To celebrate the release of Ultima 9 on GOG.com today, the Ultima Codex is pleased to present over eighty (80) images — scans, and possibly a few high-resolution originals as well — created for use in the manuals for Ultima 9. Most of the images here will be instantly familiar to seasoned Ultima veterans.

Despite the controversy that the game created, I’m pretty sure it is safe to say that the art in the manual and spellbook that shipped with the game was fantastic. Here it is, then, in gorgeously high resolution, suitable for use as a backdrop on your computer or phone (you might want to scale the images down in the latter case).

At any rate, enjoy. Pull up the images. Pore over them. Print them and mark them up. Pick apart every little detail you can, and see what you find. This is Ultima history at its finest, and the Ultima Codex is indebted to Joe Garrity, BioWare Mythic, BanditLOAF and the team at the Wing Commander CIC, everyone who worked at Origin, and especially Electronic Arts for it.