Printable Vintage Illustration: A Good Listener, 1892

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.
― Ernest Hemingway

This is the problem with dealing with someone who is actually a good listener. They don’t jump in on your sentences, saving you from actually finishing them, or talk over you, allowing what you do manage to get out to be lost or altered in transit. Instead, they wait, so you have to keep going.
― Sarah Dessen, Just Listen

Illustration of Victorian ladies at a social gathering; the lady in the middle quietly listening to the conversation being held by the two women on either side of her. You can download this high-res illustration as a 10” x 8.75” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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 Illustration: Ladies with Documents (Set1)

So. Tell me. What do you think? Which is better?
To take action and perhaps make a fatal mistake
- or to take no action and die slowly anyway?
― Ahdaf Soueif, The Map of Love

On an important decision one rarely has 100% of the information
needed for a good decision no matter how much one spends or how long one waits.
And, if one waits too long, he has a different problem and has to start all over.
This is the terrible dilemma of the hesitant decision maker.
― Robert K. Greenleaf, The Servant as Leader
Vintage illustrations from 1890s showing three Victorian ladies mulling over/holding documents in their hands. Could be long, newsy letters or possibly contracts? They seem to be giving the women food for thought! You can download these high-res illustrations as a 7” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG (top) and a 9” x 6” @ 300 ppi JPEG (bottom) here.


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 Illustration: Victorian Ladies with Parasols 10

To hear never-heard sounds,
To see never-seen colors and shapes,
To try to understand the imperceptible
Power pervading the world;
To fly and find pure ethereal substances
That are not of matter
But of that invisible soul pervading reality.
To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;
To be a lantern in the darkness
Or an umbrella in a stormy day;
To feel much more than know.
To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain;
To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon;
To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves;
To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets
Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching.
To be a smile on the face of a woman
And shine in her memory
As a moment saved without planning.
― Dejan Stojanovic

Vintage illustration from 1896 showing two Victorian ladies walking arm-in-arm, with one lady holding an umbrella over her shoulder. You can download the high-res illustration as an 8” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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 Victorian Illustration for Collage, Graphic Design or Scrapbooking: Victorian Lady in Plumed Hat and Ruffled Collar 1

You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It's their mistake, not my failing.
― Richard P. Feynman, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character

Most men claim to desire driven, independent and confident women. Yet when confronted with such a creature, reverence often evolves into resent. For just like women, men need to be needed.
― Tiffany Madison

Antique illustration of a Victorian lady in a plumed hat and an oversized ruffled collar from 1896. High-res 7" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for collage, graphic design or scrapbooking projects.


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 Victorian Illustrations for Collage, Graphic Design or Scrapbooking: Capes, 1890s (Set 1)

The storm starts, when the drops start dropping
When the drops stop dropping then the storm starts stopping.
― Dr. Seuss

When all is said and done, the weather and love
are the two elements about which one can never be sure.
― Alice Hoffman, Here on Earth

Two illustrations of ladies in rainy weather capes, ready for their promenades. High-res 7" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for collage, graphic design or scrapbooking projects.


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 Art: The Young Duchess by John Faed

The Young Duchess, 1870
by John Faed (1819–1902)
Don’t worry if people think you’re crazy. You are crazy. You have that kind of intoxicating insanity that lets other people dream outside of the lines and become who they’re destined to be.
― Jennifer Elisabeth, Born Ready: Unleash Your Inner Dream Girl

Life has a tendency to provide a person with what they need in order to grow. Our beliefs, what we value in life, provide the roadmap for the type of life that we experience. A period of personal unhappiness reveals that our values are misplaced and we are on the wrong path. Unless a person changes their values and ideas, they will continue to experience discontentment.
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

Sources:
[1] Original image from Wikimedia.
[2] The Real Victorian's digitally enhanced version of the painting (seen above), downloadable as an 8” x 10” @ 300 ppi JPEG.


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

Printable Vintage Illustrations: Victorian Women with Offerings (Set 1)

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.
― Charles Dickens

If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things—help and comfort and laughter—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess

Illustrations of two Victorian women, one with a small bowl of offering in her hand, the other with a small cup. You can download these two high-res illustrations in one 6” x 6” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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 Advertising: Skates, Silver Polish and Silver Handle Embroidery Needle, 1904

“I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really.
What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that,
and it didn't mean anything? What then?”
― Neil Gaiman, Coraline

Originally published in the January 1904 issue of The Delineator. Here are three ads for skates from Barney & Berry, silver polish by Electro Polish, and recruitment for agents to sell the Silver Handle Embroidery Needle.

You can download the high-res illustration as a 4” x 9” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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 Illustrations: Victorian Women with Little Black Books (Set 1)

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.
― Margaret Fuller

I'm rather ashamed of my plans; I make a new one every day.
― Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

An unbreakable mask and cunning are the keys for executing a plan flawlessly.
― Imania Margria, Eyes

Two vintage illustrations from 1892 showing Victorian women with little black books. You can download these two high-res illustrations in one 6” x 6” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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 Illustration: Lost in Thought, 1896

She was always daydreaming. She never wanted to live in the real world; she always seemed to be separated from other children her age. They couldn’t understand her or her imagination. She was always thinking outside of the box, breaking rules, and only following what her heart told her was right.
― Shannon A. Thompson, November Snow

