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.
We're honored that Rolf Maurer called our Dictionary of One-Letter Words "magisterial." In celebration, we made this illustration of a crown opening like a seed, its uppermost gem growing like a branch. There are implanted shoots, like an ornate N and V, which might grow together to form an M. Is the M for "magisterial"? It's not for us to analyze our own work.
You may have assumed that the story of Puss in Boots seeking his fortune at the king's palace was a fairy tale. But this headline from Kentucky Kernel, 1930, announces that "kittens seek state crown." Acquiring your own crown is easiest once you've learned How to Be Your Own Cat.
The last two words in this book are not "the end" but "the beginning." In fact, any author can finish a book this way and thereby turn it into a living text. A doodle of a crown is optional but can't hurt. From The Sword in the Stone, written and illustrated by T. H. White, 1939.