An excellent sourcebook for illustrations of hands. Hands doing anything and everything. Keep in mind when the title says 19th century, it literally means 1800-1899, so there will be no modern subjects in the illustrations. No phones, computers, remote controls, etc., but there are hundreds of hands performing 19th century tasks. Also included are prosthetics, a sign language alphabet, palmistry illustrations, medical illustrations and even hands performing shadow puppets. All in all you get a lot of drawings of hands. I found this book better than most clip art books in the fact that the style of the illustrations varies more. There are pen and ink using crosshatching technique and solid, bold line art, so the feel of the illustrations varies more and you are more likely to find what you are looking for. Great Book.