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.
40 illustrations
A white-bearded figure folds its knees beneath an overhanging rock, the narrow shelter pressing closely around its back.
The raised hands, streaming beard and bent legs of the white-haired figure are crossed by dark horizontal bands.
Urizen sits with knees drawn up and heavy fetters around his ankles, while red and gold rays surround his closed eyes.
The figure turns its back to the viewer, raising both hands beside the head while long hair streams down around the body.
On the attempted return through the southern opening of Emerson's inner world, Olaf's father warns of an immense white obstruction ahead.
Two fluted classical columns support different emblems: a winged globe on one and a coiled serpent on the other.
A huge bent figure reaches down with a robed traveller held in his hand above a dark rocky opening.
The two travellers stand among many heads emerging from a flat, dark surface beneath distant rocky walls.
The poets stand beside two exposed heads, one leaning over the other at the surface of the frozen pit.
A bearded seated man is surrounded by younger figures inside a bare chamber lit through a high barred opening.
A colossal winged figure rises behind the two small travellers, with exposed bodies embedded in the foreground ice.
A small mitre marked with a cross and the word Lux appears between an upper hanging panel and a lower diamond-shaped jewel.
A heavily robed monk looks upwards with wide eyes beneath a close hood.
An upside-down figure braces its hands on the rocky foreground while its torso curves against a dark mountain landscape.
Beneath the poem’s lettering, a figure crouches on bent knees with both arms drawn behind its head.
A figure pulls its knees towards its chest and clasps its hands behind its head within a field of sharp golden flames.
A figure presses its hands against its head while the beard and hair spread around a large dark globe.
Two standing figures lean closely together beneath an overhead web of dark branches.
A horizontal figure sweeps through streaming flames above three figures spread across the rocky lower scene.
A small monkey looks upward beneath great pale cliffs and an overhanging dark shape.
A small robed figure stands upon a rough rock beside a prominent inscribed placard.
A small sailing ship occupies open water between broken ice and distant frozen shores.
A seated man watches a carp pushing through a narrow opening in a frozen pond.
Arching branches surround the hand-lettered title of William Blake’s The Book of Urizen.
A figure’s green robes stream across the upper half of this illuminated prelude, reaching towards a smaller horizontal body.
A figure stretches its arms and legs across a red, gold and black field above the opening chapters of The Book of Urizen.
A bearded face appears above an enormous open book, its arms spread behind the pages and bright rays breaking through the surrounding darkness.
Three bent bodies occupy a narrow field of streaked yellow, red and black beneath the lettering.
A skeletal figure bends forward, its ribs curving across the image and its skull resting near the ground.
A figure stands with feet set wide apart and arms raised beneath a dark rocky overhang.
Two seated figures occupy the lower half of the page, one shown from behind and the other facing outward with raised knees.
A small horizontal body stretches across a dark band between two passages of illuminated text.
A figure bends forward with a hand near its head beside an upright bearded face.
A standing figure spreads both arms across a field of streaming red and gold forms.
Two figures bow their heads above the poem’s lettering, one leaning forward from a kneeling position and the other curled tightly on the ground.
A small figure falls head-first inside a burst of red, orange and gold forms at the foot of the page.
A white-bearded figure in a pale robe reaches across the lower part of this illuminated page.
Several figures cluster among thick, curling coloured forms at the top of the page.
A solitary figure stands upright before a tall stone chamber, its narrow body set against a large dark rectangular opening.
A long-bearded figure crouches with arms extended to either side beneath the closing words of The Book of Urizen.
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