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Ancient Greece to Turner v Constable: Seven of the greatest rivalries in art history

By Kelly Grovier

www.bbc.co.uk/culture/arti...

Art History at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje...

#art #history #painting
Joseph Mallord William Turner auto-retrato The oil painting shows the young artist with tousled blonde hair, wearing formal late 18th/early 19th-century attire including a dark coat and white cravat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._W._Turner#/media/File:Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner_auto-retrato.jpg John Constable, Self-portrait 1806, pencil on paper, Tate Gallery London. His only indisputable self-portrait, drawn by an arrangement of mirrors. A 1806 pencil self-portrait by John Constable showing his profile, created using an arrangement of mirrors. This intimate drawing, held at Tate Gallery London, is his only authenticated self-portrait, rendered with loose, expressive pencil strokes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constable#/media/File:ConstableSelfPortrait.png Artemisia Gentileschi - Self-Portrait as a Lute Player. A Baroque self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi depicting herself as a lute player. The dramatic oil painting shows the artist in elegant blue dress with exposed décolletage, turban-style headwrap, holding a wooden lute against dark background. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi#/media/File:Artemisia_Gentileschi_-_Self-Portrait_as_a_Lute_Player.JPG
December 7, 2025 at 10:17 AM
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Who could ask for anything more?

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/06/w...

About Girl Crazy:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Cr...

#musicals #PublicDomainDayCountdown
Original Broadway programme from 1931. A 1931 Broadway program cover for "Girl Crazy" at the Alvin Theatre, featuring an Art Deco-style illustration of a cowgirl being bucked off a horse, with playful, stylized lettering and whimsical cartoon clouds above. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Crazy#/media/File:Girl_Crazy_programme_ethel_merman.jpg
December 7, 2025 at 9:33 AM
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Bats are seeking sanctuary in churches - but they're making an unholy mess

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Bats at PG:

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje...

#animals #science
"Hibernating Virginia big eared bats in cave" - picyrl.com
December 6, 2025 at 1:50 PM
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From the Miller’s Tale to King Lear’s roaring sea, a history of flooding in literature

by Stewart Mottram

theconversation.com/from-the-mil...

Chaucer & Shakespeare at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...

#books #Meteorological _history
Cropped image from the title Page of an 1884 reprint of A true report of certaine wonderfull ouerflowings of Waters, now lately in Summerset-shire, Norfolke and other places of England..., originally printed in London 1607. A 17th-century woodcut illustration from a 1607 flood pamphlet (reprinted 1884) depicting catastrophic flooding in England. The scene shows people clinging to trees, a partially submerged church steeple, drowning livestock, and desperate survivors in boats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1607_Bristol_Channel_floods#/media/File:Somerset.gif
December 6, 2025 at 10:26 AM
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Who ordered this timeline?

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/05/w...

More about it:
www.themoviedb.org/review/65ce2...

#movies #publicDomainDayCountdown
A vibrant Art Deco-style poster for "Just Imagine" featuring bold geometric design with an orange spacecraft, stylized figures, and dramatic angles. The text "50 YEARS FROM NOW!" appears at top, with the film title in large letters at bottom. https://www.themoviedb.org/review/65ce219dd8af67018790607a
December 6, 2025 at 10:15 AM
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Six centuries of secularism

When the first ‘how-to’ books began to explain the way the world worked, they paved the way for science and secularism

by William Eamon

aeon.co/essays/six-c...

Secularism at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje...

#books #old_manuscripts #literature
Ramon Llull/Raimundus Lullus (1232? - 1316; Encyclopedist) This is a historical engraving of Ramon Llull (also known as Raimundus Lullus), a 13th-14th century Majorcan philosopher, theologian, and encyclopedist (1232?-1316), depicted with flowing beard, ornate Renaissance-era clothing, and pipe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Llull#/media/File:Ramon_Llull.jpg
December 5, 2025 at 10:28 AM
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“Harlem is today the Negro metropolis”

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/04/h...

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown
Cover image of the book Black Manhattan by Johnson, James Weldon, 1871-1938 The 1930 first edition cover of James Weldon Johnson's "Black Manhattan," published by Alfred A. Knopf. The minimalist design features bold black typography overlaid on an abstract red grid pattern suggesting city streets or architecture. https://archive.org/details/blackmanhattan00john_1/page/n10/mode/1up
December 5, 2025 at 10:20 AM
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How Ramanujan's formulae for pi connect to modern high energy physics

by Rohini Subrahmanyam

phys.org/news/2025-12...

