publicdomain

https://blog.archive.org/2025/06/13/screams-in-the-vault/

13 0 2 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

Screams in the Vault: Public Domain Horror in the Age of IP

As many iconic works have entered into the public domain since 2019, there has been a surge of horror film adaptations. These horror adaptations have received strong critiques for their deviation from or failure to say something unique about their source material.

by Sterling Dudley

#movie_archive #publicdomain

An iconic illustration by E. H Shepard from the first Pooh book. This iconography has helped to make the Pooh stories recognizable worldwide.

The picture depicts Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet walking side by side through a wintry woodland scene.

Pooh, a small bear with a rounded figure, is seen from behind, walking upright.

Piglet, a much smaller figure with pointed ears and a scarf, walks just beside Pooh.

They are walking near a clump of slender trees, their bare branches indicating it's likely winter or late autumn.

There is a trail of footprints in the snow—a swirling, circular pattern on the ground, suggesting they’ve been walking in circles, perhaps unknowingly.

CHAPTER III
IN WHICH POOH AND PIGLET GO HUNTING AND NEARLY CATCH A WOOZLE

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/67098/pg67098-images.html

🍿 https://fedi.video/w/p/fHrzK7h9WDaR2dmLRPszeM

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

You can watch classic public domain films on PeerTube, there's a playlist at:

(This is the sound film playlist, the silent film playlist is at https://fedi.video/w/p/sp9msEzM8z5SPZuizBzxFG)

- On a phone: Swipe up first two videos at bottom to browse rest of playlist

- On a computer: Choose video by scrolling through playlist on right of screen

- If you're watching embedded: Click ⏭️ or ⏮️ to see next or previous videos in playlist

cc @film

#Film #Movies #PublicDomain #PeerTube

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

Triumph of the Undead: The Public Domain as Horror Hero

Art is the closest thing we have to immortality. And when an artwork enters the public domain, it becomes—fortunately—undead: liberated from the mortal constrictions of copyright, now free to haunt new viewers and readers.

By Olivia Pavao

https://www.publicbooks.org/triumph-of-the-undead-the-public-domain-as-horror-hero/

#movies #publicdomain

Max Schreck in a promotional still for the film

Created by F. W. Murnau (died 11 March 1931), Henrik Galeen (died 30 July 1949) and Fritz Arno Wagner (died 18 August 1958).

Nosferatu promotional image.

Max Schreck appears in full costume as the grotesque, vampiric Count Orlok. His appearance is haunting: a bald, bat-like figure with elongated fingers, pointed ears, a gaunt face, and wide, predatory eyes that evoke a sense of unease and dread.

He stands frozen in a dramatic, hunched pose, his clawed hands extended as if reaching toward an unseen victim. His expression is blank yet menacing, emphasizing his unnatural, undead presence.

The image is starkly lit, with high contrast between deep shadows and pale highlights, emphasizing Orlok’s cadaverous complexion and angular features. The atmosphere is tense and gothic, rooted in German Expressionist style, which used distortion and shadow to evoke psychological horror.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nosferatu#/media/File:Schreck.jpg

https://www.gutenberg.org/about/background/50years.html

2 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

Project Gutenberg turns 54!

On July 4, 1971, Michael Hart had the idea of using a computer to read and enjoy literature. This innovation led to the creation of Project Gutenberg, which continues to thrive today.
via @gbnewby

You can read more about the history of Project Gutenberg in our 50th anniversary writeup:

#Copyright #Copyleft #Licenses #ShareAlike #FreeCulture

7 0 2 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

I learned today that because of the strong Moral Rights protection in the #Philippines , it is not possible for Authors/Creators (defined as "natural persons" by law) to dedicate/release their work to the #PublicDomain .

And even if we use 0BSD, MIT-0, CC0, and other similar public-domain-equivalent licenses, we can still sue anyone who:

1. Misused our name
2. Misrepresented us
3. Misused our work (downstream)

All under Moral Rights because we can never waived it under Philippine law. Even with a promise not to sue anyone is not a guarantee.

