The Public Domain Review

@publicdomainrev
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Not-for-profit project dedicated to exploring curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas — focusing on works now fallen into the public domain.

Smaller posts surface images, books, audio, and film (sourced from places like Internet Archive, Library of Congress, The Met, Rijksmusuem, Wellcome, etc.) — and we've also 300+ long-form essays (✍️ submissions welcome!)

Here we'll mostly be tooting about content on our site. 🎺

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The Public Domain Review11h ago
One of the many anti-vaccination images produced in response to Edward Jenner's 1798 vaccine for smallpox, the first of its kind. More in our essay, "Mark of the Beast" by @BishkekHistory, on the original anti-vaxxers: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-mark-of-the-beast-georgian-britains-anti-vaxxer-movement
The Public Domain Review14h ago
Tulip from the first 1847 edition of Les Fleurs animées (The Flowers Personified), a collection of floral (and often florid) writing, featuring playful illustrations by J. J. Grandville. More of his anthropomorphised flowers here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-flowers-personified-1847
The Public Domain Review16h ago
#OnThisDay in 1892, the great Walt Whitman passed away. Read D. Graham Burnett on the curious power of the American poet's posthumous eyelids: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/out-from-behind-this-mask #OTD
The Public Domain Review18h ago
Before the haystacks and water lilies, the teenage caricatures of Claude Monet: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/claude-monet-caricatures/
The Public Domain Review1d ago
Punctuation Personified (1824) introduces, with Mr. Stops as our guide, a cast of literal “characters”, including Counsellor Comma, Ensign Semicolon, and a surprisingly mournful Exclamation Point... https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/punctuation-personified
The Public Domain Review1d ago
The Splash of a Drop (1895), a delightful study on the physics and aesthetics of the splashing drop. More drawings and photographs here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-splash-of-a-drop-1895?utm_content=buffer3b344&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
The Public Domain Review1d ago
Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky (ca. 1816), a painting by Benjamin West featured in our essay by Kevin Duong exploring how French revolutionaries, in need of a symbol for the "will of the people", turned to the thunderbolt: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/flash-mob-revolution-lightning-and-the-people-s-will?utm_content=buffer14d89&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
The Public Domain Review1d ago
The (aptly-named) English botanist Nehemiah Grew — who died #onthisday in 1712 — revealed for the first time the inner structure and function of plants in all their splendorous intricacy. Brian Garret explores his life and work: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/the-life-and-work-of-nehemiah-grew #OTD
The Public Domain Review2d ago
This frontispiece etching, printed by Jan Luyken for Cornelis van Dyk’s Osteologia (1680), seems to speak to the consequences of Adam’s naming as imagined by Hegel: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/luyken-osteologia
The Public Domain Review2d ago
In May 1884, long before the likes of Kim Kardashian achieved celebrity through careful curation and promotion of self, a young unknown named Marie Bashkirtseff staked her desire for fame on the publication of her personal diary. Sonia Wilson explores: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/marie-bashkirtseff