Hundreds of Free Art E-Books

**briggsy@ashtons** · April 8th, 2007

...Barcsay, Perard, Moses artistic anatomies; Rockwell, Dore, Kollwitz biographies, ebook editions of old books illustrated by Wyeth, Pyle, Rackham, Crane ..; letters of Michelangelo, Van Gogh, .. ; Vasari's Lives complete in ten volumes; ebooks by Bridgman, Panofsky, Berenson, Kenneth Clark, Whistler, Ruskin ...; Leonardo notebooks illustrated ..; and tons of old illustrated art books.

Archive.org has been around for years, but there has been a HUGE influx of new art titles in the last few months. To search, make sure you select "texts" in the second box. To download, click "FTP" and save to disc either the pdf or the (generally much smaller) DjVu file. Both consist of page images with linked text files, which means that the text is searchable.

Just some of the juiciest tips of the iceberg (to mix metaphors):

Bridgman, George B., 1939. The Human Machine.
http://www.archive.org/details/human...ethea009564mbp

Bridgman, George B., 1920. Constructive anatomy
http://www.archive.org/details/const...anat00briduoft

Blake, Vernon, 1927. The Art And Craft Of Drawing
http://www.archive.org/details/artan...ofdra027904mbp

Crane, Walter, 1914. Line & Form.
http://www.archive.org/details/lineform00cranuoft

De Laszlo, 1934. Painting a Portrait.
http://www.archive.org/details/paint...rtrai000674mbp

Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock. Methods And Materials Of Painting Of The Great Schools And Masters
Volume One
http://www.archive.org/details/handb...inti01kugliala
Volume Two.
http://www.archive.org/details/metho...ateri011267mbp

Guptill, Arthur Leighton,1922. Sketching and Rendering in Pencil.
http://www.archive.org/details/sketc...deri00guptuoft

Holmes, C. J. 1920. Notes on the science of picture-making.
http://www.archive.org/details/notes...ceof00holmuoft

Poore, Henry Rankin, 1903. Pictorial composition and the critical judgment of pictures.
http://www.archive.org/details/picto...posi00pooruoft

Ross, Denman Waldo, 1907. A theory of pure design; harmony, balance, rhythm.
http://www.archive.org/details/theor...desi00rossuoft

Ruskin, John. The elements of drawing (1920 edition).
http://www.archive.org/details/elementsofdraw00ruskuoft

Richter, Jean Paul, The literary works of Leonardo da Vinci (Volume 1 and 2).
The same illustrated edition of Leonardo notebooks that was reprinted by Dover.
http://www.archive.org/details/liter...sofl01leonuoft
http://www.archive.org/details/liter...sofl02leonuoft

Stone, Irving And Jean, 1962. I, Michelangelo, Sculptor (Michelangelo's Letters).
http://www.archive.org/details/IMichelangeloSculptor

Whistler, James McNeill, 1909. The gentle art of making enemies, as pleasingly exemplified in many instances, wherein the serious ones of this earth, carefully exasperated, have been prettily spurred on to unseemliness and indiscretion, while overcome by an undue sense of right.
http://www.archive.org/details/gentl...akin00whisuoft

Ludovici, Anthony Mario, 1912 - The letters of a post-impressionist; being the familiar correspondence of Vincent van Gogh.
http://www.archive.org/details/lette...timp00goghuoft

Gauguin, Paul, 1919. Noa Noa. Translated from the French by O.F. Theis.
http://www.archive.org/details/noano...ated00gauguoft

Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors & architects (complete in ten volumes).
http://www.archive.org/details/lives...mine01vasauoft
to
http://www.archive.org/details/lives...mine10vasauoft

Clark, Kenneth, 1952. Leonardo Da Vinci An Account Of His Development As An Artist.
http://www.archive.org/details/leona...incia013645mbp

Hind, Charles Lewis. Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.
http://www.archive.org/details/drawi...onar00leonuoft

Mount, Charles Merrill, 1955. John Singer Sargent - A Biography.
http://www.archive.org/details/johns...argen000439mbp

Marillier, H. C. 1912. The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley.
http://www.archive.org/details/early...hpre00bearuoft

The later work of Aubrey Beardsley.
http://www.archive.org/details/later...ubre00bearuoft

Quennell, Peter, 1955. Hogarth's Progress.
http://www.archive.org/details/hogar...gress011296mbp

Clapp, 1916 - Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo, his life and work.
http://www.archive.org/details/jacop...idap00clapuoft

Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer.
The classic study of Durer
http://www.archive.org/details/lifea...falbr000686mbp

Strange, Edward Fairbrother, 1906. Hokusai, the old man mad with painting.
http://www.archive.org/details/hokus...nmad00strauoft

Whistler (lots)
http://www.archive.org/search.php?qu...201834-1903%22

Clark, Kenneth. The Romantic Rebellion.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheRomanticRebellion

Clark, Kenneth, 1949. Landscape into Art.
http://www.archive.org/details/lands...toart000630mbp

Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. Meaning In The Visual Arts - Papers In and On Art History.
http://www.archive.org/details/meani...evisu010505mbp

10 works illustrated by NC Wyeth .
http://www.archive.org/search.php?qu...0Convers%29%22

30+ works illustrated by Howard Pyle (+ 10 on Gutenberg).
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=howard%20pyle

28 works by, or illustrated by Walter Crane.
http://www.archive.org/search.php?qu...iatype%3Atexts

EDIT: Check below the dotted line for new recommendations
------------------------------------------------------------
Pen Illustration

Maginnis, Charles. Pen Drawing - An Illustrated Treatise
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/17502 (4.9 MB zip)

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1921. The Art Of Illustration.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheArtOfIllustration

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1922. Line - an art study
http://www.archive.org/details/lineartstudy00sulluoft

Books illustrated by Arthur Rackham

Goblin Market (scanned by chaosrocks)
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...1166111935.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...1166111772.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...1166111696.pbw

Vernon Jones, V. S.1916. Æsop's fables : a new translation. (Rackham, Arthur, illustrator)
http://www.archive.org/details/aesopsfables00chesuoft

Gates, Eleanor, 1907. Good-night (Buenas noches).
http://www.archive.org/details/goodn...nasn00gateiala

Morley, Christopher, 1922. Where the blue begins.
http://www.archive.org/details/where...ebeg00morlrich

Ibsen, Henrik, [19--?]. Peer Gynt: a dramatic poem.
http://www.archive.org/details/peerg...atic00ibseuoft

Stephens, James, 1920. Irish fairy tales.
http://www.archive.org/details/irish...ales00steprich

Fitz-Gerald, S. J. Adair (Shafto Justin Adair),1896. The Zankiwank & the Bletherwitch.
http://www.archive.org/details/zanki...ther00fitziala

Evans, C. S., 1920. The sleeping beauty.
http://www.archive.org/details/sleepingbeauty00evanrich

More Rackham
http://www.conceptart.org/wiki/doku....ator_1867-1939

Architecture

Robinson, John Beverley, 1914. Architectural Composition (found by Farvus)
http://www.archive.org/details/ArchitecturalComposition

Other architectural highlights include 50+ elaborately illustrated volumes of the journal known successively as Architecture, American architect and architecture, and Architectural record:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?qu...3Atexts&page=1

plus numerous volumes both on the history of architecture in general, and on specific styles including Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine, Norman, Gothic, Romanesque, Medieval, Muslim, Indian ... Just use the search button.

Books on the imagination (found by chronologic; reviewed by armando here)

Ribot, Th. 1906. Essay on the creative imagination.
http://www.archive.org/details/essay...eati00ribouoft

Rhoades, James, 1908. The training of the imagination.
http://www.archive.org/details/train...agin00rhoauoft

Composition

Dow, Arthur Wesley, 1913. Composition; a series of exercises in art structure for the use of students and teachers.
http://www.archive.org/details/compo...erie00dowauoft

Fashion (from Farvus)

Ellsworth, Evelyn Peters, 1917. Textiles and costume design
http://www.archive.org/details/texti...umed00ellsrich

Traphagen, Ethel, 1918. Costume design and illustration
http://www.archive.org/details/costu...nill00trapiala

More Artists and their works

Heermann, Norbert, 1918. Frank Duveneck
http://www.archive.org/details/frankduveneck00heeruoft

Roof, Katharine Metcalf, 1917. The life and art of William Merritt Chase
http://www.archive.org/details/lifea...liam00roofiala

Cox, Kenyon, 1914. Winslow Homer
http://www.archive.org/details/winslowhomer00coxkuoft

Inness, George Jr,, 1917. Life, Art and Letters of George Inness.
http://www.archive.org/details/lifea...etter005237mbp

Hartmann, Sadakichi, 1910. The Whistler book; a monograph of the life and position in art of James McNeill Whistler
http://www.archive.org/details/whist...mono00hartiala

