The Real Victorian: October 2024

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration for Collage, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Gilded Age Hairdressing Styles by W.J. Barker 3

Labels: 1870s fashion, 19th century hairstyles, American fashion, Belle Époque, Fashion history, Gilded Age, Hairdressing, New York style, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

Which would you rather be if you had the choice
― divinely beautiful or dazzlingly clever or angelically good?
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Gilded Age hairstyles from Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine from 1875. These styles were designed by W.J. Barker located at 36, Twenty-Ninth Street (four doors west of Broadway) in New York City.

You can download the high-res 8" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEGs without a watermark here. Can be used in collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.

All digitized work by The Real Victorian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Please link back to RealVictorian.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Printable Vintage Fashion Illustration for Collage Art, Junk Journal, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Costume Party, 1870s

Labels: 1870s fashion, Belle Époque, Fashion history, Madrid fashion, Spanish fashion, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

Lila had discovered that the hardest part of her charade
was pretending that everything was old hat when it was all so new,
being forced to feign the kind of nonchalance
that only comes from a lifetime of knowing and taking for granted.
Lila was a quick study, and she knew how to keep up a front;
but behind the mask of disinterest, she took in everything.
She was a sponge, soaking up the words and customs,
training herself to see something once and be able to pretend
she’d seen it a dozen—a hundred—times before.
― V.E. Schwab, A Gathering of Shadows

Two ladies and a girl at a costume party, 1870s
High-res 4" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.
Larger size available for licensing. Please inquire.

For personal use only. Not for resale. All digitized work by The Real Victorian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Please cite RealVictorian.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Printable Vintage Fashion Illustration for Altered Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Edwardian Mother and Child at Christening, 1904

Labels: Belle Époque, Early 1900s fashion, Edwardian fashion, Edwardian ladies, Fashion history, French fashion, La Mode Illustreé, Parisian style

Sometimes when you pick up your child
you can feel the map of your own bones beneath your hands,
or smell the scent of your skin in the nape of his neck.
This is the most extraordinary thing about motherhood -
finding a piece of yourself separate and apart
that all the same you could not live without.
― Jodi Picoult, Perfect Match
Vintage fashion illustration of Edwardian mother holding an infant in christening costume. Originally published 1904. High-res 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here. Larger size available for licensing. Please inquire.

Vintage Natural History Illustration: Yellow Canary (Crithagra flaviventris)

Labels: Natural history illustrations, Nature & Science, Ornithology, Vintage bird illustrations

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill,
of things unknown, but longed for still,
and his tune is heard on the distant hill,
for the caged bird sings of freedom.
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Now that she had nothing to lose, she was free.
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

19th century illustration of a yellow canary (Crithagra flaviventris) in a cage
4.5" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.

Printable Vintage Photo for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Lady with Flower Cart, 1916

Labels: Belle Époque, Cards & Templates, Early 1900s fashion, Edwardian ladies, Free vintage postcards, Real photo postcard (RPPC), Vintage photos

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams
and you will always look lovely.
― Roald Dahl

Make sure, as often as possible,
you are doing something you’d be happy to die doing.
― Matt Haig, The Humans

Grungy vintage postcard from 1916 showing an Edwardian lady pulling a flower cart. Free high-res 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.

Printable Vintage Art: Autumn 1905

Labels: 20th century art, 20th century illustrations, Art appreciation, Art history, Vintage art

Fall has always been my favorite season.
The time when everything bursts with its last beauty,
as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
as I have seen in one autumnal face.
― John Donne, The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose

Vintage illustration of a lady surrounded by autumn leaves from 1905.
Download 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.

Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain paintings are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Printable Vintage Fashion Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Ladies in At-Home Dresses, 1893

Labels: 1890s fashion, Belle Époque, Fashion history, French fashion, Parisian style, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

“After all," Anne had said to Marilla once,
"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those
on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens
but just those that bring simple little pleasures,
following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

Ladies in at-home dresses, 1893
High-res 8" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.

19th Century Public Domain Poem: Good-Night by W.T. Peters (Poetry for Kids)

Labels: 19th century poem, Children's poems, Free vintage poems, Music & Poetry, Poetry for kids, Public domain poetry

GOOD-NIGHT
by W.T. Peters
(Originally published 1881)

GOOD-NIGHT, happy stars,
With your yellow eyes,
Good-night, lady moon,
In the evening skies;
Good-night, dusky world
And the boundless deep;
I am tired out;
It is time to sleep ―
Time, time to sleep.
Good-night! Good-night!

Good-night, weary boy;
It has been decreed
That some mysteries
Only a child can read;
But the sweet child-heart
May you always keep,
And the stars will be yours
And the boundless deep ―
The boundless, boundless deep.
Good-night! Good-night!

Vintage 1912 photo of the mother and sleeping child above
can be downloaded as a 6" x 4" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

Printable Vintage Fashion Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Sunday Walk, 1875

Labels: 1870s fashion, American fashion, Belle Époque, Fashion history, Gilded Age, New York style, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

Time flows in strange ways on Sundays,
and sights become mysteriously distorted.
― Haruki Murakami

Mother and daughter on a Sunday walk, 1875
6" x 7.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.

Printable Vintage Fashion Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Twin Brides on the Terrace, 1892

Labels: 1890s fashion, Belle Époque, Bridal fashions, Fashion history, French fashion, La Mode Illustreé, Parisian style, Victorian fashion, Victorian ladies

After all, what is happiness? Love, they tell me.
But love doesn't bring and never has brought happiness.
On the contrary, it's a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield;
it's sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time
if we're doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony.
― Paulo Coelho, The Witch of Portobello

Twin brides on the terrace, 1892
High-res 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.