British Library Releases Millions of Images for Public Use on Flickr

The British Library has continued to release images from its digitized collection, now bordering over one million images on public image-sharing platform Flickr, reports Quartz. Since 2013, the institution’s “Mechanical Curator” has been randomly selecting images or other pages from over 65,000 public-domain books from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

British Library Releases Millions of Images for Public Use on Flickr - More Images+ 10

"Homes of our Forefathers in Boston, Old England, and Boston, New England. From original drawings by E. Whitefield". Image Courtesy of The British Library

The treasure trove includes “maps, drawings, illustrations, handwritten letters, diagrams, cartoons, comics, posters and decorative scrolls,” writes Quartz. As the images are curated randomly -- and due to the extreme volume -- the public has been called upon to help categorize the collection. To date, the collection has had over 267 million views and over 400,000 tags have been added.

"John L. Stoddard's Lectures [on his travels]. Illustrated ... with views of the worlds famous places and people, etc". Image Courtesy of The British Library

For architects and architecture students, the "Architecture" album has a wealth of material, including nearly 2,000 images, while the "Castle" album contains close to 200. Countless other images of foliage and people are also easily re-imagined as a collage for more experimental styles of representation.

Below we've rounded-up some of our favorite architecturally-relevant images. 

"Old and New London, etc". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"Az Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia irásban és képben. Rudolf trónörökös főherczeg Ő ... fensége kezdeményezéséből és közremunkálásával. (Die deutsche Ausgabe redigirt ... J. von Weilen, die ungarische M. Jókai.) Hung", "Appendix. Topography and Travels". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"John L. Stoddard's Lectures [on his travels]. Illustrated ... with views of the worlds famous places and people, etc". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"King's Handbook of New York City. An outline history and description of the American metropolis. With ... illustrations, etc. (Second edition.)". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"Three Vassar Girls on the Rhine. A holiday trip ... Illustrated, etc". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"Old & New London. By W. Thornbury and Edward Walford. Illustrated". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"Strassburg und seine Bauten. Herausgegeben vom Architekten- und Ingenieur-Verein für Elsass-Lothringen. Mit 655 Abbildungen in Text, etc". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"La Terra, trattato popolare di geografia universale per G. Marinelli ed altri scienziati italiani, etc. [With illustrations and maps.]". Image Courtesy of The British Library
"[Paris historique et monumental depuis son origine jusqu'en 1851 ... illustré d'un grand nombre de vignettes et de deux plans. Par B. R[enault?].]". Image Courtesy of The British Library

See the full collection here. And learn more about the British Library's initiative in the full story on Quartz.

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Cite: Eric Oh. "British Library Releases Millions of Images for Public Use on Flickr" 08 May 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/786826/british-library-releases-millions-of-image-for-public-use-on-flickr> ISSN 0719-8884

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