plantimals.org

Satirical lithographs from 1830s Paris, published by the most important illustration/caricature business operating in France in the middle of the 19th century. Post features works by Daumier, Grandville and others, touching on royal/political satire and social commentary with some outlandish motifs (eg. foetal skeleton) employed to convey the message. The firm, La Maison Aubert, played a significant role in helping popularise comic strips as an art form and were the largest lithograph publishers in France over a 20 year period.

Lavish chromolithographs from 19th century featuring a large array of species from the palm family. One of the great botanical monographs, this work has excellent plant dissection and detail illustrations together with scenic habitat views. (by Carl FP von Martius) http://www.botanicus.org/bibliography/b12036171

Motifs of traditional knotwork and stylised animals, together with ancient ornamental designs from three books. Tattoo goodness!

Dinosaurs, pterodactyls and related prehistoric creatures in "natural" settings, from a very popular late 19th century book that attempted to explain palaeontology and its origins to the lay public. (book by Rev. HN Hutchinson)

Scans of alphabets and partial alphabets (mostly) as well as initials and monograms covering about 400 years of ornate type design. [also see: http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/02/ornamental-typography.html ]

Scans of black & white woodcut illustrations by some of the major graphic novel artists of the 20th century including Masereel, Ward, Hyde, Nückel &c. Almost all of the images in the post (and to a large extent, this reflects the genre as a whole) are meant as social commentary: from war, depression, alcoholism, nuclear detonation etc.

A swag of pre-1700 prints published in Britain from a very significant collaborative database (V&A; Brit. Museum; Kings College). The dbase is a "work in progress" and is a bit buggy. There will be 10,000 prints when it is finished but there are around 1000+ prints available now. The post features a selection across the available genres from satire, ornament, maps, royal and noble portraiture as well as allegorical and decorative plates.

Clipart designs of traditional Indian patterns. Geometrical symbols, stylised flowers and animals. From a recent book called 'Native Designs of India' published by HvD Publishing.

Line drawing illustrations by EH Shepard from the quintessential English children's classic. Published in 1908 but the illustrations were done in 1931. Toad, badger, mole and ratty are all included. (scanned from my copy)

Pre-Columbian Aztec manuscript from Veracruz in Mexico. It is a cosmos calendar/map type manuscript with the usual animal/zombie/transformer glyphs we all know and love so well.

A dozen or more 18th/19th cent. cartoon political/humorous maps displaying anthropomorphism and personification. This series follows from Gillray's lampooning of the isles of Great Britain in 1791 up to one of the versions of the 'octopus maps' from 1900. Although these maps were intended primarily as a vehicle for a laugh, elements of propaganda, stereotype, nationalism and xenophobia often imbue these prints with deeper meaning. See also: http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/08/dogs-of-war.html

Multi: skating owls; imaginary animals; manuscript whale; parrot sketches; falcon trainer flute player; mushroom lithographs; allegorical Noah's Ark + map scene; Caspian Sea map; Alps panorama map; lithograph scenes from Egypt; stag/flowers/ruins sketches from friends album; HC Andersen papercut; French satirical cartoon; fusilier / musket drill book; chess book drawings; Chinese folklore stone rubbing; fantasy architecture; Evelyn Waugh bookcover; Dutch Art Nouveau manual cover; fantasy zodiac and more plus many links.

From a huge SE Holland collection of design sketches produced between 1850 and 1969 to be used to decorate earthenware/porcelain/ceramic products. Features everything from logos and monograms to chinoiserie, abstract and geometrical designs to flower and animal motifs and humorous caricature and animal figures. Fun stuff. (good typographic material in the collection too)

Third in the series featuring scans taken from Heinrich Dolmetsch's late 19th century book on the history of ornament. This post concentrates fairly heavily on the Italian Renaissance and features decorative motifs taken from all manner of artistic pursuit: from carpet and embroidery designs to ceiling paintings, precious metalwork, book illumination and earthenware decorations.

28 plates from Volume 1 of the greatest wunderkammer publications of all time: Albertus Seba's "Cabinet of Natural Curiosities" from 1734. We have engraved pictures of stylised mammals, snakes, lizards, sloths, monkeys, alligators, rats, turtles, chameleons and imaginary beasts like hydra. Just brilliant. From Botanicus: http://www.botanicus.org/bibliography/b12082648

Late 16th century ornamental letters of the alphabet with chimeras forming parts of the letters, grotesque ornamental surrounding frame and related scenes from Greek mythology in the backgrounds.

Illustrations from a range of Australian illustrators from the first half of the 20th century. These are all (give or take) from the fantasy genre which developed into its own local flavour in something of a golden age from 1900 to 1940. So: pixies, elves and fairies abound, interspersed with local fauna that gradually came to replace - to an extent - the traditional fantasy characters and also widen the available 'palette' of figures available.

16th century hand-painted album of jousting knights by Marx Walther. Colourful & fun. Stylising of figures/costumes often look like batman was alive in the 1500s.

Second instalment of scans taken from the German book on ornament history by Heinrich Dolmetsch from the late 19th century. This post features architecture, manuscript, wall painting, floor designs and stone work patterns etc from Arabia, Persia, Spain, Ireland and western Europe from the middle ages.

Features samples from (around 1880 - 1910) from the large collection of Ex Libris (bookplates) in the Pratt Institute Ex Libris Collection at flickr --- http://www.flickr.com/photos/34900073@N07/sets/72157613160345964/