selected reading and writing
ninetyone to ninetysix


“During the first half of 1996 I edited and published a relatively extensive work, comprising nearly six hundred texts, ordered alphabetically. This work is a broad selection from the publications and their workings made during the period of the previous five or six years, along with unpublished texts and direct references or ‘readings’ that I felt informed my work. The texts are alphabetical: this is probably the most random form, all proximities are made and determined by spelling alone. While most entries consist of a single word or two, the texts vary in extent from a single two-letter word to passages of up to a hundred words; the accumulation and equality of structure and typography propose or imply a reading best described by drawing a parallel with the continual use, while listening, of the fast-forward and rewind buttons of a tape machine. The overall ‘meaning’ or subject of rereader is its entirety: the intention of its editing and format is to provide via the detail of the single part, and the relationship of each single part to the whole, some critical overview of the project of my work during the period.”

Published in Books by Artists, Bristol 1999.


Sources

a space… with moving.
Gertrude Stein.
after dyuerse…
William Caxton, from the
prologue to his translation
of Eneydos.
did it… / this is why…
Gertrude Stein After at Once.
if you… / to find…
John Aubrey The Naturall
Historie of Wiltshire
.
instead…
Febvre & Martin The Coming
of the Book
, from the section
on ‘The Chinese Precedent’.
it is almost…
W. H. Hudson British Birds.
itisstill…
Le Mans 24-hour race, live
commentary Simon Taylor.
research…
Paul Feyerabend Against
Method
.
succession…
S. W. Wooldridge and
G. E. Hutchings London’s
Countryside
.
‘…’ toy …
S. Vere Benson Birds.
the gate, …
Mark Jarman.
the practically…
William James Principles
of Psychology
.

a book a.
a concordance in which what good lies in accordance with the composition of the particular words.
a ka.
a space of time that is filled always filled with moving.
a space of time that is filled always filled with stopping and starting.
a toyot.
aa book.
aa road.
abandoned arterial road.
abc.
abstracted reading.
abstracted writing.
acoustic territory.
adopting a small concentrated position on the page.
after dyuerse werkes made translated and achieued, hauing noo werke in hande, i, sittyng in my studye
where as laye many dyuerse paunflettis and bookys … and whan i had aduysed me in this sayd boke,
i delybered and concluded to translate it in to englysshe, and forthwyth toke a penne and ynke, and wrote a
leefe or tweyne whyche i ouersawe agayn to corecte it … i haue reduced and translated this sayd booke in to
our englysshe, not ouer rude ne curyous, but in suche termes as shall be vnderstanden, accordynge to my
copye.
after william caxton.
ahead momentum that unarrested went.
air above car park, electrical transmission direction over.
air between train track bridge over river water; water flow, train direction, air between.
airdirection.
airtightribbon.
ak a.
alignment.
all around.
alsoknownasnodate.
alsoknownpublisheraspublisher.
alsopublisherknownaspublisher.
alternating structure.
ampless.
amplification.
an echo.
an ian allan book consisting of four sewn sections, totalling sixty four pages of text and thirty two pages of
plates; the sequence is section one sixteen pages text, section two from the centre comprises eight pages
plates, sixteen pages text, eight pages plates, section three is as section two and section four as section one.
annotation.
annual increment.
annual.
anon.
anonymous letters.
antiphone.
are moments single or double sided.
artificial j cloth page.
as at.
asymmetric parallel.
atoyot.
attacca.
audio typing.
authorplacedate.
automatic reading.
automaticket.
automaticticket.
axial reading.
backwards.
ballpointpenink.
before later.
bellringers former local number of telephone the the.
bespoke.
between the formats and structures of broadcasting and publication.
birdsong organ.
black board.
black line.
blind emboss bell.
blindindex.
blueblackink.
bob double.
book aa.
book of errors.
book of hours.
book of the year.
book of twenty four hours.
both, punctuated and unpunctuated transcipts.
bouncingballsinging.
boxingdayfoot ballprogramme.
broadcast of a recording.
broadcastconcertodoubleligetimonorecording.
broken copy.
butone.
butt on.
butting.
by a or by b.
byways.
carboncopies.
carriage.
carrying power of sound in downland air.
chalk board.
chalk relief.
chiffchaff variant.
chocolate glassine.
circar.
circuit permanent.
circular.
