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.
"No radiant pearl, which crested Fortune wears, no gem that twinkling hangs from Beauty's wars. Not the bright stars which Night's blue arch adorn, nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, shine with such lustre as the tear that flows down Virtue's manly cheek for others' woes" (Erasmus Darwin). From Manual and Diagrams to Accompany Metcalf's Grammars by Carl Garrison, 1901.
"The hope of good things to come, and the memory of joys we have tasted in the past, unite to make attractive what would without their influence often be an almost unbearable present." From Manual and Diagrams to Accompany Metcalf's Grammars by Carl Garrison, 1901.