Words and Pictures From old Books

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40. Seal of Räum., from The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King (190
2008-03-15 13:57:00
(40.) Raüm. — The Fortieth Spirit is Räum. He is a Great Earl; and appeareth at first in the Form of a Crow, but after the Command of the Exorcist he putteth on Human Shape. His office is to steal Treasures out [of] King ’s Houses, and to carry it whither he is commanded, and to destroy Cities and Dignities of Men, and to tell all things, Past and What Is, and what Will Be; and to cause Love between Friends and Foes. He was of the Order of Thrones. He governeth 30 Legions of Spirits; and his Seal is this, which wear thou as aforesaid.(read more...)
More About: The King

39. Seal of Malphas., from The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King (
2008-03-15 13:56:00
(39.) Malphas. — The Thirty-ninth Spirit is Malphas. He appeareth at first like a Crow, but after he will put on Human Shape at the request of the Exorcist, and speak with a hoarse Voice. He is a Mighty President and Powerful. He can build Houses and High Towers, and can bring to thy Knowledge Enemies’ Desires and Thoughts, and that which they have done. He giveth Good Familiars. If thou makest a Sacrifice unto him he will receive it kindly and willingly, but he will deceive him that [doeth] it. He governeth 40 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is this, etc.(read more...)
More About: The King , King

King Henry VIII Stares Back, from The National and Domestic History of Engl
2008-03-10 11:17:00
A detail from the Portrait of King Henry the 8th, tightly cropped so that it makes a screen background image at an 8:5 aspect ratio. There is also a full-head version.(read more...)
More About: National , History , Domestic , Back

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth, from The National and Domestic History o
2008-03-10 09:38:00
King Henry VIII (Henry 8th) taken from the engraving King Henry VIII and His Six Wives. I have also made two cropped versions available for use as wide-screen (8:5) screen desktop backgrounds (“computer wallpaper”): (1) The head of Henry VIII and (2) Henry The 8th Stares Back.(read more...)
More About: National , History , Domestic , King

Free Wallpaper: The head of Henry VIII, from The National and Domestic Hist
2008-03-10 09:37:00
A detail from the Portrait of King Henry the 8th, scaled and cropped so that it makes a screen background image at an 8:5 aspect ratio. There is also a scarier version.(read more...)
More About: National , Wallpaper , Free , Domestic

Henry VIII and His Six Wives, from The National and Domestic History of Eng
2008-03-09 05:30:00
Anne of Cleves Jane Seymour. Henry VIII. Catherine Howard. Catherine Parr. Anne Boleyn. Catherine of Aragon.(read more...)
More About: National , History , Domestic , Wives

Clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves, from The National and Domes
2008-03-09 05:30:00
A decorative full-page border used to frame an illustration in the book. Twigs and leaves.(read more...)
More About: National , Clip , Leaves , Victorian , The National

Specimen of the Würzburg Missal. Written about 1470 or 1480., from The Nat
2008-03-07 13:31:00
This full-page plate occurs next to the discussion on the invention of printing, and the dramatic effect it to reduce the power of the Church. The plate does not appear to be mentioned in the text. The Würzburg Missal (a prayerbook from the town of Würzburg) is generally dated now to 1495, and was looted from the Fraenkisches Luitpold Museum during the Second World War by German forces. It was recovered in 1953.(read more...)
More About: Written

Builders at Work., from The National and Domestic History of England (1878)
2008-03-07 08:56:00
The view of builders at work, taken from a fifteenth century manuscript, sufficiently explains some of the mechanical appliances then in use. (p. 174) We see builders using a winch and pulley to raise a heavy load; another holds an axe, as if about to cut the rope on the pulley! Another uses calipers or diverders to measure or mark a block.(read more...)
More About: England , National , History , Work , Builders

St. Michael's Mount; , from Castles (1926), added on 5th March 2008
2008-03-05 12:59:00
The westernmost of the castles of the British Isles is in some ways the most interesting and picturesque of them all. Essentially a water-fortress girt round on all sides by a natural moat, it differs from all others because its moat is the ocean. My husband and I visited Saint Michael’s Mount in 2004, and I took some castle pictures(read more...)
More About: March , Castles , March 2008 , 2008

Decorative cip-art Victorian border, Black and White, from The Art of Illum
2008-03-04 13:25:00
This is a version of the red border from Page 27 in black and white (actually grayscale, desaturated and darkened).(read more...)
More About: White , Black , Black and White , Victorian

Decorative cip-art Victorian border, antique brown, from The Art of Illumin
2008-03-04 13:24:00
This is a version of the red border from Page 27 coloured a sepia brown. There are also a green and a black and white version. To make your own coloured version of this old page border, see the notes for the Red and the black-and-white versions.(read more...)
More About: Brown , Antique , Victorian

Decorative cip-art Victorian border, antique green, from The Art of Illumin
2008-03-04 13:24:00
This is a version of the red border from Page 27 coloured green. There are also a brown and a black and white version. To make your own coloured version of this old page border, see the notes for the Red and the black-and-white versions.(read more...)
More About: Green , Antique , Victorian

1423.---Hever Castle. (From an Original Sketch), from Old England: A Picto
2008-03-03 13:02:00
Anne Bullen [Anne Boleyn] behaved throughout the whole affair with the utmost prudence. Shehad determiend to be the king’s wife, not his mistress; and from that determnation ensued events, the importance of which, in relation to the destinies of the country, it is hardly possible to overrate. Hever Castle (Fig. 1423), Kent, was the family residence of the Bullens; and there Anne Bullen chiefly resided during the period in question; and there, according to tradition, the bugle-horn was often heard sounding from the top of a neighbouring hill—Henry’s [Henry VIII’s] announcement to his lady-love of his approach. A regular correspondence by letter was also kept up; ans some of the king’s epistles are still preserved in the library of the Vatican.(read more...)
More About: England , Original , Sketch

