Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

Visit the full list of Recently added images and of the most popular images.

Borders and Initials

• Decorative Initials and Drop Caps: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T Th U V W X Y Z

• See all initials, or all alphabets, or the Decorative borders and frames

Holiday Images

• Spooky Halloween pictures

• Romantic Valentine's pictures

• Thanksgiving pictures

• Christmas pictures (Noel/Nöel/Xmas/Yuletide)

• Easter pictures

Curious Old Texts, Slang and Dictionaries

• A Provincial Dictionary by Francis Grose (1790); 66 regional proverbs.
• Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer (1894); over 17,000 entries! New 2008-02-15.
• Smiley's Recipe and Housekeeping Guide, historical recipes transcribed and annotated by CatamountClyde Studios.
• Canting Dictionary by Nathan Bailey (1736), a dictionary of the slang of the underworld, of thieves, gypsies and vagrants. Text complete
• Dictionary of the Canting Tongue by Francis Grose (1811)
• Musa Pedestris: Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536-1896] edited by John S. Farmer, 1896.
• The Nuttall Encyclpædia, by the Rev. James Wood (1907) (over 14,000 entries)
• Oratio Dominica, or, The Lord’s Prayer in over a hundred Languages, Versions and Characters (Scripts) by Dan Brown (1713). I have scanned every page, and also an insert folded in the back, so this book is complete.
• Dictionary of Proverbs by Nathan Bailey, 1721. The whole book in text and images (complete)
• The Grammar of Heraldry, by Samuel Kent 1718. I have typed the first chapter on how to Blazon, etc., and will do more if requested.
• Universal Etymological English Dictionary, edited by Nathan Bailey, 1736. A little under 500 entries, but very incomplete; this is a transcription I started in 1991. It is a different book than the dictionary containing the Canting Dictionary.
• The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary edited by Thomas Hearne, 1745. 122 page images including cover and title page; I have started to transcribe names that appear in the text.

• More wonderful old texts at words.fromoldbooks.org

The Pictures: Woodcuts, Engravings & Clip art

• See the list of books from which the images were scanned...

• The list of books together with some sample images from each one

Pictures of Old Books

• Pictures of some of the old books used to make this Web site

• Pictures of books