Free Vintage Real Photo Postcard (RPPC): Jeanne with Basket of Flowers (from 1912)

An original, first-generation digital scan of a vintage French real photo postcard (RPPC) postmarked August 23, 1912 and sent to Madame E. Mamlour-Eisman from Jeanne. This card shows a pretty young lady with a frilly lace shawl posing with a basket of flowers on her shoulder.

You can download the free high-resolution 3.5” x 5.5” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please credit VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Edwardian Ladies in Floral Frames 1 (1904)

Two black and white illustrations that originally appeared in a 1904 issue of French fashion magazine, La Mode Illustrée. These antique graphics show profiles of Edwardian woman enclosed within a floral frame (I think the flowers are yellow tansy). One is wearing a hat and the other seems to be deep in thought.

You can download the free high-res 14" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for crafts, junk journals or mixed media art projects here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

19th Century Public Domain Poetry: Sing a Song of Sixpence (Nursery Rhyme)

An illustrated version (from 1883) of "Sing a Song of Sixpence," an old nursery rhyme that probably dates back to the 18th century. This printable sheet music with scenes from the song can be used as a gift wrap, in a decoupage creation or to embellish scrapbooking and graphic design projects.

You can download this free high-res 8" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


Vintage sheet music is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Ladies in Fancy Hats, 1892

Life is like a new hat. You don't know if it suits you
if you keep trying it on in front of your own mirror.
― Shirley McLaine
A partial page from an 1892 issue of French fashion magazine, La Mode Illustrée that shows three styles of hats for Victorian ladies.

You can download a free high-res JPEG without a watermark for crafts, scrapbooking and other graphic design projects here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: A Victorian Bridal Party, 1867

What greater thing is there for two human souls,
than to feel that they are joined for life –
to strength each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow,
to minister to each other in silent unspeakable memories
at the moment of the last parting?
– George Eliot
A Victorian wedding illustration from January 1867. The image shows a bride and her three attendants as they wait for her to walk through the church doors and down the aisle. The bride has donned a luxurious cape with ice-blue trimming and lined with richly embroidered lace over her simply cut gown while her mother looks very much the grand matron in elaborately ruffled flounces and bright scarlet.

You can download the free high-res 13" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Food History: Victorian Recipe for Anise Cake from Young Ladies' Journal, February 1, 1898

A Victorian recipe for anise cake (although it sounds almost like a biscuit/cookie recipe) from the February 1, 1898 issue of The Young Ladies' Journal. No indication of how hot the oven should be so some experimentation required! You can download the free, high-res 4” x 4” @ 300 ppi recipe card here.


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

Free Victorian Trade Card (VTC): Vintage Parker's Tonic Ad Featuring Young Lady in a Sunny Yellow Bonnet

I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of the Island
A Victorian trade card featuring the image of a demure young lady wearing a sunny yellow bonnet and holding a posy of red flowers in her left hand. This illustration initially appeared in a late 19th century advertisement for Parker's Tonic. You can download the high-res 5” x 7.5” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Victorian Fashion History Illustration: Gossip, 1860

Original, first-generation digital scan of an engraved fashion plate (in full color) from the March 1860 issue of Godey's Lady's Book in my personal collection. This image shows four Victorian ladies, two in evening dresses and two in walking dresses. Illustration has only been lightly retouched to retain authentic antique details. Colours remain bright and vibrant. Suitable as a framed print (perhaps for a sewing or crafts room), a cover for a card or a journal, or even as a background in a design project.

The description for the costumes (from left to right):

Fig. 1. -- Costume for full dress reception, wedding, or opera. Dress of peach blossom taffeta, the skirt covered by groups of pinked flounces; corsage round, and ornamented by macaroons of the silk; bell-shaped sleeves, cut open on the forearm, and confined by a lacing of ribbon, displaying a lace undersleeve terminating in ruffles at the wrist. Bonnet of rose-colored crape and blonde.

Fig. 2. -- Carriage dress, also suitable for dinner. Emerald green taffeta, covered by narrow flounces of black silk; the sleeve and corsage having narrow ruffles to correspond, set on in hollow box plaits; drooping bows on the front of the corsageof black taffeta ribbon and lace. Leghorn bonnet, lined with emerald green silk, with strings and plume of the same shade; a single line of blonde borders the face, instead of the inevitable bonnet cap.

Fig. 3. -- Walking-dress for a young lady. Dress and mantle of gray poplin, a lighter material than that was worn the past winter, and very well suited for travelling dresses; it is crossed by a silk bar or cord of black. Mantle trimmed by a broad ruche of the same, goffered on. Drawn hat of blue silk and ribbon ruches, the brim rolled slightly from the face. The whole costume is simple, new, and stylish.

Fig. 4. -- Walking-dress of dark stone-colored silk, chinée with black. The skirt is arranged with one deep flounce, headed by five narrow ones, all both bound and headed with crimson silk. The sleeves correspond in style. Shawl-shaped mantelet of the same. Chic bonnet, with rose-colored ribbon and flat black velvet loops.

You can download the high-res 9.5" x 6" @ 300 ppi (2850 x 1800 pixels) illustration without a watermark here. Lovely as a framed print but can also be used as a cover for a journal or in other graphic design projects.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Victorian Fashion History Illustration: Taking an Airing (Dressed for the Outdoors), 1860

An antique fashion illustration that shows a group of four women and one child in a park, elegantly dressed in styles from the year 1860. The description of the outfits, from left to right, are as follows:

Fig. 1. -- Dress of apple green taffeta, shaded with black, a spray of leaves broché in black, at regular intervals; corsage plain and high; sleeves demi long, and of a narrow pagoda shape, trimmed with flat bows of apple green ribbon, as are the skirt and corsage, in a continuous line. Bonnet of peach blossom crape, with a fall of blonde. Rich lace shawl, lined with black marceline.

Fig. 2. -- Dress of summer poplin, with bars of mauve, or down stripes of black, crossing the white ground; each breadth is separated by a ruche of mauve-colored ribbon, and bows of the same extend down the side breadths. Ceinture or waist ribbon of the same, with flowing ends, also shoulder knots. Black lace bonnet, with field flowers.

Fig. 3. -- Dress of blue challais, solid color, trimmed with ruches of the same material. Leghorn garden hat.

Fig. 4. -- Walking-dress of plain taffeta, in ten flounces; each flounce bordered and headed by a plain row of black velvet. Drawn hat of white silk.

Child's dress of pink challais, with tablier front. Net for the hair, tied to the right with a knot of black velvet ribbon.

You can download the high-res 9" x 14" @ 300 ppi (1800 x 2850 pixels) JPEG without a watermark here. Lovely as a framed print but can also be used as a cover for a journal or in other graphic design projects.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.