So, saying, "This work is under 0BSD/MIT-0/CC0 and I will never sue anyone for whatever reason", won't work under Philippine law. The Creator/Author will always have their Moral Rights as the creator/author of the work. It's completely up to you to trust that they will fulfill their promise. 🤪

👉🏽 #IANAL #TINLA

Edited 1y ago

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

201d

In Praise of Pre-Hays: “Morocco” and the Public Domain

https://blog.archive.org/2026/01/20/in-praise-of-pre-hays-morocco-and-the-public-domain/

#publicdomain #lgbtqia #film

Photograph of Marlene Dietrich in a suit and top hat.

https://allthatsinteresting.com/esther-jones?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atinewsletter&utm_email=lnatal55@gmail.com

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

168d

Meet Esther Jones, The Black Performer Who Inspired 'Betty Boop'

In the 1920s and '30s, Esther Jones toured throughout the U.S. and Europe, delighting audiences with her singing, dancing, and signature phrase: "Boop, Boop-a-Doop."

By Bernadette Giacomazzo | Edited By John Kuroski

Patent's description of Betty Boop´s character design:
https://patents.google.com/patent/USD86224S/en

#womenhistoryMonth #publicdomain

Character design - Betty Boop

https://patents.google.com/patent/USD86224

Patent's description:
Description
Feb. 16,1932. f 1 M. FLEISCHER 86,224
DOLL on SIMILAR ARTICLE Filed Sept. 24. 1931 IN VEN TOR. /%X 74 5/8 CHER Patented Feb. 16, 1932 D 86,224
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MAX FLEISCHER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK DESIGN FOR A DOLL OR SIMILAR ARTICLE Application filed'September 24, 1931. Serial No. 41,207. Term of patent 14 years.
To all whom it may concern: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a doll or Be it known that I, MAX F LEISGHER, a Gi isimilar article showing my new design; and zen Of the United States, and a resident 0f Figure 2 is a ide elevation of the same, Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New I claim:
York, have invented a new, original, and The ornamental design for a doll or similar ornamental Design for Dolls or Similar Artiarticle as shown.
cles, of which the following is a specification, MAX FLEISCHER. reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

Betty Boop character design, figure 1 from U.S. patent application D86224 "Design for a Doll or Similar Article".

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boop#/media/File:Betty_Boop_patent_fig1.jpg

Little Esther Jones with dog-1930

A photograph of showing Esther Jones in a polka-dot dress holding up one finger as if making a point or performing, her expression lively and engaging. Beside her, largely in silhouette, is a large dog — possibly a Great Dane — on a lead.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Little_Esther_Jones_with_dog-1930.jpg

https://youtu.be/lFdvbf9bomM?is=8pP5WZ5rnqLwEYO6

Edited 168d ago

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

168d

Watch "Why 'Metropolis', Fritz Lang's Silent Movie, Still Defines Sci‑Fi 100 Years Later"

Before 'Star Wars'. Before 'Blade Runner'. Before every futuristic city, rogue android, or AI uprising you’ve ever seen, there was 'Metropolis' (1927). This video dives deep into how Fritz Lang’s silent-era masterpiece built the visual language of modern sci-fi, shaped pop culture for a century, and predicted the world we live in today.

#publicdomain #movies #history #culture

Edited 168d ago

2 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

154d

Math at Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg has long had an interest in mathematics, perhaps because of its timelessness. This interest has been expressed in many ways, though perhaps some of them were misguided in retrospect. For example we published “texts” consisting of digits of π. To be fair, commercial publishers produced printed volumes of π! At that time, there wasn’t even a good way to represent the character for “π” on the internet!

https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

158d

Project Gutenberg Needs Your Donation

Your contributions enable us to plan our budget, assist our volunteers, and, where urgently needed, hire people with specialized skills. We still have a lot of work to do and gaps to fill. Donations like yours give us a financial cushion to address some of those gaps. We are filled with gratitude for the efforts of those volunteers and contributors like you.

https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/4/3/bibliophiles-assemble-9-digital-spaces-for-filipino-literature-1409

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

158d

As part of the world’s oldest digital library, Project Gutenberg’s Philippine section focuses on texts where the copyright has expired. It is the definitive source for those looking to download foundational works of Filipino literature in multiple formats.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72103

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

134d

@dandylover1 May I ask you another question, if you don't mind of course? Concerning accessibility, you mentioned that you download our text files.

