Wednesday 22 March 2017 at 16:48
Some three decades before Kerouac and friends hit the road, Sinclair Lewis published Free Air, one of the very first novels about an automobile-powered road trip across the United States. Steven Michels looks at the particular vision of freedom espoused in the tale, one echoed throughout Lewis’ oeuvre.
Sinclair Lewis at the wheel of his automobile, ca. 1920s — Source.
Sinclair Lewis is experiencing a renaissance of late — butâ�¦
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2017/03/22/american-freedom-sinclair-lewis-and-the-open-road/
Tuesday 21 March 2017 at 15:20
A scathing article exposing the horrors of a the biggest slave auction in American history.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/what-became-of-the-slaves-on-a-georgia-plantation-1863/
Friday 17 March 2017 at 18:46
The songs of one of Ireland's best known tenors, renowned for lending his superior diction and breath control to a whole range of operatic and popular songs.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/john-mccormack-recordings-1911-1940/
Tuesday 14 March 2017 at 19:15
Some of the earliest examples of calligrams found in a 9th-century astronomical manuscript on the constellations.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/aratea-making-pictures-with-words-in-the-9th-century/
Thursday 9 March 2017 at 18:04
One of the very first screen depictions of the now familiar Napoleon delusion trope — in which a mentally ill person believes themselves to be Napoleon Bonaparte.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/maniac-chase-1904/
Wednesday 8 March 2017 at 16:22
Donald S. Lopez, Jr. looks at Voltaire's early reflections on Buddhism and how, in his desire to separate the Buddha's teachings from the trappings of religion, the French Enlightenment thinker prefigured an approach now familiar in the West.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2017/03/08/voltaire-and-the-buddha/
Tuesday 7 March 2017 at 17:42
The excellent engravings from Johann Zahn's early and comprehensive account of the function and usage of a number of optical instruments, including the camera obscura and magic lantern.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/images-from-johann-zahns-oculus-artificialis-1685/
Thursday 2 March 2017 at 17:02
Xavier de Maistre's delightful parody of contemporary travel-writing written while under a six-week house-arrest in Turin.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/a-journey-round-my-room-1794-1871/
Wednesday 1 March 2017 at 18:03
Stunning set of portraits of Norwegians in national folk costume taken by the Danish photographer Marcus Selmer.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/marcus-selmers-photographs-of-19th-century-norwegians/
Tuesday 28 February 2017 at 18:44
The natural history of the world from the point of view of a personified pebble.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-strange-adventures-of-a-pebble-1921/