Printed textiles are one of the most ancient and significant branches of the design of textiles, the development of which, within the framework of the European cultural tradition, includes consideration of such questions as canonical schemes of ornamental constructions and style trends of fine art. The end of XVIII-beginning of XIX century was a period of flourishing of French applied art, its dominance in Europe as a generally recognized standard. It was also a period of rising public interest in French literature, the images of which were embodied in one of the most widely replicated types of applied art-ornamental printed textiles. The article describes the main sources of ornamental plot compositions of French printed textiles of the late XVIII early XIX century. The emergence reasons in drawings of a heel-tap of these or those characters and scenes from literary works are defined, the semantic analysis is carried out them. The technique of the translation of art and graphic language of a book illustration in language of subject textile ornamentation is revealed.