Böcker 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.

A painter whose father was an engraver and publisher of the same name, Matthäus Merian (1621-1687) published this remarkable group of unusual and highly imaginative animal illustrations. This copyright-free collection includes a large and fascinating selection of engravings that illustrate scientific specimens and legendary creatures―all meticulously reproduced from an extremely rare eighteenth-century edition.Carefully arranged into six major divisions (quadrupeds, snakes, mollusks and crustaceans, fish, birds, and insects), approximately 1,300 copyright-free images include realistic and fanciful portrayals of a varied array of real animals, in addition to such imaginary creatures as unicorns, dragons, basilisks, harpies, griffins, and other mythical beasts. Identifying captions in Latin accompany many of the illustrations. Commercial artists, illustrators, and craftspeople will find a host of uses for these lovingly detailed engravings: as book and magazine illustrations and as attention-getting graphics ideal for enhancing flyers, brochures, newsletters, and any number of other print projects. Art lovers and antiquarians―anyone with an interest in the art and ideas of an earlier era―will enjoy browsing through these wonderful antique images. Dover (1998) republication of 123 plates from the work published by R. & G. Wetstenios, Amsterdam, 1718.

Some of the most ingenious and attractive modern motifs. 746 designs.

One hundred plates of royalty-free Gothic designs, meticulously reproduced from rare 19th-century engravings. Many are floral and foliate designs rendered from panels, capitals, borders, brackets, friezes, grotesques, and other decorative elements.

Over 150 motifs reflecting the intricacies of Celtic design, ideal for use in graphics layouts, needlework designs, and art projects. Includes animal, floral, and abstract motifs clearly drawn for sharp reproduction.

The 4,260 individual designs collected here represent the 900-year-old tradition of Japanese family crests. This unabridged republication of the catalog originally compiled around 1913 by the Matsuya Piece-Goods Store in Tokyo contains a translation of the original Foreword plus a new Introduction by Fumie Adachi and a new English Index.

An ancient art form dating back to cave paintings in the Paleolithic age, silhouettes were extremely popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when they served as an inexpensive form of portraiture, capturing the essence of the subject with a minimum of detail.Now today's crafters, designers, artists, and illustrators can take advantage of the silhouette's eye-catching power with this splendid sourcebook, meticulously compiled by Carol Belanger Grafton. Included are over 1,700 charming, royalty-free silhouettes--culled from a number of rare sources--ideal for use in a broad range of graphic projects. Posters, signage, magazine and book illustration, advertisements, brochures, and flyers are just a few of the potential uses for the illustrations in this convenient archive.Choose from a wide array of subjects: animals portrayed in assorted poses, children playing and reading, couples embracing, views of the human profile, people working, painting, biking, and playing musical instruments; and many more. All appear in striking forms that emphasize the silhouette's power to make a simple but bold graphic statement.Dover (2000) original publication.

155 traditional folk art decorations: fruit and floral centerpieces, borders, wreaths, children in peasant garb, much more. For needlework, crafts, artistic uses. Royalty-free.

Ornament is the essence of Art Nouveau. Throughout their two decades of dominance, Art Nouveau artists concentrated on the ornamental and decorative potential of the flowing line in painting, printing, wallpaper, and all other fine and applied arts. Hundreds of thousands of carefully wrought designs embellished books, bookplates, furniture, and appliances. A fashionable home was a garden of graphic florals, petals, leaves, and stems.Today, Art Nouveau is again attracting artists, designers, and craftsmen of all kinds, while these countless ornamental flourishes have perished with their ephemeral surroundings. Art Nouveau motif seekers have been left with little choice but to resort to expensive archives of rare books. Here, taken directly from those rare books and periodicals, are 577 royalty-free authentic period designs specially chosen for artists and designers. The ornaments range in size from full-page illustrations to borders, head and tailpieces and decorative initials. All are in black-and-white line, clearly reproduced.Many of the creations come from the influential English periodical The Studio (1894-1920) and the French Art el Décoration (1897-1910); others from a variety of original European sources, all identified. Artists represented include Gustav Klimt, George Auriol, Ethel Larcombe, and Will Bradley, along with hundreds of English. French, Italian, German, Scandinavian, and American studio draftsmen, all identified when possible. The designs are grouped by subject matter: florals, landscapes, figures, etc. There are spot illustrations, bookplates, menus, title pages, and many, many swirling line forms.

