About Century Library
Century Library is a small, family-run archive of vintage illustrations, fonts, ornaments, and ephemera, all hand-restored from real antique sources. We started in 2015 with a small pile of old books and postcards. Over the years that evolved into what you see today; tens of thousands of design assets that have been downloaded over 1,040,000 times.
How it began
What started as a small project, scanning a few favourite plates from an antique type catalogue, quickly became something larger. The collection grew. The restoration got better. We never set out to compete with the big stock sites. We set out to do something they were not doing: take the time to source real antique material, restore each piece by hand, and license it simply. That is still the whole brief. It has not changed.
The craft
Every asset goes through the same three-step pipeline. The ink on a page in 1872 has to make it onto a creator's screen in 2026 with its character intact.
No. 01
We hunt antique books, prints, and ephemera at fairs, auctions, and from other collectors. Each piece earns its way in by being beautiful, useful, or unusual. Most of all, by being real.
No. 02
Back home, every piece is scanned at high resolution and meticulously restored. Perfect imperfections remain intact. The aim is the original artefact, faithfully preserved.
No. 03
Each asset is catalogued, tagged, and dropped into the library. Members get full-resolution PNG, SVG, or JPG. Fonts are converted to working files for print, screen, and web. Then we go back to the books for the next piece.
What we believe
I.
Every asset comes from genuine antique books, prints, and ephemera in our private collection. We scan from the original artefact, not a reproduction. Nothing here was generated, nothing was lifted from the internet, and nothing was made by a machine.
II.
Each scan is cleaned, balanced, and prepared piece by piece. We keep the soul of the original (the foxing on a torn page, the ink-bleed of an old plate) and lose only the dust. The work is slow, deliberate, and entirely ours.
III.
One subscription, every asset, plain-English licensing. No credit packs, no ladder of paid extras, no hidden tiers. We charge enough to keep adding to the library and not a penny more.
By the numbers
45,000+
Assets in the library
3,420+
Creators using the library
11
Years and counting
0
AI-generated images. Ever.
The two of us
Co-founder
Tom runs sourcing and restoration. He is the one bidding on eBay at 3 in the morning, and the one staring too long at a single corner of a single scan. The library exists because he refuses to ship anything until it looks the way it should.
Co-founder
If you see a pixel-perfect isolation of a detailed, full-colour floral bouquet, it was done by her. No corners are cut, no shortcuts are made. It's a lot of patience and a steady hand.
Studio dog
Has not contributed to a single scan, but believes himself essential to morale. We agree.
Join us
One subscription. Personal or Commercial licence. 45,000+ assets and counting.
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