collective reader.
commentary.
consequential movement.
continuous stationary.
continuous stationery.
copybookhandwriting.
copyingpencil.
corkorrubberor.
correction tape typewriting.
country line.
country pylon.
county jigsaw.
coverseries.
cross country.
cutup.
dayreturn.
ddubdubb.
deadend.
deaf mute.
definition of noise level.
deletion of tape recording.
deletion of temporary typewriting.
descript.
did it seem a surprise the first time and the second time did it seem a surprise a second time and did it seem
a surprise a second time and did it seem a surprise the first time and the second time.
dip.
directional changes.
directional implication of page numbers.
dividing page eighty eight from page eighty nine; the small birds from the large birds, all the rest.
dn ms.
dot mapping.
dottedline.
double sided single moment.
driving small birds.
each day that trains run has a coloured background: no colour, no trains; no trains, no colour.
each individual moment or location is not fixed or balanced in a symmetrical equilibrium, but is constantly
fluctuating between a frontwards or backwards movement.
eachone.
ear defenders, percussion resisters, plugs, protectors and stops.
ear lye ngl ish tex tso cie ty.
edita.
edited out.
effect of light.
effect on paper.
eggcardboard.
egggreen.
emptypages.
ends of broadcast.
ends of publication.
enlarged reductions.
equator radio.
equator, red line.
eraser.
error.
estimated position after beginning.
estimated position before centre.
estimated position before end.
exindex.
extent.
f for forgery.
faded centre of page.
fake paperback.
false alphabet.
farfetch.
farfetched.
fforforgery.
fictionalmethod.
fieldbook.
figureofeight.
finish line.
first folio.
first one hundred words.
fixed positions.
floating floor.
floating frontispiece.
flowing over an eroded dotted line at the junction of two lanes after heavy rain.
folding map; printed blue water.
folding out thing.
following the line of least resistance, they naturally chose the shortest and easiest way from one place to the
next; they were used not made.
football pump.
for some time i had in my mind a hypothetical image of a toyota pick-up. driving in the country between
brecon and merthyr tydfil on an overcast may afternoon, we followed a red example south for five or six
miles on a rising and falling road—through woods and across open moorland, along the wooded slopes of a
reservoir and through the village of pontsticill in the parish of vaynor. the undulating line of six white letters
became a reference for both our relative distance and orientation.
formbook.
forward reading.
forwards.
found site homing drive.
fraction.
from the overall motorway to the detail of number plates to the overall motorway.
gas wks.
geographical frequency, makeshift landscape.
german radio.
gog.
gog gog.
gradual book.
gradual volume.
greenegg.
greenlandmap.
grid positions at start, ending at pole; finishing positions at line, ending at winner.
grip.
ground for all spreads, printed back to back as base for text.
half different half identical.
half pulling half pushing.
half title.
hand writing.
hedgebrown.
hedgerow.
here comes another one, there goes another one.
heterogeneous or homogeneous observation.
hhole.
highlight.
hijack.
historical frequency, makeshift landscape.
home taping.
hour of books.
hubbub.
i know you want us to hear something of the piece rota versatilis.
i spy the wheel.
if you let fall a stone into the water immediately it makes a little circle, then another bigger without that, and
so forth, till it touches the bank, and then it recoiles in a little circle, which generates other bigger circles; so
sounds move by sphaeres, in the same manner, which though obvious enough, i doe not remember to have
seen in any booke.
imaginary surveying.
imitation j cloth page.
in a live commentary the listener is the interpreter of an improvised narrative.
index as content.
index of probabilities.
indextent.
inkingin.
inkline.
inner sleeve.
inner space.
instead of being separate, the leaves are joined together along the outer edges, making an oblong which
opens like an accordian and which they called a whirling book; describing the rapidity with which the pages
could be turned backward and forward.
inverted alphabet.
invisible.
invisible line of air.
iota.
is this where we came in.
isolated moment.
isolated page.
it is almost possible to believe that the melody from this one species, actually equals in amount that from
all the other songbirds together.
it was so good i didnt have to print it twice.
it was so good i had to print it twice.
itisstilltoyotatoyotaatthefront.
j and l.
j cloth.
jack … jack.
japanese radio.
jy at sr or nr dr jy fy mh al my je.
jy fy mh al my je jy at sr or nr dr.
kazoo.
