Classic Text Backgrounds – Free Download

A set of 12 Classic Text Backgrounds taken from well known books. Each background is 3000px x 2000px, supplied as .jpg at 72ppi.

Classic Text Backgrounds

The images below show the backgrounds at small size, each one is 3000px x 2000px. I have included a little information about each book.

The Old Curiosity Shop

The Old Curiosity Shop was written by Charles Dickens. It was first published in book form in 1841, although it has been published in serial form in Dickens’ weekly serial ‘Master Humphrey’s Clock’ in 1840.

Sense and Sensibility

Although not currently as well known as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen’s first novel, published in 1811 in 3 volumes. She had to pay to have it published, and it quickly sold out of its first print run of 750 copies. She did not initially publish this book under her own name, she used ‘By A Lady’.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was written by Mark Twain, and was published in 1876. It was followed by The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894) and Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896).

Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair was written by William Makepeace Thackeray and was first published as a 19 volume monthly serial from 1847 to 1848.

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights was Emily Bronte’s only novel. It was published in 1847 under the pseudonym ‘Ellis Bell’.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Commonly shortened to ‘Alice in Wonderland’, this book was written in 1865 by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

Moby Dick

Moby Dick was written by Herman Melville and was first published in 1851.

Treasure Island

Treasure Island was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, and was originally serialized in the children’s magazine ‘Young Folks’ from 1881 to 1882. It was first published as a book in 1883.

The Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights: Their Best Known Tales is a collection of short stories, and I have taken an excerpt from ‘The Story of Sinbad The Voyager’. The book was edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, and was published in 1909. However, the stories have been collected over centuries, and all of them have unknown authors. Sinbad first appeared in the One Thousand Nights manuscripts in the 17th Century.

Cinderella

Cinderella is a folk tale that has been adapted throughout the centuries. The story of ‘Rhodopis’ was recounted by the Greek Strabo around 7 BC. The most popular version was written by the Brothers Grimm in their Fairy Tales collection of 1812.