Bøger i Dover Pictorial Archive serien

Here is a rich selection of floral and foliate motifs, reprinted from a rare German collection of the late nineteenth century. Included are 124 royalty-free stylized designs that will add a note of decorative panache and natural beauty to almost any graphic project.Buds, blossoms, stalks, and foliage are depicted in a simple and attractive style reminiscent of the woven fabric patterns of the early northern Renaissance. Ideal for many practical uses--stenciling, leatherwork and metalwork, fabric painting, textile design, and more--the motifs are also valuable simply for design inspiration. At just pennies apiece, they constitute a low-cost resource that artists and crafters will want at their fingertips.Dover (1991) republication of 124 illustrations from Blatter und Blümen für Fläche-Decoration: Eine Vorlagensammlung für Zichen-, Webe-, und gewerbliche Fortbindunsschulen, Fabrikanten und Musterzeichner, published by E. Twietmeyer, Leipzig, 1885.

This immensely usable archive of vintage illustrations not only offers a wonderful window on the goods and merchandise of a bygone era, but is an absolute treasure trove of easily reproducible graphic art as well.Some 2,300 cuts culled from such rare nineteenth-century periodicals as The Art Journal, The Illustrated London News, The Scientific American, and The Youth's Companion have been organized in convenient categories: clothes, furniture, kitchenware, toys and games, musical instruments, stationery supplies, domestic accessories, and much more.Among them are detailed and highly reproducible illustrations of fans, corsets, toiletry kits, jewelry, roller skates, a baby carriage, bicycles, baseball gloves, a pencil sharpener, crayons, fountain pen, typewriter, drafting tools, compass, microscope, feather duster, parasol, small table with smoking paraphernalia, high-topped storm slippers, and hundreds of other objects.

The splendid engravings in this historic book combine beautiful images of roses, butterflies, tulips, caterpillars, and other specimens of plant and insect life in elegant full-page compositions. Representing a notable achievement from a great age of floral painting and the engraver's art, they reach across the centuries to us with undiminished freshness and appeal, revealing the most delicate nuances of natural forms with a scientist's eye for precise detail.These fine works represent not only a high point in the history of botanical and zoological art but also an important advance in scientific knowledge as well. The artist, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), was one of the first observers to comprehend and record the metamorphoses of insects, most notably the emergence of the butterfly from its caterpillar and chrysalis phases. Her Erucarum Ortus, whose engravings were originally published in the years 1679-1717, was a substantial contribution to the science of entomology and helped lay the foundations for Charles Linnaeus's later work in the classification of plant and animal species.This edition combines all 154 original engravings from her three-volume work on the insects of Europe. Students and lovers of the natural sciences as well as those of the arts and crafts will find these dazzling works a rich source of information and delight. Graphic artists, textile designers, and others will find it a versatile and royalty-free design resource that will earn a treasured place on their library shelves.Dover (1991) republication of 154 engravings from Erucarum Ortus, Alimentum et Paradoxa Metamorphosis, 1718.

Over the centuries, Persia (Iran) has borne the brunt of periodic invasions. Elements of these foreign cultures, including Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Mongolian, and European influences, were incorporated into the native artistic tradition but transmuted by Persian artists into a highly original and uniquely Iranian style. This outstanding collection of motifs comprises over 400 examples of this rich tradition, ready for use in a multitude of design areas.Ranging from prehistoric pottery painting to 20th-century calligraphy, this volume spans the full spectrum of Iranian art, including the Achaemenian, Parthian, Sassanian, and Safavid eras. Included are designs drawn from textiles (weaves, printed fabrics, embroidery, carpets), ceramics (pottery and tile), carved and incised work (stucco, stone, metal), miscellaneous ornament, book illustration, and calligraphy.The author, a native Iranian and well-known artist, has carefully rendered designs from original masterpieces in public and private collections around the world. The motifs include floral patterns, geometrics, arabesques, mythical creatures, rosettes, paisley patterns, palmettes, medallions, border and marginal decorations, scrolls, curves, and hunting scenes.Embodying the sumptuous detail, rich texture, and elaborate ornamentation that constitute the glory of Persian art, these motifs also exemplify the Iranian artist's traditional devotion to symmetry, harmonious pattern, and purity of line and form.

Over 750 detailed, high-quality illustrations from rare 19th-century sources: armor, helmets, swords, crossbows, battle scenes, jousts, etc. Great for medieval flavor.

Selected from archives of rare publications, the letters and ornaments in this volume represent the best of five centuries of typographic art and design. Included are 60 handsome alphabets, many examples of decorative initials and more.

