This was originally written by David J.C. Briggs on the Conceptart.org forums. (The original post can be found here.) All credit goes to him for compiling this list, I'm just passing the word on.
The Internet Archive is a massive digital library that stores all sorts of material in the public domain, from music and movies to images, webpages and nearly three million books. All of this is open-source and available to the general public free of charge. The books documented below cover all sorts of subjects from different eras, from anatomy to portraiture, fashion to architecture, from the works of Leonardo Da Vinci to the letters of Vincent van Gogh.
And this is only scratching the surface! If you head over to the Archive and search for whatever subjects catches your interest most you can find much, much more. Just select "Texts" in the search box at the top of the page.
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Bridgman, George B., 1939. The Human Machine
Bridgman, George B., 1920. Constructive anatomy
Blake, Vernon, 1927. The Art And Craft Of Drawing
Crane, Walter, 1914. Line & Form
De Laszlo, 1934. Painting a Portrait
Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock. Methods And Materials Of Painting Of The Great Schools And Masters
Volume One
Volume Two
Guptill, Arthur Leighton,1922. Sketching and Rendering in Pencil
Holmes, C. J. 1920. Notes on the science of picture-making
Poore, Henry Rankin, 1903. Pictorial composition and the critical judgment of pictures
Ross, Denman Waldo, 1907. A theory of pure design; harmony, balance, rhythm
Ruskin, John. The elements of drawing (1920 edition)
Stone, Irving And Jean, 1962. I, Michelangelo, Sculptor (Michelangelo's Letters)
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.
Ludovici, Anthony Mario, 1912 - The letters of a post-impressionist; being the familiar correspondence of Vincent van Gogh
Gauguin, Paul, 1919. Noa Noa. Translated from the French by O.F. Theis
Vasari, Giorgio. Lives of the most eminent painters, sculptors & architects (complete in ten volumes).
Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Volume Nine
Volume Ten
Mount, Charles Merrill, 1955. John Singer Sargent - A Biography
Marillier, H. C. 1912.
The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley
The later work of Aubrey Beardsley
Quennell, Peter, 1955. Hogarth's Progress
Clapp, 1916 - Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo, his life and work
Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer
Strange, Edward Fairbrother, 1906. Hokusai, the old man mad with painting
Whistler (lots)
Clark, Kenneth. The Romantic Rebellion
Clark, Kenneth, 1949. Landscape into Art
Panofsky, Erwin, 1955. Meaning In The Visual Arts - Papers In and On Art History
10 works illustrated by NC Wyeth
30+ works illustrated by Howard Pyle (+ 10 on Gutenberg)
28 works by, or illustrated by Walter Crane
Pen Illustration
Maginnis, Charles. Pen Drawing - An Illustrated Treatise
Sullivan, Edmund J. 1921. The Art Of Illustration
Sullivan, Edmund J. 1922. Line - an art study
Imagination
Ribot, Th. 1906. Essay on the creative imagination
Rhoades, James, 1908. The training of the imagination
Composition
Dow, Arthur Wesley, 1913. Composition; a series of exercises in art structure for the use of students and teachers
Perspective
Loomis, Andrew, 1951. Successful Drawing (direct download)
Storey, G. A. The Theory and Practice of Perspective (direct download)
Watson, Ernest W., 1955. How To Use Creative Perspective (poor scans)
Longfellow, William Pitt Preble, 1901. Applied perspective, for architects and painters
Miller, Leslie William, 1887. The essentials of perspective, with illustrations drawn by the author.
Great collection of scholarly articles on history of perspective
Architecture
Robinson, John Beverley, 1914. Architectural Composition
Other architectural highlights include 50+ elaborately illustrated volumes of the journal known successively as Architecture, American architect and architecture, and Architectural record 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, etc.
Fashion
Ellsworth, Evelyn Peters, 1917. Textiles and costume design
Traphagen, Ethel, 1918. Costume design and illustration
Leonardo Da Vinci
Clark, Kenneth, 1952. Leonardo Da Vinci An Account Of His Development As An Artist
Hind, Charles Lewis. Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci
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.
Volume One
Volume Two
Books illustrated by Arthur Rackham
Vernon Jones, V. S.1916. Æsop's fables: a new translation
Gates, Eleanor, 1907. Good-night (Buenas noches)
Morley, Christopher, 1922. Where the blue begins
Ibsen, Henrik, [19--?]. Peer Gynt: a dramatic poem
Stephens, James, 1920. Irish fairy tales
Fitz-Gerald, S. J. Adair (Shafto Justin Adair),1896. The Zankiwank & the Bletherwitch
Evans, C. S., 1920. The sleeping beauty
Books illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
The throwback : a romance of the Southwest (1906)
Arizona nights (c1907)
Whispering Smith (1908 [c1906)
The song of Hiawatha (c1908 )
Susanna and Sue (c1909)
The long roll (1911)
Treasure Island (c1911)
Cease firing (1912)
The sampo; a wonder tale of the old North ([c1912])
Blackfeet Indian stories (c1913)
Letters of a woman homesteader (1914)
The drums of the 47th (c1914)
Nan of Music Mountain (1916)
The mysterious stranger: a romance (1916)
The black arrow: a tale of the two Roses ([c1916])
Robin Hood (1917)
The last of the Mohicans: a narrative of 1757 (1919)
Robinson Crusoe (1920)
The courtship of Miles Standish (1920)
Rip Van Winkle (c1921)
Poems of American patriotism (c1922)
Vandemark's folly (c1922)
Chapman's American Drawing Book
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.
1847 edition (168 p.)
1847 edition (168 p.)
1858 edition (304 p.)
1870 edition (320 p.)
More Artists and their works
Heermann, Norbert, 1918. Frank Duveneck
Roof, Katharine Metcalf, 1917. The life and art of William Merritt Chase
Cox, Kenyon, 1914. Winslow Homer
Inness, George Jr,, 1917. Life, Art and Letters of George Inness
Hartmann, Sadakichi, 1910. The Whistler book; a monograph of the life and position in art of James McNeill Whistler
Macfall, Haldane, [1906?] Whistler
Furst, Herbert, 1920. Frank Brangwyn, R.A (woodcuts)
Sparrow, Walter Shaw, 1915. A Book of Bridges (illustr. Brangwyn)
Brooklyn Museum, 1921 - Historical paintings of the Slavic nations (Mucha's Slav Epic)
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Wow! thank you! 