January122013

“The Tune of Seven Towers” from “Pre-Raphaelite Ballads” by William Morris, illust. H.M. O’Kane
(Click for the complete book, via archive.org)

william morris pre-raphaelite pre-raphaelites art book design h.m. o'kane books poetry ballads illustration

September162012

“A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder” (1888) illustrations by Gilbert Gaul (source)

art illustration books lost world 1800s illustrations vintage vintage illustrations

August292012

by Walter Crane

walter crane illustration books fairy tales art

August202012

Daisy Ashford, full name Margaret Mary Julia Ashford, later Devlin (7 April 1881 – 15 January 1972) was an English writer who is most famous for writing The Young Visiters, a novella concerning the upper class society of late 19th century England, when she was just nine years old. The novella was published in 1919, preserving her juvenile spelling and punctuation. She wrote the title as “Viseters” in her manuscript, but it was published as “Visiters”.

Read the whole book here

books daisy ashford the young visiters lol victorian vintage children

4PM

Wonderful Prodigies of Judgement and Mercy

“The text of this book seems to be available online at Cornell University as text and black-and-white scans. Robert Burton also wroteThe Anatomy of Melancholy, of which Project Gutenberg has made a text edition.”

(source)

Very Gorey-esque.

Wonderful Prodigies of Judgement and Mercy anatomy of melancholy book illustration books cautionary tales from old books illustration robert burton the anatomy of melancholy vintage edward gorey

August172012

“Snow White” illustrations by Charles B. Falls, 1913
View the complete book here

art books brothers grimm dwarfs fairy tales illustration snow white snow white and the seven dwarfs mirror mirror snow white and the huntsman

August162012

art fairy tales books vintage illustration

August122012

The complete illustrated book is online here

walter crane fairy tales books illustration art brothers grimm

May112012

German Romance Vol. 1: Musäus, de la Motte Fouque, and Ludwig Tieck: http://archive.org/stream/germanromance01carl#page/n5/mode/2up Vol. 2: E.T.A. Hoffmann and Jean Paul Richter: http://archive.org/stream/germanromance02carl#page/n9/mode/2up

books de la motte fouque e.t.a. hoffmann jean paul richter literature ludwig tieck thomas carlyle musaeus

May102012

“The King of the Golden River”: classic Victorian fairy tale by John Ruskin (the famous art critic), illustrated by Richard Doyle.

Full text with pictures: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33673/33673-h/33673-h.htm

books stories fairy tales kunstmaerchen john ruskin richard doyle illustration fantasy literature victorian

May32012

Frontispiece to Vol. III of the “Soul of Things; or, Psychometric Researches and Discoveries” by William Denton, Boston: 1874.

A book that came into my possession under mysterious circumstances. It’s a fascinating volume, I may scan more from it in the future if anyone’s interested (there’s a copy on the Internet Archive, but it’s missing its illustrations).

For more info, check out “Nature’s Secrets: or, Psychometric Researches”, also by Mr. Denton, London: 1863.

books psychometrics

1PM

Konrad Gesner’s Historiae animalium c. 1551-1587.

“It is the first modern zoological work that attempts to describe all the animals known, and the first bibliography of natural history writings.” - Wikipedia

Flip through the book here:http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/ttp/flash/gesner/gesner.html

I especially like the Scandinavian sea monsters a la Olaus Magnus.

books animals bestiary

April252012

geisterseher:

The fairiest, or, Surprising and entertaining adventures of the aerial beings : in which are related several uncommon tales wonderful stories curious accidents strange metamorphoses dangerous escapes and happy conclusions : the whole selected to amuse and improve juvenile minds (1795)

http://archive.org/stream/fairiestorsurpri00mineiala#page/n5/mode/2up

(Source: archive.org, via 18thcenturylove)

books

April242012