"At a Funeral", one of the many enigmatic images to be found in Thought-Forms (1901), a work co-authored by the theosophist Annie Besant, who died #onthisday in 1933. More on these “synesthetic” abstractions in our essay by @ResObscura here:

The Public Domain Review

Victorian Occultism and the Art of Synesthesia

Grounded in the theory that ideas, emotions, and even events, can manifest as visible auras, Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater’s Thought-Forms ...

#otd

Happy #TalkLikeAPirateDay! Although a few piracy cases heard in London's Old Bailey live up to the swashbuckling heists of stereotype, many reveal the surprising mundanity of maritime crimes, incl. arguing over chickens + the stealing of a captain’s hats:

The Public Domain Review

Piracy at the Old Bailey

Ben Merriman presents a selection of piracy cases from the proceedings of London's Old Bailey. Although a few live up to the swashbuckling heis...

Navaho Legends (1897), a book from the American Folk-Lore Society compiling Navaho myths and legends and including a lengthy introduction on the history, beliefs and customs of the Navaho people:

The Public Domain Review

Navaho Legends (1897)

Book from the American Folk-Lore Society compiling Navaho myths and legends and including also a lengthy introduction on the history, beliefs and c...

.@DemetraVg on the otherworldly woodcuts and ornate descriptions of imagined architecture which populate the pages of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499), at once a story of lost love and a fever dream of antiquity:

The Public Domain Review

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and the Architecture of Dreams

With its otherworldly woodcuts and ornate descriptions of imagined architecture, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili brims with an obsessive and erotic fixat...

Thai cat treatises — called “Tamra Maew” — pair illustrations of auspicious felines with poetic notes: one has “eyes like dewdrops on a lotus,” another’s are “lit like fireflies, applied liquid gold”. Pages of a fine 19th-century example here:

The Public Domain Review

The Cat’s *Maew*: Thai Treatise on Auspicious Felines (19th Century)

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

Made by eight different Japanese printmakers, the prints from One Hundred Views of New Tokyo (1928–1932) show a city rising from the ashes of the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923:

The Public Domain Review

Aftershock of the New: Woodblock Prints of Post-Disaster Tokyo (1928–32)

A collection of prints by eight artists envisioning a new Tokyo.

Fifteenth-century handwriting as seen in The History of Ink (1860), a book including beautiful samples of penmanship from 1500 BC to 1834 AD:

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.

The Mineralogist, 1830 — a coloured lithograph by George Madeley, after a drawing by George Spratt. One of more than 900 prints available through our online shop:

The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review

Premium prints using pigment-based archival inks (Giclee process) on high grade heavyweight art paper. Available as unframed or framed and ready to...

Pages from Walter Crane's beautifully illustrated version of Aesop's fables, shortened and put into limericks for the younger reader and first published in 1887. See the full book here:

The Public Domain Review

The Baby’s Own Aesop (1908)

Walter Crane's beautifully illustrated version of Aesop's fables, shortened and put into limericks for the younger reader and first published in 1887.

#OnThisDay in 1888, George Eastman patents the very first roll film camera and registers @kodak as a trademark. It revolutionised photography, making it truly portable. The first Kodak cameras produced circular snapshots, only 2.5 inches in diameter:

The Public Domain Review

Kodak No.1 Circular Snapshots

#OTD