Words and Pictures From old Books

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The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, from Astrology (1806), added on 28th Sept 2
2007-09-28 11:49:00
This image is taken from a table in the book; the images are repeated at the head and foot, and in fact differ very slightly in each place. I do not know whether they are made from type or, as seems more likely, the whole page is an engraving. I scanned the table heading at 3200 pixels per inch, so that the resulting images are large. I also made separate images for the individual icons: Aries (the ram) Taurus (the bull) Gemini (the twins) Cancer (the crab) Leo (the lion) Virgo (the virgin) Libra (the scales) Scorpio (the scorpion) Sagittarius (the archer, or centaur) Capricorn (the goat) Aquarius (the water-carrier) Pisces (the fish, or fishes)(read more...)
More About: Astrology , Signs , Twelve , Zodiac , Sept

Scorpio (the Scorpion), from Astrology (1806), added on 28th Sept 2007
2007-09-28 11:48:00
Zodiac sign for Scorpio taken from The Zodiac(read more...)
More About: Astrology , Sept , Astrolog , Rolo

Osney Abbey, from The Life Of Anthony à Wood (1772), added on 27th Sept 200
2007-09-27 08:59:00
This woodcut is taken from a sketch that Thomas Hearne made of Osney Abbey and published in the Rextus Roffensis in 1720; it is reproduced in this book from 1772, along with the accompanying text which presumably is also from around 1772, and starts on page 135 of Volume I:(read more...)
More About: Life , Wood , Anthony , Sept

Front Cover, from The Life Of Anthony à Wood (1772), added on 27th Sept 200
2007-09-27 08:58:00
The book is bound in tooled leather, with marbled edges to the paper. The binding is the same on both volumes.(read more...)
More About: Life , Wood , Cover , Front , Anthony

Another antique brass engraving of a Hippopotamus, from A description of th
2007-09-26 12:15:00
See hippopotamus picture for more details.(read more...)
More About: Brass , Antique , Description , Ravi , Ravin

Antique engraving of a hippopotamus, from A description of the nature of fo
2007-09-26 12:14:00
This rather unlikely picture of a hippopotamus was engraved on brass and included in the 1678 edition of this book. The description in the book, which I have transcribed here, mentions that the hippopotamus’ teeth are so sharp that they send forth sparks; that the hippopotamus walked backwards so as to annoy hunters; and that they were not certain whether it neighed like a horse! I have added some paragraph breaks in the text that follows, for readability.(read more...)
More About: Nature , Antique , Description , Ravi , Ravin

Frontispiece 3: Capt. E. J. Smith, from Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic (1
2007-09-24 13:31:00
Photo Underwood & Underwood [Captain] E. J. Smith The Commander of the Titanic , who went down with his ship.(read more...)
More About: Wreck

Title Page, from Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic (1912), added on 24th Sep
2007-09-24 13:31:00
Wreck and Sinking of the TITANIC The Ocean’s Greatest Disaster A Graphic and Thrilling Account of the Sinking of the greatest Floating Palace ever built, carrying down to watery graves more than 1,500 souls. Giving Exciting Escapes from death and acts of heroism not equalled in ancient or modern times. told by THE SURVIVOES Including History of Icebergs, the Terror of the Seas; Wireless Telegraphy and Modern Shipbuilding Edited by Marshall Everett The Great Descriptive Writer illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings made expressly for this book(read more...)
More About: Page , Title , Titanic , Wreck

Frontispiece 1: A Titan of the polar sea lazily drifting with the current,
2007-09-24 13:30:00
Illustration News Service A photograph of an iceberg; it is not, I think, the one that sunk the Titan ic; there is a photograph of that iceberg elsewhere in the book.(read more...)
More About: Current , Drifting , Polar , Drift

