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emile-cohl-s-fantasmagorie-1908

Émile Cohl’s Fantasmagorie (1908) Sep 26, 2013 An animated film by French caricaturist, cartoonist and animator Émile Cohl. It is one of the earliest examples of hand-drawn animation, and considered by many film historians to be the very first animated cartoon. Despite appearances the animation is not created on a blackboard but rather on paper, the blackboard effect achieved by shooting each of the 700 drawings onto negative film. The title is a reference to the “fantasmograph”, a mid-19th century variant of the magic lantern that projected ghostly images on to surrounding walls.

public-domain-review

Sep 26, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:32.683684

two-songs-from-verdi-s-la-traviata-1910

Two songs from Verdi’s La Traviata (1910) Oct 10, 2013 "Ah! fors'è lui" and "Sempre libera" from Act I of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata performed by the Spanish singer Lucrezia Bori in August 1910 for Edison Records. Verdi's opera in 3 acts has a libretto penned by Francesco Maria Piave and is based on La Dame aux Camélias (1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas.

public-domain-review

Oct 10, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:33.142413

flowers-and-pictures-of-the-holy-land

Flowers and Pictures of the Holy Land Oct 9, 2013 A selection of pages from a remarkable book produced sometime in the 1890s, an album of hand-tinted photographs depicting landmark sites in the "Holy Land", opposite to which are mounted arrangements of dried flowers picked from the location shown. The album is bound in boards of olive wood with inlaid border and leather spine. It was produced and sold by the publisher Boulos Meo at his antique shop at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. See more over at The Getty Research Institute.

public-domain-review

Oct 9, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:33.669973

edison-s-backwards-bicycle-rider-1899

Edison’s backwards bicycle rider (1899) Sep 2, 2013 An animated GIF created by Okkult Motion Pictures excerpted from Bicycle Trick Riding (1899), a 38” film dated March 20th, 1899 by Thomas A. Edison, showing perhaps the first ever footage of a bicycle trick. See the film here. * Okkult Motion Pictures is the brainchild of Marco Calabrese and Alessandro Scali from Turin, Italy. With the Excerpts project, Okkult Motion Pictures aims to bring to light the most interesting and unusual out-of-copyright moving images occulted in Internet archives, through a series of animated gifs. A digital archivalism project for the diffusion of open knowledge. Okkult Motion Pictures official website / Twitter * All Okkult animated GIFs published here under a CC-BY-SA license.

public-domain-review

Sep 2, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:34.181887

w-f-hooley-reads-lincoln-s-gettysburg-address-1898

W.F. Hooley reads Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (1898) Nov 19, 2013 150 years ago today, on November 19th 1863, President Lincoln delivered his famous speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg Civil War Cemetery, a cemetery set up to house and honour the dead from one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War which had taken place four months earlier (the sad aftermath of which is pictured above in a photograph by Timothy H. O'Sullivan). Abraham Lincoln's carefully crafted address was in fact meant to be secondary to other presentations that day, following on as it did from a two hour speech by the orator Edward Everett. Although Lincoln's was only just over two minutes long in it's delivery, it came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. In it's short span, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom," that would bring true equality to all of its citizens. Lincoln also managed to redefine the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality. There are five known copies of the speech in Lincoln's handwriting, each with a slightly different text, and named for the people who first received them: Nicolay, Hay, Everett, Bancroft and Bliss. Two copies apparently were written before delivering the speech; the remaining ones were produced months later for soldier benefit events. The text below is from the Bliss copy written by Lincoln after the event, in 1864, and is the most widely reproduced, including being on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. This reading is recorded in New York by E. Berliner's Gramophone on September 21st 1898, performed by W.F. Hooley.

public-domain-review

Nov 19, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:34.680322

that-to-study-philosophy-is-to-learn-to-die-1580

That to Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die (1580) Aug 29, 2013 ...let us learn bravely to stand our ground, and fight him. And to begin to deprive him of the greatest advantage he has over us, let us take a way quite contrary to the common course. Let us disarm him of his novelty and strangeness, let us converse and be familiar with him, and have nothing so frequent in our thoughts as death. Upon all occasions represent him to our imagination in his every shape; at the stumbling of a horse, at the falling of a tile, at the least prick with a pin, let us presently consider, and say to ourselves, ‘Well, and what if it had been death itself?’ and, thereupon, let us encourage and fortify ourselves. Let us evermore, amidst our jollity and feasting, set the remembrance of our frail condition before our eyes, never suffering ourselves to be so far transported with our delights, but that we have some intervals of reflecting upon, and considering how many several ways this jollity of ours tends to death, and with how many dangers it threatens it. The Egyptians were wont to do after this manner, who in the height of their feasting and mirth, caused a dried skeleton of a man to be brought into the room to serve for a memento to their guests... Where death waits for us is uncertain; let us look for him everywhere. The premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty; he who has learned to die has unlearned to serve. There is nothing evil in life for him who rightly comprehends that the privation of life is no evil: to know, how to die delivers us from all subjection and constraint. Works of Michel de Montaigne, comprising his essays, journey into Italy, and letters, with notes from all the commentators, biographical and bibliographical notices, etc.; 1864; Hurd and Houghton, New York. The 16th century French essayist Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, best known for popularising the essay as a literary genre. He published and revised his Essais (translated literally as "Attempts" or Trials") over a period spanning from approximately 1570 to 1592. The intention of this huge corpus of essays on a myriad of subjects, contained in three books and 107 chapters of variable lengths, was to record for the 'private benefit of friends and kinsmen ... some traits of my character and of my humours.' In the essay featured here “That to Study Philosophy is to Learn to Die,” Montaigne turns his thoughts to mortality and the need to face it head on without fear.

public-domain-review

Aug 29, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:35.216673

jap-herron-a-novel-written-from-the-ouija-board-1917

Jap Herron: A Novel written from the Ouija Board (1917) Oct 29, 2013 Jap Herron was a novel written, supposedly, by a deceased Mark Twain from beyond the grave, dictated via the medium of a Ouija board. The scribe (faithfully taking down notes, or perhaps a little more than just that, depending on your view) was Emily Grant Hutchings, a woman who had actually corresponded with Twain 15 years earlier. In their exchange of letters he had given her advice and, interestingly, also marked one of her letters with the words: "Idiot! Must preserve". According to the lengthy introduction by Hutchings, "The Coming of Jap Herron", she and a woman named Lola Hays began receiving messages from Twain in 1915 when playing around with a Ouija board at a spiritualist meeting in St. Louis. Dallying with such occult techniques was not unusual for the time, and it seems receiving literary output from the great beyond was not so unusual either. The Jap Herron book came out at a time when the Ouija board communications of "Patience Worth" via St. Louis writer Pearl Curran, a friend of Hutchings (who was present during the first "communications" with Worth), was also capturing national attention. Indeed, as a New York Times article of the time remarks, Jap Herron was "the third novel in the last few months that has claimed the authorship of some dead and gone being who, unwilling to give up human activities, has appeared to find in the ouija board a material means of expression". This was, however, the most high profile author to be have been involved. Twain's daughter, Clara Clemens, took particular issue with the book, and she, along with the publishers Harper and Brothers, who for 17 years had owned the sole rights to Twain's works, went to court to halt the publication. In response, Hutchings and Hays, with the help of a certain Professor Hyslop, claimed that Clara's father (after more Ouija board activity) was "in a state of intellectual torture because of the difficulty he is having in getting his momentous work into print". The case, however, never went to trial as Hutchings eventually agreed to cease publication, and destroy any copies they could find, meaning surviving copies of the book are extremely rare. Here is the aforementioned, subtly scathing, New York Times article on the book from 1917, the year it came out: The ouija board seems to have come to stay as a competitor of the typewriter in the production of fiction. For this is the third novel in the last few months that has claimed the authorship of some dead and gone being who, unwilling to give up human activities, has appeared to find in the ouija board a material means of expression. This last story is unequivocal in its claim of origin. For those who are responsible for it appear to be convinced beyond doubt that no less a spirit than that of Mark Twain guided their hands as the story was spelled out on the board. Emily Grant Hutchings and Lola V. Hays are the sponsors of the tale. Mrs. Hays being the passive recipient whose hands upon the pointer were especially necessary. St. Louis is the scene of the exploit, as it is also of the literary labors of that ouija board that writes the "Patience Worth" stories. Emily Grant Hutchings, who writes the introductory account of how it all happened is from Hannibal, Mo., the home of Mark Twain's boyhood, and in her the alleged spirit of the author seems to have put much confidence. Her long description of how the story was written and of the many conversations they had with Mark Twain through the ouija board contains many quotations of his remarks that sometimes have a reminiscent flavor of the humorist's characteristic conversation. The story itself, a long novelette, is scened in a Missouri town and tells how a lad born to poverty and shiftlessness, by the help of a fine-souled and high-minded man and woman, grew into a noble and useful manhood and helped to regenerate his town. There is evident a rather striking knowledge of the conditions of life and the peculiarities of character in a Missouri town, the dialect is true, and the picture has, in general, many features that will seem familiar to those who know their "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn." A country paper fills an important place in the tale, and there is constant proof of familiarity with the life and work of the editor of such a sheet. The humor impresses as a feeble attempt at imitation and, while there is now and then a strong sure touch of pathos or a swift and true revelation of human nature, the "sob stuff" that oozes through many of the scenes, and the overdrawn emotions are too much for credulity. If this is the best that "Mark Twain" can do by reaching across the barrier, the army of admirers that his works have won for him will all hope that he will hereafter respect that boundary. Read Twain's own experience with the occult, from the living side this time, in his short piece about a seance he attended in 1866.

public-domain-review

Oct 29, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:35.644128

ernst-haeckel-s-radiolaria-1862

Ernst Haeckel’s Radiolaria (1862) Sep 19, 2013 According to Wikipedia Radiolaria are "protozoa of (diameter 0.1–0.2 mm) that produce intricate mineral skeletons, typically with a central capsule dividing the cell into the inner and outer portions of endoplasm and ectoplasm. They are found as zooplankton throughout the ocean, and their skeletal remains make up a large part of the cover of the ocean floor as siliceous ooze." In 1862 the German biologist, philosopher and artist Ernst Haeckel published an image laden monograph on these microscopic organisms, turning his eye and exquisite line to their intricate and varied forms. In addition to creating beautiful art, Haeckel held and promoted disturbing theories on race and eugenics. You can read more about this darker side to Haeckel in Bernd Brunner's essay "Human Forms in Nature". Also read about Haeckel's role in one of science's great controversies in Nick Hopwood's "Copying Pictures, Evidencing Evolution".

public-domain-review

Sep 19, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:36.096604

animated-gifs-fleischer-s-bubbles-1922

Animated GIFs: Fleischer’s Bubbles (1922) Sep 24, 2013 A series of animated GIFs excerpted by Okkult Motion Pictures from Max Fleischer’s Bubbles, part of his Out of the Inkwell series, which also includes The Tantalizing Fly. * Okkult Motion Pictures is the brainchild of Marco Calabrese and Alessandro Scali from Turin, Italy. With the Excerpts project, Okkult Motion Pictures aims to bring to light the most interesting and unusual out-of-copyright moving images occulted in Internet archives, through a series of animated gifs. A digital archivalism project for the diffusion of open knowledge. Okkult Motion Pictures official website / Twitter * All Okkult animated GIFs published here under a CC-BY-SA license.

public-domain-review

Sep 24, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:36.708375

tommy-burns-knocking-out-bill-squires-1907

Tommy Burns knocking out Bill Squires (1907) Oct 24, 2013 A Miles Brothers film of the legendary heavyweight prize boxing match between Bill Squires and Tommy Burns, played out at Ocean View, California, on July 4th 1907. Weighing in at a measly 178 pounds, the 5'7" Canadian Burns was a 10-1 underdog against Australia's Bill Squires who was coming off a 20 consecutive knockout streak. To the shock of all present, this mismatch came to an unexpected end in the first round when Burns KO'd Squires in one of the fastest knockouts in the history of boxing up to that point. The fight was labeled the "shortest and fiercest contest on record". Burns would go on to secure a reputation for knocking out the biggest men in the sport. He wrote, in a book brought out in 1908, about how the face of boxing was changing, no longer being about brute strength but speed: "In modern boxing speed is nearly everything, and I have always considered my success to be primarily due to the fact that lacrosse and hockey had taught me to be spry and smart on my feet before I ever thought of donning a pair of boxing gloves."

public-domain-review

Oct 24, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:37.250376

auto-polo

Photographs of Auto Polo (ca. 1912) Text by Hunter Dukes Oct 3, 2013 Ah, polo, that sport of kings, where players race down the field atop horsepowered beasts. Behold their mallets and wheels, whirling throughout the chukka; inhale the earthy scent of mown grass, leather, and gasoline; listen to those bumping bodies, as the transmission’s planetary gearset reins in speed. You’re less likely to find this game played before Pimm’s-sipping crowds, however. It is auto polo — a short-lived sport thought to have been created as an advertising stunt to sell Ford Model Ts in 1911. Invented, or at least popularized, by the Topeka car salesman Ralph “Pappy” Hankinson, auto polo quickly spread across the United States. Five thousand people supposedly attended the first round, played between the Red Devils and Gray Ghosts on an alfalfa field in Kansas. League matches popped up in the following years, and within a decade it was possible to spectate the sport at Madison Square Garden and Coney Island. Auto polo then went international. King George V enjoyed a match in England; French teams raced around the Place de la Concorde; and touring exhibitions introduced auto polo across continental Europe. The rules resemble those of polo’s equine variety with a few key differences. Eight players were divided into four cars, each with a chauffeur and a malletman. Fields measured somewhere around 300 by 120 feet, and, without the need for grass, the sport could be played indoors, making for prime wintertime viewing. Unfortunately, referees had no choice but to officiate on foot, and their jobs resembled those of rodeo clowns facing down mechanical bulls. Instead of helmets, players were protected by primitive roll bars while hunting after a basketball. The sport led to other mechanical innovations too: cars were modded, stripped of doors and other superfluous comforts; dozens of how-tos were published for further kitting out your rig, such as with this fan-shaped brace “designed for protection when the car turns turtle”; and where we now might find hoods, or polycarbonate bumpers made to crumple on impact, many players attached iron guards to their chassis for fending off attacks. Perhaps unsurprisingly — and despite the Alabama State Fair proclaiming the sport “a game with eternity” — auto polo began to peter out in the late 1920s due to the high risk of injury and sometimes death. (As the humorist Art Buchwald reported about the task of searching for experienced players to put on a match: “there are plenty of arms and legs, but [the organizer] had difficulty finding heads that went with him”.) With speeds reaching 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), matches frequently resembled proto–demolition derbies, driving costs up as drivers and their vehicles had to be frequently disentangled. A team in 1924, for example, counted 538 punctured tires, 66 fractured axles, 1564 bent wheels, 10 deformed engine blocks, and 6 totaled vehicles. Below you can browse glass negatives of an auto-polo match played at Hilltop Park, New York, thought to have taken place in 1912, and two additional images from Coney Island. For those with the itch, we recommend the older (and enduring) sport of bicycle polo instead.

public-domain-review

Oct 3, 2013

Hunter Dukes

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2024-05-01T21:45:37.729496

reed-bontecou-s-portraits-of-wounded-soldiers-1865

Reed Bontecou’s Portraits of Wounded Soldiers (1865) Mar 8, 2016 These photographs of injured American Civil War soldiers were created by Reed B. Bontecou, a New York surgeon who played a key role in documenting the very many casualties of the Civil War battlefields. Such photographs were used to verify the severity of the soldiers' injuries, and helped to determine the level of post-war pension payments. The images chosen here all depict injuries caused by bullet wounds, and each include an evocative red arrow drawn on by Bontecou tracing the trajectory of the offending projectile. Serving as a surgeon during the war and later as the chief of Harewood Hospital (where these pictured soldiers were treated), Bontecou later developed Bontecou’s Soldier's Packet for First Wound Dressing, a type of first aid package with antiseptic bandages which the soldiers could carry with them and use to treat their immediate injuries.

