https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Various-LeisureHour-1896/pages/573-securing-the-irons/

Leg-irons are considered torture by the UN today (although they are used routinely in some countries) and can cause serious injury long term, but this picture and the article were over a hundred years ago. The prisoners wore different coloured hats depending on the length of their sentence.

Used a larger image to see if it comes out better.

#vintageEngraving #ankleCuffs #fetters #prison #prisoners #slaves #slavery $fobo #GIMP #legirons #shackles #fetters #historical

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Various-LeisureHour-1896/pages/437-london-driving/

There is nothing new under the sun: this 1896 illustration by Alfred Chantry Corbould goes with an article about London drivers and how bad they are.

#londonHistory #London #horseAndCarriage #vintageIllustration #vintageArt #AlfredChantryCorbould #blackAndWhite #vintageEngraving #driving #LondonBusDrivers #fobo #GIMP #GIMP3

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Berthet-Paris/pages/333-la-fondation-de-paris/

A somewhat fanciful illustration of the founding of Paris; probably it is depicting the Roman conquest of the encampment of the Celtic Parisii tribe.

I’m not 100% happy with the way the Web resolutions came out, but the print resolution will reproduce well.

#quintessentiallyFrench #Paris #history #celts #druids #fobo #vintageEngraving #vintageArt #GIMP #GIMP3 #xsane

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Marcelin-LaVieParisienne-1863/pages/572-cut-into-six-pieces/

Another of these weird illustrations. @bosak was right, i am now sure - it’s satire, poking fun at the “Spiritists”. I transcribed some of the article (with English via Google Translate).

#vintageEngraving #satire #GIMP #GIMP3 #sketch #puppet #vintageArt #tabloid #spiritists

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/CirclingTheYear-1870/pages/136v-christmas-initial-letter-c/

This decorative initial was used as a drop cap (dropped capital) for the word Christmas starting an 1870 article entitled “Christmas with the Poets”.

Drop caps bring attention to the start of a new section or chapter, and help people find their way by flipping through the pages of a printed book.

Print jargon: this initial is foliated and vignetted

#initial #dropCap #decoratedInitial #fobo #GIMP #GIMP3 #vintageEngraving #Christmas #xmas #holly #letterC #the_letter_c

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Knight-LondonVolII/pages/001-sir-christopher-wren/

If you ask someone from the UK for the name of an architect there’s a good chance they’ll say Christopher Wren. Best known for St. Paul’s Cathedral, and rebuilding after the 1666 Fire of London, designing over 50 churches.

Taken from London, ed. Charles Knight; Tufts has it in TEI XML but no download link i could find. Hah! I have the physical book to scan!

#vintageEngraving #portrait #SirChristopherWren #ChristopherWren #architect #wig #fobo #GIMP #Gimp_3 #xsane

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/ModerneKunst-04/pages/017a-detail-man-behind-glass/

A detail from José Benlliure y Gil’s huge oil painting Christmas Mass or Boys’ Choir - https://www.fromoldbooks.org/ModerneKunst-04/pages/017-christmas-mass

It looks almost as if the conductor is on the other side of a sheet of glass, a window or door perhaps, pressing one hand against the surface so we see the white of his finger-pads.

#vintageEngraving #vintageArt #fobo #GIMP

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/ModerneKunst-04/pages/017a-detail-christmas-choir/

A detail from a Spanish painting variously entitled Christmas Mass or Boys’ Choir.

What is the nearest boy holding? The leftmost one has the censer to spread incense, so presumably a Roman Catholic church.

The original 1890s oil painting sold in 2006 for $56K or so.

Scanning at high resolution makes it possible to share small details like this :-) (full picture is 47kx27k px)

#vintageArt #vintageEngraving #fobo #ChurchChoir #choirBoy #singing #music #GIMP3

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Brennecke-WechselDerTage/pages/041-monks-in-forest/

This 1880s engraving illustrates a poem by Leonie Meyerhof (1858 – 1933), Im Waldesdom, or, In the forest Cathedral.

The sunbeams are called crepuscular rays *by people who like long words). The roof of the forest is perhaps compared to the vaulted ceiling of a Gothic cathedral.

Transcription of the poem at the linked page and in alt text for the poem image.

#vintageEngraving #vintageArt #germanPoetry #forest #crepuscular #fobo #Meyerhof

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Brennecke-WechselDerTage/pages/065-abendlied-ruined-castle-gateway/

A German poem, Abendlied, or, Evening song by Friedrich Rückert was in the blank area in this full-page illustration.

Signed i think HARLEY, prolly John J. Harley, about whom i know very little. The engraver made the lines for the sky a bit wonky, and it was hard to avoid interference fringes on downsizing.

#GIMP #Gimp_3 #vintageArt #vintageEngraving #castle #sheep #bucolicScenes #rural #rural_life #fobo