Notices by The Public Domain Review (publicdomainrev@mastodon.social)

Northern Lights in Zenith, by Harald Moltke, 1900.

One of the many images of Aurora Borealis collected in our post “Firelight Flickering on the Ceiling of the World”, looking at how this otherworldly phenomenon has been depicted over the centuries: buff.ly/38dxgft

“The fish sees anything from Raphael’s Cherub through Cubist art to Hindenburg, and all in rapid succession; no wonder he cannot always recognize me.”

Early 20th-century attempts, through photography, to discern things from a fish-eye view: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/fish-eye-view-photography

This unique self-portrait, also known as “view from the left eye”, is the creation of Austrian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach (famous for his work on supersonic fluid mechanics), who was born #onthisday in 1838. Read more about the image here: https://buff.ly/38AEKc5 #OTD

"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."

A psychology professor spent 5 yrs attending the seances of the medium Hélène Smith: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/from-india-to-the-planet-mars-1900

France in the year 2000, as envisaged in 1899. Some tech is wonderfully prescient: we've versions of Zoom, a vacuum cleaner, drone deliveries. Other visions less so, particularly those anticipating a life beneath the waves, of underwater croquet + whale buses... https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-19th-century-vision-of-the-year-2000/

Chemistry of Combustion and Illumination, a diagram from Edward Livingston Youmans' Chemical Atlas; or, The Chemistry of Familiar Objects (1856). ⠀
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Order as a print here: https://publicdomainreview.org/product/chemistry-of-combustion-and-illumination

If you haven’t tried before, our clues will typically be on the easier end so could be a good place to get started! 🤓 All puzzles themed on the latest essay.

Into cryptic crosswords? We’ve started our very own “tiny cryptic” series! Published fortnightly on our blog. See the inaugural puzzle here: https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2025/01/tiny-cryptic-1/

Typical winter's day in this entry for #February in the Labors of the Months section from the Très Riches Heures (15th.c). Some peasants get warm by the fire, another chops wood + another leaves for market. Above, an arguably redundant Phoebus... https://buff.ly/2yy3DVq

@kevinrns Kevin, they are both. Stereographs are composed of two photographs side by side. It's not a one or the other situation and I think one should be able to refer to stereographs (made with photographs) as photographs without being "corrected".

Lepus leaping.

From the Aratea, a 9th-century manuscript on astronomy featuring constellations comprised of words. More here: https://buff.ly/34uIsEa

125 photographs of life in Palestine before the British Mandate, ca. 1896–1919: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/photographs-of-palestinian-life

Letters of the alphabet (plus “&”) arrange themselves around a pie, to each receive an equal portion. Illustration from The Tragical Death of a Apple-Pye (ca. 1793), subject of our latest post: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-tragical-death-of-a-apple-pye/

Born #onthisday in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Read an account of him at just 8 years old. As well as dazzling the narrator with his musical genius Mozart “would also sometimes run about the room with a stick between his legs by way of horse” — https://buff.ly/37uRoJ7 #OTD

Listen to a 1919 recording of "Omar Rabbi Elozor" performed by Cantor Meyer Kanewsky and his choir. The lyrics are based on the last passage of the Talmud's Tractate Berakhot (and include the line "Scholars increase the levels of peace in the world"): https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/omar-rabbi-elozor-by-cantor-meyer-kanewsky-and-his-choir-1919

Paradiso, Canto XIV. Dante and Beatrice move into the fifth heaven — an illustration from 1880 by Gustave Doré, who died three years later #onthisday in 1883.

More Dante illustrations by Doré (and others) here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/dante-divine-comedy-in-art #otd

A few of the 80+ illustrations by Pauline Knip for Les Pigeons (1810), a publication mired in controversy. See our latest post for more of the stunning images, and a story of plagiarism, power, pretence and... pigeons: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/les-pigeons

First pages of a beautiful art nouveau edition of an essay on gardens by the Renaissance philosopher Francis Bacon, who was born #onthisday in 1561. Read the whole thing here: https://buff.ly/30KLqBx #otd

Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote was first published #onthisday in 1605. It would become one of the best-loved and most frequently illustrated books in the history of literature. Read more in Rachel Schmidt's essay "Picturing Don Quixote" — https://buff.ly/2DE095F #OTD

It's #NationalHatDay! Here's some excellent headwear (and moustaches) from an album of 19th-century Ottoman fashion. More here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/19th-century-album-of-ottoman-fashion/