Macfall, Haldane, [1906?] Whistler
http://www.archive.org/details/whistler00macfiala

Furst, Herbert, 1920. Frank Brangwyn, R.A (woodcuts)
http://www.archive.org/details/frank...ynra00braniala

Sparrow, Walter Shaw, 1915. A Book of Bridges (illustr. Brangwyn)
http://www.archive.org/details/booko...sspa00sparrich

Brooklyn Museum, 1921 - Historical paintings of the Slavic nations (Mucha's Slav Epic)
http://www.archive.org/details/histo...inti00muchiala

Books with illustrations by N.C. Wyeth

The throwback : a romance of the Southwest (1906)
http://www.archive.org/details/throwback00lewirich

Arizona nights (c1907)
http://www.archive.org/details/arizonanights00whitrich

Whispering Smith (1908 [c1906)
http://www.archive.org/details/whisp...mith00spearich

The song of Hiawatha (c1908 )
http://www.archive.org/details/songofhiawatha00long2

Susanna and Sue (c1909)
http://www.archive.org/details/susannasue00wigg

The long roll (1911)
http://www.archive.org/details/longrollmary00johnrich

Treasure Island (c1911)
http://www.archive.org/details/treasureisland00stev

Cease firing (1912)
http://www.archive.org/details/ceasefiring00johnuoft

The sampo; a wonder tale of the old North ([c1912])
http://www.archive.org/details/sampowondertaleo00bald

Blackfeet Indian stories (c1913)
http://www.archive.org/details/blackfeetindians00grin

Letters of a woman homesteader (1914)
http://www.archive.org/details/lette...anho00stewuoft

The drums of the 47th (c1914)
http://www.archive.org/details/drumsof47th00burd

Nan of Music Mountain (1916)
http://www.archive.org/details/nanofmusic00spearich

The mysterious stranger : a romance (1916)
http://www.archive.org/details/myste...nger00twairich

The black arrow : a tale of the two Roses ([c1916])
http://www.archive.org/details/blackarrowtaleof00stev

Robin Hood (1917)
http://www.archive.org/details/robinhood00cresrich

The last of the Mohicans : a narrative of 1757 (1919)
http://www.archive.org/details/19lastmohicans00cooprich

Robinson Crusoe (1920)
http://www.archive.org/details/robinsoncrusoe00defo

The courtship of Miles Standish (1920)
http://www.archive.org/details/courtshipofmiles001long

Rip Van Winkle (c1921)
http://www.archive.org/details/ripvanwinkle00irvi

Poems of American patriotism (c1922)
http://www.archive.org/details/poemsofamericanp00matt

Vandemark's folly (c1922)
http://www.archive.org/details/vande...olly00hawtrich

Chapman's American Drawing Book (added by patdzon)

Chapman, J.G. (John Gadsby), 1847. The American drawing-book: a manual for the amateur, and basis of study for the professional artist: especially adapted to the use of public and private schools, as well as home instruction.

http://books.google.com/books?id=NdAEAAAAYAAJ (1847 edn: 168 pp.)
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-...ew=toc;c=nietz (1847 edn: 168 pp.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=BoQEAAAAYAAJ (1858 edn: 304 pp.)
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi....I0001&isize=M (1870 edn: 320 pp)

Perspective

Loomis, Andrew, 1951. Successful Drawing.
http://acid.noobgrinder.com/Loomis/A...%20Drawing.rar (direct download link)

Storey, G. A. The Theory and Practice of Perspective.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20165/20165-h.zip (direct download link)

Watson, Ernest W., 1955. How To Use Creative Perspective.
http://www.archive.org/details/howto...ative036957mbp (poor scans)

Longfellow, William Pitt Preble, 1901. Applied perspective, for architects and painters.
http://www.archive.org/details/appli...ecti00longrich

Miller, Leslie William, 1887. The essentials of perspective, with illustrations drawn by the author.
http://www.archive.org/details/essentialsofpers00mill

Great collection of scholarly articles on history of perspective (Kim H. Veltman):
http://www.mmi.unimaas.nl/people/Vel...tm#Perspective

**Blue** · April 8th, 2007

Wow... i love you.

edit: this is so amazing. I never knew such an archive existed. There is so much to read here, i don't think i could even finish it. Amazing.

**paberu** · April 8th, 2007

OMG...... O____O!!!!!!

