The Public Domain Review

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

Photographs of the Los Angeles Alligator Farm (ca. 1907)

Thursday 11 May 2023 at 13:04

These images of the LA Alligator Farm depict a level of casual proximity unthinkable today.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/los-angeles-alligator-farm


Indian Sign Talk (1893)

Wednesday 10 May 2023 at 08:36

An early guide to communicating in the language now known as Plains Indian Sign Language.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/indian-sign-talk


The Ether Dreams of Fin-de-Siècle Paris

Wednesday 3 May 2023 at 10:19

Those who sipped or sniffed ether and chloroform in the 19th century experienced a range of effects from these repurposed anaesthetics, including preternatural mental clarity, psychological hauntings, and slippages of space and time. Mike Jay explores how the powerful solvents shaped the writings of Guy de Maupassant and Jean Lorrain — psychonauts who opened the door to an invisible dimension of mind and suffered Promethean consequences.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/ether-dreams


Punctuation Personified (1824)

Thursday 27 April 2023 at 12:06

Taking a child on a tour through punctuation, Mr. Stops introduces him to a cast of literal “characters”: admiring exclamation marks and militaristic semicolons.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/punctuation-personified


Jean Baptiste Vérany’s Chromolithographs of Cephalopods (1851)

Thursday 27 April 2023 at 11:54

In these images, Vérany realizes his ambition — to accurately render “the suppleness of the flesh, the grace of the contours, the transparency and the coloring” of cephalopods.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/verany-cephalopods


“Though Silent, I Speak”: A Book of Sundial Mottoes (1903)

Tuesday 25 April 2023 at 10:21

A collection of more than 60 sundial inscriptions, exploring various themes relating to the passing of time.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/sundial-mottoes


Troubled Waters: Reading Urine in Medieval Medicine

Wednesday 19 April 2023 at 11:44

From cabbage green to course meal, medieval manuscripts exhibit a spectrum of colours and consistencies when describing urine. Katherine Harvey examines the complex practices of uroscopy: how physicians could divine sexual history, disease, and impending death by studying the body's liquid excretions.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/troubled-waters


Shy Guy (1947)

Tuesday 18 April 2023 at 12:11

In this “personal guidance” film, Phil the shy guy learns a valuable lesson: to fit in, you need to “think about the other guy”.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/shy-guy


C. P. Cranch’s Very Literal Illustrations of Emerson’s Nature (ca. 1837–39)

Thursday 13 April 2023 at 10:54

In these illustrations, Emerson's words are interpreted literally, repurposed for cheeky, teasing, and toothless ends.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/cranch-new-philosophy


Dentologia: A Poem on the Diseases of the Teeth (1833)

Wednesday 12 April 2023 at 11:10

A sprawling eighty-page poem about teeth, written by an eminent dentist, with fifty pages of erudite endnotes.

Source: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/dentologia