Collections – Page 2 – The Public Domain Review

First English Edition of Michel de Montaigne’s Essays (1603)

John Florio’s translation of Michel de Montaigne’s genre-forming Essays, including thoughts on grief, friendship, drunkenness, impotence, smells, death, and thumbs….more

Autographs for Freedom (1853)

Anthology of anti-slavery literature featuring abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass’s only published work of fiction….more

Cryptography: or the History, Principles, and Practice of Cipher-Writing (1898)

An exploration of covert communication through history by the artist, naturalist, antiquarian, and writer Frederick Edward Hulme….more

Russian Portraits (1921)

Travel diary of the English sculptor Clare Sheridan telling the story of controversial trip to early Soviet Russia….more

Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894)

Science fiction novel by astronomer Camille Flammarion, concerning a near comet miss and a vision of the earth’s far distant future….more

A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1788)

A compendium of slang from the sordid streets of after-hours Georgian London, compiled by Francis Grose….more

The Book of the Homeless (1916)

Collection of essays, art, poetry, and musical scores, edited by Edith Wharton, whose profits were used to fund civilians displaced by World War I….more

Kittens and Cats: A First Reader (1911) — Cats and Captions before the Internet Age

If this delightful book is anything to go by then taking photos of cats and brandishing them with an amusing caption, was far from being a phenomenon born with the …more

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (1880)

First English translation of Pu Songling’s collection of classical Chinese stories, including magical pear trees, thimble-sized babies, ghostly cities, and mean spi…more

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African (1784)

The published correspondence of Ignatius Sancho, the first known Black Briton to vote in a British election, and the first person of African descent known to be giv…more