Csplk/THE.ASCII.ART.EMPORIUM · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 4k
us both go
to law: _I_
will prose-
cute _you_.--
Come, I'll
take no de-
nial: We
must have
the trial;
For really
this morn-
ing I've
nothing
to do.'
Said the
mouse to
the cur,
`Such a
trial, dear
sir. With
no jury
or judge,
would
be wast-
ing our
breath.'
`I'll be
judge,
I'll be
jury,'
said
cun-
ning
old
Fury:
`I'll
try
the
whole
cause,
and
con-
demn
you to
death'."
```

Alice in Wonderland was published a few years before the typewriter was invented. Therefore, it can be considered as one of the first printed text art creations.

Concrete poetry and typography continues today as evidenced by this modern 1997 example created by 'Donovan' (Xdonovan@misslink.net ICQ#: 812836):

```
The Dolphins' Way,
In Me Aspirations of the living
sea The dolphins do move within me The aura of
their soul, I feel deep down To be in the water
and not on ground Sifting through the
ocean, an expressing show Communi-
cation of a song and a blow Pro-
tecting even those not of their
kind They ask nothing in return,
they do not mind The most gracious
and unselfish of all that wander I
wish to swim with them, nothing could
be fonder The dolphins mean so much
to me, you see I need to thank them,
for showing us how to be (Donovan 1997)
http://www.misslink.net/donovan/
```

## TEXT AS PICTURES -- TYPEWRITER

To many people, Christopher Latham Sholes is considered to be the inventor of the modern typewriter. His first machine was completed in September of 1867. E. Remington & Sons manufactured the typewriter in 1874. The keyboard has changed many times but the basic characters remains. There is an extensive history to the evolution of the typewriter. Visit a very informative web site which identifies the history of the typewriter:

http://home.earthlink.net/~dcrehr/.

Typewriter-Related Links -history, keyboard, fonts, and more
http://xavier.xu.edu:8000/~polt/tw-links.html

Since 1867, people have used the typewriter not only for printing manuscripts but creating works of art. In the 1890s, typewriter manufacturers and secretarial agencies organized public speed typing competitions. They also organized competitions for typewriter drawings. The earliest preserved example of typewriter art was made in 1898 by a woman named Flora Stacey. Not much is known about Flora Stacey except that she was probably a secretary. Her framed picture of a butterfly was published in the October 15th, 1898, edition of Pitman's Phonetic Journal.

The entire rendering of this picture was created with the typewriter -- yes, even the butterfly! The butterfly is composed of brackets, hyphens, points, oblique strokes, a single asterisk, and several "o"s.

=> ./ascii_history_jgs/typebutterfly.jpg typewriter butterfly

The journal commented:

> "We think it will be generally admitted that the illustration is in the highest degree creditable to the artistic ability, skill and patience of the lady, and to the unique capabilities of the Bar-lock for this class of work. It may be noted that in competitions for typewriter drawings Miss Stacey has been extremely successful.... An outsider, or one unaccustomed to the use of the typewriter, can scarcely realise what an expenditure of time and patience is necessary in order to successfully execute one of these curious drawings. The paper has, of course, to be turned and re-turned, and twisted in a thousand different directions, and each character and letter must strike precisely in the right spot. Often, just as some particular sketch is on the point of completion, a trifling miscalculation, or the accidental depression of the wrong key, will totally ruin it, and the whole thing has to be done over again."

This brief synopsis describes some of the negative and positive aspects of typewriter art. First of all, once a mistake is made, it generally can not be corrected. There are no delete or overwrite keys on a typewriter. Secondly, the positioning of paper can be crucial. One slip and the typewritten picture may be ruined.

There are a number of techniques available to the typewriter artist that are not available to the ASCII keyboard artist. A typewriter artist can manipulate the sheet of paper in various directions and angles. The characters can be spaced in any way -- often overstriking another character or "half-spacing" to achieve a special effect. Typewriter art offers more flexibility and variation than the computer ASCII art. However, ASCII art is much more forgiving.

Typewriter art was a popular art medium in the 1950s to the 1970s. There are many wonderful examples of typewriter art found in Alan Riddell's book, Typewriter Art (London, 1975). Some of the images are colorized by using tinted ink ribbon. Several of the images are abstract. A few of the images are portraits (Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, Gandhi, Winston Churchill, and Henri Chopin). All of the pictures are superb. There is a listing of over 60 typewriter artists who have contributed to this 100+ image collection, one of whom is Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic.

I found the Henri Chopin portrait most clever as the image was created using only the letters of his name "henri chopin". The background of this 1974 image repeatedly spells out "audiopoems". The text artist is Robert Morgan. He created the image as a design for the sleeve of Henri Chopin's record entitled "Audiopoems" -- Tangent Records. (anyone else remember records and record sleeves?)

( View the picture -- notice the overstriking technique that results in shading of the image -- Robert Morgan's "Henri Chopin" )

=> ./ascii_history_jgs/chopin.jpg Robert Morgan's "Henri Chopin

us both go

to law: _I_

will prose-

cute _you_.--

Come, I'll

take no de-

nial: We

must have

the trial;

For really

this morn-

ing I've

nothing

to do.'

Said the

mouse to

the cur,

`Such a

trial, dear

sir. With

no jury

or judge,

would

be wast-

ing our

breath.'

`I'll be

judge,

I'll be

jury,'

said

cun-

ning

old

Fury:

`I'll

try

the

whole

cause,

and

con-

demn

you to

death'."

