Die Nibelungen is an epic poem central to German Mythology. The most interesting thing about it is the 1909 interpretation of it by Frank Keim brilliantly illustrated by Carl Otto Czeschka. Some of finest art nouveau book illustration you will come across. …Check it out art lovers: Download a free 300 dpi pdf page scan [...]
Discovered this book by complete accident whilst looking for something completely different and was hugely impressed by the quality of the illustrations. There is little information available to us about the author and illustrator Wilhelm Dittmer except that, born in Germany, he lived between 1866 and 1909 and spent around 5 years living in New [...]
Came across this book recently and was immediately attracted to it by is cover…..they just don’t do book covers like this anymore…stunning! The content is selection of re-workings of stories from northern European mythology for children and appears to be a good read. What interested me however was that the book is illustrated by Herbert Cole [...]
Happy New Year to those of you who like to celebrate such things (not really into it myself – it was 2009……now its 2010…so what??!). Anyway, onto more interesting matters. Regular readers might know that I am a fan of vintage book-plate art. I am also a lover of Jungendstil – the the German interpretation [...]
First off, any apologies for the distinct lack of posts on here in an excessively long time. Real life getting in the way and such…Anyway, back to normality so will be posting a lot more in the coming months. As you may know, I am a great believer in the potential of using public domain [...]
Regular readers may know that I am a great enthusiast of the Big Apple. The images I have for you today are taken from the 1939 publication New York City Guide. The book was one of many published by the Federal Writers Project; a U.S. government initiative established by Predident Roosevelt in 1935 with the [...]
These fantastic hand coloured wood-cuts are taken from the 16th Century astronomy text Astronomicum Caesareum by Petrus Apian. Taking several years to produce at his private print shop in Ingolstadt the book is unusual in that it contains twenty one illustrations with moving parts (so called “volvelles“). These are primarily planetary equatoria (paper wheels designed [...]
Bookplates, also refered to as ex-libris [Latin for "from the books of..."], are small decorative labels which indicate the owner of a book. They generally appear inside the font cover and often feature a motto, crest, or motif representing the owner. Their usage can be traced back as far as the 14th century however their [...]
Warwick Goble was a Victorian illustrator who enjoyed his greatest success during the early decades of the 20th century when there was a great demand for colour plate illustrations. One of his earliest commissions was for H G Wells War of the World’s in 1898. His specialisms however, were fairy tales and exotic stories of [...]
J. J. Grandville was the pseudonym of French caricaturist and illustrator Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard. His early carreer consisted of regular contributions of highly satirical political caricatures for a series of Parisian periodicals. He garnered a great deal of popularity for this work but following the reintroduction of censorship of caricatures in France in 1835, [...]