*dls bridgman and goes off to devour*

**Idiot Apathy** · April 8th, 2007

Briggsy dear sir, you are a king amoung men amongst monkeys.

**Olle Werme** · April 8th, 2007

Thank you. m(_ _)m

**Snarfevs** · April 8th, 2007

Thanks for the heads-up.

incidentally, http://www.scribd.com/ is becoming an increasingly useful resource.

**Flake** · April 8th, 2007

Nice one Briggsy.

**asoir** · April 8th, 2007

HOLY MAJOLY!l

**Hyskoa** · April 8th, 2007

Loving this... so... very... much...

**AlexC** · April 8th, 2007

Thanks!

**Elwell** · April 8th, 2007

Awsome.

**Lone Wolf** · April 8th, 2007

THANK YOU!!! This is awesome.

**Farvus** · April 8th, 2007

This is awesome! I already have lots of art ebooks but now I wonder how I'm going to read all this stuff

.

Edit: I was planning some time ago to buy a book with Leonardo da Vinci notes but it's already here. How nice

**asoir** · April 8th, 2007

Actually, could you add one?
This looks fantastic-

PEN DRAWING
AN ILLUSTRATED TREATISE

BY CHARLES D. MAGINNIS

http://ia310937.us.archive.org/0/ite...-h/17502-h.htm

**briggsy@ashtons** · April 8th, 2007

You're welcome everyone - really enjoying all your reactions. However all thanks should go to the crew at archive.org and their contributors, especially the Canadian Libraries, who do a beautiful job.

Thanks Asoir, if you're into classic pen and ink work try these

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1921. The Art Of Illustration.
http://www.archive.org/details/TheArtOfIllustration

Sullivan, Edmund J. 1922. Line - an art study
http://www.archive.org/details/lineartstudy00sulluoft
(warning: If you read the entire book you'll need to overlook the occasional use of words that would be considered racist today)

Please report back more of your finds here!

**briggsy@ashtons** · April 8th, 2007

Originally Posted by Dile_

Whoa brilliant! Sticky!!!

Stars would be nice.

**chaosrocks** · April 8th, 2007

drool
I posted a scanned first ED Rackham .. Goblin Market
at Christmas
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...1166111935.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...1166111772.pbw
http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e1...1166111696.pbw

**briggsy@ashtons** · April 8th, 2007

Thanks chaos. Imagine if everyone on conceptart.org could get their hands on one out-of-copyright classic and scan it to share .....

**kool-ka-lang** · April 8th, 2007

Man, we better get most of this before this goes the way of loomis....

**Hyskoa** · April 8th, 2007

Everybody post url's that are useful.
Briggsy@ashtons, if possible, put a
---------------------------------------
and then new url's that other people have added to the original post.

That way we get the most out of this site before people start to get anal about it?

**briggsy@ashtons** · April 9th, 2007

Done.

By the way, if anyone needs a DjVu viewer you could try WinDjView/MacDjView at http://windjview.sourceforge.net/

**Victor B** · April 9th, 2007

Big , HUGE ... Enormous thanks!

**Elwell** · April 9th, 2007

Originally Posted by kool-ka-lang

Man, we better get most of this before this goes the way of loomis....

Not gonna' happen. This is all public domain stuff. And the Loomis books haven't really gone anywhere, you just have to look a little harder...

**Snarfevs** · April 9th, 2007

Originally Posted by Elwell

Not gonna' happen.

Well, you never know, as least as far as stuff exclusively hanging in the archive goes. People have tried to shut down archive.org before (mainly because of the wayback machine).

And if the recent (thankfully thwarted!) attempt to sell out the contents of Smithsonian archive to Showtime (where it would be locked behind a paywall forever) is any indicator, absolutely nothing is sacred anymore...

That said, the administrative direction of archive.org is ideologically strong enough to resist internal strife, as opposed to the Smithsonian institution, which had a pretty corrupt director.

**bhanu** · April 9th, 2007

Oh right public domain rules so does archive.org and so does brigsy. Thank you sir , tahnk you very much.

**Yiako** · April 9th, 2007

165486453 thanks!!!

**sciboy** · April 9th, 2007

... I love you Briggsy, finally got some Bridgman links i can hand out!

Oh, and see you next school term.

**briggsy@ashtons** · April 10th, 2007

That's great news sciboy... it'll make four registered CAers at Ashton's next term that I know of, plus some lurkers .. enough to start converting the masses!

Once again, thanks for your responses everyone. Any more finds yet?