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 Review1h ago

“The Dream” by F. Brossler, from a 1912 issue of Der Guckkasten.

One of 900+ prints in our online shop: https://publicdomainreview.org/product/the-dream

The Public Domain Review6h ago
Aby Warburg spent his life finding forms that could hold their own against the flow of time. All the while, as Kevin Dann explores, he was churning on the brink of madness with the sense that he himself was changing — into a terrifying animal: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/warburgs-werewolf-an-anamnesis/
The Public Domain Review9h ago
Born #onthisday in 1746, the great Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. See his wonderful series of etchings depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society” — https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-whims-1799-and-the-follies-1815-23-of-francisco-goya #otd
The Public Domain Review1d ago

Jean Lepautre, Details of Faces, ca. 1690

Available as a print from our online shop: https://publicdomainreview.org/product/details-of-faces/

The Public Domain Review1d ago
“Likewise was to be seen with Horror, a pretty large Coffin, which was covered with three Dead heads; also a Pyramid and Serpent.” — from a 1764 pamphlet on strange scenes seen in the skies over Prussia: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-true-and-wonderful-narrative
The Public Domain Review1d ago
#SundayReads: Beginning with a 14th-century king who believed he was made entirely of glass, Tamara Sanderson investigates the “glass delusion” — https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/fear-and-fragility-the-glass-delusion-and-its-history/ #longreads
The Public Domain Review1d ago
Dream diary of the Swedish scientist, philosopher, and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg, who died #onthisday in London in 1772: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/emanuel-swedenborg-s-journal-of-dreams-and-spiritual-experiences-in-the-year-1744-1918 #otd
The Public Domain Review2d ago
Richard Fallon on the Victorian scientist Richard Owen and the literature inspired by his discovery of prehistoric life: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/richard-owen-and-victorian-literature/
The Public Domain Review2d ago
Its dizzy heights may have passed, but the fad for adult coloring books is far from over. Many trace the origins of such publications to the 1960s, but as Melissa N. Morris and Zach Carmichael explore, the existence of such books goes back centuries. https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/filling-in-the-blanks-a-prehistory-of-the-adult-coloring-craze
The Public Domain Review2d ago
Frederik Ruysch, the Dutch anatomist and “artist of death”, was born #onthisday in 1638. He was known for his remarkable "still life" displays, that blurred the boundary between scientific preservation and vanitas art. More in Luuc Kooijmans's essay: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/frederik-ruysch-the-artist-of-death #otd