Kindle screensaver images

March 15, 2012 4:43 PM

What are some good images for a 3rd-gen Kindle's screensaver / cover?

I've hacked my 3rd-gen Kindle. Now I can replace the default screensaver images with my own, and I'm looking for some good ones.

Criteria:

• images related to books or literature
• old preferred over modern - engravings and pencil sketches are especially welcome
• look good in greyscale
• 800x600, or could be cropped / rescaled to fit those dimensions

So far I have an image from Piranesi's Carceri D'Invenzione, Mervyn Peake's illustration of the ancient mariner, Da Vinci's self-portrait, and this great image of Moby Dick. What else am I missing?

posted by Paragon to media & arts (7 answers total)

Look for alchemical texts. The ones from the Mutus Liber are quite nice!
posted by Peregrin5 at 4:48 PM on March 15, 2012

I'd start with Dürer engravings.
posted by Leon at 4:48 PM on March 15, 2012

How about some Islamic pattern art?
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:49 PM on March 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

s/engravings/woodcuts/

damn it.
posted by Leon at 4:49 PM on March 15, 2012

Here's some places to check for ready-to-install screensaver images that may meet your criteria:
Kindleunit
Got Medieval
Kubizo (a few older titles under "Book Covers", at least)

As for converting other images you may find, here are some things to keep in mind:

Photographs, paintings and images with gradients will look better if dithered down into 16-color grayscale.

You may want to consider stamping your converted images with "Slide and release the power switch to wake" to give them the official factory-installed look. (I took this a step further on mine, and added a second bar across the top with "Property of:" contact info.)
posted by radwolf76 at 6:57 PM on March 15, 2012

I got a handful or so (8 maybe) of Ivan Bilibin prints, cropped them to size, tinkered with the B&W conversion until they were nice and crisp, and now they make me very happy every time I pick up my Kindle. I'd be glad to send them your way - memail me with an email address to use if you're interested.
posted by komara at 7:17 PM on March 15, 2012

I've found some really nice stuff on the Kindle Wallpapers Tumblr.
posted by xndr at 9:19 AM on March 16, 2012 [1 favorite]