The Virtues
Here we have a collection of images depicting the Seven Virtues of charity, faith, fortitude, hope, justice, prudence, and temperance.
View ArticleShakespeare
Shakespeare is one of the authors whose name is inscribed on the walls of the King Henry IV, King Lear, and the Tempest.
View ArticleRoman Virtues
These four depictions from a much larger collection of etchings, come from an illustrated work of ancient coins compiled by the famed cartographer and geographer of the Netherlands, Abraham Ortelius...
View ArticleBach, Music, and Liberty
Among the names engraved on the limestone walls of the Luther's Hymns and Bach's Chorals. We exhibit here some of the melodies from those works.A moving hymn by Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, was put...
View ArticleLord Acton and Friends
This photo ofThis photo is of Acton spending time with the Gladstone family at Tegernsee in 1879. Tegernsee was a spa town in the Bavarian Alps. Acton died there in 1902. In the photo Acton is seated...
View ArticleBlackstone on Consanguity and Descent
In William Blackstone's famous Commentaries on the Laws of England (1753), which were used to teach the law to many generations of British and American lawyers, there are two interesting illustrations....
View ArticleBlake, William: An Introduction
Related Links in the GSR: JobRelated Links: Subject Area: ReligionSubject Area: ArtSource: William Blake, Blake’s Illustrations of the Book of Job. With Descriptive Letterpress, and A Sketch of the...
View ArticleDarwin's diagram showing descent
Related Links: Subject Area: ScienceSource: Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by means of natural selection or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life, with additions and...
View ArticlePufendorf and the Geometry of Morality
In Chapter XVIII of his Two Books of the Elements of Universal Jurisprudence, Samuel Pufendorf makes an argument about the "geometry of moral actions", comparing them to the arc of a circle made by...
View ArticleCato and Republican Liberty
This images comes from the first edition (1713) of Joseph Addison's play "Cato. A Tragedy" which was so influential in the decades leading up to the American Revolution with its story of the courageous...
View ArticleWashington and Napoleon in their Study
IntroductionThere are some striking parallels in the lives of George Washington (1732-1799) and Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821): both were military leaders who helped their countries during a revolution...
View ArticleShaftesbury's Illustrations for Characteristicks (1732)
Anthony Ashley Cooper, more commonly known as the Third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), wrote one of the most influential books of the 18th century: Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times....
View ArticleThe People and the Ruling Elite in Caricatures (Wade and Daumier)
IntroductionJohn Wade (1788-1875) was active in British reform circles throughout the 1820s. This group included people such as James Mill and other “Philosophical Radicals”. One of their key demands...
View ArticleMonuments to Free Trade: Bastiat and Cobden
Many statues and monuments are erected in public places to military leaders, kings, emperors, and presidents who take their countries to war, raise taxes, increase economic regulation of the economy,...
View ArticleThe Divine Right of Kings or Regal Tyranny? (Hobbes and Lilburne)
The Divine Right of Kings or Regal Tyranny? Thomas Hobbes (1651) vs. John Lilburne (1647)During the upheavals of the English Civil War when the divine right of the English monarchy was challenged by...
View ArticleImages of the British Abolitionist Movement
Images used by the British Abolitionist Movement in the 1780s"Am I not a Man and a Brother?" Official Medallion and Motto of the British Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (1787)A...
View ArticleLiberty slaying the Monsters of Tyranny and Oppression
W.D. Cooper, "America Trampling on Oppression" (1789) Source: Library of CongressPierre Paul Prud'hon et Jacques Louis Copia, "Liberty overthrowing the Hydra of Tyranny" (1793) Source: Bibliothèque...
View ArticleJames Gillray on War and Taxes during the War against Napoleon
In this essay we wish to examine 5 prints drawn by James Gillray in the 1790s and 1800s which explore the theme of the suffering of the British people (“John Bull”) under the heavy taxation and...
View ArticleThomas Jefferson in the Cyclopedia
Images of Thomas Jefferson in the Jeffersonian Cyclopedia (1900)The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia: A Comprehensive Collection of the Views of Thomas Jefferson. Classified and Arranged in Alphabetical Order...
View ArticleLilburne quoting Coke on English Liberties at his treason trial (1649)
John Lilburne reading from Coke's Institutes at his Treason Trial (1649) [See a larger version of this image 250 KB JPG]Image SourceFrom The Triall of Lieut. Collonell J. Lilburne by an extraordinary...
View ArticleThe Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1416)
IntroductionWe have selected an appropriate quotation from the works of members of the Scottish Enlightenment to go with the following illustrations from the Très Riches Heures. We have done this...
View ArticlePresidents Day and the Apotheosis of Washington
John James Barralet, "The Apotheosis of Washington" (1802-1816) [See a larger version of the image as an engraved print for more details].Unknown, "The Apotheosis of Washington and Lincoln" (1865)The...
View ArticleAlgernon Sidney (1622-1683) and the Thomas Hollis Library of Liberty
Algernon Sidney (1622-1683) (facing left)Algernon Sidney (1622-1683) (facing right) [higher resolution image 3.8 MB 2234x3021 px]Thomas Hollis's Library of LibertyThis is part of an ongoing series...
View ArticleAbraham Lincoln as the "Federal Phoenix" (1864)
Abraham Lincoln as the "Federal Phoenix" rising from the fire of the American Constitution (1864)John Tenniel, "The Federal Phoenix", Punch, Volume 47, December 3, 1864.SourceAllan T. Kohl, Minneapolis...
