An ever-growing treasure trove of magazine cover and advertising art from the Golden Age of American illustration. Check out wonderful covers from Theatre Magazine, Adventure Magazine, the Argosy, Photoplay, and Black Mask. Here's a scary cover from Laughter magazine, a strange and beautiful Life cover from 1887, and a copy of The Liberator that I dearly wish I could flip through. See also collections of great old ads for soap, cigarettes and books, among others. The intro page is here.
posted by CunningLinguist on Sep 9, 2009 - 9 comments

Illustrator Glen Mullaly archives hundreds of vintage illustrations in his flickr stream. [more inside]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi on Sep 9, 2009 - 12 comments

Ephemera Assemblyman a weblog. Personal favorites: Film Poster Paintings from Ghana :: Magician Souvenir Programs :: Abraham Lincoln Political Cartoons :: (The Art of) Spanish Rolling Papers :: Tickets from Political Conventions. Much more to be explored.
posted by Ufez Jones on Aug 28, 2009 - 18 comments

Accidental Mysteries: Toilet Paper Roll Sculptures by Junior Jacquet l 19th Century Japanese Pregnancy Dolls l Hand soaps l An Obsessed Collector (From the Estate of Charles Martignette) [PDF but worth it and mildly nsfw] and other diversions to explore. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jul 26, 2009 - 9 comments

Les Animaux tel qu'ils sont is a delightful 1920s French art instruction book, showing one how to draw various animals, from the previously discussed Agence Eureka.
posted by fings on May 22, 2009 - 7 comments

Since 1945, one of the great wineries of the world, Château Mouton Rothschild, has commissioned great painters, sculptors, and artists to illustrate their wine labels. [more inside]
posted by mattbucher on Jun 27, 2008 - 13 comments

Vintage Images l Vintage Ephemera l Gallery of Geishas: Art eZine has some interesting visuals, great collection of resources and links to all kinds of cool collages using a variety of vintage ephemera, like Junkyard Dolls or All Wired Up. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Nov 14, 2007 - 7 comments

Viñetas is a prolific blog from Spain focusing on illustration, vintage comics (sometimes wordless), advertising, humor magazines and other beautiful ephemera, curated by the editor-in-chief of a Spanish comics company. [via Journalista]
posted by mediareport on Sep 21, 2007 - 8 comments

Diableries: bizarre tabletop dioramas of scenes from the life of Satan, made around 1870. [via the nonist] [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Sep 20, 2007 - 26 comments

Toy art: tribal scooters, spider car, little animal robots out of broken electrical parts, a color changing house designed by a 14 year old boy, of wood, wind-up, MunkyKing, Ugly Dolls, out of beer cans, with balloons, Cute Things, artoyz, toys from trash, tiny knitted dolls clothes and accessories, vintage and retro at Tick Tock Toys.
posted by nickyskye on Jul 7, 2007 - 15 comments

Civil War Posters, Soviet Children's Books, 19th Century Shipping Posters, and much, much more are all part of this Flickr user's amazing collection of printed ephemera.
posted by jonson on Mar 31, 2007 - 13 comments

The destruction of the Paris Commune. African-American photo postcards. War models. Luminous Lint offers pages and pages of exhibits of vintage and modern photography and all sorts of related stuff. [via the excellent Bouphonia]
posted by mediareport on Mar 20, 2007 - 6 comments

Gems of Penmanship, Penman's Leisure Hour, Ninety-five Lessons in Ornamental Penmanship, The Champion Method of Practical Business Writing and other Rare Books on Calligraphy and Penmanship from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Lots of neat tidbits. [via mlarson.org]
posted by mediareport on Feb 24, 2007 - 12 comments

Barnacle Press :: Amazing Archive of Vintage Comic Strips
posted by anastasiav on Oct 21, 2005 - 18 comments

~Balnea~ Virtual Museum of Sea Bathing and Seaside Tourism
This beautiful and comprehensive Italian site records the development of human association with the sea from the 18th to the 20th century. Art works, posters and photographs display the evolving nature of seaside architecture, fashion, lifesaving, cafes/amusements, sun protection, pavillions and more. There are even vintage essays and partially digitized books (some are in english) as well as beach tunes (midi files) for those so-inclined. [site map] via
posted by peacay on Aug 4, 2005 - 3 comments

Vintage & Retro Posters
French/Italian
Marc Chagall
Old Movie Posters via
posted by peacay on Jul 12, 2005 - 8 comments

I vould haf palbidations by de heardt if you vould let me take your picture. Vintage postcards featuring cameras and photographers.
posted by iconomy on Feb 14, 2005 - 5 comments

Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls.
posted by hama7 on Dec 6, 2003 - 7 comments

THRIFT STORE ART | If you frequent thrift stores, you've most likely seen some enigmatic art on display. You've asked yourself the question: What was she thinking? Why paint a clown riding a tiger surfing on a wave of toothpaste? Here is someone's personal collection of thrift store art. Also, Huge Magazine (The Internet's Superchunky Arts and Leisure Magazine) has its very own Thrift Store Art Gallery.
posted by jacknose on Apr 29, 2003 - 8 comments

A Gallery of Bookplates. I always think it's a wonderful surprise when I'm antique bookshopping and I happen across some beautiful ex-libris. Many more links found via Joy Olivia on the Graphic Design blog Speak Up.
posted by Stan Chin on Nov 6, 2002 - 18 comments

You probably remember him best for his famous green devil, tempting you with the esoteric delight of evil absinthe^*, or the familiar image of the jester pushing the pleasures of Bitter Campari. Called by some the "father of the modern poster", and even the "father of advertising", Italian-born Leonetto Cappiello created over 1,000 memorable posters during his 40-year career in belle-epoque and fin-de-siecle Paris, and a quick look at a collection of his work quickly reminds us how enduring both his images and his basic concepts have been. (more...)
posted by taz on Nov 4, 2002 - 15 comments

A study of the effects of celery on loose elastic. This is the reason I love the web. A site dedicated to the peculiar stylings of Art Frahm.
posted by amanda on Nov 23, 2000 - 9 comments