directory of children's illustration

At my last SCBWI meeting, one of the members showed us one of his favorite books. It was an old book, probably from the '70s. The text was in Italian, and I don't recall the title. The book was full of illustrations depicting soldiers from the late 1800s. One particular page showed an officer from head-to-toe in full regalia. Behind him was a weathered ledger page with a gridwork of boxes containing looser ink drawings of men, shown from the waist up, wearing various uniforms of many styles and colors. I made a sketch of it and thought--What a great design. I wonder how I could use it?