The Public Domain Review

Centuries before Neo instantly mastered Kung Fu in The Matrix, medieval scholars found a shortcut to years of difficult study: a magical manuscript that promised to fast-track advanced learning. Anne Lawrence-Mathers investigates the Ars notoria, its supposed powers, and the demonic influence it had upon some users.

Photographs from when Atlantic City beaches featured artists ornately sculpting sand.

A Zoroastrian text about serpents translated by the President of the Bombay Anthropological Society.

Circular maps custom-made for the fire towers that once dotted the American wilderness.

Pompous know-it-alls were once a mainstay of mockery on the Italian stage. Arnoud Visser investigates this stock character of the pedant and his association with individual superiority, social distinction, and sexual transgression, finding a form of satire that took aim at the Renaissance humanist’s erudition and lofty ideals.