The Public Domain Review

Does the flâneur, that curiously modern figure who wanders metropolitan streets, have a political consciousness?

Unruly steeds from King Mu’s mythology, cavorting across a silk scroll.

A bestselling 18th-century cookbook, containing the first recipe for curry in English.

A wondrous illuminated manuscript, which gathers and illustrates the marvels of the world and beyond.

Taking dictation, revising manuscripts, typing copies, literary amanuenses often labour for little compensation and even less recognition.

Observations of “snow flowers” made by microscope in Edo-era Japan.

A forgotten bridge between Spiritualism and UFO encounters.

A WWII propaganda film narrated as an "auto"-biography

Before the attention economy consumed our lives, “pursuit tests” devised by the US military coupled man to machine with the aim of assessing focus under pressure.

Etchings of birds in a somewhat theatrical style.

Slides from twenty years of lecturing about the workings of the universe and the fate of the soul.

The memoirs of an aristocratic man revolutionised into an anarchist communist.

Each January 1st is Public Domain Day, when a new crop of works have their copyrights expire and become free to share and reuse for any purpose.

From sublime spheres to hungry cats, a rundown of the ten most read of what we published this year.

In mid-19th century Italy, two eccentric aristocrats set forth on parallel projects: constructing ostentatious castles in a Moorish Revival style.

Still lifes by the artist who seemed to bridge expressionism with the baroque.

Illustrations of Abū Zayd and his adventures in double meaning.

First cloud taxonomer and a poem by Goethe.

Our End-of-Year Fundraiser is launched, and the new postcards theme will be Attention.

French lithographs of the Eiffel Tower and its environs, in the style of Japanese woodblock prints.

Bizarre sweet treats that resemble human and animal forms.

In the 17th century, emanating from Antwerp, a new genre of artwork came on the scene: paintings of paintings, works populated by a lush array of meta-images.

A past vision of the future.

Adorn your body and coffee in PDR goodness!

In 1899, Charles Godfrey Leland published Aradia, “the gospel of the witches”, containing a goddess-orientated creation and saviour narrative, purported to descend from an ancient, hermetic tradition of witchcraft in Italy.

The recommended cut-off dates to order from our shop by to ensure delivery in time for Dec 25th.

Selections from an artist whose phantasmagoric works defined an era.

Photographs from a costume ball featuring fairytale fables.

This Halloween week, a devilish dive into our archives to unearth some supernatural treats...

A novel about a woman who throws off the yoke of patriarchy to become a witch.

Of all the senses cultivated throughout the 19th century, it was the sense of hearing that experienced the most dramatic transformation, as the science of sound underwent rapid advancement.

A medical tract on the health effects of burying oneself alive in mud.

Dioramas avant la lettre that depict local life in Suriname.

Illustrations of supposed physiognomic affinities between humans and animals.

Partially banned upon publication and translated into English for the first time this year, René, or: A Young Man’s Adventures and Experiences (1783–85) found new readers in the communist era thanks to its critiques of feudalism, capitalism, and the Catho…

Expedition accounts of aeronauts bravely venturing into the heavens on hot-air balloons.

A "living picture" film staging Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with a twist.

A Rapture that wasn’t, in 2025 and 1844.

Paintings illustrating Pliny the Elder’s account of the origins of art.

Accused of posing as foreign royalty to lure her young suitor into a bigamous marriage, Mary Carleton was the subject of dozens of pamphlets and broadsides published in the mid-17th century, including by Carleton herself.

A compilation of historical gifting traditions in England, with a focus on the peculiar.

Identical photographs of the artist, each with a unique miniature painting at the centre.

A manuscript that pairs illustrations of cats with poetic descriptions and notes on what mystical benefits their owners might hope to accrue.

Centuries before photography froze the world into neat frames, scientists, poets, and artists streamed transient images into dark interior spaces with the help of a camera obscura.

A modernist manifesto inspired (controversially) by the Tupi people of Brazil.

Commemorative manuscript featuring illustrations of pageants, costumes, and fireworks, later further illustrated by a separate artist, with floral motifs.

Female astronomical first, in 2025 and 1787.

A trick film in the peepshow vein, involving magnification and mites on a block of cheese.

As Chinese immigration to California accelerated across the 19th century, the hairstyle known as the queue — a long, braided pony tail — became the subject of white Americans’ fascination, disgust, and legal regulation.

A crop circle sighting tinged with Christian morality.