```

Alice in Wonderland was published a few years before the typewriter was invented. Therefore, it can be considered as one of the first printed text art creations.

Concrete poetry and typography continues today as evidenced by this modern 1997 example created by 'Donovan' (Xdonovan@misslink.net ICQ#: 812836):

```

The Dolphins' Way,

In Me Aspirations of the living

sea The dolphins do move within me The aura of

their soul, I feel deep down To be in the water

and not on ground Sifting through the

ocean, an expressing show Communi-

cation of a song and a blow Pro-

tecting even those not of their

kind They ask nothing in return,

they do not mind The most gracious

and unselfish of all that wander I

wish to swim with them, nothing could

be fonder The dolphins mean so much

to me, you see I need to thank them,

for showing us how to be (Donovan 1997)

http://www.misslink.net/donovan/

```

## TEXT AS PICTURES -- TYPEWRITER

To many people, Christopher Latham Sholes is considered to be the inventor of the modern typewriter. His first machine was completed in September of 1867. E. Remington & Sons manufactured the typewriter in 1874. The keyboard has changed many times but the basic characters remains. There is an extensive history to the evolution of the typewriter. Visit a very informative web site which identifies the history of the typewriter:

http://home.earthlink.net/~dcrehr/.

Typewriter-Related Links -history, keyboard, fonts, and more

http://xavier.xu.edu:8000/~polt/tw-links.html

Since 1867, people have used the typewriter not only for printing manuscripts but creating works of art. In the 1890s, typewriter manufacturers and secretarial agencies organized public speed typing competitions. They also organized competitions for typewriter drawings. The earliest preserved example of typewriter art was made in 1898 by a woman named Flora Stacey. Not much is known about Flora Stacey except that she was probably a secretary. Her framed picture of a butterfly was published in the October 15th, 1898, edition of Pitman's Phonetic Journal.

The entire rendering of this picture was created with the typewriter -- yes, even the butterfly! The butterfly is composed of brackets, hyphens, points, oblique strokes, a single asterisk, and several "o"s.

=> ./ascii_history_jgs/typebutterfly.jpg typewriter butterfly

The journal commented:

> "We think it will be generally admitted that the illustration is in the highest degree creditable to the artistic ability, skill and patience of the lady, and to the unique capabilities of the Bar-lock for this class of work. It may be noted that in competitions for typewriter drawings Miss Stacey has been extremely successful.... An outsider, or one unaccustomed to the use of the typewriter, can scarcely realise what an expenditure of time and patience is necessary in order to successfully execute one of these curious drawings. The paper has, of course, to be turned and re-turned, and twisted in a thousand different directions, and each character and letter must strike precisely in the right spot. Often, just as some particular sketch is on the point of completion, a trifling miscalculation, or the accidental depression of the wrong key, will totally ruin it, and the whole thing has to be done over again."

This brief synopsis describes some of the negative and positive aspects of typewriter art. First of all, once a mistake is made, it generally can not be corrected. There are no delete or overwrite keys on a typewriter. Secondly, the positioning of paper can be crucial. One slip and the typewritten picture may be ruined.

There are a number of techniques available to the typewriter artist that are not available to the ASCII keyboard artist. A typewriter artist can manipulate the sheet of paper in various directions and angles. The characters can be spaced in any way -- often overstriking another character or "half-spacing" to achieve a special effect. Typewriter art offers more flexibility and variation than the computer ASCII art. However, ASCII art is much more forgiving.

Typewriter art was a popular art medium in the 1950s to the 1970s. There are many wonderful examples of typewriter art found in Alan Riddell's book, Typewriter Art (London, 1975). Some of the images are colorized by using tinted ink ribbon. Several of the images are abstract. A few of the images are portraits (Queen Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, Gandhi, Winston Churchill, and Henri Chopin). All of the pictures are superb. There is a listing of over 60 typewriter artists who have contributed to this 100+ image collection, one of whom is Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic.

I found the Henri Chopin portrait most clever as the image was created using only the letters of his name "henri chopin". The background of this 1974 image repeatedly spells out "audiopoems". The text artist is Robert Morgan. He created the image as a design for the sleeve of Henri Chopin's record entitled "Audiopoems" -- Tangent Records. (anyone else remember records and record sleeves?)

( View the picture -- notice the overstriking technique that results in shading of the image -- Robert Morgan's "Henri Chopin" )

=> ./ascii_history_jgs/chopin.jpg Robert Morgan's "Henri Chopin