THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW

More organised delight from the catalogue here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/pages-from-an-illustrated-catalogue-of-period-ornaments-ca-1919

“Mermaids and Tritons in the Age of Reason” — @VaughnScribner's essay on how humanity’s supposed aquatic ancestors became wondrous screens on which to project theories of geographical, racial, and taxonomical difference: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/mermaids-and-tritons-in-the-age-of-reason

Highlights from the photography collection of the 19th-century sexologist and author of Psychopathia Sexualis (1896), Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, who was born #onthisday in 1840: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/photograph-collection-of-a-19th-century-sexologist #otd

Here's an x-ray of a Green Lizard, from an early volume of X-rays produced by Josef Maria Eder, a director of an institute for graphic processes, and Eduard Valenta, a photochemist, both from Austria. More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/early-experiments-with-x-rays-1896 #onthisday #otd

Highlight's from John O. Westwood’s sensational Victorian facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon and Irish medieval manuscripts — https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/john-o-westwoods-facsimiles-of-anglo-saxon-and-irish-manuscripts-1868

Read Matthew Hargreaves on Blake and one of his most avid collectors Paul Mellon: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/william-blake-and-paul-mellon-the-life-of-the-mind #otd

"Chladni figures" from 1787 created by German physicist and musician Ernst Chladni, showing nodal patterns made by drawing a bow along the edge of a sand-covered plate. More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/chladni-figures-1787

Ukiyo-e woodblock, by the late Edo artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), illustrating the legend of the "Sea Monk" or Umibōzu, a spirit in Japanese folklore. More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-sea-monk-ca-1845

George Washington Williams' History of the Negro Race in America (1882–83), a work of millennial scope by a self-taught African-American historian:

Happy #WorldLionDay! Pictured is an image by 16th-century Swiss scholar Konrad Gesner, featured in Edward Topsell’s wonderful History of Four-footed Beasts (1607). More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/topsell-s-history-of-four-footed-beasts-and-serpents-1658

Still Life with Peeled Orange and Bunch of Grapes, Albertus Steenbergen, late 19th century.⠀⁠ ⠀⁠ Available as a print from our shop here: https://publicdomainreview.org/product/still-life-with-peeled-orange-and-bunch-of-grapes

Take a closer look at "The Garden of Earthly Delights", the best known painting by the genius that was Hieronymus Bosch, who died #onthisday in 1516: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/details-from-bosch-s-garden-of-earthly-delights-ca-1500 #otd

Fifteenth-century handwriting as seen in The History of Ink (1860), a book including beautiful samples of penmanship from 1500 BC to 1834 AD: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-history-of-ink-including-its-etymology-chemistry-and-bibliography-1860

This 1911 book shows that taking photos of cats and furnishing them with an amusing caption was a thing long before the internet... https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/kittens-and-cats-a-first-reader-1911-cats-and-captions-before-the-internet-age #InternationalCatDay

Some essential reading for #InternationalCatDay" — the wonderfully illustrated Nine Lives of a Cat (1860) — https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-nine-lives-of-a-cat-1860

From a 14th-century illuminated manuscript of Jacob van Maerlant's Der naturen bloeme (The flower of Nature). More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/jacob-van-maerlant-der-naturen-bloeme #fridayfish

"Drunk or sober go to bed Tom" and other sage advice from Dame Talkative's Old Sayings (1824), a wonderfully odd book of illustrated rhymes. More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/dame-talkative-s-old-sayings-ca-1824