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.
73 illustrations
A narrow stair coils upward through a black field scattered with tiny stars.
A luminous human form rises within a tall flame above a raised fire altar.
Four long-robed figures gather around an open stone coffin while a winged human form ascends above it.
A haloed mother holds a child above a crowded base of curling creatures.
A long-haired figure bends beside a candle taller than the small people gathered around its stand.
A young man looks outward while a taller pointed-eared companion stands behind him.
Four sharply contrasted bodies join hands across a narrow rectangular field.
Several eyes and faces look outward from a long horizontal creature above the contents.
An elongated reclining body extends a hand towards a small standing figure.
A horned architectural frame encloses two grotesque figures facing one another above the word Preface.
A tall central figure stands between two semicircular fields of radiating lines.
A broad-robed figure spreads its arms above two pale faces.
A tailed, narrow-limbed figure leans on a staff before a black circle.
A stretched animal body and an elongated head run diagonally across the page.
Two elaborate faces and a curling body surround a tall candle in the heading for The Study.
A young man with a sword turns towards a woman holding a hanging vessel.
A long patterned creature curves over a smaller bowed figure, crossing the body in a loop.
A young woman appears within a spreading patterned garment, with a curved object to the right and flowing ornaments along the base.
A cloaked figure lies face down beneath an enormous curved blade.
Two richly dressed riders move diagonally through a dark canopy on elongated creatures.
A patterned dark figure reaches towards a tall pale companion holding a staff.
A close human pair stands inside a dark arch beneath an enormous spindly creature.
A narrow human face appears within a tall curling body above the word END.
A standing male figure raises one arm within a pointed starburst while the other arm extends outward.
A roughly oblong ceremonial ground is marked with an altar, the Bodhisattva, groups of people and tents.
A pale human form appears above a hollow surrounded by broken rocks.
Steep gables and narrow towers form a jagged silhouette beside a canal.
Two massive square towers stand on either side of a thin central spire.
Great tree trunks rise above a dense, dark bank and a small stream or path.
Long hanging branches arch over a dark pool.
A great dark wave rises in a smooth arc above a small cluster of buildings.
Dark buildings rise on both sides of a narrow pale waterway.
Two sharply drawn cliff edges recede towards a narrow point in the distance.
A small locomotive and trailing smoke move across a line of tall arches.
A young woman faces forward with long hair falling over one shoulder.
A face emerges from tightly drawn waves beneath two immense rising wings.
A crowned armoured figure rises behind pale hills above a tiny city skyline.
A knight raises his sword before a vast dark winged creature.
Two pale profiles face a small city set low against an otherwise black field.
Three richly patterned worshippers turn towards a haloed figure in a timber-framed setting.
A woman’s sharp profile occupies the lower corner beneath an immense dark wing.
A smaller praying woman stands within the curved wings of a much larger figure.
A young woman faces forward with her hands joined in prayer.
A crowned figure holds joined hands at the centre of an enclosure of great wings.
A frontal armoured figure holds an upright sword with both hands beneath dark wings.
Several haloed figures stand closely together above a bowed armoured man.
An elderly cross-legged figure sits in a woodland clearing with a narrow support or shadow beneath the body.
A line of robed travellers appears to move through pale clouds above a seated meditator and distant landscape.
48 of 73 shown
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