Bernard Sleigh’s *Anciente Mappe of Fairyland* (ca. 1920 edition) — The Public Domain Review

Originally published as a three-sheet lithograph in scroll form in 1917 (and subsequently as a reduced-size single sheet circa 1920, the version we are featuring here), the Anciente Mappe of…

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Charles Davy’s *Conjectural Observations on the Origin and Progress of Alphabetic Writing* (1772) — The Public Domain Review

“Writing, in the earliest ages of the world, was a delineation of the outlines of those things men wanted to remember, rudely graven either upon shells or stones, or marked…

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Drawing on Tradition: Elena Izcue’s *Peruvian Art in the School* (1926) — The Public Domain Review

Though the introductory texts and excerpted reviews of El arte peruano generally reference “Inca art”, the majority of its designs were inspired by works from other, earlier cultures. A parade…

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Under Construction: *Tiny Cryptic #10* — The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review is registered in the UK as a Community Interest Company (#11386184), a category of company which exists primarily to benefit a community or with a view…

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Imagining an Idle Countess: George Wightwick’s The Palace of Architecture — The Public Domain Review

This grandiose introduction is offered by the protagonist of George Wightwick’s Palace of Architecture: A Romance of Art and History (1840). The reader, an imagined visitor referred to in the…

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Off with Their Heads: Illustrations of Blemmyes (ca. 1175–1724) — The Public Domain Review

No matter that a headless tribe of people never existed, their inclusion in ancient histories made them popular fodder for later bestiary and travelogue traditions. Beginning with their appearance in…

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Strings Attached: Helen Haiman Joseph’s *A Book of Marionettes* (1920) — The Public Domain Review

Anybody who grew up with Shari Lewis’ Lamb Chop, Fred Rogers’ King Friday XIII, or Jim Henson’s Muppets will surely feel that they have entered a more expansive puppet realm…

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Trojan Pig: *Tiny Cryptic #11* — The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review is registered in the UK as a Community Interest Company (#11386184), a category of company which exists primarily to benefit a community or with a view…

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The Language of Form: Lothar Schreyer’s *Kreuzigung* (1920) — The Public Domain Review

The Kreuzigung score is intricate, graphic — dense with geometric symbols cobbled together in striking prints. It is a visual embodiment of Shreyer’s utopian theatrical aspirations: in it, stage direction…

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Dancing Naked on the Head of a Pin: The Early History of Microphotography

In 1853, John Benjamin Dancer achieved a feat of seemingly impossible scale: he shrunk an image to the size of a sharpened pencil tip. Anika Burgess explores the invention of…

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