Tag: Literature

Prester John

Prester John was a mythical christian king who was said to rule over a country somewhere in Asia (or Africa) with legends and stories about him and his kingdom spanning centuries.

the idea of Prester John is said to originate from a letter that the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos received in 1165. The letter was said to be from: “John, Christian Sovereign and Lord of Lords”

His kingdom was told in the letter to be quite rich and civilized, with it being a quite warped view of what Central Asia/India was understood by Europeans to be like.

In the letter he claimed that he had a father called Quasideus (God-like) who built this kingdom after being spoken to by God.

The location of this mythical kingdom changed over the centuries as Europe began to more broadly trade with asia. Centuries later people believed the kingdom to be in Ethiopia or elsewhere in Africa.

Today it’s broadly understood that while Prester John wasn’t real it may have been a case of stories warping about the Keraites, a Khanate located around where modern day Mongolia is. They had converted to the Church of the East (often called the Nestorian Church) a branch of Christianity.

Notes

  • There’s a minor Marvel villain called Prester John, see here. Not that relevant but I thought it interesting, he mostly seems to fight Deadpool and the Fantastic Four at times.

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Nancy Drew

painting of a blonde girl with blue eyes in a blue coat and blue hat holding a large clock in a forest

Nancy Drew is a sixteen year old girl who is the daughter of a very well known lawyer and former district attorney. She comes from money but is generally polite and well spoken. She frequently starts to sleuthing because of her rather sharp reasoning skills.

Nancy Drew has a sidekick in the form of her friend Helen Corning who is a more typical teenage girl than Nancy.

She’s often unassuming making folks underestimate her abilities as a detective.

Notes

  • Only the first four books from 1930 are public domain. The later books or the revisions of those books are not public domain.

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Scarface

Tony “Scarface” Guarino is a character based on Al Capone the Chicago crime boss. The crime thriller novel was written by Armitage Trail and was a smash hit, altho sadly the author died of a heart attack shortly after selling the film rights to the book.

The book was adapted into the 1932 film Scarface as well as the 1983 remake of said film which is probably the one people know about, the famous Al Pacino movie.

The book is in the public domain as the rights were never renewed in the US and in other countries it has long since lapsed in copyright due to Armitage’s premature death at only 28 in 1930.

Notes

The 1932 film will become public domain in 2028. The 1983 movie and original elements to it are of course not public domain.

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Clifford

image of a book cover with a black background, the title in the upper left corner reads Clifford the Big Red Dog, in the lower right corner in small it reads Story and pictures by Norman Bridwel in between them is a drawing of a red colored dog who is very large as seen by the small girl drawn on his backk hugging him

Clifford is a big red dog who belongs to Emily and causes mischief but is ultimately a good dog.

While Clifford the Big Red Dog was registered for copyright in 1963 upon its publication it was not renewed in 1991 therefore the first book and only the first book is public domain.

Notes

  • Clifford the Big Red Dog is still a registered trademark owned by The Norman Bridwell Massachusetts Marital Trust.

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Oiselle

Yellow poster of a woman in a black outfit and hair flying over paris with a flying contraption on her back. The text reads Véga La Magigienne Far René D'Anjou

Ouiselle or “The Bird” is a woman named Véga de Ortega who fights crimes thanks to her artificial wings. She was raised by an anarchist group to be immune to fear.

She also has potions she gets from a scientist that give her additional powers like telepathy or heightened senses.

She first appeared in Véga la magicienne by french author Renée Gouraud d’Ablancourt in 1909.

Interesting character and kind of ahead of its time as far as a flying crimefighter is concerned.

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Matilda

drawing of an elephant sitting on an egg, the elephant has eyelashes and theres some sort of creature looking confused at it to the left. it appears like a screenshot from a magazine. in the lower right corner is a signature of Dr Seuss

Matilda is an elephant who has motherly instinct to sit on an egg until it hatches. This is an early Dr Seuss story for Judge Magazine published in 1938 called Matilda, the Elephant with a Mother Complex.

The story was never renewed therefore it’s another Dr Seuss story that’s in the public domain.

The story itself would be reworked into the Horton book “Horton in Horton Hatches the Egg”, making Matilda like a proto-Horton.

Horton won’t be public domain until 2036 but Matilda already is.

Father Brown

Book cover of "The Incredulity of Father Brown" by G.K. Chesterton done as a painting depicts Father Brown, a priest wearing a black clerical outfit and a wide-brimmed black hat. He is looking thoughtfully to the side while clasping his hands together in front of him. The background features a muted landscape

Father Brown is a Roman Catholic priest who uses intuition and understanding of human behavior to solve crimes, usually murders in the small community around his parish.

He uses the fact that he doesn’t really seem like the typical detective to his advantage and has a rather soft demeanor.

Father Brown first appeared in G.K Chesterton’s 1910 story “The Blue Cross” and went on to be a prominent character in pop culture well into modern times, in no small part due to the successful 2013 BBC TV series.

He has been cited as the inspiration for another unassuming detective character with a soft personality, that being Detective Columbo. Who sadly is not public domain but Father Brown can fill the same role rather well.

Links

Wikipedia

Dumbo

drawing of a grey elephant holding a brown feather, the elephant has green eyes and large ears

Dumbo is based on a book that was made and illustrated by Helen Aberson-Mayer, Harold Pearl before the now famous movie came out. This book, published by Roll-A-Book Publishing is actually considered lost media since it was made as something akin to a prototype for an interactive toy where you’d scroll through the story with a lever.

Dumbo is an elephant with big ears and can fly, at first seemingly due to a magic feather but then he finds out he was able to fly by himself.

Notes

  • The original book prototype did get registered for a copyright in 1939 but was not renewed therefore making its copyright expire after 28 years. Its record number is AA 296948.
  • The Disney film and any subsequent appearances and designs are not in the public domain and Dumbo is a registered trademark owned by Disney.
  • The image used on this page was drawn by Tinyel and has been released into the public domain.
  • The original book is now considered lost media.

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