The Public Domain Review is an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas.
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Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel, shaped by personal loss and her love of nature, tells the story of an orphaned girl who restores a forgotten garden—and changes the lives of those around her.
In 1899, Charles Godfrey Leland published Aradia, a “gospel of the witches” that drew on Italian folklore—but new research suggests the writer and medium Roma Lister may have played a hidden role in shaping the text and, ultimately, the modern revival of witchcraft.
The 18th-century Bildungsroman '"`UNIQ--nowiki-0000000E-QINU`"'René, or: A Young Man’s Adventures and Experiences'"`UNIQ--nowiki-0000000F-QINU`"', critiqued hegemonic systems of church and state through the artful combination of multiple literary genres.
Solitary confinement began as a Quaker-inspired experiment in silence and moral reform in early American prisons, but over time its redemptive intent gave way to harsh, isolating punishment that remains in use today.
In 1872, Victoria Woodhull defied every expectation of her time—running for president, speaking before Congress, publishing revolutionary ideas, and challenging laws, norms, and social hierarchies—to fight for women’s rights, labor justice, and personal freedom.
From seasonal cycles and reincarnation to cosmic destruction and rebirth, ancient Greek and Roman philosophers developed competing theories of how time repeats—and what that repetition means for human life.
Ornamental gardens and Alpine-style cottages transformed the English countryside into miniature Swiss landscapes, blending Romantic ideals with playful kitsch.
Ostrich feathers once drove global fashion and trade, revealing the origins of sustainable practices and ethical awareness in the plume industry.
Robert Hunt’s 19th-century fusion of scientific inquiry and poetic imagination shows how empirical discovery and artistic expression can illuminate the natural world together.
From accidental trips in London parks to the hallucinatory landscapes of Alice in Wonderland, magic mushrooms shaped folklore and visions of fairyland in 19th-century Britain.
Wilson Bentley, a self-taught farmer in Vermont, captured thousands of snowflakes on film, revealing their intricate designs and leaving a lasting legacy in meteorology and the study of nature’s frozen wonders.
Dutch astronomer and council communist Anton Pannekoek saw the stars through both a telescope and a political lens—his drawings of the Milky Way reveal how perception, experience, and ideology shape our view of the cosmos.
Kidnapped from West Africa as a child and brought to Boston, Wheatley became the first African-American woman published in English, using her poetry to navigate freedom, fame, and the politics of her time.
Francis Galton’s experiments in biometric detection promised a revolution in crime-solving, but also laid the groundwork for racialized thinking that echoed into modern genetics.
Long before they became symbols of climate change, polar bears helped shape Charles Darwin’s revolutionary ideas about how species adapt to their environments.
In Georgian Britain, Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine sparked panic over “beastly” side effects, exposing how new science can collide with old beliefs.
Long before modern science warned of global warming, the Founding Fathers believed human activity was reshaping the planet’s climate—and they set out to prove it.
At the turn of the 20th century, mathematicians, mystics, and modernists blurred the line between physics and philosophy. Their search for a hidden spatial realm—the so-called “fourth dimension”—transformed art, inspired the occult, and reimagined the very structure of reality.
With skillful pigeon portraits and a daring act of literary piracy, Pauline Knip secured fame, scandal, and a place in art history.
Centuries before photography, the camera obscura transformed ordinary rooms into magical spaces, casting the outside world inside and revealing how light, shadow, and perspective shaped early modern visions of reality.
In the early 20th century, architects and artists like Hugh Ferriss drew on the myths and monuments of ancient Babylon to imagine futuristic skylines—melding ziggurats with modernism in a visionary blend of the past and the possible.
For centuries, physicians used urine to diagnose disease, predict death, and even determine sexual history—analyzing its color, consistency, and contents with remarkable confidence.
The Mughal emperors in India faced a sartorial quandary: Should they continue wearing their traditional Central Asian attire or adopt the lighter cotton clothing of this warmer climate?
From dissecting hearts to designing ornithopters, James Bell Pettigrew saw spirals as the blueprint of nature—but his grand vision was lost to history.
Labelled a “cretin” and “imbecile” in his lifetime, the Swiss artist Gottfried Mind had profound talents when it came to drafting the feline form and inspired later French Realists, early psychiatric theorists, and Romantic visions of the artist as outsider.
After weeks of watching young tendrils slowly corkscrew their way toward the sun, Charles Darwin invented a system for making botanic motion visible to the naked eye.
Associated Authors
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina is the chair of the department of English at Dartmouth College.
Ava Kofman is a journalist. She is the 2023 recipient the Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism.
Jane Brox is the author of five award-winning non-fiction books.
Michael Engelhard is a writer and wilderness guide.
Seán Williams writes and broadcasts on German and comparative cultural history.
Erica X Eisen researches and writes about art history.
Claire Hall is a historian of ancient Greek science and religion.
Whitney Rakich is a writing tutor at Yale University.
Lauren Collee is a writer and researcher.
Simran Agarwal is a researcher and writer based in Mumbai.
Vincent Carretta is a professor and author specializing in 18th-century literature.
Keith C. Heidorn was a meteorologist and climatologist.
Jon Crabb is an editor at British Library Publishing.
Natalie Lawrence is a writer, researcher, and illustrator living in London.
A.D. Manns is a historian and writer.
Kirsten Tambling is an art historian specializing in 18th-century art.
Dobrota Pucherová is a researcher, author, and editor specializing in world literature.
Mike Jay is an author, cultural historian, and curator.
Dr. Raphael Calel is a Ciriacy-Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley, and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.
Hunter Dukes is the managing editor of the Public Domain Review and Cabinet Magazine.
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