There are certain half-dreaming moods of mind in which we naturally steal away from noise and glare, and seek some quiet haunt where we may indulge our reveries and build our air castles undisturbed.
― Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

Antique illustration of a Victorian lady lost in reverie from 1896. You can download the high-res illustration as an 4” x 7.5” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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 Art: Before the Ball by Jules-Charles Aviat

Before the Ball
by Jules-Charles Aviat (1844–1931)
Never forget that anticipation is an important part of life. Work's important, family's important, but without excitement, you have nothing. You're cheating yourself if you refuse to enjoy what's coming.
― Nicholas Sparks

It is said there are flowers that bloom only once in a hundred years. Why should there not be some that bloom once in a thousand, in ten thousand years? Perhaps we never know about them simply because this “once in a thousand years” has come today.
― Zamyatin, We

Sources:
[1] Original image from Wikimedia.
[2] The Real Victorian's digitally enhanced version of the painting (seen above), downloadable as a 5” x 7” @ 300 ppi JPEG.


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

Printable Victorian Fashion Illustration: Lady in Summer Dress of White Muslin, 1876

‘Life and summer are fleeting,’ sang the bird. ‘Snow and dark, and the winter comes. Nothing remains the same.’
― Elyne Mitchell, Silver Brumby's Daughter

Her fragility makes her uncomfortable, but it has a familiarity, too, like the biting cold of winter that you only half forget during other seasons.
― Meg Donohue, All the Summer Girls

Antique fashion illustration from 1876 of a Victorian lady in a summer dress of white muslin. You can download the high-res illustration as a 8” x 10” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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: Fashionable Hats for Autumn and Winter, 1870s

One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.
― Oscar Wilde

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid.
― Frederick Buechner
French fashion illustration from the 1870s showing fashionable hats (and head covering) for fall (autumn) and winter. You can download the high-res illustration as an 8” x 12” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


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: A Formal Introduction 1

Some people need a red carpet rolled out in front of them in order to walk forward into friendship. They can't see the tiny outstretched hands all around them, everywhere, like leaves on trees.
― Miranda July, No One Belongs Here More Than You

Because the difference between a friend and a real friend is that you and the real friend come from the same territory, of the same place deep inside you, and that means you see the world in the same kind of way. You know each other even before you do.
― Laura Pritchett, Sky Bridge

Antique fashion illustration from 1896 of two Victorian ladies meeting in a formal setting. You can download the high-res illustration as an 8” x 10” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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: Lady in Frosted Taffeta 1

Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralysed.
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds' wings.
― Rumi

To be of good quality, you have to excuse yourself
from the presence of shallow and callow minded individuals.
― Michael Bassey Johnson

Antique fashion illustration from 1896 of a Victorian lady in frosted taffeta. You can download the high-res illustration as a 6” x 8” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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 Postcard: Looking Out to Sea, Atlantic City, NJ

Looking Out to Sea, Atlantic City, NJ, late 19th century
by Detroit Publishing Company (1898–1897)

Little islands are all large prisons; one cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow.
― Sir Richard Francis Burton

I am longing to be with you, and by the sea, where we can talk together freely and build our castles in the air.
― Bram Stoker, Dracula

Sources:
[1] Original image from the New York Public Library.
[2] The Real Victorian's digitally enhanced version of the postcard (seen above), downloadable as a 12” x 7.5” @ 300 ppi JPEG.


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

Printable Vintage Illustration: The Three Judges, 1896

We need very strong ears to hear ourselves judged frankly, and because there are few who can endure frank criticism without being stung by it, those who venture to criticize us perform a remarkable act of friendship, for to undertake to wound or offend a man for his own good is to have a healthy love for him.
― Michel de Montaigne

That's why I'm talking to you. You are one of the rare people who can separate your observation from your preconception. You see what is, where most people see what they expect.
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

1896 illustration of three sombre-looking Victorian ladies in business-like attire. You can download the high-res illustration as a 4” x 4” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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 Illustration: Searching for Clues, 1875

The truth must be quite plain, if one could just clear away the litter.
― Agatha Christie

She remembered what her old priest had said: a half-truth masquerading as a whole truth was nothing but an untruth. But half-truths were horseplay in Miranda, where big lies came quick and easy. And they were about to come a lot easier.
― Chad Boudreaux, Homecoming Queen

1875 illustration of a Victorian lady in a ball gown; she seems to be looking around for someone/something. You can download the high-res illustration as a 6” x 8” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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 Illustrations: Ladies with Muff and Stole, 1904

Be so warm that people mistake you for the sun; so bright that people mistake you for the stars; and so accommodating that people mistake you for the universe.
― Matshona Dhliwayo

If you cannot find a good companion to walk with, walk alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than to be with those who will hinder your progress.
― Gautama Buddha, The Dhammapada

Antique illustrations of two Edwardian ladies in a muff and a stole, 1904. From my own collection. 8” x 8” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Larger size image 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 Illustrations: Sunday Morning, 1886

You never know these days. Uninvited guests may force you to take an unplanned trip to an unknown destination; doesn’t hurt to be in your Sunday clothes.
― Anurag Shourie, Half A Shadow

Sundays are like confetti floating in the air in slow motion, in the evening they reach the ground and you hope a bit of wind could blow on them so they could fly a bit longer.
― Alain Bremond-Torrent, running is flying intermittently

1886 illustration of two ladies in their Sunday best. You can download the high-res illustrations in one 6” x 6” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Larger image 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.