Based on J. G. Heck's Bilder Atlas zum Convenations Lexicon, published in German in the nineteenth century, the Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature, and Art was a monumental six-volume compilation of illustrations and information, covering an enormous range of subjects, from architecture to zoology. Among its most remarkable features were the thousands of superb steel engravings, comprising one of the most extensive pictorial archives ever published in a single work.The present book, one of three separate and independent volumes based on the rare original American edition of 1851, is devoted to nature and science. Over 170 beautifully reproduced plates contain thousands of illustrations depicting an extraordinary array of subjects: mathematical and geometrical problems; surveying instruments, astronomical maps, and instruments; planetary systems according to Ptolemy, the Egyptians, Copernicus, and others; positions of the planets; botanical illutrations of scores of plants--including seed pods, fruits, and other parts; physical and meteorological illustration demonstrating many laws and principles; numerous types of physical and chemical apparatus; animals, minerals, fossils, geological formations; human anatomy; and many other images. A descriptive table of contents is keyed to numbered illustrations on each plate.Artists, illustrators, and anyone in need of precisely rendered, royalty-free science or nature illustrations will welcome this practically inexhaustible wealth of immediately usable art.Dover (1994) republication of 176 plates from Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature, and Art, published by Rudolph Garrigue, New York, 1851.

This rich sourcebook of design features 480 magnificently detailed decorative patterns and motifs, most of them originally created in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Reprinted from a rare surviving copy of a Victorian design portfolio, it offers both a boundless, royalty-free source of inspiration and an informal by far-ranging survey of notable achievements in the history of design.These intricate and ornate patterns were taken from silk fabrics, carpets, embroideries, robes, velvet brocades, damask wearings, wallpapers, interior, and other decorative genres that flourished in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere over the course of more than eight centuries.

412 rare royalty-free woodcut engravings of men in every conceivable attitude, costume, activity. Men at work, play, leisure. Eskimos, gladiators, knights, bullfighters, workers, doctors, artists, many more, taken from 19th-century periodicals.

Fascinating, visually encyclopedic exploration of the body and healing arts features hundreds of outstanding anatomical engravings, plus images of diseases, injuries, nursing, therapeutics, treatments, and illustrations from the history of medicine.

This treasury of over 280 authentic designs contains creations of Argentine Indian cultures dating from 650 BC to the sixteenth century. Seldom seen outside of scholarly journals, the painstakingly adapted motifs originate from the Candelaria culture, La Aguada, Sanagasta, Belen, Santa Maria, Humahauca, Tobas, Matacos, Araucanos, and many other sources.Appearing on ceramics, bronze reliefs, funeral urns, battle dress, leather bags, jars, ponchos, and other actual art and artifacts, the patterns exhibit a wealth of animal and totemic designs--including serpents, birds, and felines. Other designs feature geometric and rectilinear figures, abstracts, grids, repeating patterns, natural forms, and many other styles. Encompassing a wide variety of shapes and sizes, these designs display extraordinary invention and imagination: far from being primitive, they display a sophisticated understanding of artistic abstraction and methods of creating bold, eye-catching forms.Artists and craftspeople will find here a nearly inexhaustible source of copyright-free graphics that will add a distinctive South American Indian flavor to textile and wallpaper design, book and magazine illustration, fabric design, and a host of other artistic and craft projects.Original Dover (1997) publication.

More than just a five-digit grasping appendage, the extraordinary human hand is capable of a virtually infinite range of expression. Here are over 1,100 images of hands, specially assembled by a noted graphic designer in response to the growing demand for inexpensive and royalty-free art depicting hands.Chosen for diversity and style as well as usability, these images were carefully culled from thousands of pages of nineteenth-century European and American books and periodicals, some of them very rare. Many of the images represent the height of the wood engraver's art--and as artists and designers know, for many purposes wood engravings are far superior to photographs.Here are large hands, small hands, lovely hands, and ugly hands. There are hands resting and active and hands writing, sewing, demonstrating scientific experiments, using tools, performing magic tricks, applying first aid, playing parlor games, and even casting hand shadows on the wall. Hands are displayed to demonstrate palmistry, anatomy, and sign language, or are simply poised to reveal superb form and dignity. In response to the enormous demand, hands with pointing fingers appear in an abundance of sizes, shapes, and shades, and are more or less stylized or realistic to suit every need.A glance through this magnificent collection will suggest a multitude of royalty-free uses to any artist, designer, or crafter, including collage, decoupage, and advertising art. Whenever the decorative, expressive, or symbolic potential of a hand is needed, you will want to turn to this inexpensive yet comprehensive treasury.Dover (1985) original publication.