#books #mathematics #physics
A pi pie. A creative pie decorated with the pi symbol (π) in the center and the digits of pi (3.14159265358979323846...) written around the edges, creating a visual pun celebrating the mathematical constant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi#/media/File:Pi_pie2.jpg
December 4, 2025 at 10:57 AM
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Ogden Nash makes a splash

Ogden Nash found success after The New Yorker hired him in 1930, launching a long career of humorous, playful verse. His earliest published poems enter public domain pretty soon.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/03/o...

#publicDomainDayCountdown
Photo of panelist Ogden Nash and Dagmar from the television game show Masquerade Party. This 1950s photo shows poet Ogden Nash with actress/TV personality Dagmar on the game show "Masquerade Party." Nash, wearing glasses and bow tie, sits at a panel desk while the glamorous Dagmar stands beside him. via ABC Television https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogden_Nash#/media/File:Ogden_Nash_Dagmar_Masquerade_Party_1955.jpg
December 4, 2025 at 10:50 AM
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Shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments

By Sam Jones

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Original paper:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#archeology #music
This is an Aztec conch shell trumpet, called a "quiquiztli", signaler, called a "quiquizoani", in Nahuatl from the Codex Magliabecchi on page 023. This Aztec illustration from the Codex Magliabecchi shows a "quiquizoani" (signaler) blowing a "quiquiztli" (conch shell trumpet). The figure wears traditional dress with feathered headdress and ornaments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_(instrument)#/media/File:Codex_Magliabecchi_Aztec_conch_shell_trumpeter_quiquizoani.png
December 3, 2025 at 12:08 PM
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Go Behind the Scenes at an Iconic Irish Library as Staff Move 700,000 Historical Treasures Into Storage

by Yvonne Gordon

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/go-b...

#books #publiclibrary
An image of the Colledge Library (sic), taken from Charles Brooking's map of Dublin (1728). This is an architectural elevation drawing from Charles Brooking's 1728 map of Dublin, showing the College Library (likely Trinity College). The detailed engraving depicts a grand three-story Renaissance or Baroque-style building with symmetrical design, featuring regularly spaced windows with decorative surrounds, rusticated stonework on the ground floor, ornamental balustrades along the roofline, and chimneys at either end. The front shows formal garden or courtyard spaces with geometric patterns. https://archive.org/details/map-of-the-city-and-suburbs-of-dublin
December 3, 2025 at 10:18 AM
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Destry’s long ride to the public domain

“Destry Rides Again and Again and Again” quipped John D. Weaver in a 1963 article that uses Max Brand’s character as a symbol of western cliches.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/02/d...

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown
This is the front cover art for the book Destry Rides Again (novel). The book cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher or the cover artist. Destry Rides Again was first published in 1930, in a series of installments under the title "Twelve Peers" in Frank Blackwell's Western Story Magazine. It was republished, as a paperback, later that year under the title Destry Rides Again. The word "again" in the title refers to Destry's renewed freedom to ride after being let out of prison, not to any previous story; this novel was the Destry character's fiction debut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destry_Rides_Again_(novel)#/media/File:Destry_Rides_Again_(novel).jpg
December 3, 2025 at 10:12 AM
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Literary Maps: Real Maps for Imaginary Places

blogs.loc.gov/loc/2025/12/...

Treasure Island at PG:

www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...

#books #literature
Part of Robert Louis Stevenson's map of Treasure Island
December 2, 2025 at 12:51 PM
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Felix Salten: the Jewish author and hunter who created Bambi

by Adrian Murphy

www.europeana.eu/en/stories/f...

Salten at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...

