The Public Domain Review

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Nonsenseorship (1922)

Tuesday 8 September 2020 at 09:05

A lighthearted but serious-minded anthology of American writings against censorship written during the Prohibition era in America, including pieces by Dorothy Park, Ben Hecht, and Ruth Hale.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/nonsenseorship


“I Am My Own Heroine”: How Marie Bashkirtseff Rewrote the Route to Fame

Wednesday 2 September 2020 at 14:01

The diary of Marie Bashkirtseff, published after her death from tuberculosis aged just 25, won the aspiring painter the fame she so longed for but failed to achieve while alive. Sonia Wilson explores the importance of the journal — one of the earliest bids by a woman to secure celebrity through curation of “personal brand” — and the shape it gave to female ambition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/marie-bashkirtseff


Of Chickens, Eggs, and Cannonballs: Roger Fenton’s Valley of the Shadow of Death (1855)

Tuesday 1 September 2020 at 06:01

Controversial early photograph of a battle site during the Crimean War, taken by the British artist Roger Fenton.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/roger-fenton-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death


Joseph Ducreux’s Self-Portraits (ca. 1790)

Thursday 27 August 2020 at 08:30

Strikingly modern self-portraits by a French painter whose fixation on his own physiognomy has made his paintings readymade material for internet memes.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/joseph-ducreux-self-portraits


Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1652)

Wednesday 26 August 2020 at 08:55

Early anthology of English alchemical texts, including by Geoffrey Chaucer among others, accompanied by charts and illustrations.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/theatrum-chemicum


Work with The Public Domain Review

Tuesday 25 August 2020 at 16:04

We are looking for an experienced editor, researcher, and writer to work with us.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2020/08/work-with-the-public-domain-review


Primary Sources: A Natural History of the Artist's Palette

Thursday 23 July 2020 at 08:54

For all its transcendental appeals, art has always been inextricably grounded in the material realities of its production, an entwinement most evident in the intriguing history of artists' colours. Focusing in on painting's primary trio of red, yellow, and blue, Philip Ball explores the science and stories behind the pigments, from the red ochre of Lascaux to Yves Klein's blue.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/primary-sources


Ancient Courses: Harold Fisk’s Meander Maps of the Mississippi River (1944)

Tuesday 21 July 2020 at 07:11

Artful, detailed maps of the Mississippi’s meander belt created by US geologist and cartographer Harold Fisk.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/maps-of-the-lower-mississippi-harold-fisk


"A Slight Freshness on the Neck": Prints Depicting the Execution of Louis XVI (ca. 1793)

Tuesday 14 July 2020 at 09:35

Eighteenth-century images of the guillotining of King Louis XVI, which came to represent the changing nature of the French Revolution.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/execution-by-guillotine-of-louis-xvi


First Edition Pamphlet of Frederick Douglass' "What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?" (1852)

Saturday 4 July 2020 at 09:56

Douglass' famous anti-slavery oration, one of the most important speeches in the history of the United States.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/frederick-douglass-fourth-july-speech