The Public Domain Review

This is just an automatic copy of Public Domain Review blog.

Werner's Nomenclature of Colours (1814)

Tuesday 2 April 2019 at 16:56

Extending Werner's system, this is Patrick Syme's classic taxonomic guide to the colours of the natural world.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/werner-s-nomenclature-of-colours-1814


Leave it to Psmith (1923)

Monday 1 April 2019 at 18:39

The most popular adventure of P. G. Wodehouse's Psmith, a character based on English hotelier and impresario Rupert D'Oyly Carte.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/leave-it-to-psmith-1923


In Praise of Halvings: Hidden Histories of Japan Excavated by Dr D. Fenberger

Thursday 28 March 2019 at 17:00

Roger McDonald on the mysterious Dr Daniel Fenberger and his investigations into an archive known as “The Book of Halved Things".

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/in-praise-of-halvings-hidden-histories-of-japan-excavated-by-dr-d-fenberger


Women at Work during World War I

Wednesday 27 March 2019 at 16:09

Highlights from Imperial War Museum's collection of photographs showing women at work during World War I

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/women-at-work-during-world-war-i


Vernon Lee’s Satan the Waster: Pacifism and the Avant-Garde

Wednesday 20 March 2019 at 18:01

Part essay collection, part shadow-play, part macabre ballet, Satan the Waster: A Philosophic War Trilogy (1920) is one of Vernon Lee's most political and experimental works. Amanda Gagel explores this modernist masterpiece which lays siege to the patriotism plaguing Europe and offers a vision for its possible pacifist future.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/vernon-lees-satan-the-waster-pacifism-and-the-avant-garde


The Private Life of a Cat (ca. 1945)

Tuesday 19 March 2019 at 15:24

Experimental film from Alexander Hammid (and possibly also Maya Deren) exploring the lives of their two cats (and then five kittens) with which they lived in their Greenwich Village apartment.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-private-life-of-a-cat-ca-1945


Ogawa Kazumasa's Hand-Coloured Photographs of Flowers (1896)

Wednesday 13 March 2019 at 22:19

Stunning floral images produced by the Japanese photographer, printer, and publisher.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/ogawa-kazumasa-s-hand-coloured-photographs-of-flowers-1896


The Fourth Dimension and the Bible (1922)

Wednesday 13 March 2019 at 11:18

William Granville's attempt to explain the more mysterious aspects of the Bible through the rigours of pure mathematics.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-fourth-dimension-and-the-bible-1922


Audubon’s Haiti

Wednesday 6 March 2019 at 09:54

An entrepreneur, hunter, woodsman, scientist, and artist — John James Audubon, famous for his epic The Birds of America, is a figure intimately associated with a certain idea of what it means to be American. And like many of the country's icons, he was also an immigrant. Christoph Irmscher reflects on Audubon's complex relationship to his Haitian roots.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/audubons-haiti


Philippine Folk Tales (1916)

Wednesday 6 March 2019 at 07:47

Huge variety of stories presented, sourced from both the more traditional tribes, including the headhunters of the rugged mountain regions, and from those "Christianized natives" whose stories bear evidence of their European influence.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/philippine-folk-tales-1916