ac was out with friends last night so i spent a good chunk of my evening geeking out on the web. and, as if i needed another reason to love the new york public library, i fell in love with it all over again last night while i poured through their digital galleries. i spent the majority of my time in the arts & literature section, oohing and ahhing over the ‘ornament and pattern: pre-victorian to art deco‘ gallery and was totally overwhelmed (in the best way possible) by the butterfly and pattern pages. if you’re looking for a little friday morning (or full weekend) inspiration, click here to check out the nypl’s digital galleries.
*you can actually buy the images in print form (framed or unframed) by clicking the “buy” icon above each individual image!
34 Comments
What an amazing resource!
I have that exact last image in my “inspiration” folder! (A whole NYPL section in that folder, actually.) It’s an awesome resource. The first time I found it I literally browsed for hours.
that is library heaven! thank you for that post. I love that you can purchase whatever you want and cropped in specific areas and then framed! -Dd
Wow. These are stunning.
oh my goodness, i know what i’m doing saturday! what an amazing resource and inspiration! thanks, joy!
oh my goodness, i know what i’m doing saturday! what an amazing resource and inspiration! thanks, grace!
You totally just made my day with this! I can’t wait to peruse that this weekend the the images you’ve posted here gave me a nice creative jolt this morning. Thanks!
Awesome! Very nice resource. I want to use the library.
Oh No!!!!!! I can see hours disappearing already……Thanks, this site is awesome
Wow beautiful images. Thanks for this information
This is really great – what a nice Friday surprise…I live Seguy.
Wow! What a great resource- thanks for sharing!
thank you thank you thank you for this find!
O my gosh! I’m in love. This is the best thing I’ve seen all week. Blessings on your head!
What an awesome inspiration resource. Thank you Design*Sponge for providing so much great material!
These pix are beautiful. I love them
This site is amazing. I got immersed in the images of book dust jackets from 1926-1947. For your dining and dancing pleasure, here are a few fun titles/images:
Jobs for Girls
Is Modern Culture Doomed?
Be a Puppet Showman
Alien Corn
Dildo Cay
How to Abandon Ship
A History of the Straw Hat Industry
Mama’s Bank Account
I Married a Ranger!
Women Are Queer
Dictionary and Manual of Fireworks
The World, the Flesh, and Father Smith
and also a disturbing number of editions of Mein Kampf.
Thanks, Grace!
Those are lovely. I wish there were modern fabrics with some of those patterns. Oh, and FYI, when you spend time looking through something closely, you are “poring” over it, rather than “pouring.” It’s a common error.
these are gorgeous!
these are so pretty! what an incredible resource. thank you for sharing!
thank you thank you thank you for this!! so lovely!
check out owen jones and the grammar of ornament. it was a serious study or ornament in the 1860s. really beautiful imagery.
wow, fantastic resource! I’ve been enjoying the embroidery collection too.
Awesome! And the NYPL is offering 20% off select prints from the digital gallery today. Discount code is NYTWIT20.
I am absolutely loving this! Thank you so much!
Oh, gads. I’ll be lost in their library for hours now!
just amazing. i’ll be coming back to this resource repeatedly.
does anyone know if these images copyrighted?
kentiana –
many of the images are in the public domain, however if you are reproducing them for editorial or commercial use – you must get permission from the library – you would need to do that to get a high res verison – http://www.nypl.org/help/get-what-you-need/photographic-services/obtaining-images
…I’m in love !….
Wow! These are great!!
The NYPL site is just unbelievable ..I have forwarded it to friends…have spent an hour on it already…
What great inspiration! As a designer I’ll be using this resource a lot! Thank you for sharing!
This is amazing – thank you so much for sharing! It’s stuff like this that, to me, really shows the power of the ‘net. I live in Nashville. I can’t fly to NYC but to be able to look at it from my living room? Wonderful. What an incredible resource to have right at my fingertips.
I did not know of this wonderful design source..(And I work at a Library!)
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