public-domain-review

Mar 8, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:38.528336

topsell-s-history-of-four-footed-beasts-and-serpents-1658

Topsell’s History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents (1658) Feb 25, 2016 Published in 1658, more than thirty years after his death, this book brings together Edward Topsell's The History of Four-footed Beasts (1607) and The History of Serpents (1608). Totalling more than 1000 pages, this epic treatise on zoology explores ancient and fantastic legends about existing animals, as well as those at the more mythic end of the spectrum, including the “Hydra” (with two claws, a curled serpent’s tail, and seven small mammalian heads), the “Lamia” (with a cat-like body and woman’s face and hair), and the “Mantichora” (with lion’s body and mane, a man’s face and hair, and a grotesquely smiling mouth). Topsell was not a naturalist himself (he in fact was a clergyman) and so relied heavily on the authority of others, in particular Konrad Gesner, the Swiss scholar who was also behind many of the brilliant illustrations which adorn the volume, and Thomas Moffett. On his utilising others for his work Topsell writes "I would not have the Reader,... imagine I have ... related all that is ever said of these Beasts, but only so much as is said by many". This approach leads him to repeat some wonderfully fantastic claims: elephants are said to worship the sun and the moon with their own rituals, apes are terrified of snails, and "...the horn of the unicorn ... doth wonderfully help against poyson". Although it is abound with such fanciful ideas, Topsell's work, as John Lienhard explains "was actually an early glimmer of modern science. For all its imperfection, it represents a vast collection of would-be observational data, and it even includes a rudimentary rule for sifting truth from supposition."

public-domain-review

Feb 25, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:38.992890

the-cheese-mites-or-lilliputians-in-a-london-restaurant-1901

The Cheese Mites or, Lilliputians in a London Restaurant (1901) Feb 11, 2016 Directed by Walter R. Booth, this short is a wonderful example of early special effects, specifically the use of superimpositions, where the "Lilliputians" are filmed on an over-sized table-top set and then appear on screen alongside the normal-sized diner. The film features the same type of trick film as seen in J. Stuart Blackton's and Albert S. Smithtrick's Princess Nicotine which was made in 1909, eight years after the The Cheese Mites. The producer of this example of early British cinema, Robert W. Paul (1869-1943), was an instrument maker who became involved in film when he was requested to build a copy of Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, an early device for viewing films. As Edison's invention was not patented in Britain, Paul went on to build his own version of it, as well as making his own films since Edison's films were the only ones viewable on the machine. The Cheese Mites is the twenty-third film Paul was involved in, his earliest films having been made in 1895 and shown at The Empire of India Exhibition in London the same year. The following year, in 1896, Paul managed to build the "Theatrograph", a device which enabled a film to be shown on a screen and so viewable by a larger audience. See also Paul and Booth teaming up on the excellent short Artistic Creation (1901).

public-domain-review

Feb 11, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:39.434639

sourire-d-avril-1906

Sourire d’Avril (1906) Apr 5, 2016 Sourire d'Avril, translating as "Smile of April", is a waltz composed by the French composer Maurice Depret (1863-1933). This recording from 1906 is by The Columbia Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble consisting of musicians from the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and later on the NBC Symphony, who performed music for the recordings of Columbia Records. A version of the song with French lyrics also exists.

public-domain-review

Apr 5, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:39.911957

the-friendship-book-of-anne-wagner-1795-1834

The Friendship Book of Anne Wagner (1795-1834) Feb 3, 2016 Only three inches tall and five inches wide, featured here are select pages from a fascinating "friendship book" found in the Carl H. Pforzheimer collection of the New York Public Library. What is a friendship book? As Dr Lynley Anne Herbert relates in her post for us on a seventeenth-century specimen, it is a lot like an early version of social media, a place to record friendships and social connections: Books of this kind grew out of university culture in Germany in the sixteenth century, but by the seventeenth century had become a form of social networking used by people of all professions and stages in life – the seventeenth-century Facebook. Friends and family would, over a period of many years, contribute pages — often messages of love, encouragement, and admiration for the owner of the book, in addition to a variety of images. The particular friendship book featured here belonged to a woman from Lancashire named Anne Wagner. We don't know too much about Anne, but she is notable for being aunt to the poet Felicia Dorothea Browne, who herself has a number of childhood contributions to the album including some verse penned at just twelve years old, two years before she was to have her first poems published (and garner the, perhaps unwanted, interest of a certain Percy Bysshe Shelley). Among Felicia's contributions are also a few wonderful mixed-media collages, a technique which occurs on many pages of the book, often with a maritime bent (perhaps due to their proximity to the sea). It is a theme that adorns the cover too, the central emblem of which declares, beside an anchor and from the wash of blue watercolour waves, "Memorials of Friendship. Anne Wagner. 1795". Read more about the book here.

public-domain-review

Feb 3, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:40.492566

books-and-bookmen-1886

Books and Bookmen (1886) Mar 3, 2016 Best known for his work collecting folk and fairy tales, this is the Scottish writer Andrew Lang's treatise on all things bookish. As he states in the preface, the work is "the swan-song of a book-hunter. The author does not book-hunt any more: he leaves the sport to others, and with catalogues he lights a humble cigarette". The topics Lang reflects upon are wide-ranging: from "Literary Forgeries" to the "Bookmen at Rome"; from "Japanese Bogie-Books" to "Bibliomania in France". This is a book for bibliophiles written by a bibliophile. An 1897 review in The Spectator called it an amusing collection of essays, dealing chiefly with the love of books as books, or rather as things, a different passion, indeed, from the love of literature. They have a good deal less to do with each other than the body with the soul, or a man's coat with his character. And yet it is a fact that one does not get on quite well without the other. ... There is no doubt that many people, besides those who have a right to call themselves book-lovers, will find a great deal of amusement and information in Mr. Lang's agreeable book.

public-domain-review

Mar 3, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:40.960028

d-o-a-1950

D.O.A. (1950) Feb 17, 2016 A film noir — starring Edmond O'Brien and Pamela Britton — about a man who has been poisoned and, with only a few days left to live, sets out to find his killer. Considered a classic of the genre, the film is now in the public domain in the U.S. due to an error related to the renewal of the copyright. It is noted for its distinctive cinematography, exemplified by the opening sequence, a long tracking shot of the main character walking through the corridor of a police station to report his own murder. The director Rudolph Maté had an extensive background in cinematography, having worked on films in both Europe and Hollywood and been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in five consecutive years in the 1940s.

public-domain-review

Feb 17, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:41.453135

london-a-hundred-years-hence-1857

London a Hundred Years Hence (1857) Feb 4, 2016 Accurately imagining what the world will be like one hundred years in the future is always going to be fraught with difficulties (see this attempt, and also this). The writer of this piece "London a Hundred Years Hence", which appeared in an 1857 edition of The Leisure Hour, certainly swayed a little off the mark when it comes to an imagining of 1957 London – sadly in being a little too utopian. In addition to the eradication of all poverty and crime, the author talks of a smoke-free city, and the "crystal waters" of the Thames, with fishes seen darting over the "the clear sand and white pebbles lying at the bottom". However, the vision is surprisingly accurate in other quarters. In addition to predicting the vast geographical expansion of the city in which "Kew and Hammersmith were London; Lewisham and Blackheath were London; Woolwich and Blackwall were London", it also gets it right with specifics, such as the building of Embankment (which would actually begin only five years after the piece was published): "instead of shelving shores of mud, I saw solid walls of granite, ... part paved for wheel-carriages, and part a gravelled promenade for the citizens". There is also a foreseeing of the shopping mall: I beheld vast associative stores, the depositories of the skilled worker in every craft, where all that talent could invent or industry produce was displayed in magnificent abundance beneath one ample roof. One shop of this kind for each single branch of commerce sufficed for a large district, and the decreased expenditure in rent, fittings, and service, reduced the cost of management, and consequently the price of products ... The purchaser walked through long galleries, where, ranged in orderly array, glittered and gleamed the gold, the gems, the jewels of every clime. The piece is really notable, however, for its anticipation (albeit a little too early for 1957) of internet shopping: I observed that from each of these district shops innumerable electric wires branched off in all directions, communicating with several houses in the district to which it belonged. Thus, no sooner did a house-keeper stand in need of any article than she could despatch the order instantaneously along the wire, and receive the goods by the very first railway carriage that happened to pass the store. Thus, she saved her time, and she lost no money, because all chaffering and cheapening, and that fencing between buyer and seller, which was once deemed a pleasure, had been long voted a disgraceful, demoralizing nuisance, and was done away with. And then also the connectivity across distances which the telephone, and then internet, would bring: The electric wires ran along the fronts of the houses near the upper stories, crossing the streets at an elevation at which they were scarcely visible from below; and I noticed that the dwellings of friends, kindred, and intimates were thus banded together, not only throughout the whole vast city, but even far out into the provinces, and, in cases where the parties were wealthy, to the uttermost limits of the realm. Read a full transcript of the article here.

public-domain-review

Feb 4, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:41.986840

the-american-woods

The American Woods Feb 23, 2016 Below is a selection of pages from Romeyn Beck Hough's unique fourteen volume work The American Woods, a collection of more than 1000 paper-thin wood samples representing more than 350 varieties of North American tree. Between 1888 and 1913, Hough published a total of thirteen volumes of the work, but died in 1923 before being able to fulfil his epic fifteen volume plan. However, a final fourteenth volume was published in 1928 using his samples and field notes compiled by his daughter. Each specimen page of the work is dedicated to a single tree and consists of a cardboard plate into which three translucent slices have been placed, three variations of cross-section — transverse, radial, and tangential. The wafer-thin slivers — which would glow like a slide when held up to the light — were prepared using a slicing machine of Hough's own design and which he patented in 1886. In addition to the specimens Hough also provides information about the characteristics, growth habits, medicinal properties, and commercial possibilities of the tree. With some of the trees in the book now very rare the series now has an added value and, as Rebecca Onion from Slate’s The Vault comments, "stands as a memorial to the shape and extent of American forests at the end of the 19th century". The images below are from Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library who have digitised 274 of the pages, but you can also see the whole set on the Internet Archive.

public-domain-review

Feb 23, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:42.331400

the-sea-monk-ca-1845

The Sea Monk (ca. 1845) Mar 30, 2016 This ukiyo-e woodblock print, by the late Edo period artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), illustrates a story involving the "Sea Monk" or Umibōzu, a spirit in Japanese folklore. The ocean dwelling spirit — so called because of his smooth monk-like round head — is said to capsize the ship of anyone who dares speak to it. The specific tale illustrated in Kuniyoshi's woodblock tells of a sailor Kawanaya Tokuzo who, despite it being considered unlucky in the world of seafaring, decides to go to sea on the last day of the year. A terrible storm breaks out, and the giant figure of the Umibōzu appears. Against the roar of the waves the apparition asks, "Name the most horrible thing you know!" Tokuzo yells in reply, "My profession is the most horrible thing I know!" The answer apparently satisfies the monster as he then disappears along with the storm.

public-domain-review

Mar 30, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:42.624634

the-art-of-hidden-faces-anthropomorphic-landscapes

The Art of Hidden Faces: Anthropomorphic Landscapes Mar 2, 2016 Although commonplace today, the landscape as a distinct category in painting only really began to establish itself in Western art during the Renaissance, a period in which natural views began to make their way to the fore of focus, no longer merely backgrounds to human figures. Perhaps an interesting quirk of this "transition" were the images which seemed to fuse the two: anthropomorphic landscapes. These images — particularly where landscapes are given the form of human heads — appear to be somewhat of a meme of the 17th century, with examples cropping up again and again, especially in Netherlandish painting. Below we've compiled a collection of such images available online (sadly not all of them openly licensed), with a big debt owed to a great post on JS Blog which provided a wonderful springboard for our findings. One of the most popular versions of the anthropomorphic landscape is the depiction of a bearded man, horizontal in rocky profile. The beginnings of this can be traced back to an image created by the great 17th-century polymath Athanasius Kircher, featured in his Ars magna lucis et umbrae (1645/6). Kircher's design is said to have been inspired by a story related by Vitruvius about the 4th-century-BC architect Dinocrates' plan to sculpt into Mount Athos a colossal image of Alexander the Great, who would hold a small city in one hand and with the other pour a river into a sea by means of a gigantic pitcher. Kircher's more modest rendering — involving only a face rather than full body — was to be copied and riffed-upon many times over the next decades, including by Wenceslas Hollar, who in his rendition trims the "beard" and "hair" for a general smarter appearance. With the following two images we depart a little from the profile aspect of Kircher's design. The engravings are by the German artist Johann Martin Will (1727-1806) who made many such images. The "Asia" one is part of a larger series in which each continent is represented as a face embedded into a landscape (see a very lo-res version of the Europa one here). Like Joos de Momper (coming up), Will also created a similar series for each of the seasons (see here). There follow a few more examples of this horizontal face in the rock motif, including another by Johann Martin Will. The Herri met de Bles painting, which dates from around 1550, is the earliest example we can find of hiding a face in a landscape, predating Kircher's image by a whole century. The face is subtle, but it definitely there. A little jump ahead in time with the next image, a demonstration of the anthropomorphic landscape's importance in the popular German Vexierbild (image puzzle) of the 19th century. This particular one is an advert for Dr. August König's Hamburger Tropfen, a medicine said to be effective against “all sicknesses of the stomach, liver, and abdomen". Titled "Das Picnic", the writing below reads "Wo ist der Mann, welcher stets Dr. August König's Hamburger Tropfen gebraucht?" (Where is the man who always needs Dr. August König's Hamburg Drops?). The following three images, in which the "hidden face" is now upright, are from Joos de Momper's series anthropomorphising the four seasons (we can only find a fairly low-res one for Spring, see here). There is no exact date for these but they are thought to be from the early 17th century (Momper died in 1635), so would have predated Kircher's "bearded man" by a good decade at the very least. The next two continue with the hidden head in an upright position, both using the anthropomorphic element to emphasise a certain "humanness": the first in illustration of our five senses; the second, which is an allegory of iconoclasm, in the idea perhaps of putting the human form before God. The next picture is an illustration by Henry Holiday for Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark. The face hidden in the darkness of the trees is thought by some to be based on Geheert's iconoclasm image above. As well as landscapes, faces were often composed of buildings and combinations of other structures and figures. The next image shows a sketch — "An Allegory of Death" — attributed to that great master of the composite portrait Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526/7–1593). Following this is an image, very likely to be a direct adaptation of Arcimboldo's, found in Veridicus Christianus (1601), the very first Jesuit emblem book. The final image shows a popular motif, in the aforementioned German Vexierbild tradition, in which elements so full of life combine to create a memento mori image of a skull.

public-domain-review

Mar 2, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:43.132389

the-explosion-of-the-spanish-flagship-during-the-battle-of-gibraltar-ca-1621

The Explosion of the Spanish Flagship during the Battle of Gibraltar (ca. 1621) Apr 12, 2016 Depicting what was probably the most decisive moment of the Battle of Gibraltar, this remarkable painting by Dutch artist Cornelius Claesz van Wieringen, is also an extraordinary attempt to capture the gruesome realities of an explosion. Figures are shown flung through the air from the force of the blast, some severed in two — a torso here, a pair of legs there — and the choppy seas are strewn with blood and bodies. For a long time the piece was mistakenly attributed to Hendrick Vroom, under whom Van Wrieringen studied. In 1621, the Admiralty of Amsterdam commissioned a painting from Vroom of the battle, which they planned to present to Prince Maurits, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch army. Not happy with the extortionate sum demanded by Vroom, they turned to his pupil Van Wrieringen. Before he was given the commission Van Wrieringen had to paint a trial piece to see if he was up for the job, and it is thought that this is most likely to be this work. The authorities apparently were not too put off by the gore, as they ordered a modello of the composition, which now lives in a private Dutch collection.

