Wednesday 21 March 2018 at 18:14
Fashionable in the 16th and 17th century, the art of embroidering unique covers for books saw a comeback in late 19th-century England, from the middle-class drawing room to the Arts and Crafts movement. Jessica Roberson explores the bibliomania, patriotism, and issues around gender so central to the revival.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2018/03/21/pens-and-needles-reviving-book-embroidery-in-victorian-england/
Tuesday 20 March 2018 at 17:46
Beautiful 1920s edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's version of Greek myths for children, with illustrations by Virginia Frances Sterrett.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/nathaniel-hawthornes-tanglewood-tales-illustrated-by-virginia-frances-sterrett-1921/
Thursday 15 March 2018 at 17:17
Highlights from a book of 120 woodcuts depicting a series of fantastically bizarre and grotesque figures, reminiscent of some of the more inventive and twisted creations of Brueghel or Bosch.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-drolatic-dreams-of-pantagruel-1565/
Wednesday 14 March 2018 at 16:25
While imprisoned on St Helena, Napoleon started learning English. One resident of the island called his English “the oddest in the world.”
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/napoleons-englich-lessons/
Wednesday 7 March 2018 at 17:30
On the 250th anniversary of Laurence Sterne's death, Ian Campbell Ross looks at the engagement with mortality so important to the novelist's groundbreaking work.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2018/03/07/alas-poor-yorick-the-death-and-life-of-laurence-sterne/
Tuesday 6 March 2018 at 18:44
Wonderful drawings of balloonfishes and pufferfishes made during, or shortly after, the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/drawings-of-tetradons-and-diodons-ca-1838-42/
Thursday 1 March 2018 at 17:49
Wonderful trompe l'oeil tumbling block design quilt incorporating signatures from such luminaries as Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Rembrandt Peale, and Abraham Lincoln (one of eight American presidents represented).
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/adeline-harris-sears-autographs-quilt-1856-ca-1863/
Wednesday 28 February 2018 at 15:19
John Florio's translation of Michel de Montaigne's genre-forming Essays, including thoughts on grief, friendship, drunkenness, impotence, smells, death, and thumbs.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/first-english-edition-of-michel-de-montaignes-essays-1603/
Wednesday 21 February 2018 at 18:17
Musings upon the whys and wherefores of polar bears, particularly in relation to their forest-dwelling cousins, played an important but often overlooked role in the development of evolutionary theory. Michael Engelhard explores.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2018/02/21/darwins-polar-bear/
Tuesday 20 February 2018 at 17:24
Anthology of anti-slavery literature featuring abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass’s only published work of fiction.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/autographs-for-freedom-1853/