View ArticleNew Playing Cards for the French Republic (1793-94)
The Spirit of Peace Motto: "Prosperity" [See larger image 600px] The Spirit of Commerce Motto: "Wealth" [See larger image 600px]
View ArticleBrueghel, Taxes, and the Numeration of the People of Bethlehem (1566)
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569) Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569) was a Flemish painter famous for his landscapes and depictions of peasant life. In this painting, "The Numeration (Census)...
View ArticleThe Spanish-American War and the Anti-Imperialism League (1902)
"Expansion: The Water-Cure method of extorting from Uncle Sam the confession that an Empire is better than a Republic." "Expansion" The Public (January 31, 1902)
View ArticleJacques Callot, Hugo Grotius, and the Miseries of War in the 17th Century
Top:1. Title Page of "The Miseries and Misfortunes of War" (1633) [See a larger version of this image (1275 px)] Bottom: 7. Plundering and Burning a Village (1633) [See a larger version of this image...
View ArticleJohn Locke and Thomas Hollis
John Locke (1632-1704) and the Thomas Hollis Library of Liberty
View ArticleA Monument to Frédéric Bastiat (1878)
A monument erected in memory of Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) in Mugron (1878); partly destroyed by the Nazis in 1942[Gabriel-Vital Dubray, "Frédéric Bastiat" (1878)]This engraving from the magazine Le...
View ArticleMises on Rationing and Price Controls in WW2
The Austrian-American free market economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) left Switzerland for the United States in August 1940. During the war years he wrote a number of books which criticised...
View ArticleEugène Delacroix on Press Censorship during the Restoration (1814-1822)
Detail from Anon. "Les Journaux en mai 1815" (Newspapers in May 1815)Detail from Anon. "Les Journaux", Le Nain jaune (1814)
View ArticleThe Gold Standard vs. Fiat Paper Money
Top: a 20 Mark Gold Coin - Deutsches Reich, Wilhelm II German Emperor and King of Prussia (1900)Bottom: a 10 Billion Mark German banknote (October 1923)As the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises...
View ArticleTocqueville and Bastiat on the 1848 Revolution in Paris
This very nice image of Alexis de Tocqueville (with signature) comes from a 1896 translation of his memoir or "recollection"' of the 1848 Revolution in France. It is described as a "heliogravure" which...
View ArticleNew Picture of Tocqueville in 1848
This lithograph of Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville, better known as Alexis de Tocqueville, was created by Leon Noël in 1848. That year Tocqueville was elected to France’s Chamber of...
View ArticleLudwig von Mises on Rationing in WW2
During the war years the Austrian-American free market economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) wrote a number of books which criticised government intervention and control of the economy, especially...
View ArticleAdam Smith and J.B. Say on the Division of Labour
Related Links: School of Thought: The Scotttish EnlightenmentSchool of Thought: The French EnlightenmentSubject Area: EconomicsThe Division of Labour: Adam Smith and the Pin-Maker; J.B. Say and the...
View ArticleDeclaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen de 1789 [Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 1789]by Jean-Jacques François Le Barbier (1738-1826)Related Links: Georg Jellinek,...
View ArticleSamuel warns the Israelites of the Dangers of Kings
"Saul is ordered to destroy all the Amalekites and their livestock," [page 24 verso, lower panel] The Morgan Picture Bible (c. 1250)Many Christians in 17th century England and 17th and 18th century...
View ArticleMises on Gresham’s Law and Ancient Greek Silver Coins
In an Appendix to his The Theory of Money and Credit(1912) the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) discussed the value of a silver coin issued by Gelon the King of Syracuse in 480 BC. A...
View Article"New" Socialist Ideas in the 1848 Revolution
The French political caricaturist Amédée de Noé mocked the leading socialist figures of the 1848 Revolution in this panel of 6 cartoons. He ridicules their claims that their ideas were new and original...
View ArticleCobden and the Anti-Corn Law League
Richard Cobden (1804-1865) These illustrations about Richard Cobden and the Anti-Corn Law League (ACLL) (1838-1846) accompany the Liberty Matters online discussion "Richard Cobden: Ideas and Strategies...
View ArticleArt of the Levellers
The Leveller Tracts had some very interesting title pages which used typography and occasionally woodcuts to add graphical force to the political and economic arguments being made by the authors. The...
View ArticleNgrams and the Changing Vocabulary of Class Analysis in 19th Century...
Honoré Daumier, "The Army Hierarchy" (1850s) [See higher resolution image]What are Ngrams?According to the Wikipedia article on The Google Ngram Viewer:The Google Ngram Viewer or Google Books Ngram...
View ArticleEncyclopedic Liberty and Industry
This illustrated essay explores some images of "liberty" and "industry" from Diderot’s Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic...
View ArticleThe First Colored Senator and Representatives
Created circa 1872 by the Currier & Ives Lithography Company, “The First Colored Senator and Representatives” is a combined portrait of the African-Americans that were elected to serve in Congress...
View ArticleRepresentative Women: An Image of Several Suffragists (1870)
Created circa 1870 by the artist L. Schamer, “Representative Women” is a combinative portrait of seven influential suffragists who were popular on the lyceum lecture circuit from about 1860-1880. The...
View ArticleEmancipation Proclamation
This decorative print of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was produced in 1864 by engraver W. Roberts, and the printer, C.A. Alvord. The print does far more than just record the text of the...
View ArticleShays's Rebellion
In 1786, the United States government was young in its development and still finding its way. The country was governed by the Articles of Confederation, its first constitution, which many felt wasn’t...
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