public-domain-review

Apr 12, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:43.576228

chrysal-or-the-adventures-of-a-guinea-1760

Chrysal; or, The Adventures of a Guinea (1760) Mar 17, 2016 One of the first of the immensely popular 18th-century "it-narratives", Chrysal; or, The Adventures of a Guinea, by the Irish writer Charles Johnstone, tells the tale of a coin and the human intrigue to which it finds itself bearing witness. After a rather dramatic and wonderfully overwrought beginning in which we learn of the coin being bestowed with consciousness and dug from a Peruvian mine, the monetary narrator proceeds to dish the dirt on various celebrities of the time as it passes from hand to hand, being conveniently present for a variety of gossip-worthy conversations, romps, and scandals. Spending some time circulating among the streets and elite of London, the coin also finds itself in the courts of Lisbon and Vienna, and the front-lines of war in Germany (the Seven Years' War was raging at the time), Canada, and the Caribbean. Upon publication in 1760 (see scan of first edition below), the book was a runaway success, being issued in five separate editions in its first three years alone. Capitalising on the demand, Johnstone brought out an expanded four-volume version in 1765, which like-wise was lapped up by the readers. On the back of Chrysal's success there came a slew of similar titles told from the perspective of inanimate objects, nearly always in the form of "The Adventures of a ....", including a black coat, a watch, a corkscrew, and a Hackney coach. Not everyone, however, was enamoured by this new sensation. An issue of the Critical Review from 1761, in the course of appraising The Adventures of A Rupee, writes: This mode of making up a book, and styling it the Adventures of a Cat, a Dog, a Monkey, a Hackney-coach, a Louse, a Shilling, a Rupee, or — any thing else, is grown so fashionable now, that few months pass which do not bring one of them under our inspection. It is indeed a convenient method to writers of the inferior class, of emptying their common-place books, and throwing together all the farrago of public transactions, private characters, old and new stories, every thing, in short, which they can pick up, to afford a little temporary amusement to an idle reader. This is the utmost degree of merit which the best of them aspire to; and, small as it is, more than most of them ever arrive at.

public-domain-review

Mar 17, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:44.079078

le-centre-de-l-amour-ca-1687

Le Centre de l’Amour (ca. 1687) Feb 9, 2016 With its full title translating as "The centre of love: discovered through various emblems, gallant and facetious", this delightfully illustrated emblem book is an exploration of all corners of seventeenth-century courtship and love. The wonderful set of copper engravings are by Peter Rollos (active 1619-1639), and were previously published around 1630 in Berlin (see our highlights below). For this later Parisian edition — published "chez Cupidon" — a preface has been added and additional text in French.

public-domain-review

Feb 9, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:44.561334

the-merry-cobler-and-his-musical-alphabet-ca-1800

The Merry Cobler and His Musical Alphabet (ca. 1800) Mar 10, 2016 This is a charming alphabet book, dating from around 1800, published by the Glasgow-based publishers J. Lumsden and Son. Established in 1783 by James Lumsden, the publishers were best known for their high quality printings of books for children and juveniles. This particular specimen follows a simple enough format: a little couplet for each letter with accompanying picture, though things do get a little strange come those troublesome letters "X" and "Z" (this is before the days of X-rays...). What the ancient Persian King known as Xerxes has to do with chickens, we are not entirely sure; and for "Z", instead of opting, perhaps, for a simple zebra, the book doesn't bother at all, offering us rather a somewhat sinister image of a dog taking "the Bull by the nose". Oddities arise even with more common letters, for example: "R is Romp,/ To swing, very willing", and "Y" is bizarrely represented by a "Ewe".

public-domain-review

Mar 10, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:45.066031

colour-analysis-charts-by-emily-noyes-vanderpoel-1902

The Music of Light: Emily Noyes Vanderpoel’s Colour Analysis Charts (1902) Mar 15, 2016 Looking at times like some kind of strange fusion of De Stijl abstraction and Tetris, these wonderful color charts are taken from Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color, a book by the American artist Emily Noyes Vanderpoel (1842–1939). Following her ruminations on color theory, she presents 117 plates featuring color analysis of various crafted objects, such as Assyrian tiles, Persian rugs, and Egyptian mummy cases, but also things from the natural world, including a stone and butterfly. Vanderpoel does not explain in detail how her analyses were created. Instead, she simply places an image of an antique rug next to its abstraction, stating (with a fair degree of optimism) that from this example the student “will see how these and the other plates have been made”. Throughout Color Problems, Vanderpoel employs similar rhetorical maneuvers, splitting language off from the knowledge accessible through visual perception. As John Ptak notes, she “sought not so much to analyze the components of color itself, but rather to quantify the overall interpretative effect of color on the imagination”. Recognizing that “color cannot be fully appreciated by any written description”, Vanderpoel decides to keep her text “as brief as possible” and let the “full and elaborate” plates speak for themselves. Nevertheless, her writing offers a spectrum of poetic and scientific insights into color, which she calls the music of light. There are discussions of Chevreul, Goethe, and Ruskin; diagrams of how light enters the retina’s cones and rods; and lovely second-hand anecdotes: young women in Algiers, we are told, embroider with boxes of butterflies beside them, so that “from their harmonious blending of colors they may gain fresh enthusiasm and inspiration for their work.” Vanderpoel’s grids are best understood as relational fields. In her appendix, she defines her technique as “a systematic arrangement of colors in a geometrical design such that every variation and combination of hue, tint, and shade is in its proper place and in correct relation to all other hues, tints, and shades.” While it remains somewhat opaque what exactly she deems proper and correct, this “systematic arrangement of colors” not only anticipates later abstractions in the visual arts, but seems abreast of her modernist contemporaries’ experiments with relational systems. In a way, Vanderpoel did for light what Gertrude Stein would do for language twelve years later in Tender Buttons, which begins with a description that echoes Vanderpoel’s own: “an arrangement in a system to pointing”. Vanderpoel ends her 122-page treatise by widening her focus on “harmony” from an artistic practice that happens on the easel to a way of being in the world: No woman has a right to say she has no influence, conscious or unconscious, on the world around her. Does not much of the influence for good or ill come from a woman’s dress? It may be cheap, it may be plain, but it should be, and can be, in good taste and harmony with the character and position of the person who wears it, and knowledge of one’s own coloring and of that suited to it is one of the most important details. Published when Vanderpoel was fifty-nine years old, Color Problems, as the subtitle implies, was aimed at the amateur colorist — not artists, but decorators, shop assistants, and gardeners: all who could improve their lives and crafts with attention to the complementary aspects of color. She believed that every gradation of light leads back to nature, and agreed with F. W. Moody that “There is hardly anything in nature that is not perfect in color. A dead sparrow would enable you to arrange the marquetrie of a cabinet with faultless harmony.” As in her discussion of feminine dress above, Vanderpoel sought to further democratize who was “bidden to go to nature for the abundant secrets she is ready to reveal”, asking that “workers” be sent to the same fount of inspiration that students in art and science seek out. Although she wrote other critical works on art, such as American Lace & Lace-Makers (1924), Vanderpoel was, for a long time, better remembered for her artworks — she primarily worked with watercolors and oils, and held the position of vice president of the New York Watercolor Club — and for her historical writing, until a recent revival of interest in her color analyses. She was the first curator of the Litchfield Historical Society, writing a two-volume history on the town’s Female Academy, titled Chronicles of a Pioneer School. Out of print for more than a century, Color Problems was recently republished by The Circadian Press in a beautiful new edition (sadly sold out). Also check out this digital tool for generating Vanderpoelian analyses from your own images, and this related color bot, automated by Liza Daly, inspired by our original post on Color Problems.

public-domain-review

Mar 15, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:45.542289

six-and-a-half-magic-hours-1958

Six and a Half Magic Hours (1958) Mar 16, 2016 6 1/2 Magic Hours is a Pan Am promotional film marketing transatlantic air travel at the dawn of the jet age. While at heart an advert for their "magical" service of a flight from New York to London in only 6.5 hours, we are also treated to a nice summary of jet travel history up to that point, the pinnacle of which was their Flight 1000. Thanks to the new jet planes, the public could travel in a faster and easier way as they enjoy the "attractively decorated" and air conditioned plane as well as the "gourmet" meal which bears no resemblance to the boxed meals we are now used to. The interior of the plane is also rather luxurious, with spacious powder rooms for the ladies and a lounge-like area where people can read, play games or have drinks, all whilst being offered a platter of hors d'oeuvres. The silky-toned voice-over declares that "travail has been taken out of travel" and that "Jet speeds will help to accomplish one of man's long-sought goals: an easy interchange of peoples throughout the world".

public-domain-review

Mar 16, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:46.080721

le-voyage-dans-la-lune-1902

Le Voyage Dans la Lune (1902) Mar 1, 2016 Le Voyage Dans la Lune (Trip to the Moon, in English) is perhaps Georges Méliès' most famous film, and is considered to be the first science fiction film in cinematic history. The 12 minute film follows a group of astronomers who travel to the Moon in a cannon-propelled capsule, explore the Moon's surface, escape from an underground group of native moon inhabitants (known as Selenites), and return to Earth with one of them as captive. While at once a spoof of more serious science fiction, the film can also be seen as a comment on France's colonial exploits (it was at the time the world's second largest colonial power). Méliès himself plays, as was his wont, the main role of the wonderfully named Professor Barbenfouillis. When asked in 1930, Méliès cited Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon as the main influences for the film, but cinema historians have also mentioned the influence of Adolphe Dennery's stage adaption of Verne, and also H. G. Wells's The First Men in the Moon, a French translation of which was published only a few months before Méliès made the film. Jacques Offenbach's operetta Le voyage dans la lune (an unauthorized parody of Verne's novels) and also the "A Trip to the Moon" attraction at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, have also been talked of as being possible inspiration.

public-domain-review

Mar 1, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:46.376077

self-portrait-by-ernst-mach-1886

Self-Portrait by Ernst Mach (1886) Feb 18, 2016 This unique self-portrait, also known as "view from the left eye", is the creation of Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach, noted for his contributions to physics such as the Mach number (which relates an object's speed to the speed of sound) and the study of shock waves. The sketch appears in Mach's The Analysis of Sensations, first published in German in 1886 as Beiträge zur Analyse der Empfindungen, and is used to illustrate his ideas about self-perception. The considerations just advanced, expressed as they have been in an abstract form, will gain in strength and vividness if we consider the concrete facts from which they flow. Thus, I lie upon my sofa. If I close my right eye, the picture represented in the accompanying cut is presented to my left eye. In a frame formed by the ridge of my eyebrow, by my nose, and by my moustache, appears a part of my body, so far as visible, with its environment. My body differs from other human bodies beyond the fact that every intense motor idea is immediately expressed by a movement of it, and that, if it is touched, more striking changes are determined than if other bodies are touched by the circumstance, that it is only seen piecemeal, and, especially, is seen without a head. If I observe an element A within my field of vision, and investigate its connexion with another element B within the same field, I step out of the domain of physics into that of physiology or psychology, provided B, to use the apposite expression of a friend of mine made upon seeing this drawing, passes through my skin. Reflexions like that for the field of vision may be made with regard to the province of touch and the perceptual domains of the other senses. He gives a little more information on the origins of the image in a footnote: It was about 1870 that the idea of this drawing was suggested to me by an amusing chance. A certain Mr L., now long dead, whose many eccentricities were redeemed by his truly amiable character, compelled me to read one of C. F. Krause's writings, in which the following occurs: "Problem : To carry out the self-inspection of the Ego. Solution : It is carried out immediately." In order to illustrate in a humorous manner this philosophical "much ado about nothing," and at the same time to shew how the self-inspection of the Ego could be really "carried out," I embarked on the above drawing. Mr L.'s society was most instructive and stimulating to me, owing to the naivety with which he gave utterance to philosophical notions that are apt to be carefully passed over in silence or involved in obscurity. According to John Michael Krois the "Mr. L" in question is Mach's colleague at Prague University, Prof. Hermann von Leonhardi, son-in-law of the Kaul Christian Friedrich Krause mentioned. Krois also tells us that this original drawing sketched in 1870 in fact differed from the woodblock of 16 years later — the right arm with pencil is absent, with a left arm instead brandishing a cigarette (which has found its way to the mouth in the 1886 image), and a steaming cup of Viennese coffee sits on a small table.

public-domain-review

Feb 18, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:46.885563

sketches-in-bedlam-1823

Sketches in Bedlam (1823) Feb 16, 2016 With the author given simply as "A Constant Observer", this book gathers together glimpses into the personalities and stories of more than 140 mental patients confined to the Bethlem Hospital in the early part of the nineteenth century. In The History of Bethlem (1997), Dr Jonathan Andrews notes that “Bethlem is not simply Europe’s oldest psychiatric establishment; it is the most famous — or, what for long amounted to the same thing, the most notorious”. Founded in 1247, the hospital's infamy ultimately resulted in the name of Bedlam, a phonological corruption of Bethlem, becoming synonymous with a scene or state of uproar and confusion. The author of this volume would no doubt disagree with such an association, praising as he does the hospital's "regularity, cleanliness, humanity, and skill". (One has the impression that this "constant observer" was perhaps involved in the administration in some way, and so somewhat biased). The full title of the work is Sketches in Bedlam; or Characteristic Traits of Insanity, as Displayed in the Cases of One Hundred and Forty Patients of Both Sexes, Now, or Recently, Confined in New Bethlem, including Margaret Nicholson, James Hatfield, Patrick Walsh, Bannister Truelock, and Many Other Extraordinary Maniacs, Who Have Been Transferred from Old Bethlem. Included among those patients listed by name are three individuals tied to assassination attempts on King George III (1738-1820) and one participant in the mutiny aboard the HMS Hermione (1797), the bloodiest in British naval history. In addition to those famous entries, there are also fascinating accounts of other lesser-known patients. While the sketch of Thomas Dowle, for example, describes very little about his condition, it is a fascinating moralistic tale about the dangers of practical jokes that conveys a great deal about psychiatry in the early nineteenth century: No taint of insanity ever before appeared in any of his family. Sudden fright was the immediate cause of his derangement, and he now presents a deplorable example of the mischievous consequences of those practical jokes, so frequently played off for the momentary diversion of inconsiderate young people, upon their unsuspecting companions, and but too often productive of lamentable, even fatal, consequences. Numerous are the instances wherein dementation, and even death, have followed the too sudden excitement of the stronger passions.(p. 182) Seeing that each entry is attached to a name may evoke the feeling of walking among tombstones with only tragic epitaphs, but in this each patient named is also humanised, often in a way greater than their treatment in the text or, indeed, the hospital, and what’s more it makes Sketches in Bedlam an incredibly rich starting point for further historical research.

public-domain-review

Feb 16, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:47.364936

images-from-the-champion-text-book-on-embalming-1897

Images from The Champion Text Book on Embalming (1897) Apr 7, 2016 Below are a series of images demonstrating the process of embalming, from The Champion Text Book on Embalming, published in 1897 and written by Eliab Myers, M.D. and F. A. Sullivan, "Lecturers and Demonstrators in the Champion College of Embalming". The Champion Company was founded in 1878 in Springfield, Ohio, and is still in the same business today. After a first section detailing each part of the human body, accompanied by illustrative plates, the book goes into a brief history of embalming itself, from the Ancient Egyptians to the work of Frederik Ruysch. We then proceed into the details of the embalming process itself, including how to remove the blood, gasses, and liquids from the corpse and how to deal with the effects of various diseases that may be found within. The grainy photographs of the procedures pepper this section, many reminiscent — with the sombre figures huddled around splayed out corpses — of the painted anatomy scenes of the Early Modern period.

public-domain-review

Apr 7, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:47.826203

thomas-edison-tells-a-joke-about-a-liver-1906

Thomas Edison Tells a Joke about a Liver (1906) Jan 28, 2016 The great inventor Thomas Edison tells a joke about a very healthy liver, recorded on his Edison Blue Amberol cylinder.

public-domain-review

Jan 28, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:48.297783

the-postures-of-the-mouth-1846

The Postures of the Mouth (1846) Mar 24, 2016 Diagrams from A System of Elocution, with Special Reference to Gesture, to the Treatment of Stammering, and Defective Articulation (1846) by Andrew Comstock. From the chapter entitled "The Postures of the Mouth": An accurate knowledge of the positions which the organs of articulation should assume in the formation of the several elements of vocal language, is very important to those who would speak with ease and elegance. To aid the reader still further in the acquisition of this knowledge, he is furnished with the various postures of the mouth, required in uttering the elements energetically, and singly. Comstock was hugely influential in the burgeoning science of elocution in mid-nineteenth-century America. A physician and professor of elocution at the Vocal and Polyglot Gymnasium in Philadelphia, he invented his own phonetic alphabet to improve the speech of his pupils, an alphabet which was also used to transcribe documents, including the New Testament.

