Emma Goldman — born #onthisday in 1869 — was a radical critic of capitalism, the state, patriarchy and colonialism during the fertile political years of the late 19th and early 20th century. More on her life and “anarchism without adjectives” here:

The Public Domain Review

Emma Goldman’s “Anarchism Without Adjectives”

In 2011, over 100 years after the publication of her seminal Anarchism and Other Essays, the writings of Emma Goldman entered the public domain. Ka...

#otd

How did alphabet books deal with the letter X before the rise of x-rays and xylophones? Here's some highlights:

The Public Domain Review

X is for...

How alphabet books dealt with the letter X before the rise of x-rays and xylophones.

In the 1980s, a suitcase marked “private” was found in a barn near Oslo. Inside? Hundreds of playful, radical photos by the couple Marie Høeg and Bolette Berg — subversive visions of gender and sexuality in early 1900s Norway:

The Public Domain Review

The “Private” Photographs of Bolette Berg and Marie Høeg (ca. 1895–1903)

Excerpts from a dazzling image collection, discovered in a Norwegian barn in the 1980s, that experiments with the presentation of gender.

Happy (?) birthday Ambrose Bierce! The American journalist, born #onthisday in 1842, is best known for his satirical dictionary The Cynic’s Word Book also known as The Devil’s Dictionary. Read it here:

The Public Domain Review

The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)

A satirical dictionary written by American journalist and author Ambrose Bierce (1842-ca.1914), a man whose savage wit apparently earned him the ni...

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From Abatina (fickleness) to Zinnia (thoughts of absent friends), and from Absence (wormwood) to Zest (Lemon), the marvellous Language of Flowers: An Alphabet of Floral Emblems (1857) pairs up hundreds of flowers with hundreds of emotions:

The Public Domain Review

The Language of Flowers: An Alphabet of Floral Emblems (1857)

Ever wondered what sentiments the various flowers express? The Victorians have you covered.

Happy Solstice! Here's the Sun putting on its best happy shining face for the special occasion, from the Splendor Solis, a 16th-century alchemical treatise. More art from the history of alchemy here:

The Public Domain Review

The Surreal Art of Alchemical Diagrams

The varied tradition of alchemy has given birth to a whole host of strange and wondrous imagery over the centuries. Here we pick out some favourites.

#SummerSolstice #Solstice #Midsummer #longestday

#Onthisday in 1837, Queen Victoria ascended to the throne and so began the Victorian era. Of the vast amounts of Victorian content on our site, this is perhaps our favourite — a dictionary of Victorian slang:

The Public Domain Review

A Dictionary of Victorian Slang (1909)

A book detailing the slang of the Victorian era, including such delights as "afternoonified", "bang up the elephant", "shoot into the brown", and "...

#OnThisDay in 1878, Eadweard Muybridge took this series of images of a racehorse in motion. A former governor of California reportedly had bet on whether all the hooves were airborne at once, and hired Muybridge to settle the debate:

The Public Domain Review

The Attitudes of Animals in Motion, Illustrated with the Zoopraxiscope (1882)

Published lecture given by the pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge on March 13th 1882 at the Royal Institution in London in front of a sell ...

#OTD

In need of a last minute #FathersDay gift? We do "gift cards" for our online prints shop. It allows you to pre-pay for print and then your recipient to choose the image they’d like:

The Public Domain Review

Gift of a Print

Online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas.

First page of "Dialogue of Frederic Ruysch and his Mummies", a short skit by the great Italian writer Giacomo Leopardi, who died today in 1837 (aged just 38). Leopardi's subject here is a real life physician renowned for his macabre anatomical displays: https://buff.ly/2Tu5t7w