Tuesday 20 September 2016 at 15:53
Illustrations of cacti featured in a 19th-century work by French botanist Charles Lemaire.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/illustrations-from-a-descriptive-iconography-of-cacti-1841/
Thursday 15 September 2016 at 17:22
True to the ideas held within — that blue light is bearer of unique and special properties — this book is entirely printed with blue ink on blue paper.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-influence-of-the-blue-ray-of-the-sunlight-and-of-the-blue-color-of-the-sky-1877/
Wednesday 14 September 2016 at 18:21
A device which promises to secure the zest which accompanies the pleasant pastime of buffeting surf.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-rowing-bath-1916/
Thursday 8 September 2016 at 16:43
Rendition of the Christmas favourite, by Elizabeth Spencer, Harry Anthony and James F. Harrison.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/silent-night-1912/
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/