keyboard.
la ter eng lis hte xts oci ety.
landscape drawing with foreground scale.
lastpostal.
leaflet.
lengths of broken text.
letterspacing.
level.
library poster.
libraryradio.
like notes running.
line car.
line in both directions.
linear momentum.
linear nature of sound.
lines of various lengths drawn by pierro manzoni, piano rolls of various durations punched by conlon nancarrow.
localalphabet.
localglobal.
locational aggregate.
locations between two locations.
locator.
locomotor.
londonroad.
longoblong.
looking at bells ringing.
looking upstream with the carriers full of water, the drains at a lower level taking off the surplus.
loop.
looperaser.
lostatsea.
make up.
mappocket.
marginalmarks.
marker.
megaphone.
meter.
metre.
middle english.
mimicry of.
mirror reading.
mirror writing.
mirrorrim.
misprinted: read misread.
misspoken: hear mishear.
mistbook.
mistake.
mister and missus sprat, would eat no fat or lean.
mix.
mobil radio.
moist paper.
monodirectional.
monorecordingligetidoubleconcertobroadcast.
more alike.
motorless.
muted.
muttum.
mutual hijack.
naturenotes.
neither beat nor metre.
neither early nor late.
nest drawing.
nestlesson.
new building.
new title.
newword.
nineteen twentyfour and ninetyfive.
nineteennineteen.
no date.
no publisher.
noiselesson.
noiselevel.
nolesson.
nomansland.
non descript.
nonautomatic writing.
nonnonstop.
nonsequential redeployment of the complete narrative.
nonviolent translation.
not as yet misprinted variant.
notation.
oblongsong.
occuring once only.
old roadage.
old wordage.
on the circuit i can now see the headlights away to my right and here comes the queue of twenty nine cars
and the pace car has pulled off and the nineteen ninety two le mans twenty four hour race is on … and now
they are accelerating even on this final lap up to about a hundred and seventy miles an hour and now i look
down away to the finish line and as the time passes four o clock the race comes to an end.
one hundred mile per hour line.
one minute loop.
onebook.
only punctuation.
orange alternating yellow.
orange sugar paper.
ordinary notation.
orrubberorcork.
outerspace.
outline mapping.
outlying episode.
outside broadcast.
overhead pipeline.
overhead projection.
overlies.
overwriting.
paper dimensions and edges.
paper smoke.
parallel reading.
parallel writing.
parallelline.
part carry part drag.
part song setting.
part works.
partition.
pencil, typewriter; voice, kazoo.
pencilline.
penmotion.
period.
photo finish.
pickup tailflap.
pip.
placename farm.
plotpath.
pocket map.
pointer.
polar radio.
portreport.
potential reader.
preamble.
printed alike throughout.
printed mass.
printed: read misread.
pull.
pulleysteamdriveelectricaldriveenginedrivespringdriveweightdrivewaterdrivewinddrivefootdrivehanddrive
ballbearingrollerbearingbearingroundrubbertyreflatrubbertyrewirewheeldiscwheelcaterpillarwheelartillery
wheelflangedwheelmetalwheelwoodenwheelpullrollersspreadrollerssqueezerollersrollers.
punchholesin.
qa.
.radio
radio.
radio drawings.
radio picture library.
radio transcripts.
re ra rd rp ea ed ep ad ap dp.
re use.
read only memory.
readarp.
readerer.
readerseries.
readhear.
reading mirror.
readingaloud.
readyreckoner.
rebounding from a flat surface over which it is passing.
recorded music society.
recording of a broadcast.
relief relief.
repetition.
replacement papers for levelling staff.
reprint.
research programmes disappear not because they get killed in argument but because their defenders get
killed in the struggle for survival.
reverb.
reverber.
reversal of density.
reversal of migratory cycle.
reverse of radio.
reverse reading.
reversed, as well as forward chronology.
reversedindex.
ribbondevelopment.
ribbonwoundbobbin.
ricercar.
ricochet.
ridge and valley book.
roll.
rollerssqueezerollersspreadrollerspullrollerswoodenwheelmetalwheelflangedwheelartillerywheelcaterpillar
wheeldiscwheelwirewheelflatrubbertyreroundrubbertyrebearingrollerbearingballbearinghanddrivefootdrive
winddrivewaterdriveweightdrivespringdriveenginedriveelectricaldrivesteamdrivepulley.
