The Public Domain Review: Selected Essays, 2011-2013

The Public Domain Review Essay Collections #1

by Adam Green (Editor)

The Public Domain Review brings intriguing works, that are in the public domain but largely unknown, to new readers, via beautiful images and articles in carefully chosen fonts. This is a selection of essays from the website's first three years. Released through the newly born PDR Press, the book shall be the first in an annual “Selected Essays” series showcasing its top picks from the year gone by. -

Spread across six themed chapters – Animals, Bodies, Words, Worlds, Encounters and Networks – the book includes a total of thirty-four essays from a stellar line up of contributors, including Jack Zipes, Frank Delaney, Colin Dickey, George Prochnik, and Julian Barnes. -

Volcanoes, coffee, talking trees, pigs on trial, painted smiles, lost Edens, the social life of geometry, a cat called Jeoffry, lepidopterous spying, monkey-eating poets, imaginary museums, a woman who claimed to give birth to rabbits, an invented language drowning in umlauts, a disgruntled Proust, frustrated Flaubert… -

Designed by writer and designer Nicholas Jeeves.

The online magazine of articles and beautiful images can be found at:
http://publicdomainreview.org/essay-b...

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, History

346 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super interesting reviews of a bunch of old writings, art, etc, in the public domain. I learned lots of new stuff, and some of it was familiar from podcast stories (like the woman who gave birth to rabbits) or books (like the sunsets from Krakatoa and the ridiculous art that came out of it) and lots was new. I got present ideas from some of the old art/medical books. This edition has really nice reproductions of the art in color.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine collection of many fascinating and forgotten people and things. One criticism, however: many of the essays read like introductions or overviews of their subjects; more detail would have been useful. But that's probably a reflection of the original source for these essays (the excellent Public Domain Review website), and it certainly whets the appetite for closer investigation.

[Marie-Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glorious, eclectic selection beautifully presented.

[Story · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating and wide-ranging collection of essays on topics as diverse as the social history of coffee houses and historical accounts of animals facing criminal trials. Gorgeously illustrated too. My only complaint was the male-focus of the book with almost all essays being by and about men.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology of essays on various schemes, fads, events, people, and anomalies forgotten over the past centuries but, in their times, of significance: historical esoterica of the already obscure.

[Ruta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The publication is a linguistic cabinet of curiosities - a feat of intellectual wizardry!