Discover historical illustrations by subject, artist and book.
Creation and rebellion in Blake’s illuminated plates.
Norwegian fairy tales illustrated by Kay Nielsen.
Four colour drawings from a 1908 Gnostic text.
From the dark wood to Paradise with Gustave Doré.
Ethelwynne Quail’s visions of the spirit world.
Art Deco studies of fear by John Vassos.
26 illustrations
A crowned king faces forward on a carved throne, holding an upright sword against a yellow sky.
A crowned queen sits in profile with one hand extended and an upright sword beside her patterned throne.
An armoured rider charges left with a raised sword, a wind-blown plume and a decorated horse.
A standing page grips an upright sword with both hands amid clouds, birds and uneven ground.
Ten upright swords pierce a prone figure beneath a dark sky and a lighter horizon.
A figure sits upright in bed with hands covering the face beneath nine horizontal swords.
A blindfolded, bound figure stands among eight planted swords on wet ground with distant buildings.
A figure carries five swords away while two remain planted beside a distant camp.
A ferryman poles a boat carrying two seated passengers and six upright swords toward a distant shore.
A foreground figure gathers swords while two other figures turn away across a windswept field.
A praying knight's effigy lies on a tomb beneath three hanging swords, with a fourth along the base.
Three swords pierce a heart beneath clouds and slanting rain, without a human figure or landscape.
A blindfolded seated figure holds two crossed swords before a rocky sea beneath a crescent moon.
A hand emerges from a cloud holding an upright sword through a crown with hanging foliage above mountains.
An armoured knight displays a pentacle while seated on a dark horse before a low open landscape.
Four long swords with differing handles are arranged beside a broad chipped stone blade.
Two richly dressed figures grapple with drawn swords beneath a snow-covered pine.
Two armoured warriors confront one another with raised swords and broad shields.
A swordsman stands in the foreground below large figures riding elevated, decorated vehicles.
A neat diagonal line of tiny soldiers hangs in the air beneath orange pods and broad green leaves.
Two long-robed men face each other across a narrow black doorway, their raised arms and swords almost mirror images.
Two pointed blade sections appear above a magnified metallic texture and small cross-sectional diagrams.
Four crowned lords stand in elaborate patterned cloaks with their long swords and distinctive profiles.
Small armoured soldiers swing long swords and carry round shields while their bent legs suggest rapid movement.
A red-haired winged creature hovers above swirling cloud while richly dressed men recoil with raised swords.
A standing swordsman faces a seated woman and children inside a screened room.
27 plates
22 plates
4 plates
24 plates
10 plates
10 plates
