Words and Pictures From Old Books

Penrhyn Castle, from Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland Vol 2 (1870), added on 5th May 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Tue, 05 May 2026 09:46:00 GMT

Penrhyn Castle is actually an early nineteenth century rebuild on the site of a much older building, and is in more or less the style of a Norman castle on steroids.

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Jesus with raised hand: holy admonition, from Imitation of Christ (1855), added on 1st May 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 01 May 2026 09:47:00 GMT

A holy Christian figure, as indicated by the halo, probably Jesus, with one finger raised, and badly-drawn feet. He looks very Western, and clean-shaven.

This is another detail from a full-page border from Darboy’s 1855 edition of the Imitation of Christ.

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owl from full-page border, from Imitation of Christ (1855), added on 30th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 09:51:00 GMT

This line-drawing of an owl looks startlingly modern, with eyes wide as if in surprise, body twisted, wings spread for takeoff. It was in the bottom-left corner of a full-page border from Darboy’s 1855 edition of the Imitation of Christ.

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Angel with thurible from full-page border, from Imitation of Christ (1855), added on 29th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 06:22:00 GMT

This angel is on one knee, his flowing hair bound with a circlet, his wings behind him. He holds one end of a chain in his left hand and the other in his right; from the right end of the chain dangles a thurible, or censer. These are used in Orthodox, oman Catholic and high Anglican churches to burn incense, with the smoke supposed to represent prayers going up to heaven (where the angel should already be, so maybe this is a fallen angel).

This is a detail from a full-page Christian border.

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Coucy Castle, Bird’s Eye Drawing with labels, from A Textbook on Ornamental Design (1901), added on 24th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 06:51:00 GMT

The original drawing of Coucy Castle was reproduced in the book on drawing with the parts labeled with letters; this version of the castle drawing retains those letters.

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Full-page border with flowers, vines, figures, from Imitation of Christ (1855), added on 22nd April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:56:00 GMT

This full-page border is made from dense black-and-white line drawings (actually an engraving). It includes Mary with baby Jesus, Jesus, an angel spreading incense (oddly), a pyramid with sun rays (at top middle), a bird, a dragon or crocodile, an owl with wings spread wide (at lower right), all embedded in vines with seeds and flowers.

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2113.---James I.’s Cradle. (From a Print inNichols’s Progresses.), from Old England: A Pictorial Museum (1845), added on 14th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:03:00 GMT

This engraving shows the finaely carved oak cradle in which the infant James lay. It is still kept at his mother’s house, Stirling Castle.

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A giant wooden statue of a warrior with shield and sword, from Der Rattenfänger von Hameln: Eine Aventiure (1890), added on 12th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 12:09:00 GMT

Perhaps we are in the medieval city of Hamelin here; our dauntless protagonist seems perhaps startled by the statue, which is twice as tall as he is. In the background an archway in a stone wall leads to an alley with closely-packed houses along it.

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Front Cover, Pied Piper of Hamelin, from Der Rattenfänger von Hameln: Eine Aventiure (1890), added on 11th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 03:26:00 GMT

The cover is red with gold foil stamping, and features the piper with his pipe, some very large rats around his ankles, some small barefoot children, and some birds, all in a decorative frame.

Der Rattenfänger von Hameln von Julius Wolff

Which is, The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Julius Wolff.

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Into the cellar, into the dungeon!, from Der Rattenfänger von Hameln: Eine Aventiure (1890), added on 8th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:56:00 GMT

Lorenz here rushed down the steps, hitting every other one with his sword to scare away the ghosts, but it looks like they were not ghosts but rats.

Here, he stands with a spear pointed at the rats hiding under a barrel, while two other people look on with the light of a candle heald high. They have descended well-worn ancient stone steps that end in a stone archway in the cellar.

The picture was drawn by Paul Thumann and engraved by Richard Brend’amour.

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Chilren on the beach, with full-page border, from Im Wechsel Der Tage (1885), added on 4th April 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 10:50:00 GMT

This full-page layout included a circular vignetted scene of a beach, waves coming in, children playing. The children are wearing Victorian costume, including shoes and socks which i am sure must have seemed silly at the sea-side!

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Sounding the irons, from The Leisure Hour (1896), added on 27th March 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:32:00 GMT

Some two dozen men are waiting in an archway leading back to prison cells as a guard, in French uniform of the eighteenth or early nineteenth century bends with a hammer to check the manacle and chain on the angle of the first prisoner, which he has raised for the purpose. The chain seems to go back from that prisoner’s leg, or foot, to the waist of the man behind him.

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London Driving, from The Leisure Hour (1896), added on 26th March 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:47:00 GMT

A man wearing a top hat and brandishing a long horse-whip sits at the front of a coach pulled by four horses. At least nine people are sitting on the roof, with the two at the back perhaps being footmen. In the far distance, dense foliage and a church.

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The founding of Paris, from Paris Avant l'Histoire (1885), added on 25th March 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:21:00 GMT

La fondation de Paris.

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Thomas William Crackfort is cut into six pieces, from La Vie Parisienne (1863), added on 22nd March 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 08:01:00 GMT

A man, or possibly a marionette or puppet, hangs by the head from a bolt fastened to a wall above, various body parts loose showing the wire or string that connected them.

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Decorated Initial letter C with holly, from The Circling Year (1870), added on 17th March 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 05:46:00 GMT

A black and white engraved letter C with chevrons, and intertwined with holly laden with berries.

This decorative initial was used as a drop cap (dropped capital) letter C for the word Christmas starting an article entitled “Christmas with the Poets”.

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Old College, Warwick Lane, London, from London (Volume II) (1841), added on 4th March 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:49:00 GMT

Here we see a cobbled city street, narrow by modern standards, dominated by an octagonal domed building in the background with a tall neoclassical entrance with pillars on either side. In the left foreground a shop sign appears to say “PAIN” and, beneath it, “Meat commission salesman”. On the right is the “Bell Inn” which no longer exists, except possibly in a trace as a small office.

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Portrait of Sir Christopher Wren, from London (Volume II) (1841), added on 3rd March 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 08:25:00 GMT

This black and white engraving appears to be based on the 1711 “Kit-cat” of “Kit-kat” portrait in oils of Sir Christopher Wren by Godfrey Kneller; these portraits show the upper half of the subject, including the hands. The name Kit-cat derives from the Kit-Cat Club of Richmond, London: the ceiling wasn’t high enough for full-length portraits, so Kneller invented half-height ones.

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Haunted Chest of Drawers, from La Vie Parisienne (1863), added on 21st Feb 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:55:00 GMT

At first I thought this chest of drawers was a robot, although in 1865 that seemed unlikely. It has a face made from places where there would normally be drawers: two eyes and a mouth, and a nose and maybe moustache and eyebrows have appeared. The drawers are flying through the air towards the spectators, one of whom has rabbit ears, another with an upside-down chicken feeder on his or her head.

The dresser, or chest of drawers, has extended a hand and is perhaps pouring out a jug of milk.

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The Spirits, from La Vie Parisienne (1865), added on 21st Feb 2026

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:54:00 GMT

We see a heading, Les Spirites (the spirists), drawn as if from the back of a stage or platform in a dimly-lit room or theatre. There’s a large audience, but on stage maybe half a dozen people kneeling on either side of a table with a drawer, facing the table, on which are dancing three giant beetles with antlers, one with a bell, one with a tambourine, one with a guitar.

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