public-domain-review

Mar 24, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:48.586545

sun-dials-and-roses-of-yesterday-1902

Sun Dials and Roses of Yesterday (1902) Mar 29, 2016 Written by historian and author Alice Morse Earle (1851-1911), this wonderfully eclectic treatise on the sundial is a reminder of how much possibility lays within the wilderness of the blank page. Each chapter begins with inhabited initials and each chapter’s contents encourage readers to consider verse from poets such as Rossetti and Dickinson, photographs of sundials and horologists, and sketches and diagrams that demonstrate no particular affinity for a given style, perspective, or even alignment on the page. In fact, the concept behind the entire work represents a philosophical exercise or associative mashup. As Earle comments in the introduction: The union of the subject of Roses with that of sun-dials has not been through any relation of one to the other, but simply a placing together of two ‘garden delights’—to use Bacon’s term,—and with somewhat of the thought that as a dial standing alone in a garden was a bit bare without flowers, so it was likewise in a book. The book brings to the fore small sociological details, anecdotes, and domestic subject matter characteristic of other works by Alice Morse Earle. Other books of hers include China Collecting in America (1892), Curious Punishments of Bygone Days (1896), Child Life in Colonial Days (1899), and Old Time Gardens (1901), the last of which immediately preceded this work and contained a chapter on sundials that — according to the author — led readers to solicit a book length treatment.

public-domain-review

Mar 29, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:45:49.042300

rainbow-coloured-beasts-from-15th-century-book-of-hours

Rainbow-coloured Beasts from 15th-Century Book of Hours Jan 9, 2014 A selection of wonderful little illustrations found in a Book of Hours attributed to an artist of the Ghent-Bruges school and dating from the late 15th century. In the pages without full borders the margins have been decorated with an array of different images depicting flowers, birds, jewellery, animals, household utensils and these superb rainbow-coloured 'grotesques'.

public-domain-review

Jan 9, 2014

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2024-05-01T21:45:49.830561

the-tibetan-book-of-proportions

The Tibetan Book of Proportions Mar 11, 2014 An eighteenth-century pattern book consisting of 36 ink drawings showing precise iconometric guidelines for depicting the Buddha and Bodhisattva figures. Written in Newari script with Tibetan numerals, the book was apparently produced in Nepal for use in Tibet. The concept of the 'ideal image' of the Buddha emerged during the Golden Age of Gupta rule, from the 4th to 6th century. As well as the proportions, other aspects of the depiction - such as number of teeth, colour of eyes, direction of hairs - became very important. The V&A have produced a good guide to the iconography of the Buddha, including the 32 Lakshanas or special bodily features.

public-domain-review

Mar 11, 2014

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2024-05-01T21:45:50.481349

the-chinese-fairy-book-1921

The Chinese Fairy Book (1921) Nov 28, 2013 A book compiling seventy-four traditional Chinese folk takes, making, as the translator notes, "probably the most comprehensive and varied collection of oriental fairy tales ever made available for American readers". The tales are split up into the following sections: Nursery Fairy Tales, Legends of the Gods, Tales of Saints and Magicians, Nature and Animal Tales, Ghost Stories, Historic Fairy Tales, and Literary Fairy Tales.

public-domain-review

Nov 28, 2013

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2024-05-01T21:45:50.807229

the-british-library-s-mechanical-curator-million

The British Library’s “Mechanical Curator” million Dec 19, 2013 Last week the ever-incredible British Library announced that they were gifting more than 1 million images to the world, uploaded to Flickr Commons under the public domain mark, meaning complete freedom of re-use. The range and breadth of images is phenomenal. As they say in their post announcing the release the "images themselves cover a startling mix of subjects: There are maps, geological diagrams, beautiful illustrations, comical satire, illuminated and decorative letters, colourful illustrations, landscapes, wall-paintings and so much more that even we are not aware of". Each image was extracted from its respective home (books making up a total of 65,000 already digitised volumes) by a program known as the 'Mechanical Curator', a creation of the British Library Labs project. A crowdsourcing application is being launched in the new year (likely using tools developed by our very own Open Knowledge Foundation!) to help describe what the images portray - and the British Library is also putting out a general plea for people to innovate new ways to navigate, find and display this incredible array of images. (Email BL Labs here). Although, of course, it will one day be wonderful to be able to sort and filter these images into themes, categories, etc., there is something also fantastic about the serendipitous grouping and combinations which occur in this ginormous randomised pool, the way these images float divorced from their context, and so are able to strike up new relationships with those they happen to be sat next to in the 10,000 and more pages of the Flickr Commons interface. It's the potential of these new visual relationships which we'd be very interested at The Public Domain Review in working on in the future, and which we have started to play with in a small way in the series of images posted below. Where does one even start when trying to put together a small selection of images from a possible million? We decided to start in the middle - quite literally - jumping to page 5100 of 10200 in the Flickr interface. We looked through more than 5000 images, still only a measly 0.5% of the total collection, and these are some of the highlights of what we found. (NB: Each image is linked through to its Flickr Commons page where you can find more info and other images from the same book).

public-domain-review

Dec 19, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:51.143001

the-flying-lighthouse-of-barfleur

The Flying Lighthouse of Barfleur Feb 2, 2014 Animated GIF created by Alex Pickup from a photograph of the Barfleur Lighthouse in Normandy, from Volume 5 of Les travaux publics de la France. Find the original from SMU University here at Flickr: the Commons. * All animated GIFs by Alex Pickup published here under a CC-BY-SA license.

public-domain-review

Feb 2, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:51.608516

the-hermit-or-the-unparalleled-sufferings-and-surprising-adventures-of-philip-quarll-1814

The Hermit; or, The Unparalleled Sufferings, and Surprising Adventures, of Philip Quarll (1814) Mar 6, 2014 A story thought to be by Peter Longueville - writing under the pseudonym of Edward Dorrington - about Philip Quarll, a Crusoe-style castaway, who spends 50 years alone on an uninhabited island island of monkeys and pomegranate fields far off the coast of Mexico. When eventually he is eventually found in 1715 by the narrator Edward Dorrington - an 18th-century trader from Bristol, England - Quarll refuses to leave his island, carefully explaining to his would-be rescuer that he would not dream of leaving the place he now considered home. In the course of his 50 years Quarll had become the self-appointed king of ""his country', and at the time of Dorrington's arrival, was accompanied everywhere he went by a loyal monkey as a sidekick. At his idyllic home with thatched roof the white-haired Quarll laid on a dinner for his unexpected guest - of soup, meat and fish - all served in shining plates of seashells. Later, Dorrington remarks that the meal surpassed anything he had ever eaten in his native England. Quarll explains to his somewhat bemused visitors: ""I was shipwrecked, thanks to my Maker, and was cast away. Were I made emperor of the universe, I would not be concerned with the world again, nor would you require me, did you but know the happiness I enjoy out of it."" Quarll then handed Dorrington his ""memorial"" - a tidy bundle of rolled parchment diaries - from which this story is told. Originally published in 1727, the story was hugely popular in 18th century England, going through 11 editions alone between 1759 and 1783, and between 1780 and 1788 published as a serial in The Novelist's Magazine. It no doubt fooled many a reader into believing in it's veracity, as it did The Public Domain Review when first stumbled across!

public-domain-review

Mar 6, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:52.051382

specimens-of-chromatic-wood-type-and-borders-1874

Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type and Borders (1874) Dec 4, 2013 Some select pages from the exquisite Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, Etc. (1874), a specimen book produced by the William H. Page wood type company. Chromatic types, which were made to print in two or more colours, were first produced as wood type by Edwin Allen, and shown by George Nesbitt in his 1841 Fourth Specimen of Machinery Cut Wood Type. It is William H Page's book, however, that is considered to be the highpoint of chromatic wood type production. As well as providing over 100 pages of brilliantly coloured type, the book can also be seen, at times, to act as some sort of accidental experimental poetry volume, with such strange snippets as "Geographical excursion knives home" and "Numerous stolen mind" adorning its pages. One wonders whether the decisions about what words to feature and in what order were entirely arbitrary. Thanks to the wonderful Bibliodyssey blog where we came across the book: visit the post there for more info on the book and a great list of related links.

public-domain-review

Dec 4, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:52.598580

twelve-years-a-slave-1859

Twelve Years a Slave (1859) Jan 14, 2014 The memoir by Solomon Northup upon which the recent critically acclaimed feature film, Twelve Years a Slave (2013) directed by Steve McQueen, was based. The narrative tells the harrowing true story of Northup, who was born free in New York state but kidnapped in Washington, D.C., sold into slavery and kept in bondage for 12 years in Louisiana. In the account Northup provides details (invaluable now to historians) of slave markets and what daily life was like on the major sugar and cotton plantations of Louisiana. Released in 1853, just a year after Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel about slavery, Uncle Tom's Cabin, the book sold 30,000 copies in it's first year and was considered a bestseller. It was published in several editions throughout the 19th century but then fell into obscurity for nearly 100 years, until it's re-discovery by two Louisiana historians in the 1960s, leading to a historically annotated version published by LSU Press in 1968.

public-domain-review

Jan 14, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:53.105855

letters-to-my-sister-of-our-experiences-on-our-first-trip-to-europe-1913

Letters to My Sister of our Experiences on Our First Trip to Europe, 1913 Dec 29, 2013 A book of letters written by a young American girl named Lilian McCarron to her sister detailing a trip she made around Europe in the latter half of 1913. A year later and Europe would be plunged into the beginnings of the First World War which would last 4 years and claim the lives of more than 9 million soldiers and devastate the lands on which it was played out. A certain sense of dramatic irony permeates the diary entries now, in which she describes the "pleasant" and "charming" cities of France and Germany, knowing as we do the horrors that would come in the following years. McCarron spends a large proportion of the trip in Germany, and in particular Berlin, arriving there only a few days after a military airship (a Zeppelin, the kind which would be instrumental in WW1) had crashed killing many experienced German Navy personnel. Her trip also coincided with the Empress's birthday which saw much of the army on the streets, a sight which gave McCarron the impression that Berlin was a "city of militia", an unintended allusion perhaps to the increasing militarisation of Germany that preceded the outbreak of the war. For another account of travelling through Europe in 1913 see the book Travel Films: being pen pictures of Europe. In one part the author describes making "a delightful excursion into East and West Flanders where we have been able to dream of the medieval past in Ghent and Bruges, and see the frivolities of fashion in Ostend, the unrivalled queen of watering places." See also A Pictorial History of 1913, an annual review of the year in images, oblivious of the changes to come.

public-domain-review

Dec 29, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:53.594157

george-wither-s-emblem-book-1635

George Wither’s Emblem Book (1635) Feb 13, 2014 The emblem book of English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist George Wither (1588 - 1667). Wither was employed by a London publisher called Henry Taunton to write English verses to expound the beautiful allegorical plates made by Gabriel Rollenhagen and Crispin van Passe more than 20 years earlier. Published in 1635, it coincided with the other most famous English book of emblems by Francis Quarles. Of Wither's mostly forgotten literary talents the Scottish author and poet George Gilfillan wrote that "Wither was a man of real genius, but seems to have been partially insane".

public-domain-review

Feb 13, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:54.121814

the-funny-alphabet-ca-1850

The Funny Alphabet (ca.1850) Jan 23, 2014 A delightful little alphabet book in which the letters are made up from acrobatically contorted bodies, and the accompanying text from often as equally contorted rhymes.

public-domain-review

Jan 23, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:54.553569

a-relation-of-an-extraordinary-sleepy-person-ca-1698

A Relation of an Extraordinary Sleepy Person (ca.1698) Feb 6, 2014 A Royal Society paper delivered by Dr William Oliver describing a bizarre case he encountered of a man who fell into a "profound sleep" from which no-one could wake him for a full month. After a month was up he awoke as if nothing had happened, put on his clothes, and "went about his business of husbandry as usual", but never spoke of the incident. Just under 2 years later he fell again into the strange spell of sleep, but this time for just under 4 months, until he again "awaked, put on his Cloaths, and walkt about the room, not knowing he had slept above a night". Another spell occurred roughly a year later to which our Dr Oliver attended. He tried to wake the man by pouring a "fiery spirit" down his nose by poking him with needles, and shouting in his ear, but nothing worked. Again the man awoke entirely of his own accord some months later oblivious as to what had happened to him.

public-domain-review

Feb 6, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:55.017670

portraits-of-patients-from-surrey-county-asylum-ca-1855

Portraits of Patients from Surrey County Asylum (ca.1855) Feb 26, 2014 Photographic portraits taken by Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond of patients from Surrey County Asylum in England where he worked as a psychiatrist. Diamond was one of the very early practitioners of photography and certainly the first to systematically use it in the attempted treatment of mental illness. An advocate of the pseudo-science of physiognomy, in which the face was believed to be the mirror of the soul, Diamond proposed that through studying the faces of patients, physicians could identify and diagnose mental complaints. The faces of the patients were seen to represent 'types' of mental illness such as melancholia and delusional paranoia. As explained in an 1856 paper titled 'On the Application of Photography to the Physiognomy and Mental Phenomena of Insanity': "the Photographer catches in a moment the permanent cloud, or the passing storm or sunshine of the soul and thus enables the Metaphysician to witness and trace out the visible and the invisible in one important branch of his researches into the Philosophy of the human mind".

public-domain-review

Feb 26, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:55.484923

account-of-a-very-remarkable-young-musician-1769

Account of a Very Remarkable Young Musician (1769) Dec 5, 2013 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of history's most famous composers, began showing his talents when he was just 3 years old. By the age of 6 he was touring with his father and elder sister, also a talented musician. It was the young Mozart however who wowed the audiences. After a concert at the court of the Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague, the Mozart family embarked on a 3 and half year concert tour around the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zurich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. While in London, an 8 year old Mozart proved a huge sensation. But with his child prodigy status came questions from a skeptical few. Was he really so young? Was he really that talented? One person eager to test the truth of these doubts was Daines Barrington, a lawyer, antiquary, naturalist and Friend of the Royal Society. In a few visits to the Mozart family lodgings in London Barrington was committed to testing "scientifically" whether this young Mozart was the real deal or not. Barrington's findings are laid out in the above report to the Royal Society. He brought a manuscript, never before seen by Mozart, which was composed with 5 parts with one part written in an Italian style Contralto clef. As soon as it was put before him on his desk the young Mozart played it perfectly, "in a most masterly manner" wrote Barrington, "as well as in the time and stile which corresponded with the intention of the composer". Further tests included improvising a love song, a "song of rage", and completing a series of difficult keyboard lessons. The young Mozart more than impressed and Barrington wrote that the boy’s musical gifts were "amazing and incredible almost as it may appear". Barrington also gives us a touching insight into the still child-like nature of the boy, when he reveals that a favourite cat was often given preference over playing the harpsichord.

public-domain-review

Dec 5, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:55.774983

stereoscopic-victorian-christmas-gifs

Stereoscopic Victorian Christmas GIFs Dec 22, 2013 A series of animated GIFs made from christmas themed Victorian stereographs found in the Library of Congress. Big hat-tip to the Passion of Former days blog which posted about many of these stereographs and also to Slate Vault for first drawing our attention to their blog post. See this series also on our Tumblr! See more animated GIFs made from public domain material here in our Animated GIFs Collection.

public-domain-review

Dec 22, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:56.231778

scenes-relating-to-the-life-of-charles-iv-king-of-spain-1788

Scenes relating to the life of Charles IV, King of Spain (1788) Jan 15, 2014 Woodcut print showing forty-eight numbered scenes relating to the life of Charles IV, King of Spain. In image number forty-one, a man in a balloon is waving a flag to commemorate Charles' accession as King of Spain and his entrance into Barcelona in 1788. He would reign for 20 years.

public-domain-review

Jan 15, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:56.722869

the-monster-1903

The Monster (1903) Jan 16, 2014 A 1903 film directed by French filmmaker Georges Méliès and, as is common with his films, starring the man himself. The story centres on the chaotic, and ultimately futile, attempt to bring a dead Egyptian Princess back to life. According to the Lubin Catolog: An Egyptian prince has lost his beloved wife and he has sought a dervish who dwells at the base of the sphinx. The prince promises him a vast fortune if the dervish will only give him the opportunity of gazing once more upon the features of his wife. The dervish accepts the offer. He brings in from a neighboring tomb the receptacle containing the remains of the princess. He opens it and removes the skeleton, which he places upon the ground close beside him. Then, turning to the moon and raising his arms outstretched toward it, he invokes the moon to give back life to her who is no more. The skeleton begins to move about, becomes animated, and arises. The dervish puts it upon a bench and covers it with a white linen; a masque conceals its ghostly face. At a second invocation the skeleton begins again to move, arises, and performs a weird dance. In performing its contortions it partly disappears in the ground. While performing its feats it increases gradually in size, its neck assuming enormous proportions, much to the horror of the prince, who fails to see in this grotesque character the wife whom he has lost. The dance ceases. The dervish throws a veil over the hideous creature. Then appear the real princess as she was when her husband possessed her. The prince darts forward to take her into his arms to give her a last kiss, but the dervish stops him, wraps the young lady in the veil and throws her into the arms of the prince. When he removes the veil he finds only the skeleton of his former wife. The vision has disappeared, and the princess has returned to dust. The dervish withdraws, and the prince pursues him with his threats and curses.

