The Public Domain Review

Robin Jarvis looks at Thomas de Quincey’s essay “The English Mail-Co…

Endless Amusement, a collection of nearly 400 entertaining experiments in various branches of science, including acoustics, arithmetic, chemistry, electricity, hydraulics, hydrostatics, magnetism, mechanics, optics, wonders of the air pump, all the popular tricks and changes of the cards, &c., &c., &c.; 1820; Thorp and Burch, and Thomas Boys, London. As it states on the title page, a collection of “nearly 400 entertaining experiments in various branches of science, including acoustics, arithmetic, chemistry, electricity, hydraulics, hydrostatics, magnetism, mechanics, optics, wonders of the air pump, all the popular tricks and changes of the cards, &c., &c., &c. : to which is added, A complete system of pyrotechny, or, The art of making fireworks: the whole so clearly explained, as to be within the reach of the most limited capacity”. The book is housed at the Internet Archive, contributed by the California Digital Library. DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote the public domain as an indispensable public good, and to curate and showcase the most interesting out-of-copyright works on the web. SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER Sign up to [...]

Adele Keshelak sings three pairs of traditional Rusyn folk songs from Slovakia, recorded in New York on January 30th 1930: Track 1 – “Rusadelina Fialocka” (“Forget me Not”) and “D’Irava Mi Stricha Na Stajni” (“My Pet Horse Was Stolen”); Track 2 – “Na Dolini, V Hustom L’ Is’ I Na Dubi” (“In The Valley, In The Forest”) and “D’Ivki, D’Ivki Hej D’Ivki Na Selo” (“Girls, Girls, to Maidenlane”); Track 3 – “Uz Singl’ujut Zakryvajut Kasarnu” (“They’re Fitting Out The Barracks”) and “Na Oktobra, Na Persoho” (“Joining The Army”). The accordion soloist is Pawel Ondricka. Michael Tokarick provides one of the introductory speaking voices on Track 3; below are two folk songs form his miner’s band. These two Slovak folk dances were recorded in Camden, New Jersey on May 11th 1928. “Minersville Polka” is named after Tokarick’s hometown in the coal mining region of Pennsylvania. “Zelenim Hajecku” (“In The Green Fields”) is a traditional folk tune. MP3 Download: Adele Keshelak / Michael Tokarick Internet Archive link: Adele Keshelak / Michael Tokarick DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote [...]

A small selection of hearts through the history of art. (Images from a variety of places, see link below each image to see the source). and to finish off, a map of love, a land called Tendre: DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote the public domain as an indispensable public good, and to curate and showcase the most interesting out-of-copyright works on the web. SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER 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! Name: E-mail:

Devises et Emblemes Anciennes & Modernes, Tirees de Plus Celebres Auteurs; 1699; Kroniger & Göbel, Augspurg. Beautiful 17th century book showing various emblems with mottos described in German, Latin, French and Italian, and the emblems themselves described only in German. Some highlights include a floating stone, a lion being suspended over an empty throne, another lion gazing into a mirror and a flying ball. Here are a few choice examples, cut out and “cleaned”. The book is housed at the Internet Archive, contributed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote the public domain as an indispensable public good, and to curate and showcase the most interesting out-of-copyright works on the web. SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER 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! Name: E-mail:

Selected images from a 1608 edition of Livre de Pourtraiture by Jehan Cousin the Younger (ca. 1522–1595), son of of the famous painter and sculptor Jehan Cousin the Elder (ca. 1490-ca. 1560) who was often compared to his contemporary, Albrecht Dürer. Just before his death, Jehan the Elder published his noted work Livre de Perspective in 1560 in which he noted that his son would soon be publishing a companion entitled, Livre de Pourtraiture. While there have been some reports that an edition of Livre de Pourtraiture was fist printed in 1571 and again in 1589, no copies appear to exist. Instead, the most likely first printing of the work was 1595 in Paris by David Leclerc, with woodcuts engraved by Jean Leclerc, just after Jehan Cousin the Younger’s death. The book is one of the most famous on the subject of artistic anatomy and was printed again and again into the late 17th century. (All images from the U.S. National Library of Medicine). DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote the public domain as an indispensable [...]

Four horse drawn fire engines roar up a snow-covered Newark, New Jersey, street while spectators watch from the sidelines. Until the mid-19th century most fire engines were maneuvered by men, but the introduction of horse-drawn fire engines considerably improved the response time to incidents. The first self-propelled steam engine was built in New York in 1841. It was the target of sabotage by firefighters and its use was discontinued, and motorized fire engines did not become commonplace until the early 20th century. (Wikipedia) Download from Internet Archive Note this film is in the public domain in the US, but may not be in other jurisdictions. Please check its status in your jurisdiction before re-using. DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote the public domain as an indispensable public good, and to curate and showcase the most interesting out-of-copyright works on the web. SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER 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 [...]

Croatian Tales of Long Ago, by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, translated by F. S. Copeland; 1922; Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York. A seminal collection of short stories by the acclaimed children’s author Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić originally published in 1916 in Zagreb by the Matica Hrvatska publishing house. The collection is considered her masterpiece and it features a series of newly written fairy tales heavily inspired by motifs taken from ancient Slavic mythology of pre-Christian Croatia. Due to this way of combining original fantasy plots with folk mythology, Brlić-Mažuranić’s writing style has been compared by literary critics to Hans Christian Andersen and J. R. R. Tolkien. Indeed, the 1922 English translation by F.S. Copeland was published in London by George Allen & Unwin, the same company which would go onto publish Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy. The illustrations in this 1922 edition are by Croatian artist Vladimir Kirin. (Wikipedia) The book is housed at the Internet Archive, contributed by the Boston Public Library. Hat-tip to Pinterest user Pensive Blackbird. DONATE NOW TO SAVE THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW! With our initial funding now come to an end, we need your support to help us continue our mission – to promote [...]

Marvin Spevack introduces the Curiosities of Literature, the epic cornucopia of e…

Marvin Spevack introduces the Curiosities of Literature, the epic cornucopia of essays on all things literary by Isaac D’Israeli: a scholar, man of letters and father of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. What may be most curious about Isaac D’Israeli’s Curiosities of Literature is the title itself. For D’Israeli curiosity was a blend of the original denotation, “investigation … characterized by special care,” and that of his own day, “inquisitive, desirous of information,” as in his reference to the grammar in Johnson’s Dictionary as being “curiously illustrated by the notes and researches of modern editors” and his regarding his friend Francis Douce’s library as being “curious”. Suitably for D’Israeli, the man of letters, literature meant even more than just “literature generally, the humanities”; it meant knowledge in the widest sense, without formality and restriction. A collection of essays, Curiosities of Literature – as the full title of the first edition of 1791 makes explicit, Consisting of Anecdotes, Characters, Sketches, and Observations, Literary, Critical, and Historical – has been rightly called “that library in miniature”. It is a library which evolved through a vigorously evolutionary process – a veritable sea change of selection, addition, omission, and revision – its fourteenth and [...]