This collection gathers the public domain’s writing on the arts and culture — the history and criticism of painting, architecture, music, and fashion, alongside journalism, language, and the great essays and letters. Browse a collection below.
ArtVasari's artist lives, Ruskin's aesthetic criticism, and the classic histories of painting and sculpture.ArchitectureVitruvius to Ruskin: the theoretical and historical texts that defined how the West thought about buildings.MusicBurney's history of music, Wagner's prose writings, and the critics who shaped how the West listens.FashionCostume histories, dress reform tracts, and the social meaning of clothing from antiquity to the Edwardian era.Journalism, Media & WritingDefoe's reporting, Hazlitt's essays, and the pioneering journalists and editors who shaped the modern press.Language & CommunicationGrimm's linguistic scholarship, Max Müller on mythology, and the Victorian sciences of language and meaning.Essays, Letters & SpeechesMontaigne, Emerson, Lamb, and the long tradition of the essay, letter, and public speech in English and translation.