Free Vintage Illustration of a Victorian "Gentleman"

The illustration above is the coarse, comic character Sir Harry of Nonsuch House from the satire Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour, published in 1853. Mr. Sponge was the creation of Robert Smith Surtees, a sportswriter and author who had tried his hand at law before inheriting Hamsterley Hall in Durham and retiring into the life of a "gentleman of leisure."

Free Vintage Illustrations from The World at Home (1868)

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The illustrations here come from a fantastic 1868 book called The World at Home, or Pictures and Scenes from Far-Off Lands, which was illustrated by Mary and Elizabeth Kirby of Things in the Forest fame. I love the attention to detail in the illustrations in this book. You have to click on the header above with the camel caravan; it's gorgeous. And just look at this magnificent engraving of the Aurora Borealis:

It's like the 1868 version of Superman's Fortress of Solitude. There are some spectacular engravings of animals, including this polar bear getting ready for a seal-sized snack:

The authors seemed fascinated by the polar regions, so we also have these illustrations of a seal posing on a rock,

seals and penguins in a landscape dominated by icebergs,

and Eskimos constructing an igloo:

Whale hunts in the Bad Old Days look spectacularly dangerous:

How about some Rider Ducks?

Incidentally, if you Google Rider Duck, you end up with this gem:

I don't think I want to know. Anyway! Back to the illustrations. There are some delightful little sketches at the beginning of most of the chapters. For example, here's a beautifully-decorated capital T from one of the chapter introductions: 

And here's an illustration of two sweet little birds on some foliage, which enhanced another chapter:

Birds are all the rage in illustrations and decorating, and while I love them, every time I see a sparrow-appliqued pillow or robin-print shirt, I giggle because it reminds me of the Portlandia sketch "Put a Bird On It": "What a sad little tote bag. I know - I'll put a bird on it!"

More from this book soon!

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

Serendipity! I posted earlier today about Thackeray illustrating his own work in The Virginians, and then lo, as I was perusing the Webbity, I learned that Similarly Famous Dead British Author T.S. Eliot illustrated one of his works - Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (first published in 1939).  You know, the children's book that the musical Cats is based on? Here's the front, which you can click on to see in greater detail:

And here's the tuchus, which you can also click on for a better gander:

Whimsical, fun stuff. But wait! It gets better. Because the book was reprinted a few times, and the 1982 edition?  Illustrated by Edward Gorey.


This is as big an image as I could get, but clicking on it will take you to the Amazon listing, where you can see some of the illustrations from inside this edition and mebbe buy it, if you likey. I likey.

Free vintage illustration of Thackeray's The Virginians title page

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Today I prettied up the text from the title page of the first edition of William Makepeace Thackeray's The Virginians. Thackeray's novel was illustrated by ... Thackeray! Who doesn't love a multitasker? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to fer-sure find any of Thackeray's illustrations besides the one on the title page; the Gutenberg site has the full text of the novel stripped of images, and the other editions I've seen online don't ID who or where the illustrations are from. Sigh.

Want to read it (for free) on your Kindle? Click on the book below:

  

Free vintage illustration of several dog breeds

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This illustration comes from the front of the 1901 book All About Dogs by Charles Henry Lane. The little fellow on the bottom right is quite a character. The illustrations from the book are by R.H. Moore.

Free vintage illustration of a young married couple reading by candlelight

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In this Victorian-era illustration, a young married couple reads by candlelight while a traveler passes outside their window. I haven't yet been able to locate the source information, but I would guess that this is an illustration from a novel.

Free vintage illustration of foxhound

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The first dog that my husband and I adopted was a foxhound mix, thus my affection for the image above, which is a foxhound named "Marksman" from the 1901 book All About Dogs by Charles Henry Lane. The illustrations from the book are by R.H. Moore.

Free vintage Illustration of Lady Bradshaigh

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For my first free illustration, I've chosen an engraving of Lady Bradshaigh (1705-1785). Isn't she lovely? Lady Bradshaigh, born Dorothy Bellingham, is famous for being the pen-pal and confidante of Samuel Richardson, the author of the first English bestseller, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. Lady Bradshaigh lived a remarkable life, which you can read more about here: Ingilby History Page. The illustration comes from the introduction to the Complete Novels of Samuel Richardson, Volume 1, published in 1902. According to notes from the book, it was "engraved by Caroline Watson from an original portrait (1804)."