1 million Public Domain images

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » December 15th, 2013, 2:34 am

The British Library has released into the Public Domain 1 million images taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books. They are to be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary

They are looking for "new, inventive ways to navigate, find and display these 'unseen illustrations'." See this article: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/2013/12/a-million-first-steps.html

We are looking to crowdsource information about what is depicted in the images themselves, as well as using analytical methods to interpret them as a whole.

Cover makers may find this of particular interest. The images have been released into the Public Domain. Attribution would be appreciated but there is no obligation.

Ruth

Lucy_k_p · Post by **Lucy_k_p** » December 15th, 2013, 3:28 am

Awesome.

Slightly related - I have bought a book shaped cover for my e-book reader that is based on the scan of a cover from an old copy of Grimm's Fairy tales, taken from the British Library. It looks amazing - I got it as an early Christmas present for myself and I am very pleased with it.

There were other covers available - including Pride and Prejudice and Treasure Island. They were all very attractive, and they have a sticky pad inside to keep your reader in, and come in 2 different sizes, so they are suitable for any e-reader. (You can see the sort of thing I mean here.)

Apologies for the slight advertisement - I mostly want to brag about the nice thing I now have. And it is another use of the public domain images available to the British Library.

Post by **annise** » December 15th, 2013, 3:36 am

You weren't tempted by "A Very Naughty Girl" were you ?

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » December 15th, 2013, 4:24 am

Ooh, why don't we have A Very Naughty Girl in our catalogue? Off to Book Suggestions I go...

Ruth

Hokuspokus · Post by **Hokuspokus** » December 15th, 2013, 9:17 am

Wow! Thanks for posting this, Ruth.

Post by **aradlaw** » December 15th, 2013, 10:07 am

Some very strange things come up in a Google search for A Very Naughty Girl.

Sue Anderson · Post by **Sue Anderson** » December 20th, 2013, 5:50 pm

RuthieG wrote:The British Library has released into the Public Domain 1 million images taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books. They are to be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary
Ruth

Ruth, Thanks for posting this interesting site!