Frontispiece 2: Grand Dining Saloon---S.S. Titanic., from Wreck and Sinking
2007-09-24 13:30:00
A photograph of the interior of the original Titanic itself; the dining room.(read more...)
More About: Saloon , Grand , Dining , Dini

air (a), from Universal Etymological Dictionary (1726), added on 24th Sept
2007-09-24 05:29:00
Air [in Chymical Writers] is expressed by one of these Characters... This is one of the chemical (or alchemical) symbols for air; see also the next image. See also Air in the dictionary itself.(read more...)
More About: Universal , Dictionary , Sept , Logical , Logi

air (b), from Universal Etymological Dictionary (1726), added on 24th Sept
2007-09-24 05:29:00
Air [in Chymical Writers] is expressed by one of these Characters... This is one of the chemical (or alchemical) symbols for air; see also the next image. See also Air in the dictionary itself.(read more...)
More About: Universal , Dictionary , Sept , Logical , Logi

The gentleman offered his services, took her up in his arms, and carried he
2007-09-24 03:27:00
A gentleman carrying a gun, with two pointers [dogs] playing round him, was passing up the hill and within a few yards of Marianne, when her accident happened. He put down his gun and ran to her assistance. She had raised herself from the ground, but her foot had been twisted in the fall, and she was scarcely able to stand. The gentleman offered his services, and perceiving that her modesty declined what her situation rendered necessary, took her up in his arms without farther delay, and carried her down the hill. Then passing through the garden, the gate of which had been left open by Margaret, he bore her directly into the house, whither Margaret was just arrived, and quitted not his hold till he had seated her in a chair in the parlour. (Sense and Sensibility chap. 9) link to original scan(read more...)
More About: Services , Arms , Gentleman , Carrie , Gentle

To take three thousand pounds from the fortune of their dear little boy wou
2007-09-23 14:32:00
Mrs. John Dashwood did not at all approve of what her husband intended to do for his sisters. To take three thousand pounds from the fortune of their dear little boy would be impoverishing him to the most dreadful degree. She begged him to think again on the subject. How could he answer it to himself to rob his child, and his only child too, of so large a sum? And what possible claim could the Miss Dashwoods, who were related to him only by half blood, which she considered as no relationship at all, have on his generosity to so large an amount. It was very well known that no affection was ever supposed to exist between the children of any man by different marriages; and why was he to ruin himself, and their poor little Harry, by giving away all his money to his half sisters? (Sense and Sensibility chap. 2) link to original scan(read more...)
More About: Fortune , Thousand , Litt , The Fort

Hour Glass, from Curiosities of the Church: Studies of Curious Customs, Ser
2007-09-21 13:51:00
“Of the few remaining specimens of the hour-glass, a fine one is preserved in the church of St. Alban’s, Wood Street, London. It is mounted on a spiral column near the pulpit, and the minister can conveniently reach it when preaching. The frame is brass gilt, the design chaste, and the workmanshipp of a superior order. It is pleasing to learn that the old relic is guarded with zealous care. This curiosity of the olden days attracts much attention from visitors to the church.” (p. 117) Hour glasses (giant egg-timers with sand in them) were used in churches to time the length of the sermon; long sermons were especially popular in the 17th century, and could easily stretch ot three hours or more.(read more...)
More About: Church , Studies , Curious , Glass , The Church

Side Lever Engine, from Steam and the Steam Engine (1880), added on 20th Se
2007-09-20 12:12:00
This is a steam engine for driving a ship (a paddle-boat in fact) taken from the Marine Engine s chapter: 87. The Side Lever Engines.—The first engine employed to drive the paddle wheel was a side lever, in which the ordinary beam pumping engine was modified to obtain the requisite rotary motion, and the beam placed by the side of the cylinder, condenser, etc., to stow it into as compact a space as possible. In the original side lever the end A of the beam AB was worked up and down on its centre C by the side rods AD, while to the end B was attached the connecting rod working the crank above. Our figure is a new arrangment of this engine, Cy is the cylinder, in which the piston is shown by dotted lines, the piston-rod is immediately behind AD, and now shown. As the piston moves up or down, the end of the cross head at D lifts and turns it on its centre B; as it reciprocates on its centre B, the connecting rod CR turns the crank RS, which carries with it the paddle shaft S. ...
More About: Steam