public-domain-review

Jan 16, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:57.219704

arent-van-bolten-s-grotesques

Arent van Bolten’s Grotesques Feb 11, 2014 Very little is known about the Dutch artist Arent van Bolten. We do know he was born at Zwolle ca. 1573 and was actually a silversmith by profession. His artistic output ranged from grotesque figures and monsters, to figural scenes from the Bible and mythology. Here is a selection of the former, held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and produced sometime in the early 17th century.

public-domain-review

Feb 11, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:57.738752

selection-from-wellcome-library-s-release-of-100k-openly-licensed-images

Selection from Wellcome Library’s release of 100k openly licensed images Jan 20, 2014 This morning the Wellcome Library announced its release of 100,000 of its historical images under an open license (CC-BY - meaning they are free for any re-use provided that the Wellcome Library is credited). The range and quality of the images released is phenomenal. The collection covers more than a thousand years of imagery relating to the history of medicine, including manuscripts, paintings, etchings, early photography and advertisements - from medieval Persian anatomy to the satirical prints of Rowlandson and Gillray. This move by the Wellcome is yet another recent example of a hugely respected institution releasing digitisations of its public domain content under an open license - with the last 6 months seeing The Getty and The British Library making similar moves. It's a really promising sign of a more general shift toward opening up public domain content that we've seen taking place in the cultural sector over the last couple of years. Wonderful stuff! This selection from Wellcome's release that we've chosen below is from just the first 1% of the 100,000 images made available. Remember, all are published under an CC-BY license so, if re-using, you must credit the "Wellcome Library, London". Just click on the images below to see them on the Wellcome Images site where you can learn more about them and also download higher resolution versions.

public-domain-review

Jan 20, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:58.293119

the-bouncer-at-the-blazing-rag-1902

The Bouncer at the Blazing Rag (1902) Feb 18, 2014 Introduced as "a concert hall scene by Len Spencer and Gilbert Gerard" this short comic sketch, although often hard to decipher, gives a great impression of goings on at a turn-of-the-century concert hall. Thought to be recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

public-domain-review

Feb 18, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:58.724557

cartoon-map-of-europe-in-1914

Anthropomorphic Maps of Europe at War (1870/1914) Jan 29, 2014 Designed by the German-Jewish artist Walter Trier in 1914, this cartoon map shows the state of the world at the outbreak of World War I and the angst of the Central Powers. Austria-Hungary and Germany fight in a flanked position, using arms and legs to repel aggressors. Their forces are surrounded — Russia unlocks its jaws to consume Central Europe — and save for the “good will” in Switzerland, few kind things are said about the rest of the continent in the captions. The wide-eyed personification of Italy looks slightly hobbled by its cartographic boot; refusing to commit offensive troops, the country is labeled as a fickle friend: “faithful unto death — to the victor”. Montenegro and Serbia, allied with the Triple Entente, are, respectively, a “gang of rascals” and a “gang of pigs”. France “bravely retreats” while Spain “indulges in idleness”. With the world falling apart, everything looks good in Sicily for a moment — there is “volcanic soil”, but otherwise it’s “very quiet”. Published as a fundraising effort for the national Red Cross, 10% of the sales were directed to the humanitarian organization. The map was published alongside an older cartoon, newly printed — an 1870 French woodcut by Paul Hadol, depicting the state of Europe during the Franco-Prussian War. In this earlier image, some things have changed, but the tenor remains recognizable. As Michael Wintle writes in Eurocentrism (2020), the tradition of these anthropomorphic maps “shows a degree of childish enmity between nation states, and indeed — in [their] humorous way — the potentiality for armed conflict because of adolescent egos.” France and Prussia bludgeon each other — the latter represented by the bloated body of Otto von Bismarck, his right hand on the Netherlands, poised to dominate all foes. Ignored by a distracted Europe, Russia eyes the West, and is described in German as “Knecht Ruprecht”, the manservant of Saint Nicholas, and a “croque-mitaine”, or bogeyman, in French — “a beggar trying for anything to fill his basket”. On the other hand, Turkey puffs a hookah while a cigarette-smoking Spanish lady reclines leisurely against Portugal, seemingly unbothered by the conflict. Britain is also feminized, and too consumed with keeping a tight lease on Ireland, rendered as a dog, to turn its focus eastward. At the bottom of the map, a bayoneted rifle is both sinister and sardonic, labeled “degrees of longitude”. Born in Prague in 1890 and passing away in Ontario, Canada, in 1951, Walter Trier studied at the Royal Academy in Munich before moving to Berlin, where he would make his name as a children’s book illustrator. His final work published in mainland Europe was an illustrated edition of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (1933). After the Nazi rise to power, Trier’s satire and Jewish heritage made him a marked man — stormtroopers showed up at the offices of the humor magazine Simplicissimus, warning him not to depict Hitler in a negative light. He emigrated to London soon after, where he worked for the humor magazine Lilliput, contributed more than eighty covers to the New Yorker, and played an important role in the war effort. In 1942, Trier wrote and designed a leaflet, Nazi-German in 22 Lessons, for the British Ministry of Information, which was airdropped by the Royal Air Force across his former homeland. Later in life, Walt Disney offered to employ him as an animator. Trier declined, refusing to work under a corporate sign. For another 1870 satirical map with similar themes, see this map by Arnold Neumann.

public-domain-review

Jan 29, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:59.035062

edward-lear-s-walk-on-a-windy-day-1860

Edward Lear’s Walk on a Windy Day (1860) Dec 12, 2013 An Edward Lear story concerning a man, referred to simply as E.L., taking the grave risk of going out for a walk on a windy day and living the consequences. These ten rare sketches are in a bound edition living in the Frederick R. Koch Collection at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library in Yale University.

public-domain-review

Dec 12, 2013

collection

2024-05-01T21:45:59.647564

fortunio-liceti-s-monsters-1665

Fortunio Liceti’s Monsters (1665) Text by Hunter Dukes Nov 20, 2013 The etymology of “monster” connects it to words like demonstration and remonstrate. There is an ominous sense here, but also something revelatory. Monsters often serve as mirrors of the society they inhabit — cultural bodies that cast light on the instability of social and scientific categories. The selected “monsters” below come from the 1665 edition of Fortunio Liceti's De Monstris (originally published in 1616 without illustrations), which included more than seventy copies of copperplate engravings by the artist Giovanni Battista Bissoni. Although not the first work on the topic of deformities in nature, De Monstris was perhaps the most influential of the period. In its wake, there was a torrent of interest throughout Europe in so-called “monstrosities”: pygmies, supposed mermaids, deformed fetuses, and other natural marvels were put on display and widely discussed, becoming the circus sideshows of their time. For Liceti (1577–1657), the monstrous was a matter of form and was classifiable into two major types: uniform and non-uniform. Uniform monsters inhabited multiple categories: deficient, those lacking limbs; excessive, such as polycephalic animals with multiple heads; anything that was both deficient and excessive could be deemed two-natured; if a child was born with fractured bones, it was unformed; and those with an excess of body hair were extraordinary. Non-uniform beings included intersex people, but also man-animal crosses produced from interspecies mingling, and human-demon hybrids. In the images below, congenital disorders mix freely with myth. Headless men (the storied Blemmyes of classical times) rub shoulders with conjoined twins. Scanning across this wondrous panoply of lifeforms, any sense of “normal” begins to feel outdated and maybe even irrelevant. Breaking with previous treatments of the seemingly monstrous, Liceti did not treat these creatures as “portentous heavenly signs”, argues Touba Ghadessi, but rather “as living beings who expressed certain truths of nature”, whose “deformities elicited the most wonder and admiration” for life’s ability to adapt to adverse conditions. Liceti likened nature to an artist who, faced with some imperfection in the materials to be shaped, ingeniously creates another form still more admirable. “It is said that I see the convergence of both Nature and art”, he wrote, “because one or the other not being able to make what they want, they at least make what they can.” The author’s preoccupation with matters of birth may have stemmed from his own fraught genesis. His mother went into labor at seven months during a violent sea voyage. When Liceti emerged into the world, he supposedly fit into the palm of her hand, surviving only because his father fashioned a primitive incubator from a repurposed oven. He went on to study medicine and philosophy in Bologna, hold a chair of logic in Pisa, and serve as the first professor of theoretical medicine in Padua until his death. He was known for prodigious writing, releasing a book almost every year of his career, ranging from histories of rings and engraved gems to scholarly treatises on the human soul.

public-domain-review

Nov 20, 2013

Hunter Dukes

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:00.081133

the-little-book-of-love

The Little Book of Love Feb 14, 2014 A Valentine's gift to top all Valentine's gifts - the Petit Livre d’Amour (Little Book of Love) was an ornate bespoke book given by the 16th-century Lyon-born poet Pierre Salas to his then lover and future wife Marguerite Bullioud. It measures just 5 by 3.7 inches, hand-written by Salas with gold ink and beautifully illuminated by an artist identified as the "Master of the Chronique scandaleuseas". The work begins with a few pages of prose describing the relationship between the author and the woman he loves before then presenting the rest of the book, 12 "iconologues", a combination of prose and poetry on the left-hand page - including the initials M, for Marguerite and P, for Pierre, scattered about in various forms - and on the right-hand page a corresponding picture. Five of these relate to love, the others to more moral topics, but all turning away from a sickly-sweet tone, instead portraying a more realistic picture of love. Here below we've picked out some highlights from the book.

public-domain-review

Feb 14, 2014

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:00.395428

lewis-hine-s-composite-photographs-of-child-labourers-1913

Lewis Hine’s Composite Photographs of Child Labourers (1913) Text by Adam Green Jan 19, 2016 Between 1908 and 1911, the photographer and social reformer Lewis Hine travelled the U.S. for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) documenting child labor — in factories, textile mills, canneries, and coal mines — focusing in particular on the Carolina Piedmont. Amongst the hundreds of photographs he made in this time is this unique set of composite photographs of Southern cotton mill workers featured below. Each image was created by purposively rephotographing several workers upon the same photographic plate. The idea of overlaying portraits in this way was not without precedent. The technique was invented in 1880s by Sir Francis Galton who used multiple exposures to create an "average" portrait from many different faces. For Galton, the primary purpose of the method was so as to advance his views on human ideal types, and it could be argued that Hine used it in a similar way (albeit divorced from the somewhat suspect context of phrenology), to generalise his observations regarding the damaging physical effects of the back-breaking factory work on young bodies. However, the fact that Hine overlays faces of quite different physicality perhaps implies a subtler motive, one perhaps more orientated around the haunting quality of the final image. The composites were never published in Hine's lifetime, although the portraits of the same children used in the process do appear in posters for the NCLC alongside such headlines as "Making Human Junk: Shall Industry Be Allowed To Put This Cost On Society?". In general, Hine's heart-rending images from his time with the NCLC — often the result of putting himself at great personal danger — helped to influence the change in several laws, including the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916.

public-domain-review

Jan 19, 2016

Adam Green

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:01.254358

the-telephonoscope-1879

The Telephonoscope (1879) Text by Adam Green Nov 10, 2015 The cartoon above is from the pen of George du Maurier, printed in the Punch Almanack for 1879. Although titled "Edison's Telephonoscope" it is not, in fact, a creation of Thomas Edison's at all (either realised or proposed) but rather an imagining by Maurier of what the great inventor might come up with next: a machine which, for all intents and purposes, amounts to some kind of Victorian Zoom. A mother and father — the "Pater- and Materfamilias" — sit at home and converse with, while also viewing, their children at play across the other side of the world. The caption reads: (Every evening, before going to bed, Pater and Materfamilias set up an electric camera obscura over their bedroom mantel-piece, and gladden their eyes with the sight of their Children at the Antipodes, and converse gaily with them through the wire.) Paterfamilias (in Willow Place): “Beatrice, come closer, I want to whisper.” Beatrice (from Ceylon): “Yes, Papa dear.”Paterfamilias: Who is that charming young lady playing on Charlie’s side!Beatrix: “She’s just come over from England, Papa. I’ll introduce you as soon as the game’s over!” (n.p.) It is a playful, but remarkably accurate, prediction of things to come. Although, the great Albert Robida had ten years earlier published an illustration depicting a man watching a "televised" performance of Faust from the comfort of his own home (see image below), this Maurier image seems to be the first to imagine a two-way communication, combining the remote viewing with the ability to converse. Although it seems to be the first published image, the idea as predates 1879 in the form of the "telectroscope". As Verity Hunt explains: the concept of the device first appeared not long after the telephone was patented in 1876. Following speculative descriptions of a tele-visual device in publications including The New York Sun (1877) and Nature (1878), the term ‘telectroscope’ was used by the French scientist and publisher Louis Figuier in L'Année Scientifique et Industrielle in 1878 to popularise the invention, which he incorrectly interpreted as real and ascribed to Alexander Graham Bell. It was hoped it would ‘do for the eye what the telephone had done for the ear’ and provide a technologised system of long distance seeing. More images followed Maurier's, including one from a set of trading cards entitled "In the Year 2000" (En L'an 2000) which were sold as souvenirs at the 1900 Paris Exposition (see image below). The particular card in question - entitled "Correspondance Cinema-Phono-Telegraphique" - shows an invention very similar to that pictured in Maurier's. Interestingly, at the same Paris show, a Russian scientist named Constantin Perskyi read a paper to the International Electrcity Congress in which he described a device called "Television", the first time the word had ever been used.

public-domain-review

Nov 10, 2015

Adam Green

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:01.740720

skating-with-bror-myer-1921

Skating with Bror Myer (1921) Dec 17, 2015 Delightful images from an illustrated guide to figure skating by Bror Myer, a Swedish champion in the art. Meyer felt the guide necessary as in "latter years the art of skating has made such rapid strides". On his use of photography, he continues: To facilitate an easy interpretation of the text, as well as to show more clearly the various movements, I decided, after great consideration, to illustrate the work by means of photographs taken with a Cinematograph.

public-domain-review

Dec 17, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:02.183135

the-key-of-hell-an-18th-century-manual-on-black-magic

The Key of Hell: an 18th-Century Manual on Black Magic Oct 29, 2015 The Clavis Inferni ("The Key of Hell") by Cyprianus, is a late-18th-century book on black magic. Written in a mixture of Latin, Hebrew, and a cipher alphabet (namely that of Cornelius Agrippa's Transitus Fluvii or "Passing through the River" from the Third Book of Occult Philosophy written around 1510) the book has remained rather mysterious due to its unknown origin and context. It is said to be a textbook of the Black School at Wittenburg, a supposed school somewhere in Germany where one could learn the dark arts. As for the name of the author, it seems to have become a common name for people practicing magic. Benjamin Breen writes in The Appendix of how the existence throughout history of various magically-inclined Cyprianuses - from "a Dane [...] who was so evil that Satan cast him out of hell" to the Greek wizard St. Cyprian of Antioch (who later converted to Christianity) - led to the name becoming a popular pseudonym for "people at the edges of society who were trying to do real black magic".

public-domain-review

Oct 29, 2015

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2024-05-01T21:46:02.498021

portraits-of-imprisoned-modoc-warriors-1873

Portraits of Imprisoned Modoc Warriors (1873) Nov 24, 2015 The photographs featured below of captured Modoc warriors were taken by Louis Herman Heller (1839-1929) during and after the The Modoc War. The war was fought between the Native American Modoc people and the United States Army between 1872-1873 and had its roots in the forced resettlement of the Native Americans. The Modoc fighting force was spearheaded by Kintpuash AKA "Captain Jack" (first to be featured below) and included 52 other warriors in a band of more than 150 Modoc people. After nearly a year of fighting the Modoc warriors were defeated and Jack and three warriors were executed for the murders of two peace commissioners, and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment. The remaining 153 Modoc of the band were held as prisoners of war until 1909. Heller, a German-born qualified pharmacist and photographer who is believed to have emigrated to the United States in 1855, was the first photographer on the scene. However, his pictures are not as well known as those of Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) and do not feature any images of the battles fought. Heller's photographs were published in Harper's Weekly in June 1873 as engravings based on his photographs, giving the general public a view of the war. In an attempt to gain recognition over Muybridge, Heller sought to have his Modoc warrior portraits published, but once they were, the publisher Watkins was mistakenly credited as the photographer, leading to Heller falling into obscurity. Later, he sold his negatives of the Modoc captives to Watkins, but continued to work as a photographer in his own photographic studio.