#books #literature
Illustration showing the character of Bambi from Felix Salten’s Bambi novels. This is a detailed black and white pen-and-ink illustration depicting a young roe deer (Bambi) from Felix Salten's novel "Bambi, a Life in the Woods." The artwork shows fine craftsmanship with careful cross-hatching and line work. The deer is shown in profile, facing right, with a noble, alert expression. The illustration captures naturalistic details including the deer's delicate facial features, large expressive eye, and small antlers beginning to grow - indicating a young buck. The fur texture is rendered through careful pen strokes showing the direction and pattern of the coat. In the lower right corner, there's a smaller vignette showing what appears to be the deer lying down in grass or foliage, providing a secondary scene or moment from the story. The illustration is signed with the initials "H.B." in the lower right, likely standing for Hans Bertle, who created illustrations for early editions of Salten's Bambi stories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambi,_a_Life_in_the_Woods#/media/File:Bambi-Hans-Bertle.jpg
December 2, 2025 at 10:36 AM
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“It takes two people to make you, and one people to die”

Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," set in Yoknapatawpha County, enters US public soon.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/12/01/i...

#books #publicDomainDayCountdown
First-edition dust jacket cover of As I Lay Dying (1930) by the American author William Faulkner. Published in New York by Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_I_Lay_Dying#/media/File:As_I_Lay_Dying_(1930_1st_ed_jacket_cover).jpg
December 2, 2025 at 10:30 AM
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The Visual Art and Design of Famous Writers, Part 2

By Steven Brower via PrintMag (from the archives)

www.printmag.com/illustration...

Part 1 is available here:
www.printmag.com/design-books...

#books #literature #illustration_design
December 1, 2025 at 10:03 AM
gutenberg.org
Betty Boop has her moment

Fleischer Studios' Bimbo cartoons succeeded in 1930, but Betty Boop stole the show debuting in "Dizzy Dishes" singing "I Have to Have You."

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/30/b...

#cartoon #publicDomainDayCountdown
The caption claims that Betty Boop was indeed based on Helen Kane. This was published before the lawsuit in May. Photoplay, April 1932 This is an image from Photoplay magazine showing a side-by-side comparison. On the left is a black and white photograph of Helen Kane, a performer dressed in an elaborate ruffled costume with tiered skirts and decorative trim, posing against a curtained background. On the right is a drawing of Betty Boop in her iconic cartoon style - with her characteristic large round eyes, short curly black hair with a spit curl, and a short black dress showing her distinctive garter. The caption below reads: "Folks, meet Betty Boop (right). You'll be seeing a lot of her because she is the new animated cartoon character who is trying to cut in on Mickey Mouse's popularity. Does she look familiar to you? Now look at little boop-a-dooper Helen Kane. Helen was the cartoonist's inspiration for Betty, the first time a real life character has been used for the popular jumping comics" This is significant because it was published in April 1932, before Helen Kane filed her famous lawsuit against Fleischer Studios in May 1932, claiming that Betty Boop was an unauthorized use of her likeness and persona. The magazine's straightforward acknowledgment that Kane was the inspiration for Betty Boop provides important historical documentation of how the character's origins were publicly understood at the time. https://archive.org/details/photo42chic/page/n491/mode/2up
December 1, 2025 at 9:39 AM
gutenberg.org
What Came First, Blues or Jazz?

"Blues came before jazz, but their stories are deeply connected. The Delta blues inspired New Orleans jazz and shaped modern music."

www.thecollector.com/what-came-fi...

#music
Louis Armstrong playing his trumpet.
November 30, 2025 at 1:20 PM
gutenberg.org
100 years on, T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men is a poem for our populist moment

by Luke Johnson

theconversation.com/100-years-on...

Eliot at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...

#books #literature #poetry
T.S. Eliot with his sister and his cousin by Lady Ottoline Morrell vintage snapshot print, 1934 The photograph is a vintage black-and-white snapshot from 1934, taken outdoors in what appears to be a garden or courtyard with tall brick buildings in the background. Three people sit at a table set for tea. On the left, Eliot in a suit sits facing the camera, hands resting on the table. In the center, Eliot's cousin wearing a dark coat and hat sits slightly turned to the side, holding a cane. On the right, Eliot's sister in a patterned dress looks downward, her expression quiet and reserved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot#/media/File:Thomas_Stearns_Eliot_by_Lady_Ottoline_Morrell_(1934).jpg
November 30, 2025 at 10:29 AM
gutenberg.org
“From the chintz-covered drawing-rooms… straight into hell”

Evadne Price's "Not So Quiet...Stepdaughters of War," inspired by a real ambulance driver's diary, powerfully depicts war's horrors.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/29/f...