Berkeley Castle, from In Unfamiliar England (1910), added on 18th Sept 2007
2007-09-18 03:19:00
“There are few English castles where the spirit of medievalism lingers as at Berkeley and few that have darker deeds recorded in their long annals of crime. ... The castle, grim, many-towered, ivy-clad, the very embodiment of the days of chivalry, still lingers in memory, with nothing to disenchant its mystery and romance.” (p. 86) The castle has been lived in by the same family for over 900 years. Berkeley Castle home page(read more...)
More About: England , Sept , Kele

Gothic Chapter Head: Mediaeval Birds, from Architecture: Gothic and Renaiss
2007-09-17 14:42:00
A decorative element (a typographic ornament, or part of a border) at the head of the first chapter (the glossary) features mediaeval (medieval) bird designs.(read more...)
More About: Architecture , Birds , Head , Gothic , Chapter

Emblem 2. Sin brings forth death., from Emblems Divine and Moral (1866), a
2007-09-16 03:05:00
In the background, a face of a storm-god blows a wind and makes a sailing ship race atop a giant wave; lightning and rain are in the background, and a building burns. In the foreground stands a naked man with a conveniently placed and eminently suitable cock’s head obscuring part of his anatomy. He holds an apple: he is Adam. In front of him a giant sphere with a cross on top of it; emenating from the sphere are the heads of various animals, including dogs, and also I think a human death mask. it is the corrupted womb of Eve. A caption beneath the woodcut reads: Si malum cecuit unicium in omne malum Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death., James i. 15. “Lament, lament; look, look, what thou hast done: Lament the world’s, lament thine own estate: Look, look, by doing, how thou art undone; Lament thy fall, lament thy change of state: They faith is broken, and they freedom gone, See, see...
More About: Death , Divine , Moral , Mora , Forth

Emblem 1. Serpent. Eve., from Emblems Divine and Moral (1866), added on 16t
2007-09-16 03:05:00
This woodcut shows a naked woman (the Biblical Eve) near an apple tree; a snake or serpent coils round the trunk of the tree. In the background ar a palm tree, a camel, and, in the far distance, a man whom we make take to be Adam. A caption beneath the woodcut reads: Totus mundus in maligno (maliligno) positus est. Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed—James i. 14. “Not eat? not taste? not touch? nor cast an eye Upon the fruit of this fair tree? and why? Why eat’st thou not what Heav’n ordained for food? Or canst thou think that bad which Heav’n call’d good? Why was it made, if not to be enjoy’s? beglect of favours makes a favour void: Blessings unus’d, pervert into a waste As well as surfeits: woman, do but taste:” (p. 4)(read more...)
More About: Divine , Moral , Mora

The Invocation., from Emblems Divine and Moral (1866), added on 16th Sept 2
2007-09-16 03:04:00
The illustration for “The Invocation ” at the start of the first book shows a person lying on the ground resting against a tree, barefoot, with a lute on the ground nearby, and an heraldic shield hung over another tree, together with a laurel wreath. The sun’s rays shine down. From the person’s mouth come the words, in Latin, Majora Canamus, which is, Let us sing of great things. On the right are the Latin words Vix ea nostra, an allusion to Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Nam genus, et proavos, et quæ non fecimus ipsi, Vix ea nostra voco which is, Birth and ancestry, and that which we have not ourselves achieved, we can scarcely call our own. “Rouse thee, my soul; and drain thee from the dregs Of vulgar thoughts; screw up the heighten’d pegs [Of] thy sublime Theorbo four notes high’r, And high’r yet, that so the shrill-mouth’d quire [choir] Of swift-wing’d seraphims may come and join, And make the concert more ...
More About: Divine , Sept , Moral , Mora

Title Page Detail: Francis Quarles, from Emblems Divine and Moral (1866), a
2007-09-16 03:04:00
A supposed portrait of the author, Francis Quarles, taken from the title page. He is shown with a goatee, and holding a book.(read more...)
More About: Page , Title , Divine , Moral , Tail

53.30.---iris or square-ended clover decoration, from Ornamental Alphabets,
2007-09-14 08:10:00
Either three petals and a stamen, like a lilly or iris, or perhaps three leaves, like clover; this is a 19ch century redrawing of a mediæval decoration from an illuminated manuscript. This image is taken from plate 53.(read more...)
More About: Decoration , Iris , Ornament , Amen , Square

