The Steps of Life
Selection of images illustrating on the idea that one’s life can be thought of as divisible into distinct stages….more
17th Century
The Explosion of the Spanish Flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar (ca. 1621)
Depicting what was probably the most decisive moment of the Battle of Gibraltar, this remarkable painting by Dutch artist Cornelius Claesz van Wieringen, is also an…more
Topsell’s History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents (1658)
Totalling more than 1000 pages this brilliantly illustrated treatise on zoology, explores ancient and fantastic legends about existing animals, as well as those at …more
Le Centre de l’Amour (ca. 1687)
The centre of love: discovered through various emblems, gallant and facetious — a delightfully illustrated emblem book exploring all corners of seventeenth-centur…more
NYPL Release 187k Public Domain Images in Hi-Res
Our selection of highlights from an afternoon’s browsing of the NYPL’s massive new public domain release — a selection which we hope shows the breadth and depth o…more
Colour Wheels, Charts, and Tables Through History
A chronology of various attempts through the last four centuries to visually organise and make sense of colour: from simple wheels to multi-layered pyramids, from s…more
Illustrations from an Italian Book of Proverbs (1718)
Illustrations from a seventeenth-century Italian book of proverbs made by the engraver and painter Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (1634–1718)….more
A Collection of Very Valuable and Scarce Pieces relating to the Last Plague in the Year 1665 (1721)
Compendium relating to the 1665 Great Plague of London, consisting of official regulations put in place as well as accounts of the symptoms and cures related to the…more
Speculations of the Changes, Likely to be Discovered in the Earth and Moon, by Their Respective Inhabitants (ca. 1666)
On how the Earth might seem to those living in the moon, observing how our landscape not only changes and varies because of the seasons but also because of the alte…more
The Games and Pleasures of Childhood (1657)
A selection of plates from Les Jeux et Plaisirs de l’Enfance (1657) – – a series of fifty engravings depicting children playing various games, many familiar and bu…more
The Art of Dreams
A compendium of various artworks in which dreams are depicted, including works by Blake, Grandville, Hokusai, Redon and Dürer….more
Emblems of Love, in Four Languages: Dedicated to the Ladys (1683)
This excellently sub-titled love emblem book is a reworking of emblems originally found in the earlier Thronus Cupidinis. Each of the forty-four cupid-centred emble…more
