The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review, a project of the Open Knowledge Foundation, is a fascinating resource!



Moose, "from the Austrian painter Aloys Zötl’s Bestiarium, a series of exquisite paintings of various animals undertaken from 1831 through until his death in 1887. He was relatively unknown until, decades after his death, his work was 're-discovered' by surrealist André Breton..."



The Public Domain Review publishes articles which focus on works old enough to have entered the pubic domain and which are available online in openly-licensed digitised form. In general, we encourage contributions which highlight material at the more unorthodox end of the cultural spectrum – curiosities, obscure theories, strange inventions, and so on. If on a well-known figure then we tend to favour an unusual angle or a focus on lesser known works. As well as pieces which focus on particular works, we also welcome articles with a broader historical focus, though they should be closely aligned with interesting material to which we can link.

Recent articles include: Still Booking on De Quincy's Mail-Coach, and The Forgotten Tales of the Brothers Grimm.  The review also "collects" public domain images, film, audio, and text, providing links to other resources as well.



Frontispiece and title-page of the of the 1819 edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen illustrated by Ludwig Emil Grimm, younger brother to Jacob and Wilhelm. This second edition was the first to be illustrated and the first to omit texts found in the first – Source.