The Public Domain Review

A selection of birds as featured in Volume 1 of (the magnificently titled) Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands: containing the figures of birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, and plants: particulary the forest-trees, shrubs, and other plants, not hitherto described, or very incorrectly figured by authors. Together with their descriptions in English and French. To which are added, observations on the air, soil, and waters: with remarks upon agriculture, grain, pulse, roots, &c., by Mark Catesby and George Edwards. (All images taken from The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands by Mark Catesby and George Edwards housed at the Biodiversity Heritage Library, through which the whole book can be seen). Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

One of the most notable newsreel films in existence – footage showing the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia on 9th October, 1934. While the exact moment of shooting was not captured on film, the events leading to the assassination and the immediate aftermath were. The body of the chauffeur (who had been killed instantly) became jammed against the brakes of the car, allowing the cameraman to continue filming from within inches of the King for a number of minutes afterwards. The film was later revealed to have been manipulated slightly in order to give the audience the impression that the assassination had been captured on film. Three identical gunshot sounds were added to the film afterwards, when in reality Chernozemski shot over ten times, killing or wounding a total of 15 people. The exact moment of assassination was never filmed. On Tuesday 9 October 1934 the King Alexander arrived in Marseilles to start a state visit to the Third French Republic, to strengthen the two countries’ alliance in the Little Entente. While Alexander was being driven in a car through the streets along with French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou, a gunman, Vlado Chernozemski, stepped from the street and shot [...]

A selection of woodcuts from an 1882 book compiling facsimiles of 18th century chapbooks. To see the pictures in context and peruse the full chapbooks see our post in the Text section where we have the full book. (All images taken from the Chap-books of the eighteenth century, with facsimiles, notes, and introduction by John Ashton (1882) housed at the Internet Archive, donated by University of Pittsburgh Library System. Hat-tip to Pinterest user Erin H). Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

Chap-books of the eighteenth century, with facsimiles, notes, and introduction by John Ashton; 1882; Chatto and Windus, London. Wonderful book offering facsimiles of hundreds of 18th century chapbooks upon a huge range of subjects – from tragic tales of revenge and murder to guides for interpreting dreams and moles – and the exquisite illustrative woodcuts which would often accompany the text. Included in this compilation is an informative introduction by John Ashton on the chapbook phenomenon, with additional commentary on some of the works. For a selection of woodcuts from the book see our Images post The book is housed at the Internet Archive, donated by University of Pittsburgh Library System. Hat-tip to Pinterest user Erin H Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

A recording from the Library of Congress Berliner collection – the performer N.R. Wood imitates various animal sounds heard during the early morning, including sheep, cattle, cock, hens, guinea hen, turkey, hawk, crow, and other birds. Recorded in Washington, D.C. by Berliner Gramophone, 5th August 1897. MP3 Download Internet Archive Link Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

Actresses featured in the Moriarty playing card series issued in 1916 by the Movie Souvenir Card Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio. The back of each card is a reproduction in multiple-colors of the painting “The Chariot Race.” The ad card within the pack proclaims: “Get a few packs of “Movies”–A Veritable Picture Gallery of the celebrities of the Movie World, treated with such a genius that it is the greatest novelty ever made in Souvenir Playing Cards, and is complete for playing all card games.” (All images via Wikimedia Commons). Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

Jonathan Lamb explores the genre of ‘it-narratives’ – stories told from the point of view of an object, often as it travels in circulation through human hands. Some of the best recent books about things, such as John Plotz’s Portable Property (2008) and Elaine Freedgood’s Ideas in Things (2006), deal with artefacts, commodities and curiosities that find their value and significance by means of circulation, moving from place to place and hand to hand. These journeys of things were the theme of the essays edited by Arjun Appadurai in his landmark collection, The Social Lives of Things (1986). The title glanced at Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism, sharing the assumption made in Capital I that things get a life by moving about and meeting other things; and that if these things have an ambition, it is to act like human beings: that is socially. The sociability of things seems to be co-extensive with the market that generated the system of exchange value; for just as the merchant’s interest is focused on the most desirable commodities — those that move the fastest and never lie upon his hands — so the commodities themselves desire nothing better than to be in perpetual [...]

Russian fairy tales from the Russian of Polevoi, by R. Nisbet Bain, illustrated by Noel L. Nisbet; 1915; Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York. A collection of Russian fairytales translated from the Russian of Nikolai Polevoy, a notable editor, writer, translator in the early 19th century. The translations were made by Robert Nisbet Bain, a British historian who worked for the British Museum, and a polyglot who could reportedly speak over twenty languages fluently. He famously taught himself Hungarian in order that he could read the works of Mór Jókai in the original after first reading him in German, going on to become the most prolific translator into English from Hungarian in the nineteenth century. The book is housed at the Internet Archive, donated by the Boston Public Library. Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

Images of mechanical prosthetics as designed by Ambroise Paré in his book Dix livres de la chirurgie (Ten books of Surgery). Paré was the official royal surgeon for kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III and is considered to be one of the fathers of surgery and modern forensic pathology. As well as a designer of surgical instruments, he was also a leader in surgical techniques and battlefield medicine, especially the treatment of wounds. (Wikipedia) (All images taken from the National Library of Medicine. Those published below have been cleaned and doctored a little .) Other illustrations from Dix livres de la chirurgie: Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

Roundhay Garden Scene is an 1888 short film directed by inventor Louis Le Prince, considered to be the world’s first film ever made using a motion picture camera. According to Le Prince’s son, Adolphe, it was filmed at Oakwood Grange, the home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom on October 14, 1888. It features Adolphe Le Prince, Sarah Whitley, Joseph Whitley and Harriet Hartley in the garden, walking around and laughing. It was recorded at 12 frames per second and runs for only 2.11 seconds. Le Prince later used his camera to shoot trams and the horse-drawn and pedestrian traffic on Leeds Bridge. These pictures were soon projected on a screen in Leeds, making it the first motion picture exhibition. After returning to France, in September 1890, Le Prince was preparing to go back to the UK to patent his new camera, followed by a trip to the US to promote it. Before his journey, he decided to return home and visit friends and family. Having done so, he left Bourges on 13 September to visit his brother in Dijon. He would then take the 16 September train to Paris, but when [...]