burlingtonrailroad menu
NYPL image collection: Lunch on the Burlington

The New York Public Library now offers more than 187,000 free high-resolution images of everything from skyscrapers to old railroad menus.

What  treasure trove for self-publishers and others! Benefit from public domain goodies for your research or legal reproduction in your e-book. Here’s a nice place to begin your search.

Authors of historical fiction might especially be interested in a remix from the collection, Mansion Maniac: “Built from digitized assets of the New York Public Library’s collection of Apartment Houses of the Metropolis, this game/toy lets you explore mansion floor plans from the early 20th century in New York City. Move around and zoom using the provided buttons.”

Writers of nonfiction, especially biographers who want to describe the world of their subjects, may also love the NYPL collection.

As much as anyone, creative people benefit from the public domain, and this collection could be among the prime exhibits to make the point.

Detail: Romance writers might find inspiration in NYPL’s collection of old erotica. Not all images in this case are in the public domain.

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