In 1930, Bob Brown predicted that the printed book was bound for obsolescence. The time has come, he insisted, to rid the reader of the cumbersome book. He invented a machine that would allow one to read books and any text extremely fast and in a hyper abbreviated form. He called these abbreviated texts, with em dashes replacing words: readies. He envisioned sending the condensed texts through wireless networks. The Readies, describes these eponymously named abbreviated texts and his plans for a reading machine, but since he printed only 150 copies, the volume is practically unknown outside of a small circle of scholars. With this new edition, Craig Saper hopes to introduce Bob Brown's Roving Eye Press books to a new generation of readers.

The Readies

BOB BROWN

Craig Saper

Roving Eye Press

<p>In January 1931, Bob Brown worked with Nancy Cunard's Hours Press to publish Words--two sets of poems printed in a single volume. One set of poems was printed in 16-point Caslon Old Face, a classic font style used in all Hours Press publications. The other was relief-printed from engraved plates at less than 3-point size (perhaps, according to Cunard, less than 1-point). They printed only 150 copies, and the book passed into relative obscurity. Brown wanted to demonstrate how micrographic texts for his reading machine might appear. This new edition makes the fun and mystery of these texts available to a larger audience. To read this book, you ll need a magnifying glass.</p>

Words: I but bend my finger in a beckon and words, birds of words, hop on it, chirping.

Literature & Fiction

Brown, Bob

History & Criticism

<p>Originally published in 1929, Bob Brown's 1450-1950 is a collection of hand-written, "optical" poems." This parodic set of "scratches" extends and challenges the legacy Gutenberg's standardized type set and blurs the boundaries between scribbles, art, and literature. In this new edition, scholar and Brown biographer Craig Saper offers a new introduction to the work with several new contributions from artists, poets, and critics paying homage to Brown's impact on the Beat movement, LANGUAGE poetry, and the field of digital modernism.</p>

1450-1950

Poetry

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