Tuesday 1 August 2017 at 17:57
The great Italian writer uses the macabre creations of the seventeenth-century Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch to reflect upon the mysteries of death.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/dialogue-of-frederick-ruysch-and-his-mummies-by-giacomo-leopardi-1827/
Thursday 27 July 2017 at 17:16
A Barthesian bristle and the curious power of Walt Whitman’s posthumous eyelids — D. Graham Burnett on meditations conjured by a visit to the death masks of the Laurence Hutton Collection.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2017/07/27/out-from-behind-this-mask/
Wednesday 26 July 2017 at 18:26
Great little promotional cartoon from the height of the Cold War championing not only the wonders of oil but also free-market capitalism. Features the overthrow of the suspiciously Stalin-like leader of Mars named Ogg.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/destination-earth-1956/
Tuesday 25 July 2017 at 17:10
Ten illustrations which, in a wonderful marriage of word and image, plot out the life of the Christian soul.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-heart-of-man-1851/
Wednesday 19 July 2017 at 18:54
Delightful little book from Thaddeus Davids and co, one of the largest ink manufacturers of their time: a wonderful example of form matching content.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-history-of-ink-including-its-etymology-chemistry-and-bibliography-1860/
Thursday 13 July 2017 at 18:21
A motley crew of anthropomorphic animals found adorning the lower margins of a finely illuminated book of hours produced in late thirteenth-century England.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/music-in-the-margins-the-funeral-of-reynard-the-fox-13th-century/
Wednesday 12 July 2017 at 18:09
Eva Moreda Rodríguez on the formative years of the recording industry, focusing on the culture surrounding the gabinetes fonográficos of fin-de-siècle Spain.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2017/07/12/inventing-the-recording/
Tuesday 11 July 2017 at 19:18
Early sci-fi short story by Voltaire recounting a visit to Earth by Micromégas, an inhabitant of a distant planet which circles the star Sirius, and his companion hailing from Saturn.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/micromegas-by-voltaire-1752/
Thursday 6 July 2017 at 17:53
A wonderfully unique object, at first glance merely a painting of roses, but with hidden erotic scenes beneath.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-concealed-erotic-paintings-of-sommonte-19th-century/
Wednesday 5 July 2017 at 18:04
CONJECTURES #5 — Winnie Wong brings us a short biography of the Chinese curioso Pan Youxun (1745-1780). At issue? Hubris, hegemony, and global art history.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/lover-of-the-strange-sympathizer-of-the-rude-barbarianologist-of-the-farthest-peripheries/