Free Vintage Illustrations from The World at Home (1868)

Click on any of the images to view and download the full-size version

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!

I made you bookplates! Plus, free vintage illustration of herons on cedar branches in a swamp

Click on the image above to view and download the full-size version

Today's contribution is an illustration titled "Herons on the Tree Tops" from the 1869 book The World at Home, or Pictures and Scenes from Far-Off Lands. This is such a richly detailed illustration, and I spruced it up and saved it with a large file size so that you can use it in a variety of projects. I think you could make some amazing crafts with this. I created a "This book belongs to" bookplate from it using the common font ENGRAVERS MT. Download a page of these free bookplates by clicking here for a Microsoft Word .docx file or here for an Adobe Reader .pdf file.      

If you'd rather have the file so that you can add your name digitally, you can download the image for the free bookplate in its largest size here:

Or in the more typical 4" x 3" size here: