Mongolian manuscript from the 19th century, full of charts and diagrams that astrologers (generally Buddhist monks) would use to calculate the best time to do certain things, such as depart on a trip or remove a dead body from a dwelling:

The Public Domain Review

A Mongolian Manual of Astrology and Divination

US NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE - Michael J. North, Head of Rare Books and Early Manuscripts, takes a look at one the highlights of the Library&#39...

Pages from the wonderful History of Ink: Including its Etymology, Chemistry and Bibliography (1860), creation of Thaddeus Davids and Co, one of the largest ink manufacturers of its day. See the rest here:

The Public Domain Review

The History of Ink: Including its Etymology, Chemistry, and Bibliography (1860)

Delightful little book from Thaddeus Davids and co, one of the largest ink manufacturers of their time: a wonderful example of form matching content.

"Thackerayana" — a remarkable compendium of nearly 600 doodles made by Vanity Fair author William Makepeace Thackeray, who was born #onthisday in 1811:

The Public Domain Review

Thackerayana (1875)

A remarkable compendium of more than six hundred doodles made by the nineteenth-century author William Makepeace Thackeray, depicting a huge range ...

#OTD

.@dr_jehrlich on an obscure text found on the shelves of a Bengali library and the light it sheds on the idea of the "public" in 19th-century Calcutta:

The Public Domain Review

The Calcutta Pococurante Society: Public and Private in India’s Age of Reform

Joshua Ehrlich on an obscure text found on the shelves of a Bengali library and the light it sheds on the idea of the "public" in 19th-ce...

Born #onthisday in Berlin in 1892, the philosopher, literary critic, and essayist Walter Benjamin. Read an essay by Anca Pusca on the relevance of Benjamin’s oeuvre in a digital age, and the implications of his work entering the public domain.

The Public Domain Review

On Benjamin’s Public (Oeuvre)

On the run from the Nazis in 1940, the philosopher, literary critic and essayist Walter Benjamin took his own life in the Spanish border town of Po...

#otd

#OnThisDay in 1518, in the city of Strasbourg, a woman named Frau Troffea woke to begin the 2nd day of her manic and mysterious dance. Soon she would be joined by hundreds of others, compelled to dance for seemingly no reason at all...

The Public Domain Review

The Dancing Plague of 1518

Five hundred years ago in July, a strange mania seized the city of Strasbourg. Citizens by the hundred became compelled to dance, seemingly for no ...

#otd

#Onthisday in 1789, the Bastille was stormed in Paris, a key turning point of the French Revolution. 3.5 years later Louis XVI was executed by guillotine. We look at the deluge of prints that emerged depicting his death

The Public Domain Review

“A Slight Freshness on the Neck”: Prints Depicting the Execution of Louis XVI (ca. 1793)

Eighteenth-century images of the guillotining of King Louis XVI, which came to represent the changing nature of the French Revolution.

#FeteNationale #bastilleday #otd

Circular snapshots from the very first @kodak camera (the first truly portable camera) — invented by George Eastman who was born #onthisday in New York in 1854. more examples here:

The Public Domain Review

Kodak No.1 Circular Snapshots

#OTD

Great series of photographs from a 1911 zoology paper in which various types of flounder are put through their paces as regards camouflage ability, placed against bold and striking patterns (more than they’d experience in nature) —

The Public Domain Review

Flatfish Camouflage Experiments (1911)

Photographs from a series of experiments in which various types of flounder through their paces as regards camouflage ability.

A few of the ethereal illustrations by Raffaele Mainella for Clotilde Briatte’s Nos Invisibles (1907), a book that charts the voices of Balzac, Zola, Flaubert, and other illustrious writers and thinkers from beyond the grave. More here:

The Public Domain Review

Raffaele Mainella’s Illustrations for *Nos Invisibles* (1907)

Ethereal illustrations for a book that charts the voices of Balzac, Zola, Flaubert, and other illustrious writers and thinkers from beyond the grave.