Reusing Images

We highly encourage the reuse of images found on PDIA and, to this end, the site features mostly images that we deem fine to download and reuse in any way you like, anywhere in the world. There are, however, exceptions, and it is our aim to present the information around re-use of the images as clearly as possible and in a manner which instills confidence in the user.

When communicating the copyright status of historical images encountered online, we draw a distinction between the status of the original underlying work and the status of the digital copy of this work. All the underlying images featured in the PDIA are deemed by us to be out-of-copyright at least somewhere in the world. The vast majority of these images are public domain worldwide and made available by the source institution (via digital copies) without any further requests of attribution (and with no permission needed). However, the reusability of some digital images is limited according to geography and some by a need for attribution. These are clearly marked.

On each image page we communicate to the best of our knowledge the rights status of both the underlying work and the digital copy of this work. We provide this information based on a basic knowledge of copyright law and what is communicated by the source institution — it is strictly meant as a guideline and it should not be taken as legal advice. We admit no responsibility for any untoward consequences that may arise through reuse of material featured on our site. If you are requiring certainty as to usage allowed for an image, then you are encouraged to check with the source institution and make your own investigations. If you believe that any guidance we have provided on the site is incorrect or out of date, then please do get in touch.

The versions of the images on PDIA have normally been through a careful editing process by our team: be that small tweaks to enhance the image for presentation (e.g. rotation, exposure levels) or cropping from book scans to isolate illustrations that don’t otherwise exist online as stand-alone images. However, we assert no additional rights to these edited versions.

If reusing public domain material from our site then you are under no obligation to mention us, but we would really appreciate a mention and link back if practicable. Every credit and link back to our site helps grow our audience and continue the project. If you are able, please do also consider donating to the project.

For more information on reusing images see our Terms and Conditions.

Requests for image permissions or image files

We do not assert rights relating to any of the historical images featured on the site and so are not in a position to grant permissions for use — please contact the original source institution (which we provide link to) if you need permissions or assurances of any sort regarding reuse of images.

While we are now in the practice of uploading images at the highest resolution available to us, this hasn’t always been the case. Most of our small images (below 1500 pixels) are from the early days of the PDR project when we did not feature full-sized images on the site. We plan to update these over time, but for now you may be able to find a higher-res version by following the link to the original source. Please don’t email us asking for higher-res versions, we’ve put the best we have on the site!