Eight Shadow Figures, c. 1842 by Utagawa Hiroshige; colour woodblock print , Publisher Jōshūya Jūzō. Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

"The three prints in Hiroshige's New Edition of Shadow Making series were probably considered omocha-e (toy pictures) intended for children. Creating shadows through hand gestures was a common pastime for children, and such pictures would have helped them build their repertoire. The eight patterns presented here (clockwise from upper right) are a turtle on a rock, a man wearing a Chinese-style hat, a rabbit, a shachihoko (a legendary creature with the head of a dragon and the body of a dolphin), an owl, a fox, a snail and a crow. Three include written instructions on how to make the shadows move: "open your fingers within your sleeve to move the owl's wings," "draw up your knee for the fox's back," "move the chopsticks up and down [snail]." - The Minneapolis Institute of Art

Theodor Kittelsen : Monster in the Lake - Illustration for Troldskab Christiania, 1892. Internet Archive

Learning your ABCs and working out what each letter stands for with French artist Joseph Apoux (1846-1910). In 1880, Apoux gave the world his Erotic Alphabet.

Eugene Alain Séguy - Butterflies 1 , Paris, 1920s pochoir print (Biodiversity Heritage Library)

Cancellation sheet, fragments of ten woodblocks from Intimacies by Félix Edouard Vallotton, 1899.

James Sowerby's Table 5, 1809 - via the Wellcome Collection.

‘Bingata' textile fragment featuring cherry blossoms, waves, mountains motifs, Japan - 19th century, Suntory Museum of Art.

The Favorite Cat Lithographed and published by Nathaniel Currier - 1838–48

Nunc Est Bibendum!!.. Now is the time to drink!! by O'Galop - 1898

ENGLISCHE GRAPHIK by Edward Wadsworth - 1923. A lithograph advertising the exhibition ‘Englische Graphik’ at the Kunstsalon Wolfsberg, June to August 1923.

A Sloth by Joris Hoefnagel & Georg Bocskay - plate from Mira calligraphiae monumenta, 1561-62

A Black Sun - from 'Splendor Solis' , a 16th century German alchemical manual attributed to Splendor Solis (The Splendour of the Sun) attributed to 'Salomon Trismosin'. This edition (probably 19th century ) is in the Wellcome Collection.

Based on an original watercolour illustration from Splendor Solis ('The Splendour of the Sun'), a German alchemical manual dating from around 1582.

The original of Splendor Solis, which contained seven chapters, appeared in Augsburg. The author of the manuscript was considered to be the legendary Salomon Trismosin, allegedly the teacher of Paracelsus, though the name is believed to be a pseudonym. The work consists of a sequence of 22 elaborate images, set in ornamental borders and niches. The symbolic process shows the classical alchemical death and rebirth of the king, and incorporates a series of seven flasks, each associated with one of the then-known planets. Within the flasks a process is shown involving the transformation of bird and animal symbols into the Queen and King, the white and the red tincture. Although the style of the Splendor Solis illuminations suggest an earlier date, they are clearly of the 16th century.

- Wikipedia

Édouard Manet - Design for the poster and cover for The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, 1875 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art , NY.

Pyramid of Capitalist System - A 1911 poster published in the Industrial Worker (a newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World)

Illustration of the Bar, Afternoon Ensemble by Christian Bérard - 1947.

Christian Bérard (20 August 1902 – 11 February 1949), also known as Bebè, was a French artist, fashion illustrator and designer.

Lichen - from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (Art forms of Nature) of 1904.

The Parinirvana of the Buddha c. 1710s - Japan, Edo period (1615-1868) - Color woodblock print.

Letter A Print from Joseph Apoux's Erotic Alphabet - 1880

Letter M Print from Joseph Apoux's Erotic Alphabet - 1880

Letter S Print from Joseph Apoux's Erotic Alphabet - 1880

Letter W Print from Joseph Apoux's Erotic Alphabet - 1880

Optical Toy, Phenakistiscope Disc with Geometric Shapes c.1840 by Cooper Hewitt - Smithsonian Design Museum.

George Mayerle's international eye test chart was produced around 1907. Mayerle was a German-born optometrist working in San Francisco when he made the chart. No matter what language you spoke in the city, you could understand the chart and your medic could test your eyesight.

George Mayerle's eye test chart … "combined four subjective tests done during an eye examination. Running through the middle of the chart, the seven vertical panels test for acuity of vision with characters in the Roman alphabet (for English, German, and other European readers) and also in Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Hebrew. A panel in the center replaces the alphabetic characters with symbols for children and adults who were illiterate or who could not read any of the other writing systems offered. Directly above the center panel is a version of the radiant dial that tests for astigmatism. On either side of that are lines that test the muscular strength of the eyes. Finally, across the bottom, boxes test for color vision, a feature intended especially (according to one advertisement) for those working on railroads and steamboats."

Käthe Kollwitz, Two Dead [Zwei Tote] - 1920. Woodcut.