Green and Gold books on polished wood, from Pictures of old books (2003), a
2007-09-12 13:56:00
A row of old books, green, with gold decoration and lettering on their spines, arranged in a row on the top of a polished wooden surface.(read more...)
More About: Pictures , Books , Gold , Green , Wood

1372.---Caxton. With Paper Marks., from Old England: A Pictorial Museum (18
2007-09-11 04:08:00
“The famous mercer, William Caxton (Fig. 1372), came back to England with those few,and simple, and rude implements which had cost him so much wealth, labour, time, and anxiety to obtain; and then, from the precincts of Westminster Abbey, speedily issued the art of printing. And certainly it is an extraordinary fact, that the power that wass to destroy the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church, with all those rank abuses which a gentler mode of treatment might have failed to remove, should have issued as it were from its own boso; and one calculated to enhance our estimation of that church; for, of all the services rendered by it to humanity—and who can doubt but that these were many and momentous?—none can be compared with that which we owe to it, in connection with the most magical of all arts and instruments—printing and the press. Caxton—a name ever to be revered by all who have faith in and a yearning for the progress of mankind, which he, in...
More About: Pictorial , Museum , Paper , Marks

Nativity Chart for Philip Melancthon, from Astrology (1806), added on 8th S
2007-09-08 03:11:00
Melancthon taught philosophy at Wittenberg University in the 16th century; he was a contemporary of Martin Luther, and in fact taught him the Greek language. He was one of the leaders of the early Protestant movement. Nascit Philip Melancthon. Born Feby. 16. 7H. 6m. P.M. 1497. From Origanus.(read more...)
More About: Astrology , Chart , Ology , Astrolog , Char

189.---Arms and Costume of a Saxon Military Chief., from Old England: A Pic
2007-09-07 05:31:00
The man in the figure is a Saxon soldier. In one hand he holds up a bowl. In the other he holds his spear and shield. He wears a billowing cloak and either boots or shoes with leggings that leave his knees exposed. He has a helmet with a crest.. In the background is a sailing ship and also a stone monument, perhaps out of scale. [this figure does not appear to be mentioned in the text.](read more...)
More About: England , Military , Chief , Costume , Arms

51.---16th Century, from Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval (1879),
2007-09-06 13:22:00
A set of decorative initial letters from the sixteenth century; it is missing “J” “O” “W” “X” and “Z” so that there are only 21 letters here. They have an appealing playfulness: A has a bird biting a moth; B has a king and a grotesque figure; C has a boar with a bird on its back; D has a log file; E has a dragon with wings and a forked tongue; F has a flower (a Tudor Rose, perhaps) and a bird; G has a dog; H has an archer or a person walking with a stick; I has a dog biting a bone and also a lizard; K has faces sticking out tongues; L has a painter or writer licking a pencil; M has a lion and a thistle; N has a fish wearing a crown and a scarf; P has a pelican; Q has perhaps a peacock; R has a dog catching and eating a rat, or maybe a salamander; S has a king as a dinosaur; T has two phoenixes; V has a jester, I think; U has a sun; Y has maybe a tiny dancing dinosaur. This is not a good scan; I plan to replace it...
More About: Ancient , Ornament , Century , Amen

Queen Mab, from Gallery: What people did with the images (2004), added on 6
2007-09-06 06:02:00
A version of Queen Mab from Edgar’s Treasury of Verse, coloured by Liam Quin. You can use this as a stock image as long as you link back here and also send me a copy (or URL) of anything you do with it; I also made the GIMP xcf file available, with all the layers and in a much, much larger size (and no before you ask, I do not expect it to open in PhotoShop).(read more...)
More About: People , Images , Gallery , Ages

Queen Mab, from A Treasury of Verse for Little Children (1923), added on 5t
2007-09-05 08:49:00
Queen Mab is a fairy with butterfly wings who brings dreams to people. She was described by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet I also made a version of Queen Mab with no words, and I also coloured in the lines to make a pretty fairy.(read more...)
More About: Children , Queen , Verse , Litt , Treasury