The Public Domain Review

At the end of the 17th century there appeared the first noting of a mysterious kayak-paddling “Finnman” seen in Orkney waters. Jonathan Westaway explores the subsequent explanations and how early modern science's fascination with unfamiliar objects, and the “out-of-place” in general, helped conjure the idea of an Inuit presence in the region and, in turn, a new chapter of Scottish folklore.

On one of the most striking and intriguing creations by a Flemish master of trompe l’oeil paintings.

Remarkable engraving of a sorceress mid-conjure, with a motley crew of demonic figures.

Introducing the historical zombie, situating it in current academic discourses, and considering the cultural moment of the film’s release.

A humorous 1917 blank notebook invites consideration of the fight for women’s suffrage in the USA.

During the 17th century, as knowledge of the Universe and its contents increased, so did speculation about life on other planets. One such source, as Hugh Aldersey-Williams explores, was Dutch astronomer, mathematician, and inventor Christiaan Huygens, whose earlier work on probability paved the way for his very modern evaluation of what alien life might look like.

Short pamphlet of conversations with Whitman in his last years by the art critic and poet Sadakichi Hartmann.

Three books combining pictures and verse about an Anglican cleric in search of the perfectly picturesque.

Engravings from an ambitious and beautiful attempt to catalogue, for the first time, the musical instruments of the world.

From fairy-rings to Lewis Carroll's Alice, mushrooms have long been entwined with the supernatural in art and literature. What might this say about past knowledge of hallucinogenic fungi? Mike Jay looks at early reports of mushroom-induced trips and how one species in particular became established as a stock motif of Victorian fairyland.