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Free to reuse

The content is published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. You may copy it, translate it, print it and pass it on, for your classes as much as for the people around you, on one condition only: credit ODERSA.

English
The LibraryODERSA publishing house
An ODERSA resource · Knowledge programmeA book only goes online once it is whole and read by someone else.

Credits

This page is built from the licence catalogue of the repository. It therefore cannot leave anything out.

The typefaces

  • Source Serif 4headings and foliosweights 400, 500, 600

    Designed by Frank Grießhammer, pour Adobe.

    Licence: SIL Open Font License 1.1 · Copyright 2014 - 2023 Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/), with Reserved Font Name 'Source'. All Rights Reserved.

    Official page: github.com/adobe-fonts/source-serif · licence checked on August 13, 2026.

    The serif of the fleet design system, and it is the one that carries LONG-FORM READING: a whole chapter is read in it. It also sets the headings and the volume titles on the covers. It is the same typeface on every ODERSA site.

  • Public Sansrunning textweights 400, 600, 700

    Designed by L'U.S. Web Design System (General Services Administration), à partir de Libre Franklin de Impallari Type.

    Licence: SIL Open Font License 1.1 · Copyright 2015 The Public Sans Project Authors (https://github.com/uswds/public-sans).

    Official page: github.com/uswds/public-sans · licence checked on August 13, 2026.

    The sans of the fleet design system. It sets everything that is not continuous reading: navigation, shelves, filters, labels, counters. Only the Latin subset is downloaded: Arabic, Devanagari, Bengali and Chinese are served by your own device, and that is what keeps this site light in all seven languages.

The photographs

Every image is openly licensed, its licence was checked at its source page, and the image itself was looked at before being adopted. The credit link under each photograph on this site leads to its entry below.

  • The nave of a fifteenth-century library: two rows of wooden lecterns hold volumes chained to their desks, beneath vaults carried on stone columns.

    Nef de la bibliothèque Malatestiana et ses pupitres à livres enchaînés

    Photograph by Terragio67 · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · the version cropped and treated by this site is published under that same licence

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • A dozen early volumes lined up on a shelf: calf bindings with raised bands, then limp vellum bindings with their titles written by hand.

    Rayon de reliures en vélin et en veau de la Librije de Zutphen

    Photograph by Mx Lucy · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · the version cropped and treated by this site is published under that same licence

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • An old reading room photographed with nobody in it: shelves of vellum-bound volumes line the walls, and a large book lies open on a lectern in the foreground.

    Salle de lecture de la Bibliotheca Thysiana, murs de reliures en vélin

    Photograph by G.Th. Delemarre / Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · the version cropped and treated by this site is published under that same licence

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • A compositor's type case seen head-on: a wooden tray divided into dozens of compartments, each packed with rows of lead type.

    Casse de typographe, Grandjean, musée Champollion

    Photograph by VIGNERON · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY 3.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • The marbled edge of a nineteenth-century book seen from above: irregular veins run across the paper, with the embossed cloth board visible below.

    Tranche marbrée d'une reliure de 1856

    Photograph by Tom Jac · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · the version cropped and treated by this site is published under that same licence

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • A row of heavy leather-bound volumes seen at an angle: the text blocks have warped, the leather is crazed, and the paper labels are worn.

    Tranches et dos de volumes anciens, bibliothèque de Merton College

    Photograph by Tom Murphy VII · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · the version cropped and treated by this site is published under that same licence

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • A wooden bookbinder's press standing on a bench: two upright posts, a large turned wooden screw at the centre, and a bar running through it.

    Presse à vis en bois d'un atelier de reliure

    Photograph by Thomas Quine · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY 2.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • Volumes lying on a sloped lectern, seen very close up: the raised bands on their leather spines stand out clearly, and an iron chain is still attached to one of them.

    Volumes à dos à nerfs retenus par leurs chaînes sur un pupitre

    Photograph by Mx Lucy · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · the version cropped and treated by this site is published under that same licence

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • The leather board of an early binding decorated by blind tooling: panels of scrollwork pressed into the skin, with no ink and no gilding.

    Reliure estampée à froid

    Photograph by Alice De Coster · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC0 1.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • A binder's hand draws the sewing thread through the spine of a gathered section held in a wooden sewing frame, the linen tapes stretched above the book block.

    Main d'artisan cousant le bloc-livre d'un psautier sur un cousoir de bois

    Photograph by Charlotte Kramer · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY 4.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • A hand holds an open manual, the thumb resting on the edge of the leaves, printed text running across both pages in soft light.

    Main tenant un manuel ouvert, le pouce pose sur la tranche des feuillets

    Photograph by João Silas · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC0 1.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 6, 2026.