I wonder if you could acess the following book which has some basic examples of tables:

Could you please tell us how do you handle with its table formatting? And is there any book that you were having an issue with?

Thanks once again!

#a11y #Ebooks #PublicDomain

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

150d

some public domain works that are less than 100 years old #scifi #books #ebooks #publicDomain #stories

H.Beam Piper
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/8301

George O. Smith
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/8137

Clifford D. Simak
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/25185

Isaac Asimov
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35316

Robert Silverberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/28358

Andre Norton
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7021

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

129d

Project Gutenberg News — May 2026

-Enjoy these eBooks. Share them. Celebrate them.-

Contents:
Planning for the Long Term
Accessibility Requirements
300th anniversary of 3rd edition Newton’s Principia
New Releases at Gutenberg.org — April 2026
Links

https://blog.archive.org/2026/05/01/public-libraries-jump-on-board-the-our-future-memory-movement/

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

131d

Public Libraries Jump On Board the Our Future Memory Movement

The Our Future Memory movement was already building momentum with flagship library organizations like IFLA, ALA, and SPARC. But now, local and regional library systems from across the United States are leading the way in their own communities.

by Michael Menna via @internetarchive

#Books #PublicDomain

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

118d

Project Gutenberg has always striven for perfection in the effort to digitize public domain books. Everyone who reads the materials and catches a possible transcription or OCR error is encouraged to help us get the details fixed.

Learn more: https://www.gutenberg.org/help/errata.html

https://www.gutenberg.org/

Edited 118d ago

2 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

106d

Let's celebrate, Project Gutenberg joined #fediverse 3 years ago!

Thank you for all your support, in particular @gbnewby (he will always be in our hearts), @gluejar , @lhamilton1515 .

We would also like to thank all of our loyal followers for their relentless support and confidence in our work.

#Ebooks #PublicDomain #Fediverse

Edited 106d ago

4 0 2 View Post & Replies See Original

76d

Project Gutenberg is attending #ALAAC26! Enjoy it @gluejar

www.gutenberg.org

Edited 76d ago

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

60d

I made this 17 years ago, and it's still roaming the world wide web. 😁

It's #CC0 #CCzero / #PublicDomain so feel free to whatever, no attribution required.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

99d

The latest issue of our newsletter is already available online:

Project Gutenberg News - June 2026

Contents
American Library Association celebrates 150 years
Bloomsday
Herman Melville’s Home
Service Changes
New Releases at Gutenberg.org — May 2026
Links

https://www.gutenberg.org/MIRRORS.ALL

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

91d

Service Changes at Project Gutenberg

On Monday, June 15, we will be making some modifications to the official Project Gutenberg mirrors. We will be sunsetting the rsync mirror at aleph.pglaf.org (use gutenberg.pglaf.org instead), the gopher server hosted at gopher.pglaf.org, and the FTP server at gutenberg.pglaf.org. Other rsync and FTP mirrors are still available:

1/2

Edited 91d ago

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

69d

Project Gutenberg News - July 2026

Contents
Happy 55th Birthday, Project Gutenberg!
PG at ALA Annual Meeting
100th Anniversary of The Hungry Tiger of Oz
100th Anniversary of The Muder of Roger Ackroyd
Do we still need 2 kinds of MOBI?
New Releases at Gutenberg.org — June 2026

Edited 69d ago

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

68d

Happy 55th Birthday, Project Gutenberg! Let's celebrate!🎉

Project Gutenberg was founded on July 4, 1971, when Michael Hart typed the U.S. Declaration of Independence into an early internet-connected computer and shared it with friends, making it the first digital text — though its official posting date is recorded as December 1, 1971. (And happy 250th, USA.)

The Declaration of Independence at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1

Title: The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

Author: Thomas Jefferson

Credits: This etext was produced by Michael S. Hart.

A poster-style image of the United States Declaration of Independence document centered against a patriotic red, white, and blue striped background, with the title "The Declaration of Independence" displayed in bold text at the top.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1/pg1-images.html