public-domain-review

Nov 24, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:03.032426

colour-wheels-charts-and-tables-through-history

Colour Wheels, Charts, and Tables Through History Nov 17, 2015 Featured below is a chronology of various attempts through the last four centuries to visually organise and make sense of colour. A wide variety of forms and methods are represented: from simple wheels to multi-layered pyramids, from scientific systems to those based on the hues of human emotion. Many of the images are directly, or indirectly, sourced from Sarah Lowengard's excellent The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe - published electronically on Gutenberg-e in 2006 - a highly recommended read if you're keen to find out more about the fascinating history of colour, and also background on many of the images below. Also check out Philip Ball's Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color (2003) for a great look at how art, chemistry, and technology have interacted through the ages.

public-domain-review

Nov 17, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:03.327108

harry-kellar-s-show-posters

Harry Kellar’s Show Posters Oct 22, 2015 Harry Kellar (1849–1922) was an American magician of the late 19th and early 20th century, famous for his large stage shows during which he'd perform tricks such as the "The Levitation of Princess Karnac" and "Self Decapitation", in which his head seemed to float apart from his body. He was hugely popular in his time, inspiring the likes of Harry Houdini, and reportedly acting as a model for the bald-headed wizard in the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published in 1900. To accompany his shows he produced a series of wonderful promotional posters, a selection of which are presented below.

public-domain-review

Oct 22, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:03.827695

alcohol-and-the-human-body-1949

Alcohol and the Human Body (1949) Dec 15, 2015 An educational film by Encyclopaedia Britannica Films showing the effects that alcohol has on the human body and brain as well as the dangers of alcoholism, "a potential menace to community safety as well as personal health". Contains some excellent silky-toned narration.

public-domain-review

Dec 15, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:04.265091

francis-bacon-on-gardens-1902

Francis Bacon on Gardens (1902) Jan 20, 2016 Featuring artwork by Lucien Pissarro, this is a beautiful art nouveau edition of an essay on gardens by the Renaissance philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626). On the subject of gardens, Bacon writes that "it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment of the spirit of man; without which, buildings and places are but gross handyworks". He suggests that gardens should be planted so that there would always be something green no matter the season and proceeds to list his suggestions on plants which produce pleasing scents as well as what kind of fountains should be preferred. He also offers his thoughts on the topiary fad which would have been rife throughout the grander of European gardens at the time: "I, for my part, do not like images cut out in juniper or other garden stuff; they be for children. Little low hedges round, like welts, with some pretty pyramids, I like well." A large part of the essay is taken up with Bacon's description of his ideal garden, and indeed he was himself a keen gardener and designer of gardens, having apparently masterminded a fairly elaborate one of his own at his home in Twickenham. Although a lovely edition, this 1902 book divorces the garden essay from its companion piece "Of Buildings", which Bacon intended to precede it.

public-domain-review

Jan 20, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:04.576553

manual-training-play-problems-1917

Manual Training — Play Problems (1917) Jan 6, 2016 This charming DIY book from 1917 presents a manual training in what the author William S. Marten terms "constructive-play" (which is opposed to the "destructive-play" tendency). Various guides are presented so that children can make or build at home, covering such things as kaleidoscopes, spinning tops, and slingshots as well as birdhouses, rattlers, stilts, and miniature furniture made out of cigar boxes. Marten realised the instructions had to be simple enough for a child to understand them without the aid of an adult, and also that the tools and materials should be such as the child was used to or could easily access at home. He also gives a list of where useful materials can be collected, and each project has both photographs and illustrations showing how to build it.

public-domain-review

Jan 6, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:05.061997

robin-redbreast-1907

Robin Redbreast (1907) Dec 21, 2015 The song “Robin Redbreast” — sometimes listed as “Robin red breast” and having the working title “Happyland” — was composed by Reginald De Koven (1859–1920) who is perhaps best known for the song “Oh Promise Me” (1887), which was later incorporated into his most popular comedic opera Robin Hood (1890). The tenor of the song belongs to John Scantlebury Macdonald (1871–1931), better known as Harry Macdonough. Macdonough was a prolific singer, performing on more than 200 phonographic recordings from 1898 to 1920. Joseph Belmont provides the bird song. He is listed as the whistler on countless tracks of the time period, providing bird songs for other tracks with Macdonough as well as other popular artists of the time such as Byron G. Harlan.

public-domain-review

Dec 21, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:05.549707

nypl-release-187k-public-domain-images-in-hi-res

NYPL Release 187k Public Domain Images in Hi-Res Jan 12, 2016 Last week (5th January 2016) the New York Public Library announced the release of more than 187,000 digitisations of public domain works, all available for hi-res download completely free from restrictions. Accompanying the release is a vast improvement of their browsing interface, allowing you to sort through a myriad of options including, genre, time period, and topic. It is a true joy to use. Furthermore, "to encourage novel uses of our digital resources", they are running a new Remix Residency program which will be administered by the Library's digitisation and innovation team, NYPL Labs. As they state in the press release the residency is intended "for artists, information designers, software developers, data scientists, journalists, digital researchers, and others to make transformative and creative uses of digital collections and data,and the public domain assets in particular". A wonderful opportunity! They have got the ball rolling with a few projects of their own including this brilliant visualisation of all 187,000 items. All in all, it is an incredible new benchmark for how institutions should treat digitisations of public domain works: making sure they are free from restrictions, and inspiring re-use with a great interface and the encouragement of spin-off projects using the material. Below we present our highlights from an afternoon's browsing — a selection which we hope shows the breadth and depth of the content released. Each image is linked through to it's source on NYPL's website.

public-domain-review

Jan 12, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:06.028570

cyanotypes-of-british-algae-by-anna-atkins-1843

Cyanotypes of British Algae by Anna Atkins (1843) Dec 2, 2015 Anna Atkins (1799-1871) was an English botanist and, some argue, the very first female photographer, most noted for using photography in her books on various plants. Having grown up with her father John George Children — a chemist, mineralogist, and not too successful zoologist — she was surrounded by science and also contributed to her father's work. Her engravings of shells can be found in her father's translated edition of Jean-Baptiste de Monet Lamarck’s Genera of Shells, published in 1823, but it is her work with cyanotypes that she is best known for. Through her father and her husband, Atkins came to know both William Henry Fox Talbot, a pioneer of early photography who invented a process of creating photographs on paper treated with salt and a solution of silver nitrate, and Sir John Herschel, the inventor of the cyanotype printing method. She became interested in the cyanotype process which produced images through so-called sun-printing. The object is placed on paper which has been treated with ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, after which it is exposed to sunlight and then washed in water, leading to the uncovered areas of the paper turning a dark blue. The process, known as blueprinting, was later used to reproduce architectural and engineering drawings, but Atkins chose to use it for what is considered to be the first work with photographic illustrations, namely her Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843). Only 13 copies of the handwritten book are known to exist, some of which are in various stages of completion. Later, she would collaborate with another female botanist, Anne Dixon (1799–1864), in making two more books featuring cyanotypes: Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns (1853) and Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns (1854). Atkins became a member of the Botanical Society in London in 1839, one of the few scientific societies which was open to women.

public-domain-review

Dec 2, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:06.574573

class-of-2016

Class of 2016 Dec 10, 2015 Pictured above is our top pick of those whose works will, on 1st January 2016, be entering the public domain in many countries around the world. Of the eleven featured, five will be entering the public domain in countries with a 'life plus 70 years' copyright term (e.g. most European Union members, Brazil, Israel, Nigeria, Russia, Turkey, etc.) and six in countries with a 'life plus 50 years' copyright term (e.g. Canada, New Zealand, and many countries in Asia and Africa) — those that died in the year 1945 and 1965 respectively. As always it's a sundry and diverse rabble who've assembled for our graduation photo - including two of the 20th century's most important political leaders, one of Modernism's greatest poets, two very influential but very different musicians, and one of the most revered architects of recent times. Below is a little bit more about each of their lives (with each name linking through to their respective Wikipedia pages, from which each text has been based). T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) Born in America, at the age of 25 Eliot emigrated to England where he made his name as one of the most important literary figures of the 20th century. Although also an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, it is perhaps as a poet that he is best known, particular as the author of the groundbreaking poem The Waste Land, published in 1922. Other widely acclaimed poems include The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930), and Four Quartets (1945). He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry." Le Corbusier (1887–1965) Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout Europe, India, and the Americas. Dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities, Le Corbusier was influential in urban planning, and was a founding member of the Congrès international d'architecture moderne (CIAM). As well as designing many buildings and urban spaces, Le Corbusier also wrote extensively on architecture and its future. Paul Valéry (1871–1945) Valéry is best known as a poet, and he is sometimes considered to be the last of the French symbolists. On the night of 4 October 1892, during a heavy storm, he underwent an existential crisis, an event that made a huge impact on his writing career. Eventually, around 1898, he quit writing altogether, publishing not a word for nearly twenty years. In 1917, at the age of 46, he finally broke his 'great silence' with the publication of his obscure, but sublimely musical, masterpiece La Jeune Parque, a poem of 512 alexandrine lines in rhyming couplets. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events. Valéry was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in twelve different years. Martin Buber (1878–1965) Martin Buber was an Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centred on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. Born in Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. In 1902, he became the editor of the weekly Die Welt, the central organ of the Zionist movement, although he later withdrew from organizational work in Zionism. In 1923, Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du (later translated into English as I and Thou), and in 1925, he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language. Malcom X (1925–1965) Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), and also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, was an American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. His Autobiography of Malcolm X was, in 1998, named by Time as one of ten "required reading" nonfiction books. Béla Bartók (1881–1945) The Hungarian composer and pianist Béla Viktor János Bartók is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century. As well as the creation of his own music, he was also an avid collector. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology. Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) Kollwitz was a German painter, printmaker, and sculptor whose work offered an eloquent and often searing account of the human condition, and the tragedy of war, in the first half of the 20th century. Her empathy for the less fortunate, expressed most famously through the graphic means of drawing, etching, lithography, and woodcut, embraced the victims of poverty, hunger, and conflict. Initially her work was grounded in Naturalism, and later took on Expressionistic qualities. Otto Neurath (1882–1945) Otto Neurath was an Austrian philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist. As founding director of the Gesellschafts- und Wirtschaftsmuseum in Vienna, Neurath created the Vienna Method, which later became known as Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education), a method of showing social, technological, biological and historical connections in pictorial form. The term Isotype was applied to the method around 1935, after its key practitioners, including Neurath, were forced to leave Vienna by the rise of Austrian fascism. Blind Willie Johnson (1897–1945) "Blind" Willie Johnsonwas a gospel blues singer and guitarist. While the lyrics of his songs were usually religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions. His unique sound is characterized by his slide guitar accompaniment and tenor voice, and his frequent use of a lower-register 'growl' or false bass voice. Johnson was not born blind. Although it is not certain how he lost his sight, his alleged widow Angeline Johnson told Samuel Charters that when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man, and that she, out of spite, blinded young Willie by throwing lye in his face. Johnson made 30 commercial recording studio record sides (29 songs) in five separate sessions for Columbia Records from 1927–1930. Fans of the West Wing may recognise his "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" from episode 13 of season 5, The Warfare of Genghis Khan. Winston Churchill (1874–1965) Making his name as the United Kingdom's war-time leader from 1940 to 1945, Churchill is one of the 20th century's most famous political figures. As well as being a two-time prime minister of the UK (a second term was served 1951-1955), Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist (chiefly in watercolours). Under the pen name "Winston S. Churchill" he published widely including a novel, two biographies, three volumes of memoirs, and several histories, and in 1953 won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965) The American playwright and writer Lorraine Vivian Hansberry — inspiration for Nina Simone's song "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" — was the first black woman to write a play performed on Broadway. Her best known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, highlights the lives of Black Americans living under racial segregation in Chicago. Hansberry's family had struggled against segregation, challenging a restrictive covenant and eventually provoking the Supreme Court case Hansberry v. Lee. The title of the play was taken from the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" After she moved to New York City, Hansberry worked at the Pan-Africanist newspaper Freedom, where she dealt with intellectuals such as Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois. Much of her work during this time concerned the African struggle for liberation and their impact on the world. Hansberry has been identified as a lesbian, and sexual freedom is an important topic in several of her works. She died of cancer at the age of 34. And a few others that didn't make it to the class photo.... Albert Schweitzer W. Somerset Maugham Emily Carr Robert Desnos Some people you think we've missed? Please let us know in the comments! To learn more about Public Domain Day visit publicdomainday.org. For more names whose works will be going into the public domain in 2015 see the Wikipedia pages on 1945 and 1965 deaths (which you can fine-tune down to writers and artists), and also this dedicated page. Wondering what will enter the public domain through copyright expiration in the U.S.? Like last year, and the year before...Nothing. Wondering if "bad things happen to works when they enter the public domain"? Wonder no more. (Learn more about the situation in the U.S. and why the public domain is important in this article in Huff Post Books and this from the Duke Law School's Centre for the Study of the Public Domain).

public-domain-review

Dec 10, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:07.097408

spectropia-or-surprising-spectral-illusions-1865

Spectropia; or, Surprising Spectral Illusions (1865) Oct 21, 2015 A book of Victorian hi-tech ghost conjuring which allows the reader to summon, as the sub-title proclaims, "ghosts everywhere and of any colour". Accompanying the set of wonderfully gaudy images, are directions on how to use them, and a more detailed scientific description about how the illusion works. Also included in the latter is a declaration of at least one motive behind the book: One thing we hope in some measure to further in the following pages, is the extinction of the superstitious belief that apparitions are actual spirits, by showing some of the many ways in which our senses may be deceived, and that, in fact, no so-called ghost has ever appeared, without its being referable either to mental or physiological deception, or, in those instances where several persons have seen a spectre at the same time, to natural objects, as in the case mentioned by Dr. Abercrombie, in his work on "The Intellectual Powers:" — "A whole ship's company were thrown into the utmost consternation, by the apparition of a cook who had died a few days before. He was distinctly seen walking ahead of the ship, with a peculiar gait, by which he was distinguished when alive, from having one of his legs shorter than the other. On steering the ship toward the object, it was found to be a piece of floating wreck." The book plays with an optical phenomenon known as "afterimage", in which the eye's photoreceptors (the rods and cones) adapt to overstimulation and lose sensitivity, and so retain the image when no longer focusing on it. To see the spectres, it is only necessary to look steadily at the dot, or asterisk, which is to be found on each of the plates, for about a quarter of a minute, or while counting about twenty, the plate being well illuminated by either artificial or day light. Then turning the eyes to the ceiling, the wall, the sky, or better still to a white sheet hung on the wall of a darkened room (not totally dark), and looking rather steadily at any one point, the spectre will soon begin to make its appearance, increasing in intensity, and then gradually vanishing, to reappear and again vanish ; it will continue to do so several times in succession, each reappearance being fainter than the one preceding. Winking the eyes, or passing a finger rapidly to and fro before them, will frequently hasten the appearance of the spectre, especially if the plate has been strongly illuminated. Regarding the aesthetic quality of the images, the author comments: "As an apology for the apparent disregard of taste and fine art in the plates, such figures are selected as best serve the purpose for which they are intended."

public-domain-review

Oct 21, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:07.647174

georg-bartisch-s-ophthalmodouleia-1583

Georg Bartisch’s Ophthalmodouleia (1583) Nov 5, 2015 Images from Ophthalmodouleia: Das ist, Augendienst, the first Renaissance manuscript on ophthalmic disorders and eye surgery, published in 1583 by German physician Georg Bartisch (1535–1607), considered by many to be the "father of modern ophthalmology". The work contains a total of 92 woodcuts each depicting diseases of the eye - some using an overlay technique enabling the reader to “dissect” parts of the head or eye by lifting up a series of flaps. Accompanying the images is a detailed discussion of ocular diseases, surgical techniques, and instruments used, all written in Bartisch's native German rather than Latin, a highly unusual move for the time. Depsite his scientific calling, Bartisch was a superstitious man, believing that astrology, magic, and witchcraft played a significant part in the causes of disease (indeed, the fourth picture shown in the selection below depicts a "disease of the eye caused by witchcraft").

