The Public Domain Review on Pinterest

What it is

This is the Pinterest account of The Public Domain Review, the free online journal that describes itself as a home for marvellous curiosities from out-of-copyright works. When we checked, it had around 8,000 followers, 31 boards and more than 3,700 pins.

Why we picked it

It's one of the oddest and most rewarding visual archives on Pinterest. The pin captions are tiny stories. The letter "O" from Joris Hoefnagel's 1595 guide to constructing letters. A London bill of mortality from the deadliest week of the Great Plague in 1665. The frontispiece of Kwaidan, the 1904 collection of Japanese ghost stories. A card from the 1829 Astronomia playing card deck. Early autochrome color photos from New Zealand. Each one links to a full write-up on the journal's site.

The boards are fun too: "Circles" for rings and diagrams from old books, "Doubles," "Endpapers," "ex libris" for bookplates, "Frontispieces / Illustrated Titlepages" and "All Creatures Great and Small" for animals.

It's active: the latest pin went up on September 27, 2026.

Where to start

• Scroll the profile's pin feed for the newest finds and their captions.
• Open "Circles" if you love scientific diagrams.
• Book lovers should head to "ex libris" and "Endpapers."
• "All Creatures Great and Small" gathers antique animal imagery.
• Click any pin to read the story behind it on the journal's site.

Who it's for

History buffs, old-book lovers and collectors of strange facts. Designers and illustrators looking for out-of-copyright imagery. Anyone who enjoys getting lost in archives.

Quick answers

Can I reuse these images? The journal focuses on public domain works, but check each image's source page for its specific rights status.

Is it still updated? Yes, new pins were added in September 2026.

Where do the pins link? Mostly to articles and collection pages on publicdomainreview.org.