1377.---Whitsun Morris-Dance., from Old England: A Pictorial Museum (1845),
2008-03-01 11:33:00
Whitsunday, or Whitsun, is the seventh Sunday after Easter, and is a time for a holiday. The Morris -dance was originally a Moorish dance. These days it involves men with white socks (always a bad start) and bells on their wrists and ankles, and lots of beer. There are also Morris dances on May Day. I made a lot of sizes of this image for use as computer Wallpaper.(read more...)
More About: England , Dance , Pictorial , Museum

173.---The South Front., from English Homes Vol III no. 1, Late Tudor (1922
2008-02-29 04:24:00
Benthall Hall, North Shropshire. There were de Benthalls in 1120, and when, two centuries later, a Burnell of Acton Burnell marred their heiress he took her name as well as her property. Their descendants built the present house in the latter part of the sixteenth century. ... The general appearance and the details consort exactly with what we should expect in a house built in 1583. I have included many difference versions of this English manor-house picture, some slightly cropped so that they will work as screen backgrounds.(read more...)
More About: South , Homes , Front , Late

Chapter Heading Woodcut Featuring Soldiers on Horesback with Spears, from A
2008-02-28 11:24:00
A decorative woodcut from above the section entitled Proverbs and Proverbial Observsations cocerning Husbandry, Weather, and the Seasons of the Year. It is not related to the text. The engraving features a battle of warriors or soldiers with spears and shields. I suspect it is based on the carved side of an ancient Hellenistic (Greek) sarcophagus thought to depict ALexander the Great, but I am not certain.(read more...)
More About: Soldiers , Spears , Chapter , Featuring , Heading

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 2: Eleusius, from The History of Ornament: D
2008-02-27 03:09:00
One corner of a mosaic floor, with a border of interlocking circles. It might make an interesting design element in a Web page or scrap book, perhaps faded out to one corner, or completed to make a full border. Figs. 2, 10 and 11. Marble mosaics (floors) from Eleusis (Poppe).(read more...)
More About: History , Greek , Ancient , Ornament

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia - full-page border/decorative fra
2008-02-26 13:21:00
I made this decorative border, or full-page frame, gold on a black background, from one corner, for use in scrapbooking, Web design, or general publishing.(read more...)
More About: Greek , Page , Full , Marble , Ancient

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 9: Hexagons, from The History of Ornament: D
2008-02-26 13:21:00
Figs. 3 – 9. Fragments of floors from Sicily, partly in the Museum of the Court of Biscari (Hittorf, Restitution du temple d’Empédocle).(read more...)
More About: History , Greek , Marble , Ancient , Ornament

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia, from The History of Ornament: De
2008-02-26 13:20:00
One corner of a gold-on-black border for a mural, with urns and pineapples.(read more...)
More About: History , Greek , Marble , Ancient , Olympia

Clip-art; calligraphic decorative initial capital letter L from Plate 65, f
2008-02-24 07:53:00
A detail from Plate 65 with just the decorative initial letter L. I also made a sample Web page using the decorative initial so you can get an idea of how to use it with HTML and CSS.(read more...)
More About: Letter , Clip , Capital

Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire (Wide-screen background version), from Old Engl
2008-02-19 06:32:00
A version of Wilfrid Ball’s painting of a thatched house in the English village of Long Wittenham made to fit a wide-screen or high-definition screen, for use as a wallpaper or desktop background image.(read more...)
More About: Screen , Wide , Background , Version

Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire., from Old English Country Cottages (1906), add
2008-02-19 06:25:00
From a water-colour by Wilfrid Ball, R.E.(read more...)
More About: Country , English , Long , Ages

Well Bucket Ornament, Coloured, from Old English Country Cottages (1906), a
2008-02-18 13:53:00
A coloured version of the well-bucket typographic ornament that I made as an example.(read more...)
More About: Country , English , Ornament , Ages

Decorative element: overgrown well bucket, from Old English Country Cottage
2008-02-18 13:53:00
A woodcut of a well bucket with rope and overgrown winch, used at the end of a chapter. You could also see a letter “A” in it, so I have also marked it as a decorative initial A. I coloured it for you too, as an example of what you could do with it; see that here.(read more...)
More About: Country , English , Cottage , Element

Fort Dufferin and the moat, Mandalay, from Travels In The Far East (1909),
2008-02-17 10:59:00
Mandalay was the capital of Burma until the British captured the country in 1885. After that, the headquarters of the region were based here, in Fort Dufferin. Today Mandalay is one of the largest cities in Myanmar. It sits on the River Irrawaddy.(read more...)
More About: Travels , East

Plate 85b.---Fifteenth Century No. 15 (Borders), from The Art of Illuminati
2008-02-13 03:15:00
Various borders and corners from a Book of Hours from the 15th century. I have scanned it in two parts; this is part two (part one is not yet online). I have separated out some of the elements and cleaned them up a little more. British Museum. Hal. 2,900. Horæ B. Mariæ Virginis.(read more...)
More About: Illuminati , Borders , Century

Horizontal border with flowers, Item 15 from Plate 85, from The Art of Illu
2008-02-13 03:13:00
Fifteenth century horizontal floral border from Plate 85. I have edited it a little so that it more or less joins on to itself, to make a longer line.(read more...)
More About: Flowers , Item

Border with corner, Item 17 from Plate 85, from The Art of Illuminating As
2008-02-13 03:13:00
Fifteenth century vertical floral border with corner and horizontal segment, from Plate 85.(read more...)
More About: Item , Corner , Illuminating