Classic novel illustrations from the British Library now free to use

Over a million illustrations from classic novels have been released by The British Library for public use.

1,019,992 images have been scanned from classic pre-20th century books and uploaded to Flickr for anyone to use. Many recognisable pictures from 17th, 18th and 19th century novels were scanned by Microsoft who then gifted them to The British Library.

As well as many classic illustrations from novels the collection also contains maps, diagrams, satirical images, wall paintings, and decorative design elements.

The British Library are encouraging people to use the pictures in any way they see fit:

“The British Library’s collections on Flickr Commons offer access to millions of public domain images, which we encourage you to explore and re-use. The release of these collections into the public domain represent the Library’s desire to improve knowledge of and about them, to enable novel and unexpected ways of using them.” 

We have picked a handful of some of what the British Library has to offer- check them out and let us know what you would- fan art, book covers, greetings cards- the list is endless.