"When someone dies because he has been sick—even if he is still young—the event is so utterly beyond one’s powers that one must gradually become resigned to it. He is dead because it was not in his nature to live. But it is different in war. There was only one possibility, one point of view from which it could be justified: the free willing of it. And that in turn was possible only because there was the conviction that Germany was in the right and had the duty to defend herself. At the beginning it would have been wholly impossible for me to conceive of letting the boys go as parents must let their boys go now, without inwardly affirming it—letting them go simply to the slaughterhouse. There is what changes everything. The feeling that we were betrayed then, at the beginning. And perhaps Peter would still be living had it not been for this terrible betrayal. Peter and millions, many millions of other boys. All betrayed." - Käthe Kollwitz, 19 March 1918.

The Prisoners is an Expressionist drypoint and etching print created by Käthe Kollwitz in 1908. Original Title : Die Gefangenen (plate 7 from the series Bauern Krieg).

Käthe Kollwitz : Memorial Sheet of Karl Liebknecht (Gedenkblatt für Karl Liebknecht), 1919-1920, Woodcut heightened with white and black ink, 37.1 × 51.9 cm (Art Institute of Chicago).

Poster showing a nude woman with gossamer wings reaching towards the light of a start and a Rayon d'Or light fixture (Library of Congress). Date: 1895. Artist: Jean de Paleologue.

Plate from ‘One Hundred Portraits of Peking Opera Characters' an Album of 50 leaves. Unidentified artist. China late 19th–early 20th century. Ink , colour and gold on silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art , NYC.

'Love-a-la-mode, or two dear friends' - Lady Strachan and Lady Warwick making love in a park, while their husbands look on with disapproval. Coloured etching, c. 1820. Wellcome Collection.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi : Honcho musha kagami (Mirror of Warriors of Our Country) - Kintaro seizing Raijin the thundergod, Japan, colour woodblock print , 1855

J.J. Grandville - Fishing , Illustration from 'Un Autre Monde', 1844.

Eugene Alain Séguy : Butterflies 3 - Paris 1920s pochoir print (Biodiversity Heritage Library)

Eugene Alain Séguy : Butterflies 2 , Paris 1920s pochoir print (Biodiversity Heritage Library)

Edible fungi- 19 Species - coloured lithograph by A. Cornillon, ca. 1827.

Champignons - comestibles A.A.Oronge vraie - B.B.Agaric de couche - C.A.des friches - D.A.Boule de neige - E.Mousseron vrai - F.Mousseron faux - G.A.à dez - I.Bolet bronzé - J.B. orangé - K.B. à tubes jaunes - L.Bolet marron - M.Helvelle mitrée - N.H. elastique - O.Varietè de kag comestible - P.idem varieté squammeuse - Q.Morille comestible - R.M.cendreé - S.M. jaune. Lith. de Cornillon, rue des Boucheries, F.S:O. No.47.

Walter Crane - A Garland for May Day 1895. Original relief print.

'The Cause Of Labour Is The Hope Of The World
Production For Use Not Profit
Solidarity Of Labour
Socialism Means The Most Helpful, Happy Life For All
A Commonwealth When Wealth Is Common
Art and Enjoyment For All
Hope In Work and Joy In Leisure
Cooperation and Emulation Not Competition
Shorten Working Days and Lengthen Life
No Child Toilers
The Land for the People’

Hans Christian Andersen - A Fully Cut Fairy Tale, ca. 1864.

Paper cutout -  original dimensions: 34.4 x 33.7 cm - Cut Paper - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC (2012.379)

The Underwater landscape of Crespo Island, from 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea' by Jules Verne, illustrated by Édouard Riou and Alphonse de Neuville, Paris, 1871. Smithsonian Library , Washington DC.

Nepenthaceae, from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (Art forms of Nature) of 1904.

Rabbits and Tortoise - Illustration for Zakariya al-Qazwini's book, Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing (13th century) , the Louvre, Paris.

Discomedusae - from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (Art forms of Nature) of 1904.

Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros – – Compendium of Demonology and Magic , written in German and Italian, ca. 1775. 

Folio 23 recto, Wellcome Library

Interior of a sheep from The Household Physician, 1905.

Heights Of The Principal Mountains In The World. Lengths Of The Principal Rivers In The World, S. Augustus Mitchell, 1846. David Rumsey Map Collection.

Chemistry: Chemical Instruments with Descriptions of Chemical Phenomena by John Emslie - 1850

Advert for the Sheraton-Chicago Hotel - c.1962

L'hiver George Barbier - 1925 

Papillons by E.A. Séguy (Emile-Allain), 1877-1951, was published in Paris in 1925. The work features 81 sublime images of butterflies (papillons) in 16 tableaux. 

Letter 'G' in a bespoke size by Joseph Apoux - 1888.

This Letter' S' From Joseph Apoux's Erotic Alphabet of 1888 was made bespoke.

If you'd like on of our prints in a particular size, please get it in touch via info@flashbak.com.