#books #PublicDomainDayCountdown
Cover of the book Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War is a 1930 novel by British author Evadne Price writing under the pseudonym "Helen Zenna Smith". The image shows the cover of the novel Not So Quiet… by Helen Zenna Smith. The design uses a stark, graphic style in black and red on a cream background. At the top, the title is printed in large, bold, uneven lettering: “NOT SO QUIET…”, with quotation marks placed dramatically before and after. The central illustration is abstract and wartime-themed: a silhouetted rifle hangs from the left, and concentric red arcs radiate outward like shock waves or explosions. Near the bottom right, small black silhouettes suggest figures or shapes caught in the blast zone. The landscape at the bottom is a jagged black horizon, evoking a battlefield. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_So_Quiet:_Stepdaughters_of_War#/media/File:Not_So_Quiet.jpg
November 30, 2025 at 10:11 AM
gutenberg.org
Meet the Forgotten Female Artist Behind the World’s Most Popular Tarot Deck (1909)

www.openculture.com/2025/10/meet...

#art
The Strength tarot card by Colman-Smith shows a figure dressed in a white robe with roses petting a lion.
November 29, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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“The road leads back to you”

"Georgia on My Mind" by Hoagy Carmichael is likely about the state, not his sister. Ray Charles' version became Georgia's official song.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/28/t...

#music #publicDomainDayCountdown
This is a photograph of a vintage Victor Records label from 1930. The label features the classic Victor design with ornate golden decorative scrollwork framing the text against a black background. At the top is the Victor company logo. The record label shows: Catalog number: 23013-A Song title: "GEORGIA—Fox Trot" with "(On My Mind)" in parentheses Composer credit: "(CARMICHAEL-GORRELL)" Artist: "Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra" Vocal credit: "Vocal Refrain by Hoagy Carmichael" This is significant historical evidence showing that both Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell were credited as co-writers from the original 1930 recording, contradicting the legend that Carmichael initially left Gorrell off the copyright and later voluntarily paid him royalties. The label clearly shows both names were credited from the beginning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_on_My_Mind#/media/File:Hoagy-georgia-on-my-mind.jpg
November 29, 2025 at 9:33 AM
gutenberg.org
From Dylan Thomas’ shopping list to a note from Sylvia Plath’s doctor: newly uncovered case files reveal the hidden lives of famous writers

By Ella Creamer

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

#books #literature
Nora Summer's iconic portrait of Dylan Thomas. Taken in Blashford in 1937, it was soon to gain an international circulation. Dylanis is wearing a distinctive thick, cable-knit cardigan with a textured pattern, and what appears to be a scarf around his neck. He was photographed from the side, looking downward with his eyes cast down, holding a cigarette to his lips. His hair is characteristically curly and somewhat disheveled. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas#/media/File:Dylan_Thomas_icon_Blashford_1937.jpg
November 29, 2025 at 9:28 AM
gutenberg.org
“You must sometime fight it out or perish”

Dr. Luella Axtel's book Grow Thin on Good Food offered sensible diet-and-exercise advice ahead of its time.

By John Mark Ockerbloom

everybodyslibraries.com/2025/11/27/y...

#books #PublicDomainDayCountdown
Cover image of the book Grow Thin on Good Food by Luella E. Axtell, M.D. he book cover shown is a plain, deep red hardback with a textured surface. Centered near the top, the title “GROW THIN ON GOOD FOOD” is printed in bold, gold uppercase lettering. Beneath it, also in gold, is the author’s name: “LUELLA E. AXTELL, M.D.”
November 28, 2025 at 10:42 AM
gutenberg.org
52 Years Later, Agatha Christie’s Forgotten Final Book Remains Untouched

By Florencia Aberastury

www.cbr.com/agatha-chris...

Agatha Christie at PG:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho...

#books #literature
Illustration by Arthur Ferrier of Tommy and Tuppence from the December 1923 issue of The Grand Magazine and the first-known image of the characters. The drawing shows a stylish young couple in early-1920s fashion. Tommy stands on the left, dressed in a neat suit with a bow tie, his posture upright and confident. Tuppence stands beside him, slightly angled toward him, wearing a fashionable cloche hat and a long, elegant coat. Her expression is lively and self-assured. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_and_Tuppence#/media/File:T&T1923.jpg
November 28, 2025 at 10:35 AM