public-domain-review

Nov 5, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:08.099284

apollinaire-s-calligrammes-1918

Apollinaire’s Calligrammes (1918) Oct 27, 2015 A book of poetry by French writer Guillaume Apollinaire, noted for its use of "caligrams" in which typeface and arrangement of words on the page add to the meaning of the compositions. In this way, the collection can be seen as a contribution to the tradition of concrete or visual poetry. Considered as the forefather of Surrealism, Apollinaire described his work as follows: The Calligrammes are an idealisation of free verse poetry and typographical precision in an era when typography is reaching a brilliant end to its career, at the dawn of the new means of reproduction that are the cinema and the phonograph. (Guillaume Apollinaire, in a letter to André Billy) Subtitled "Poems of Peace and War 1913-1916", many of the poems deal with Apollinaire's wartime experience as both an artilleryman and infantry officer. He was badly hurt in 1916 with a shrapnel wound to his temple and it was during his recovery that he coined the word "sur-realism" in the programme notes for Jean Cocteau's and Erik Satie's ballet Parade. Although he made an eventual recovery the injury weakened him and Apollinaire became one of the many victims of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Published the year of his death, Calligrammes remains one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.

public-domain-review

Oct 27, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:08.393255

anatomical-illustrations-from-15th-century-england

Anatomical Illustrations from 15th-century England Jan 5, 2016 Anatomical illustrations from an English medical treatise dating from the mid 15th century. Amongst the images — which show both the outer as well as the inner structure of the body — is the striking "wound man" illustration, depicting a man who has been stabbed, bitten, and wounded by arrows, as well as bludgeoned in the arm and head. Although the exact purpose of these "wound man" images — which appear in numerous other 15th and 16th-century works — is not known, they appear to be some attempt to communicate all the different injuries to which the body can be subjected, in some cases offering up accompanying treatments. The author of this particular treatise is unknown, though it is attributed to Pseudo-Galen, meaning that the inspiration for the work might have come by (or it is attempting to be passed off) as the work of the Greek physician Claudius Galenus, also known as Galen of Pergamon (AD 129 – c. 200/c. 216), who wrote extensively on medicine. The illustrations in this treatise, in addition to possessing a certain naive charm, are of interest as being the prototypes of those found in Johannes de Ketham's Fasciculus medicinae, first printed in 1491.

public-domain-review

Jan 5, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:08.857193

cossack-fairy-tales-1916

Cossack Fairy Tales (1916) Nov 12, 2015 Originally translated by British historian and linguist Robert Nisbet Bain in 1894, this collection of stories hail from an area known to us today as western Ukraine. ⁠In his introduction Bain describes the tales as being translated from “Ruthenian” (an exonymic lingonym for a language that would become Ukrainian) and gathered from three “chief collections” of folklore by Panteleimon Kulish, Ivan Rudchenko, and Mykhailo Drahomanov. The tales featured include familiar characters and fairy tale tropes, such as a tale of a mysterious sack which grants food, a ram which gives gold, and a drum that summons henchmen who give people a good beating. This last tale can also be found in a version called "The Wishing-Table, the Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack" by the brothers Grimm. In "The Story of little Tsar Novishny, the False sister, and the Faitful Beasts" and "The Vampire and St. Michael", the act of not crossing oneself before drinking or bathing in a stream or river leads to being possessed by the Devil, something we should all keep in mind. This edition from 1916 is adorned with beautiful illustrations from Scottish artist Noel Laura Nisbet (who also illustrated a 1915 collection of Russian folktales, also translated by Bain.

public-domain-review

Nov 12, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:09.316694

phenomena-over-and-under-the-earth-1878

Phenomena Over and Under the Earth (1878) Jan 26, 2016 This beautiful presentation, painted in gouache, of various atmospheric conditions is the work of a painter named Josef Gabriel Frey, from Weyer in Austria. We learn this from a tiny inscription in the bottom right of the work, which also tells us it was made in Frey's 88th year, six years before he died. Among the many natural phenomena on show is will-o'-the-wisp ("Ihrlichter"), a moonbow ("Mond Regenbogen"), and the Northern Lights ("Nordlicht"). The image with the lion labelled "Samuni" is slightly mysterious, but is most likely a reference to "Simoom" ("samūm" in Arabic, translating to "poison wind") — a strong, dry, dust-laden wind found blowing in parts of North Africa and the Middle East.

public-domain-review

Jan 26, 2016

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2024-05-01T21:46:09.772523

life-crimes-and-confession-of-bridget-durgan-1867

Life, Crimes, and Confession of Bridget Durgan (1867) Jan 14, 2016 "Throughout all the annals of crime, there has never been recorded a more revolting, wicked deed, than that for which the wretched perpetrator, Bridget Durgan, paid the forfeit of her life in the jail yard of New Brunswick, New Jersey, on August 30, 1867." So begins the narrative of Bridget Durgan (1843-1867), an Irish domestic servant in the household of a Dr and Mrs Coriell in New Jersey in the 1860s. The booklet purports to be an account of her life, including Bridget's confession, and was published as a warning to others. How much of this narrative and confession is true is hard to say; the text also bears a resemblance to the broadsides which were sold at executions, containing information on the crimes and trials – and sometimes the added confessions of the accused. The events began after Bridget Durgan was engaged in the Coriell household as a domestic servant, and her mistress, Mrs Coriell — described as "being possessed of the greatest beauty " and "a tender and noble heart", compared to Bridget who is a "demon girl" and "wicked creature" — decided to let Bridget go. It is not specified as to why she was dismissed other than that the mistress of the house had taken a dislike to her. Bridget, who according to her confession had harboured hate for one of her previous mistresses and had failed in her earlier attempts to kill the woman, now seized her chance. When Dr Coriell was called away to a patient one evening, Bridget stabbed Mrs Coriell and started a fire in an attempt to conceal the murder, later claiming that robbers had entered the house and murdered her mistress. While in prison, many people came to see Bridget and tickets were also sold to attend her execution. One of the many visitors to her cell was the writer and women's activist Elizabeth Oakes Smith (1806-1893). Smith had written a series of articles promoting women's rights for the New York Tribune entitled "Woman and Her Needs" at the beginning of the 1850s, and her visit to Bridget also resulted in an article detailing their encounter. The account his far from flattering of Bridget. She compares parts of Bridget's appearance to that of various animals, as well as stating that her hands are "large, coarse, and somehow have a dangerous look, for hands, as well as faces, have expression." She also writes: In the scale of human intelligence I find Bridget Durgan on the very lowest level. She has cunning and ability to conceal her real actions; and so have the fox, the panther, and many inferior animals, whose instincts are not more clearly defined than those of Bridget Durgan. [...] She is large in the base of the brain, and swells out over the ears, where destructiveness and secretiveness are located by phrenologists, while the whole region of intellect, ideality and moral sentiment is small. [...] The character of Bridget's face is sullen, and yet wears a mixed expression of anxiety, even to distress. The line of the mouth, as of the eyelids, is oblique. There is not one character of beauty, even in the lowest degree, about the girl; no one ray of sentiment, nothing genuine, hardly human, except a weak, sometimes a bitter, smile. The wonder is that any housekeeper should be willing to engage such a servant. I have an idea that this same girl was offered to me in an intelligence office in Brooklyn, and that I refused to even talk to one so repulsive in appearance.

public-domain-review

Jan 14, 2016

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:10.226489

from-india-to-the-planet-mars-1900

From India to the Planet Mars (1900) Dec 2, 2015 This book details the experiences of Théodore Flournoy (1854-1920), professor of psychology at the University of Geneva, during the five years he spent attending the seances of Hélène Smith, a pseudonym for Catherine Müller (1861-1929). Smith was a medium who received spiritual messages through visual and auditory means as well as raps on the table from her spirit guide and protector named Leopold. Flournoy studied Smith and wrote of the different cycles she inhabited as she claimed to be the reincarnation of Simandini the daughter of an Arab sheik, the favourite wife of a Hindu prince, as well as a reincarnation of Marie Antoinette. She also claimed to have contact with people living on Mars and to be able to speak their language which she wrote down during her seances, as well as sketches of the landscape she witnessed (see image below). February 16, 1896. – The idea of a special handwriting belonging to the planet Mars occurs for the first time to Hélène's astonishment in a Martian semi-trance. August 22. – Hélène for the first time writes in Martian. After various non-Martian visions Mlle. Smith turns away from the window (it rained hard, and the sky was very gray), and exclaims 'Oh, look, it is all red! Is it already time to go to bed? M. Lemaître, are you there? Do you see how red it is? I see Astané, who is there in that red; I only see his head and the ends of his fingers; he has no robe, and here is the other (Esenale) with him. They both have some letters at the ends of their fingers on a bit of paper. Quick, give me some paper!' A blank sheet and the pocket-pen are handed to her, which latter she disdainfully throws down. She accepts an ordinary pencil, which she holds in her customary fashion, between her middle and index-finger, then writes from left to right the three first lines of Fig. 21, looking attentively towards the window at her fictitious model before tracing each letter, and adding certain oral notes, according to which there are some words which she sees written in black characters on the three papers — or, more correctly, on three white wands, a sort of narrow cylinder, somewhat flattened out — which Astané, Esenale, and a third personage whose name she does not know but whose description corresponds with that of Pouzé, hold in their right hands.

public-domain-review

Dec 2, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:10.638273

how-to-use-the-dial-telephone-1927

How to use the Dial Telephone (1927) Nov 18, 2015 A film by the American Telephone and Telegraph company, showing through both animation and live action how to use the rotary dial of the telephone. A woman shows how the numbers should be dialed and the mistakes that should be avoided, such as dialing before having picked up the receiver or not finishing the series of numbers properly. The first telephones of the 1870s were arranged in pairs, meaning that one could only call up the person with the other telephone. With the invention of the telephone exchange, callers could be connected to other numbers and switched between lines. The first commercial telephone exchange in the United States opened in Connecticut in 1878. The video above shows the change to automatic switching, meaning that one could dial the number without having to go through the telephone exchange, although dialling number 8 does connect the caller to the information centre where a group of women are frenetically looking through telephone directories in order to find the telephone number needed.

public-domain-review

Nov 18, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:11.080231

plastic-reconstruction-of-the-face-1918

Plastic Reconstruction of the Face (1918) Text by Adam Green Jan 21, 2016 This 1918 silent film explores the Studio for Portrait Masks, the Paris workshop of American artist Anna Coleman Ladd (1878-1939). Ladd volunteered her skills as a classically trained sculptor to help design and construct detailed facial prosthetics and, in so doing, further advanced what is now known as Anaplastology. Also seen in this film is British sculptor Francis Derwent Wood (1871-1926) who founded the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department at the Third London General Hospital and was a pioneer in the use of metal masks, both lightweight and more durable than the then commonly used rubber masks. Reference to the use of prosthetics dates back to pre-antiquity, and the first textbook on plastic surgery was published in the sixteenth century by the Italian surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzi. Nonetheless, this film captures a particularly noteworthy time for both fields that resulted from the intersection of a number of recent medical advances and the overwhelming need to utilize those advances to aid the more than twenty million soldiers that were wounded during WWI. While medical advances saved a great number of lives, advances in weaponry and trench warfare increased the number of injuries, particularly to the face and extremities. Not only were soldiers exposed to the elements (e.g., trench foot) but sources note that many failed to understand how dramatically the landscape of warfare had changed. For example, in speaking about the machine gun, Dr Fred Albee noted, “They seemed to think they could pop their heads up over a trench and move quickly enough to dodge the hail of bullets”. When the limits of plastic surgery were reached, while far from perfect, countless soldiers benefited from rehabilitative services like those shown. You can read more over at the National Library of Medicine, where the film is housed, in Zoe Bellof's essay "Copper Masks and Faceless Men..."

public-domain-review

Jan 21, 2016

Adam Green

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:11.493398

awful-disclosures-of-maria-monk-1836

Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk (1836) Aug 27, 2015 In the prevailing anti-Catholic atmosphere of early-nineteenth-century America, and fresh after the Ursuline Convent riots of August 1834 in Massachusetts (in which a convent of the Roman Catholic Ursuline nuns burned down by the hands of a Protestant mob), the publication of Maria Monk's revelations of her time at the Hôtel-Dieu convent in Montreal became a sensation. With nuns forced to engage in sexual acts with priests and being locked in the cellar as a punishment for disobeying, the story had similarities to the popular Gothic novels of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Maria also tells of how any babies that were born as a result of these liaisons were immediately baptized, strangled, and buried under the convent. It was from this fate that she wanted to save her unborn child which led her to escape and consequently publish her exposé. Although the preface claims the events and persons described to be real, after the initial sensation died down some began to question the veracity of Maria's tale. American journalist William L. Stone traveled to Montreal and visited the convent, later writing that the descriptions found in Maria's book bore no resemblance to the actual building. Tales of Maria's past seem to suggest that she had been confined by her mother in a house for fallen women from which she was expelled in 1835 due to her pregnancy. In October of the same year, a New York newspaper announced Maria's forthcoming book which was then published in January 1836. It is believed that the book was not written by Maria herself but either written down or indeed fabricated by one or more of the various clergymen that surrounded her during this time of publicity, such as Reverend William K. Hoyt and Reverend John Jay Slocum, in an attempt to make money through the sensational narrative. When or how she had come to meet these men and how much influence they had over her is unknown, as is the truth of the narrative found in her book or indeed anywhere else regarding Maria's life or character. For a great list of various editions of the book and related material - including Maria's "sequel" and an affidavit from Maria's mother) - see this great page from the University of Penn Library.

public-domain-review

Aug 27, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:12.431752

seeing-london-1918

Seeing London (1918) Sep 24, 2015 A unique glimpse at London in 1918, some months before the end of World War I. The film shows some of the famous sights of the city, from Westminster to St Paul's Cathedral, from Clepotra's Needle to the Tower of London where military exercises are being held. The film was shot by the American traveler Elias Burton Holmes (1870–1958) who photographed and filmed his travels abroad, later holding lectures and screening the films to paying audiences. Other than providing unique early documentation of London's top sights, the film also shows a baseball match played between the US Army and US Navy where King George V is seen attending and greeting the players. The match was played at the Chelsea Football Ground on July 4th, the American Independence Day, and was attended by 18,000 spectators, including the King and Queen.

public-domain-review

Sep 24, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:12.852963

the-art-of-ornamental-orange-peeling-1910

The Art of Ornamental Orange Peeling (1910) Oct 20, 2015 Images from an article about an unusual form of sculpture, found in a 1910 issue of American Homes and Gardens magazine.

public-domain-review

Oct 20, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:13.352914

illustrations-from-an-italian-book-of-proverbs-1718

Illustrations from an Italian Book of Proverbs (1718) Oct 1, 2015 Illustrations from an Italian book of proverbs made by the engraver and painter Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (1634–1718). The son of painter Agostino Mitelli (1609-1660), the younger Mitelli recreated paintings by famous artists and was also a prolific engraver whose work ranged from satirical to everyday scenes. The book, originally made in 1678, seems to have been a gift for Francesco Maria de' Medici, the Governor of Siena in Tuscany, while this edition from 1718 includes texts in both Italian and German.

public-domain-review

Oct 1, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:13.829513

the-american-anti-slavery-almanac-for-1838

The American Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1838 Sep 22, 2015 First published in 1836 by the American Anti-Slavery Society, the American Anti-Slavery Almanac was an attempt to bring awareness about slavery to nineteenth-century America. This 1838 issue focused particularly on slavery in the South, with the often graphic images (see below) serving to show many Northerners the extent of the horrors for the first time. The almanac, which consists of the expected information and dates, also includes writings on the subject of slavery emphasising its un-Christian nature, noting the horrific treatment of the slaves as well as the injustice of children being separated from their families. Although the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves had passed in 1807, the slave trade did not end until after the Civil War. See more editions of the Almanac from other years here on the Internet Archive.

public-domain-review

Sep 22, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:14.306416

speculations-of-the-changes-likely-to-be-discovered-in-the-earth-and-moon-by-their-respective-inhabitants-ca-1666

