Wednesday 7 September 2016 at 15:52
Although not normally considered the most glamorous of Mother Nature's offerings, algae has found itself at the heart of many a key moment in the last few hundred years of botanical science. Ryan Feigenbaum traces the surprising history of one particular species — Conferva fontinalis — from the vials of Joseph Priestley's laboratory to its possible role as inspiration for Shelley's Frankenstein.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2016/09/07/visions-of-algae-in-eighteenth-century-botany/
Tuesday 6 September 2016 at 17:54
A book of codes to help disguise internal police telegrams in what amounted to some kind of 19th-century version of the encrypted email.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/barnards-universal-criminal-cipher-code-1895/
Wednesday 31 August 2016 at 19:02
CONJECTURES #1 — Easter McCraney explores the pages of an obscure Theosophical journal and the ornithological intrigues which lie within.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/in-search-of-the-third-bird-kenneth-morris-and-the-three-unusual-arts/
Tuesday 30 August 2016 at 19:05
A popular Victorian parlour toy, generally marketed for children, which is widely considered to be among the earliest forms of animation and the precursor to modern cinema.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/phenakistoscopes-1833/
Thursday 25 August 2016 at 18:51
A wonderfully no-nonsense guide to the culinary art of the sandwich.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-up-to-date-sandwich-book-400-ways-to-make-a-sandwich-1909/
Tuesday 23 August 2016 at 17:54
An unusual image captured by Frederick William Bond, photographer at the Zoological Society of London. Contents included a couple of handkerchiefs, a buttoned glove, a length of rope, a plain handkerchief, and a four-inch nail.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/contents-of-an-ostrichs-stomach-ca-1930/
Wednesday 17 August 2016 at 16:58
Joshua Ehrlich on an obscure text found on the shelves of a Bengali library and the light it sheds on the idea of the public in 19th-century Calcutta.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2016/08/17/the-calcutta-pococurante-society-public-and-private-in-indias-age-of-reform/
Tuesday 16 August 2016 at 19:01
Propaganda cartoons from the pen of Japanese artist Kobayashi Kiyochika.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/kobayashi-kiyochikas-cartoons-of-the-russo-japanese-war-1904-5/
Thursday 11 August 2016 at 18:48
The Death of Cock Robin, also known as The Death and Burial of Cock Robin is a somewhat macabre English nursery rhyme describing the murder and the funeral of a robin.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-death-and-burial-of-cock-robin/
Wednesday 10 August 2016 at 18:23
A mother brings her baby to Professor Bakem's newly invented baby incubator, which claims to give one year's of growth in just one hour, but an accident leads to a distressing surprise.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-over-incubated-baby-1901/