Free book printable for your junk journal or book journal. About a year ago, the Smithsonian opened their archives for public use - -adding hundreds of thousands of public domain images to an accessible portal. Most of these images are free for commercial use, without attribution, like the one of Mark Twain below. Did you notice he is holding a cute kitty? No record of the kitty's name, sadly.
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Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of John Seelye
You can head on over to the Smithsonian to grab your own higher resolution copy, or download the one I doctored up a bit below. I lightened it up and modified the color slightly to make it more printer-friendly. There are also several sizes to choose from in the file.
While you're at the Smithsonian, take a look at some of their free public domain images -- there are thousands to choose from, and they're all free.
Use this for a book junk journal, reading journal printable or other author themed project.
Since this one has a lot of dark and light contrast, I recommend using presentation paper to print. While you can use cardstock or copy paper you will get better results on the finer paper for this one. This specialty paper is about the same cost as cardstock, but has a grain free, perfectly smooth surface, which makes it ideal for darker images or those that are very saturated. Find it here on Amazon; I've also seen it at Staples and Office Max.
About the Printable Mark Twain Photo
I'm working on a few literary and book themed junk journal kits so have been looking for public domain images of authors. This one hails from the Smithsonian. According to the info, it was taken in 1906, 4 years before the author's death. It is a public domain image used under a Creative Commons License.
Altered Mark Twain Photo Printable
I lightened this image and added just a touch of color to make it less stark. Since home printers are very different from photo printers, the darker colors won't look right if printed as is. Just click the newly optimized image below for a high resolution copy of the Mark Twain photo -- in a few convenient sizes.
Thank you, Samantha! great photo - and freebies.