); Baedeker's Palestine and Syria (1912); An Illustrated History of the Holy Bible, published by Henry Bill (1871); and The Holy Bible, published by John E. Potter and Company (late 1800's). Rather than being organized by the book they come from, they are roughly organized by subject. This is because they were given to me this way by the person who scanned them, William Struse, and I have kept his organization. The images are all public domain and he shared them with me with the understanding they would be offered for free here. He has only thumbnails on his site, and this was an easy way for him to share the larger images with a broader audience.  The maximum size of each image varies greatly.  I have edited them extensively to clean up the dirt and shadows and to darken, brighten, and otherwise enhance the lines.  A lot of text shows through from the obverse side of the leaves, but ...

Here is another from the Lloyd's Natural History series, published in the late 19th century.  This title has 38 plates, representing only a small part of the information in the volume  (Most volumes, olumes, covering almost the entire animal kingdom, had 30 or more color plates, about 5 by 7 inches.) As with other Lloyd titles, this book can be found, usually for under $200. The plates being intact make it desirable. The Gallery has links to all the plates, both with and without the captions.   The images below link to the individual image pages where they are available for download in various sizes for free. Title: Lloyd's Natural History. A Hand-Book to the Marsupialia and Monotremata Author: Richard Lydekker, B.A, F.R.S., Vice-President of the Geological Society, etc.,etc.,etc. Artist: Various. Publisher: Edward Lloyd Date Published: 1896 [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Great Grey Kangaroo, Macropus giganteus"][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Black-Tailed Wallaby, Macropus ualabutus "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Red-Necked Wallaby Macropus ruficollis "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Parry's Wallaby, Macropus parryi "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Dama Wallaby, Macropus eugenii "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Brush-Tailed Rock-Wallaby Petrogale pencillata "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="143" caption="Queensland Tree-Kangaroo, Dorcopsis lumholtzi "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="Common Rat-Kangaroo, Potorous tridaclylus "][/caption] [caption ...

One of the most popular poems of the 19th century, and reputedly a favorite of Queen Victoria, this work has fallen into relative obscurity. It went through countless editions, and this edition is notable for its many engravings. Thorpe wrote this verse in trochaic heptameter, which has a very classic and dramatic cadence. I have included the entire text of the poem below the last image.  I have scanned about 20 or 25 images in total from this book.  Some samples are shown below.  All of the images are available in this book's album in the Gallery. Title: Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight Author: Rosa Hartwick Thorpe Artist: F. T. Merrill and E. H. Garrett; Drawn and Engraved under the supervision of George T. Andrew Publisher: Lee and Shepard Date Published: 1882 Click an image to go directly to that picture's page in the gallery album. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="192" caption="Cover Detail. Close up of the bell, with its rope, clapper and a decorative edging. "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="147" caption="Frontispiece. The young woman Bessie dressed in fine clothes and jewels, bordered by cherubs and angels. "][/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200" caption=""With its walls so tall and gloomy" The prison tower set against the darkening sky. "][/caption] [caption ...

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. ...

It may seem rather monomaniacal to scan so many maps and battle plans, especially as they are not in and of themselves especially significant or noteworthy.  I like this old school atlas, though, and although they plates may be simplistic, I enjoy the quick overview of 1500 years of English history provided by the set as a whole. There is no text at all in this book other than a 2 page preface and a list of maps and plans.  The plates are printed single sided, so the quality is very good and there is no bleeding or show-through from other maps.  Flip through the pages, and you get a sense of the ebb and flow of English and British power and empire up until the end of the Victorian era. I have placed some representative images below, all linked to the GALLERY.  The full list is viewable there.   Complete title list is at bottom of this post. Title: A School Atlas of English History - A Companion Atlas to "The Student's History of England" Author: Samuel Rawson Gardiner, M.A., LL.D. Artist: unattributed Publisher: Longmans, Green, and CO. Date Published: 1892 Click a thumbnail to visit the gallery page for the image where it can be downloaded in ...

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" ...

Friendship's Offering was an annual anthology that appeared for at least a few decades in the mid 19th century, starting in the early 1820's.   Regular contributors and editors over the years included Mary Shelley, M. A. Browne, Mary Roberts, Alicia Jane Sparrow, Grace Aguilar and others who wrote either under their own name or anonymously.   Often, instead of by name authors were identified as "Author of 'Reveries of the Sanctum'" or some other piece. At some point, John Sartain started contributing illustrations, often engravings of famous works by classical artists (sculptors, painters, etc.).  Sartain was a pioneer of American engraving, influencing almost all who came after him.  He introduced the use of mezzotints in America, and I am fairly sure the engravings in this book are in that style.  If not, they are closely related. Some editions are available, complete with low quality Sartain plates, at Google Books. The 1852 edition is HERE.  The 1855 edition HERE. Title:  Friendship's Offering, A Christmas, New Year, and Birthday Present for MDCCCXLVIII Author:  Miss M. A. Browne, Mrs. Abdy, Calder Campbell, Esq., Anonymous, Miss Louisa H. Sheridan, N. Michell, Esq., Miss M. G. Wells, Lord Morpeth, E. Scaife, THe Hon. Charles Phipps, Fay Robinson, Mrs. Sutton. Artist: ...

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 ...