Free Vintage Outdoor Illustrations: Victorian Women and Child on Walks in the Country, 1893

WEATHERS
This is the weather the cuckoo likes,
And so do I;
When showers betumble the chestnut spikes,
And nestlings fly;
And the little brown nightingale bills his best,
And they sit outside at 'The Traveller's Rest,'
And maids come forth sprig-muslin drest,
And citizens dream of the south and west,
And so do I.

This is the weather the shepherd shuns,
And so do I;
When beeches drip in browns and duns,
And thresh and ply;
And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throe,
And meadow rivulets overflow,
And drops on gate bars hang in a row,
And rooks in families homeward go,
And so do I.
― Thomas Hardy

A grouping of vintage line drawings from 1893 showing four Victorian women and a child dressed for walks in the country. You can download theese antique drawings as a free 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


For personal use only. Not for resale. Please visit The Real Victorian website to see full Terms of Use.

Free Vintage Botanical Clipart: Three Grandest New Plants, 1896

Three grandest new plants for only 30 cents (as featured in the Mayflower Horticulture magazine from May 1896). From left to right, you have:

THE BRIDAL ROSE: A remarkable plant with leaves resembling a Rose in shape; its flowers are produced during winter, and as as double as a Peony and almost as large. Color pure white, and when a plant one or two feet high shows a score or more of these enormous flowers, which they often do, the sight is a most novel and attractive one. New and little known. Will create a sensation anywhere, for it is one of the most remarkably showy plants in cultivation, and should be in every collection.

NEW DWARF CALLA LITTLE GEM: All that need be said about this sterling novelty is that it is a perfect miniature Calla, growing 8 or 12 inches high and producing perpetually very large snow-white blossoms. It begins to bloom when only a few inches high in a three or four inch pot, and a well-established plant in a large pot is never without flowers, summer or winter, and sometimes shows a dozen at once. The greatest plant novelty of late years and yet the sensation of the day. Our stock is TRUE, and this is a rare opportunity for our readers to get one at little cost.

RUDBECKIA LACINIATA GOLDEN GLOW: Offered this year for the first time. A hardy perennial plant growing eight feet high, branching freely, and bearing by the hundreds, on long, graceful stems, exquisite double blossoms of the brightest golden color and large as Cactus Dahlias. The cut represents a plant in bloom, as photographed. Mr. William Falconer, the best authority on plants in this country, says of it: "When I saw the double-flowering form of Rudbeckia Laciniate in bloom in your grounds at Floral Park, in summer last year, I was amazed, for notwithstanding my long and intimate acquaintance with plants I had never before seen a double-flowered Rudbeckia; and I was delighted with the fullness and gorgeousness of the blossoms and their clear, bright yellow color. You gave me a plant last spring and it was set out in good garden ground. It grew vigorously and threw up strong branching flower stems six feet high, laden with sheaves of golden blossoms as large as fair Chrysanthemums, and all having an elegant, graceful appearance, without any stiffness in habit or blossom. Many eminent florists and amateurs have seen it here, and all admired it. As cut flowers, the blossoms last well. In fine, I unhesitatingly regard it as the most desirable introduction among hardy perennials since we got Clematis Paniculate."

You can download the vintage ad above as a high-res 8" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


For personal use only. Not for resale. Please visit The Real Victorian website to see full Terms of Use.

Free Vintage Nature Poem: January by Frank Dempster Sherman

Here is another winter poem (also entitled "January"), written by poet, architect, genealogist, and mathematician Frank Dempster Sherman. This short work originally appeared in the January 10, 1888 issue of Harper's Young People magazine.

JANUARY
by FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN (1860–1916)

JANUARY, bleak and drear,
First arrival of the year,
Named for Janus ― Janus who
Fable says has faces two ―
Pray is that the reason why
Yours is such a fickle sky?
First you smile, and to us bring
Dreams of the returning spring;
Then, without a sign, you frown,
And the snow-flakes hurry down,
Making all the landscape white,
Just as if it blanched with fright.
You obey no word or law:
Now you freeze, and then you thaw,
Teasing all the brooks that run
With the hope of constant sun,
Chaining all their feet at last
Firm in icy fetters fast.
Month of all months most contrary,
Sweet and bitter January!

I have paired the poem with a vintage wallpaper texture in the preview image above. If you would like to download the high-res 7" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark, you can find it here. You can also find the black and white illustrated poem without the vintage paper texture here.


For personal use only. Not for resale. Please visit The Real Victorian website to see full Terms of Use.