Reproductions & Copyright

Every work sold by The Alembic is a reproduction of a manuscript page that is in the public domain — each is centuries old, and copyright in the underlying artwork has long since expired everywhere in the world.

What you are buying is a newly produced, archival-quality PRINT of that public-domain image: a physical object made to order by us, on stock and with inks we choose, at the size and in the format you select. We do not claim any copyright over the underlying centuries-old artwork itself.

Some source photographs — the digital scans of the original pages — are released by their holding institution under an open license of the institution’s own choosing (a Creative Commons Attribution license or a Public Domain Mark) rather than as an unconditional dedication. Where that applies (currently: images from the Wellcome Collection and SLUB Dresden), we credit the institution visibly on that piece’s page, alongside its “Held by” line.

Every piece on the site names its holding institution and links to its public source record. A piece is never listed for sale until both are verified.