  • A white wooden weather screen on a stand at chest height in the middle of a gravel field: its walls are made of slanted louvres that let the air through and keep the sun out.

    Stevenson screen exterior

    Photograph by CambridgeBayWeather · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: domaine public

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • A round clay tablet the size of a palm, covered with wedge-shaped signs written in horizontal lines separated by ruled strokes.

    Cuneiform tablet: student exercise tablet

    Photograph by The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Wikimedia Commons, versement en accès libre du Metropolitan Museum of Art.

    Licence: CC0 1.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • A three-tier Roman stone aqueduct spans a wooded valley; the top tier is a long row of small arches, the two lower tiers carry large arches.

    0 Pont du Gard (1)

    Photograph by Jean-Pol GRANDMONT · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY 4.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • A white cow with grey markings stands alone in a wide green meadow and looks towards the camera; a single tree stands in the distance under a clear sky.

    Cow standing on a field in Chastre (DSC02477)

    Photograph by Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY 4.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • A large grey-brown rabbit sitting on close-cropped grass, both long ears upright, muzzle turned to the side; a wire fence runs behind it.

    Lapin geant des flandres 2

    Photograph by Lucile Petit · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: domaine public

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • The head and long neck of a giraffe seen in profile, the coat covered with brown patches separated by pale lines, two small rounded horns on top of the skull; blurred trees behind.

    Giraffe

    Photograph by Sergio Cambelo · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: domaine public

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • A pale beige long-haired dog stands in dry grass at the edge of a hedge, mouth open and eyes closed; a blue lead runs from its collar towards the left.

    Smiling dog

    Photograph by Brandon Weeks · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: domaine public

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • Broad lobed vine leaves cover a wall; in the middle hangs a small bunch of grapes, still green, carried on a brown stem.

    La vigne sur le mur du jardin - Loir et Cher

    Photograph by Dinkum · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC0 1.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • A huge storm cloud whose top spreads into a flat anvil right across the sky; a line of trees at the bottom of the frame gives the scale.

    Cumulonimbus cloud - NOAA

    Photograph by NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library ; OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory · Wikimedia Commons, depuis la photothèque de la NOAA (image nssl0035).

    Licence: domaine public

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • Several white heaped clouds, clearly separate from one another, with flat bases and rounded tops, against a deep blue sky; a wooded ridge closes the bottom of the frame.

    Cumulus clouds (9 July 2016) (Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA) 1 (28192241862)

    Photograph by James St. John · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC BY 2.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • A grey metal tube on a stake driven into a lawn, open to the sky: this is a rain gauge, and falling water enters through the top.

    Rain gauge Hellmann

    Photograph by Bocholter · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: domaine public

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • An almond-shaped tool of knapped stone, russet brown, alone on a pale background: both faces carry the scars of the flakes struck off to sharpen it all around.

    Biface, commonly referred to as a hand ax

    Photograph by auteur non nommé à la source · Metropolitan Museum of Art, programme Open Access (inventaire 06.322.48, don de C. T. Currelly, 1906).

    Licence: CC0 1.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • The vertical face of an excavation, where bands of pale ochre and dark brown earth follow one another from top to bottom; a graduated rod stands in the middle to give the scale.

    Funayama Kofun (Yawatacho, Toyokawa), danmen-1

    Photograph by Saigen Jiro · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC0 1.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

  • Under a limestone vault, very clear water fills the floor of a cave and flows outwards between blocks of rock: this is where the river comes out.

    Inside the cave, Source du Lison, Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne, 2026

    Photograph by DimiTalen · Wikimedia Commons.

    Licence: CC0 1.0

    Source page: see the image page · licence checked on August 9, 2026.

The rule an image has to meet to get in

Six conditions, and all six are needed. A photograph missing one does not get in, whatever its quality.

  • A source page carrying its author, its licence and a link to the text of that licence.
  • A licence that is the public domain, a CC0 dedication, CC BY or CC BY-SA. A non-commercial or no-derivatives clause is refused.
  • No recognisable face, no legible commercial brand, no staged scene presented as real.
  • The image opened and looked at, not only its record: a repository label is not proof.
  • Preparation offline, inside the repository: cropping at the focal point, the house treatment, two widths at least, one modern format and its fallback.
  • A text alternative written in every language built, failing which the release is refused.

One lesson from the image search deserves to be written here: a photograph with an impeccable licence, dedicated to the public domain by a university collection, was set aside after visual examination because it carried two legible commercial labels that its metadata did not mention. Reading a record is not the same as opening the image.

What completes this page