CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
Which came first, the world of typewriter art or the, um, art of the typewriter world? Our illustration of the typewriter world appears as an ad in Rod and Gun, 1891.
"I dreamed a night or two ago." (The awkward cropping at the top of the image is courtesy of the British Library.) From Vagrant Verses by George Staunton Brodie and illustrated by Wallis Mackay, 1876.
An illustration from a 1920 issue of McClure's magazine. The caption reads: "The veil is not impenetrable; the link of affection is not broken by death; and through the grave and gate of death there shines a dawn of more than mortal vision."
"My next," said Time, "you will agree is new!" With that he mumbled A Magic charm, when one! two! three! From out the Hat there tumbled A flock of little Loves who twirled And fluttered round like sparrows And deluged Poor old Mr. World With myriad darts and arrows.
An illustration from an 1897 issue of The Strand magazine. The caption reads: "The weight of the Earth is rather more than equal to the weight of 1,625 United Kingdoms, each one of these United Kingdoms going all the way down to the centre of the Earth."