Speculations of the Changes, Likely to be Discovered in the Earth and Moon, by Their Respective Inhabitants (ca. 1666) Jul 30, 2015 In a letter published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the French astronomer Adrien Auzout describes how the Earth might seem to those living in the moon, observing how our landscape not only changes and varies because of the seasons but also because of the alterations to the landscape made by man. Auzout in turn has observed changes on the surface of the moon, writing: This it is [...] which all Curious men, that have good Telescopes, ought well to attend; and I doubt not; but, if we had a very particular Map of the Moon, as I had designed to make one with a Topography, as it were, of all the considerable places therein, that We or our Posterity would find some changes in Her. And if the Mapps of the Moon of Hevelius, Divini, and Riccioli, are exact, I can say, that I have seen there some places considerable enough, where they put parts that are clear whereas I there see dark ones.

public-domain-review

Jul 30, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:14.784069

footage-of-the-twin-towers-being-built-1976

Footage of the Twin Towers Being Built (1976) Sep 10, 2015 A haunting glimpse into the construction of the Twin Towers in New York and their early use. The film is produced by Western Electric and, judging by its lack of sound, appears to be the raw footage for a short industrial film. Amid the course of the eerily silent scenes we see the site empty of buildings, the construction of the all too familiar girders, and panaromas of Manhattan flecked with scratches and dust. At the time the towers were completed in the early 1970s, they were the tallest buildings in the world, with 1 World Trade Center being 1,368 feet (417 m) and 2 World Trade Center 1,362 feet (415 m). The lead architect for the project was Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986) and construction began in August 1968. The towers were destroyed in the September 11 attacks of 2001 in which almost 3000 people lost their lives.

public-domain-review

Sep 10, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:15.282014

watercolours-from-a-16th-century-de-materia-medica

Watercolours from a 16th-Century De Materia Medica Sep 15, 2015 These wonderful full-page watercolour illustrations are from a 16th-century edition of Pedanius Dioscorides's work on herbal medicine, De Materia Medica. Dioscorides (ca. 40–90 AD), a Greek physician and botanist, is considered to be the father of pharmacology, with this five-volume book hailed as the forerunner of modern pharmacopoeias (books that record medicines along with their effects and directions for their use). His book was translated from the original Greek to Latin, Arabic, and Spanish, and continued to be in use with additions and commentaries written by various authors, one of them being the 16th-century Italian doctor Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501–1577). Describing one hundred new plants not included by Dioscorides, Mattioli's expansion of the book first appeared in Italian and was later translated into Latin, French, Czech, and German. These illustrations, found in Mattioli's version of the book, are dated between 1564–1584 and are the creation of the Italian artist and botanist Gherardo Cibo (1512–1600). The images, in which the plants take centre stage before a landscaped backdrop, seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to the images found in Robert Thornton’s "Temple of Flora".

public-domain-review

Sep 15, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:15.776459

portraits-of-ellis-island-immigrants

Portraits of Ellis Island Immigrants Sep 9, 2015 Between 1892 and 1954, Ellis Island served as an immigration inspection station for millions of immigrants arriving into the United States. The first immigrant to pass though the station was 17-year-old Annie Moore from Cork, Ireland, one of the 700 immigrants arriving on the opening day on January 1, 1892. The first and second class passengers were considered wealthy enough not to become a burden to the state and were examined onboard the ships while the poorer passengers were sent to the island where they underwent medical examinations and legal inspections. These images of people wearing their folk costumes were taken by amateur photographer Augustus Sherman who worked as the Chief Registry Clerk on Ellis Island from 1892 until 1925. The people in the photographs were most likely detainees who were waiting for money, travel tickets or someone to come and collect them from the island. In 1907, the photographs were published in National Geographic, and they were also hung on the walls of the lower Manhattan headquarters of the federal Immigration Service. In 2005, Aperture brought out a book of the photographs, containing 97 full-page portraits. 1907 was the busiest year for Ellis Island, with an all-time high of 11,747 immigrants arriving in April. Approved immigrants spent between three to five hours on the island where they underwent medical examinations and were asked questions regarding their occupation and the money they owned, it being preferable for them to have a starting sum when they arrived in the country. Two percent of the immigrants were denied admission on the grounds of suffering from contagious diseases or insanity, or alternatively by virtue of having a criminal background. In the 1920s, restrictions were placed on the percentage of immigrants arriving from various countries or ethnic backgrounds, as immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe were seen as inferior to the earlier immigrants from Northern and Western Europe. The facilities later served as a detention and deportation processing station, and during the Second World War, German, Italian, and Japanese resident aliens were detained on the island.

public-domain-review

Sep 9, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:16.283875

hi-res-images-from-the-apollo-missions

Hi-Res Images from the Apollo Missions Oct 6, 2015 More than 8,400 super high-resolution images from the Apollo missions have been released onto Flickr, a huge upload which allows the general public to see the historic photographs at an unprecedented quality. The images were captured by the astronauts using an array of high-end Hasselblad cameras - a "medium format" camera which used film three to four times as large as a standard 35mm frame, hence the wonderful amount of detail. The upload is the result of a heroic effort by Kipp Teague of the Project Apollo Archive, a site working in tandem with Eric Jones’ Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (which comprehensivley details every Apollo lunar mission). Talking to The Planetray Society Teague explains it came about: Around 2004, Johnson Space Center began re-scanning the original Apollo Hasseelblad camera film magazines, and Eric Jones and I began obtaining TIFF (uncompressed, high-resolution) versions of these new scans on DVD. These images were processed for inclusion on our websites, including adjusting color and brightness levels, and reducing the images in size to about 1000 dpi (dots per inch) for the high-resolution versions. After much demand from the public Teague decided to reprocess the entire set and upload them to Flickr, untouched by editing and at a huge 1800 dpi resolution. While most the missions are up on Flickr, there are currently no images from Apollos 7, 8, 9, 10, or 13. According to Teague they wil be added soon. As a little taster of what awaits you in the archive we've selected some highlights, focusing on just the Apollo 11 mission, and we've included a few zoomed-in crops to show the detail. From the criss-cross of boot prints in the lunar dust, to Neil Armstrong's watery gaze after first landing, it is a remarkable record of a remarkable moment in human history. Being taken by employees of NASA all the original photos are in the public domain, as are these scans.

public-domain-review

Oct 6, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:16.780580

interruptions-performed-by-tom-woottwell-1909

“Interruptions” performed by Tom Woottwell (1909) Sep 17, 2015 A comedic song performed by the music hall performer Tom Woottwell (1865-1941). The lyrics for the song, as well as other well known numbers from the heydays of the music halls, can be found on this website. The music halls started off with taverns and public houses holding performances in the 1830s where people could eat and drink while they listened to the songs being performed. It wasn't until 1852 that the first purposefully built music hall, The Canterbury Hall, opened with the seating capacity of 700 people. It became such a huge success that a bigger hall was built in the same spot with the new premises being able to house 1500 audience members. By 1875, there were 375 music halls in Greater London which were mostly frequented by the working class as members of the middle class frowned upon the entertainment (as well as the prostitutes who found their clients among the audience). The halls were also popular among wealthy young gentlemen who wanted to spend a fun night out. The early performances focused on music, most often comedic songs about everyday life topics such as overdue rent, drink, and unfaithful spouses. There were female performers who dressed up as men and men who dressed as women, sometimes with the audience not knowing the true gender of the performer, while at other times women like Vesta Tilley and Hetty King became famous for dressing as soldiers, policemen, and priests. Interspersed with the music acts were the ventriloquists, the trapeze artists, jugglers, magicians, and others, and later on short films and newsreels also became part of the shows.

public-domain-review

Sep 17, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:17.318349

japanese-depictions-of-north-americans-1860s

Japanese Depictions of North Americans (1860s) Aug 4, 2015 A selection of Yokohama-e (literally “Yokohama pictures”), a type of ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock print which focused on depicting the foreigners who flooded through Yokohama during the 1860s and 70s, in particular North Americans. Prints from various artists are shown below including two of the most profilic in this Yokohama-e form, Utagawa Yoshitora and Utagawa Yoshikazu. Although the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch had engaged in regular trade with Japan during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Japan had limited its trade and contact with the West from 1639 onwards due to the persistent attempts by Europeans to convert the population to Catholicism and the western countries' habit of unfair trading practices. For the next two centuries, limited trade access was granted only to certain Dutch and Chinese ships with special charters. The United States' interest in regaining contact with Japan during the nineteenth century sprung from the annexation of California, which created an American port in the Pacific, enabling trade with the newly opened ports of China, and also creating the need for coaling stations en route. The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed in March 1854, leading to the opening of two Japanese ports, as well as the establishing of an American consul in Japan. Although Kanagawa was meant to become the port for foreign trade and residency, it was located along the Tōkaidō, the main east-west road which the Japanese government didn't want foreigners to access. Instead, the small fishing village of Yokohama grew to become the base for foreign trade, opening in 1859. Through these Westerners who came to Yokohama, western fashion, photography, ice cream, rugby, and cricket were introduced to Japan.

public-domain-review

Aug 4, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:17.818085

a-collection-of-very-valuable-and-scarce-pieces-relating-to-the-last-plague-in-the-year-1665-1721

A Collection of Very Valuable and Scarce Pieces relating to the Last Plague in the Year 1665 (1721) Aug 12, 2015 An "all you need to know" about the 1665 Great Plague of London, this book consists of a compendium of official regulations that were put in practice in order to prevent the plague from spreading, accounts of the symptoms and cures related to the disease, as well as tables of data relating to number of deaths by cause and location. The year 1665 saw the last in a series of plague epidemics that had begun at the end of the fifteenth century. During The Great Plague, between 75,000 and 100,000 Londoners lost their lives with a peak of 7165 deaths occuring during one week in September. While the wealthier citizens fled to the countryside, the poor were left to fend for themselves, leaving them little chance as the households in which the plague occurred were sealed off in order to prevent the disease from spreading. The infected homes were marked with a red cross on the door as well as the words "Lord have mercy on us". In an attempt to prevent the plague from spreading, public spaces, such as theatres, were closed and it is estimated that 40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats were put to death as a result of the mistaken belief that they were carriers of the disease.

public-domain-review

Aug 12, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:18.310725

queen-victoria-s-teenage-diaries-1912

Queen Victoria’s Teenage Diaries (1912) Aug 20, 2015 Queen Victoria (1819-1901) is one of the most famous monarchs of all time and her reign, lasting for 63 years and seven months, is now known as the Victorian era; a period of great industrial and scientific change as well as expansion of the British Empire. These excerpts from her diaries span from 1832, when Victoria was 13-years-old, to 1840, the same year that she married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at the age of 20. Having just turned 18 in May 1837, she became queen the next month after the death of William IV. Covering her teenage years as well as the earlier parts of her reign, Victoria writes of subjects relating to her position as queen and the political climate of the times as well as more personal matters, such as her nervousness when giving speeches and her taking for her cousin Albert. Of her nervousness, she writes on Wednesday, 6th February 1839: [...] I always felt nervous; and Lord M. [Melbourne] said that no one ever got over that, and that there were very few who didn't feel the same nervousness before making a Speech even if you had done it a 100 times [...]. Of her second meeting with Albert, on 11th October 1839, she writes: At about 1/2 p. 10 dancing began. I danced 5 quadrilles; (1) with Ernest; (2) with dearest Albert, who dances so beautifully; (3) with Lord Alfred; (4) with Ernest; and (5) with dearest Albert again. [...] it is quite a pleasure to look at dearest Albert when he gallops and valses, he does it so beautifully, holds himself so well with that beautiful figure of his. A few days later, on 15th October, Victoria proposed to Albert and they were married in February 1840. She wrote ecstatically of the day in her diary: NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!

public-domain-review

Aug 20, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:18.786510

chart-of-the-inner-landscape-1886

Chart of the Inner Landscape (1886) Text by Ned Pennant-Rea Aug 18, 2015 The Nei Jing Tu (Chart of the Inner Landscape) is a magnificent Taoist depiction of the human body as a microcosm of the universe, in which fundamental forces, ancient spirits and celestial bodies all have their place. The follower of the Tao (natural order) must gently try to bring themselves into closer harmony with it through meditation, breathing exercises, feng shui and other practices. Then the body may become as it is also figured in the chart — an alchemical furnace capable of producing the elixir of life. The chart is designed to help the Taoist “prolong longevity” and, the ultimate goal, “attain immortality and Buddhahood”. It took on its current form in 1886 after a priest named Liu Chengying happened across the original in the library of a mountain temple, painted on an old silk scroll. In the colophon at the lower left of the chart, Liu describes the fascination he felt: “...By chance, it was hanging on a wall. The painting was finely executed... I examined it for a long time and my comprehension grew. I began to realize that exhalation and inhalation, as well as expelling and ingesting, of the human body are the waxing and waning as well as the ebb and flow of the cosmos. If you can divine and gain insight into this, you will have progressed more than halfway into your inquiry of the great Way of the Golden Elixir. In truth, I did not dare not keep this [painting] to myself alone. Therefore I had it engraved on a printing plate for wider dissemination.” The human figure in the chart faces left. At the top of its head, wrinkly brain tissue is represented by the nine craggy peaks of Mount Kunlun (heavenly abode of the immortals and source of the Yellow River). Its spinal cord is a meandering watercourse flowing out of the head. Divine water (qi of Yin) rushes down from the head to be met with fire (qi of Yang) rising up from the abdomen. With this equalisation achieved, where the four Yin-Yang symbols radiate, the elixir can finally be formed. Some of the chart’s most wonderful details include: Laozi meditating in the forebrain; a twelve-storey pagoda standing in for the throat; a flaming spiral of a heart in which a boy strings together coins to form the Big Dipper (thought of as the centre of the cosmos); kidneys represented by a woman spinning her wheel (who also symbolises the star Vega); and intestines in the shape of a buffalo ploughing and planting the elixir (or herb) of life. Other organs appear only as text: “The spirit of the lungs is Brilliant Splendour”, “The spirit of the liver is Dragon Mist”, “The spirit of the spleen is Continuously Existing”. The above version of the chart is a rubbing from the original stele (stone surface) engraved in 1886 at the behest of Liu Chengying. The stele can be found today encased in a wall of the Baiyun Guan (Abbey of the White Clouds) in Beijing. According to the East Asian Library at Berkeley, the ancient technique of rubbing (aka “inked squeezing”) appeared in China at the same time if not earlier than printing.

public-domain-review

Aug 18, 2015

Ned Pennant-Rea

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:19.329289

views-of-the-tesseract-1904

Views of the Tesseract (1904) Aug 13, 2015 A series of images from Charles Howard Hinton's The Fourth Dimension (1904), a book all about the "tesseract" - a four-dimensional analog of the cube, the tesseract being to the cube as the cube is to the square. Hinton, a British mathematician and science fiction writer, actually coined the term "tesseract" which appears for the first time in his book A New Era of Thought (1888). We are not going to pretend to have given the time to his book to understand fully the concept behind these diagrams, but they are a fascinating series of images all the same (particular the coloured frontispiece featured above), and offer a glimpse into the theory of four-dimensional space which would prove so important to the development of modern physics. Although Hinton's work was an important stepping stone in understanding four-dimensional space, the real breakthrough came in a 1908 paper by Hermann Minkowski, in which four-dimensional space was thought of in non-Euclidean terms, leading to the revolutionary concept of "spacetime". Apart from his ideas and inventions — including a baseball cannon which fired the ball with the help of gunpowder — Hinton became notorious for having committed bigamy, marrying Mary Ellen Boole in 1880 and Maud Florence in 1883. The scandal subsequently forced him to leave Britain and he traveled to America with his first wife where he taught mathematics at Princeton University, later working for the University of Minnesota as well as the United States Patent Office.

public-domain-review

Aug 13, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:19.640887

16th-century-pattern-book-for-scribes

16th-Century Pattern Book for Scribes Aug 26, 2015 This scribal pattern book - dated to around 1510 from Swabia, Germany - was made by Gregorius Bock and is addressed to his cousin Heinrich Lercher Wyss who was the official scribe of the duchy of Württemberg, most likely put together with the purpose of aiding Wyss in the refining of his art. The first part includes alphabets in various scripts with the second part presenting some decorative initials. Some of the styles found in the book include gothic textura, round gothic, round humanistic, as well as the unusual inclusion of letters and texts from Greek and Hebrew script. Bock may himself have been a monk in the Benedictine monastery of Ochsenhausen in whose library the manuscript was found.

public-domain-review

Aug 26, 2015

collection

2024-05-01T21:46:20.075475