The New York Public Library Digital Gallery is a free service from The New York Public Library. At their delightful site, you can search hundreds of thousands of digital images and download them for free for personal, research and study purposes.

At this time more than 363,000 images are digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library. The images include illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, and more.

The web site is divided into collections so that users may browse as well as search for images. These collections all have collection guides to provide background and history as well as to further learning and understanding. The collection guides are narrative texts and lists of related resources.

The physical rights holder of the images in the digital library is in most cases in the public domain. However, the Library charges a usage fee if images are to be used in any nonprofit or commercial publication, web site, promotional material, etc. The Library’s Photographic Services & Permissions office has more information about this.