Tuesday 15 May 2018 at 16:37
California used to be thought of as an island. This stunning collection of 17th- and 18th-century maps illustrates how.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/maps-showing-california-as-an-island/
Wednesday 9 May 2018 at 19:27
Illustrated alphabet, used to aid memory, in which each letter is paired with an object (in some case more than one) which echoes its shape.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/mnemonic-alphabet-of-jacobus-publicius-1482/
Tuesday 8 May 2018 at 18:09
Eccentric Victorian book arguing a strong case for the universal wearing of a beard – that essential symbol of manly distinction since ancient times.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-philosophy-of-beards-1854/
Thursday 3 May 2018 at 13:22
Characterised as manipulative, power-hungry, and even an alter rex, Henry VIII's right-hand man Cardinal Thomas Wolsey has been typically depicted with a body mass to rival his political weight. Katherine Harvey asks whether he was really the glutton of popular legend, and what such an image reveals about the link between the body, reputation, and power in Tudor England.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2018/05/03/iconology-of-a-cardinal-was-wolsey-really-so-large/
Monday 30 April 2018 at 17:17
First known recording of the popular African American spiritual performed in 1909 for Victor Studios by the Fisk University Jubilee Quartet.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/first-recording-of-swing-low-sweet-chariot-1909/
Wednesday 25 April 2018 at 16:25
Highlights from the fantastic collection of Hiroshige prints held at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/utagawa-hiroshige-last-great-master-of-ukiyo-e/
Tuesday 24 April 2018 at 15:11
Twenty-two letters written by Andrew Lang (1844–1912) to bards, poets, and novelists from Homer to Rabelais to Austen.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/letters-to-dead-authors-1886/
Wednesday 18 April 2018 at 18:28
Benjamin Breen on the remarkable story of George Psalmanazar, the mysterious Frenchman who successfully posed as a native of Formosa (now modern Taiwan) and gave birth to a meticulously fabricated culture with bizarre customs, exotic fashions, and its own invented language.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2018/04/18/made-in-taiwan-how-a-frenchman-fooled-18th-century-london/
Tuesday 17 April 2018 at 17:37
Holbein's series of action-packed scenes in which Death intrudes on the everyday lives of people from various levels of society — from pope to physician to ploughman.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/hans-holbeins-dance-of-death-1523-5/
Wednesday 11 April 2018 at 18:47
Curious and groundbreaking mix of documentary and silent horror cinema, written and directed by Benjamin Christensen.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/haxan-witchcraft-through-the-ages-1922/