An online journal that digs through the commons for strange maps, forgotten prints and lost books, then writes about them with real care.
The Public Domain Review publishes essays and collections built from works free of copyright: early photographs, natural history plates, forgotten pamphlets. It is a magazine and a picture library at once.
Founded in 2011, The Public Domain Review treats the commons as a place to explore rather than a warehouse. Each piece starts from a work anyone may use and asks what it meant in its own time.
The collections are the easy way in: Victorian cloud studies, Japanese fireworks catalogues, anatomical flap books. The essays go further, tracing how an image travelled and who it was made for.
Everything featured is free to download, which makes the site as useful to designers as it is to readers.
Weekly letter
New essays and a short reading list, every Friday. Unsubscribe any time.
Weekly letter
New essays and a short reading list, every Friday. Unsubscribe any time.
View comments (0)