Add a touch of Old World flavor to projects with 265 charming designs incorporating florals, wildlife, and human figures in folk costumes.

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.

Republished unabridged from the final comprehensive edition, this work contains the largest single-volume collection of classical art motifs ever compiled. It reproduces material from Greek and Roman, medieval European, Islamic, Renaissance, baroque, and early nineteenth-century art, architecture, and design--in all, presenting artists, crafters, and students with more than 3,000 designs.Featured design elements include networks, Gothic tracery, geometric designs, akanthos leaves, lotus ornamentation, animal ornamentation, grotesque figures, fret bands, chains, interlacements, rosettes, undulations, spirals, link borders, cresting borders, finials, crockets, gargoyles, foliations, panels, repeated ornaments, and hundreds of other elements. Other plates show decorated pottery vases, religious utensils, weapons, furniture, lamps, jewelry, and other artifacts, in addition to heraldic motifs and ornamental letters.

Culled from a rare 19th-century source, these 124 black-and-white illustrations capture the lavish devices and grand sweep of European Baroque design. This collection is populated by elaborate architectural ornaments, decorative motifs, and border elements.

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.

An inexpensive source of inspiration and striking graphics for art and craft projects, this compilation features more than 175 authentic, royalty-free motifs: sinuously intertwined patterns, mythological animals, dragon-slaying heroes, much more.

476 easy-to-reproduce spots of authentic period apparel from rare issues of the "Fashion Service Review" suits, dresses, coats, hats, shoes, swimwear, tuxedos, evening gowns, handbags, undergarments, and more.

This book presents more than 2,000 illustrations of shoes, hats, and fashion accessories reproduced directly from now rare periodicals and catalogs from the 1850s to 1940. It comprises an invaluable pictorial survey for the fashion historian, designer, and enthusiast, as well as a practical source of illustrations for permission-free use by artists and craftspeople.The sources of these illustrations include major American, British, and European fashion periodicals of the time: Godey's Lady Book, Peterson's Magazine, Harper's Bazar, La Mode Illustrée, L'Art et la Mode, Der Bazar, The Delineator, and others, as well as such general interest periodicals as Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Harper's Weekly, The Youth's Companion, and Life. Many illustrations come from trade catalogs of such merchants as Montgomery Ward, Sears, Roebuck & Co., Jordan Marsh & Co., N. B. Holden Artistic Footwear, and a score of others.Arranged chronologically, the plates present an overview of 90 years of fashion evolution of footwear, millinery, and such accessories as gloves, scarves, purses, handkerchiefs, and more.

Drawing on centuries of history, this work is an encyclopedic collection--undoubtedly the largest royalty-free collection of its kind--of devils, dragons, mythical creatures, fanciful beasts, animal-gods, totemic figures, and other supernatural beasts from the darker regions of man's imagination. Spanning many cultures and eras, the collection ranges from prehistoric rock paintings to the drawings of Max Ernst, from the masks of black Africa to the gargoyles of Notre Dame.This volume incudes over 1,000 renderings of designs from ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Middle East: winged lions, harpies, griffins, satyrs, dragons, and more. Medieval centuries are represented by a wealth of monsters, demons, centaurs, and other creatures from The Book of Kells, anonymous Viking artists, and the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Dürer, and others. Global in scope, this vast trove also includes hundreds of non-European imagery: papier-mache masks from Latin America, Oriental deities and demons, feathered serpents from pre-Columbian Aztec and Mayan sources, Navajo sand paintings, and more.