rolleyes.
rota.
rotator.
rotor.
rubbish topography.
run on.
runnel.
runnellane.
runon.
safetycar.
safetypaper.
saturation of flat colour.
scale publishing.
scriptorium.
scroll, rolled strip.
scroll, unrolled strip.
seasonal increment.
seasonal track.
segue.
selectivindex.
sequential redeployment of the complete index.
shift.
short book.
shortwave directory.
shot to illegibility by repeated copying.
shuttle.
sidesaddle.
sight reading.
silencer.
silent reading.
simultaneous broadcast.
simultaneous publication.
singinging.
singlepole.
sleeve notes.
slipping.
small birds all flying up from.
small boards.
small hill model.
smallstreamconsecutiveinvertable.
some form.
some form, some form of woodland.
soundinsulation.
soundless publication.
speedread.
spiral from or to centre.
spiral from or to edge.
spoken alike throughout.
spoken: hear mishear.
spools.
sportsreports.
springs.
stammering diction.
stammering script.
stencil.
stereo pagination.
stop book.
stops.
strategic reading.
strip of text, tethered to each end of scroll.
succession is the intrinsic development whereby communities of increasing bulk and complexity, occupy
the site in gradual sequence, tending towards the ultimate establishment of a more or less stable community
known as the climax, which is dominated by the largest and particularly the tallest, and when these become
dominant the climax is some form of woodland.
support.
suspension of centrally strung texts.
swifts the the corridor flying in line of railway.
symmetrical reading.
'…' toy toy '…' nuthatch; a clear whistle, '…', and other ringing notes.
t xt nt.
tacho.
talk about but not mention.
temporary fence.
terraceconomy.
textent.
the asymmetry that leads from the beginning to the end of each word, sentence, paragraph and so on, simply
provides the formal direction.
the book as a reading system.
the gate,
the archway,
the transparent screen,
the division that does not divide.
the locatable present as a symmetrical centre, from which the past precedes and the future projects.
the practically cognized present is no knife edge, but a saddle back, with a certain breadth of its own on
which we sit perched, and from which we look in two directions into time. the unit of composition of our
perception of time is a duration, with a bow and a stern, as it were—a rearward and a forward looking end.
it is only as parts of this duration block that the relation of succession of one end to the other is perceived.
we do not first feel one end and then feel the other after it, and from the perception of the succession infer
an interval of time between, but we seem to feel the interval of time as a whole, with its two ends embedded
in it.
there goes another one, here comes another one.
there is usually three or four in a clutch, and often two or three clutches in the year. there is a variation in
the ground, from dirty white to buff. the markings vary a little more, consisting of black or pale pinkish-
brown lines or scribbles.
this direction.
this is where we came in.
this is why backwards and forwards is preferable to forwards and backwards and why backwards and
forwards if preferable. this is why backwards and forwards regularly forwards and backwards this is why
forwards and backwards regularly and backwards and forwards regularly. introduced into it by introducing
into it by introducing it into it by introducing into it by introducing backwards into it and forwards into it,
by introducing backwards and forwards into it by introducing into it by introducing backwards into it by
introducing forwards into it by introducing backwards and forwards into it.
threadless machine sewn increments.
throuout.
tillroll.
titlepublisher publishertitle.
to find the proportion of the downes of this countrey to the vales, i did divide speeds mappe of wiltshire with
a paire of cizars, according to the respective hundreds of downes and vale; and i weighed them in a curious
ballance of a goldsmith.
toi: to roof, welsh; to unroof: iot.
tolcis, trill: as if a detail from a local gazetteer; as such, both fragment and extent.
tombolo.
tonedeaf mutenote.
top from the.
toyot a.
toyota.
transcription.
transferpad.
translation from english to englysshe.
transposition.
twelvebytwentyone.
twentyonebytwelve.
two directions.
two locations between two locations.
two song settings constructed from their concordance.
twoway.
txtnt.
typewriterribbon.
typewritten strip, the two ends the same distance from the centre.
typing pool.
typingby.
tzara read aloud a newspaper article while an electric bell kept ringing so that no one could hear what was said.
unarrested momentum that went ahead.
unbroken copy.
uncut.
underbridgedetail.
underlies.
unheardwordspace.
unprinted mass.
unrecorded music society.
unrecorded oscillating movement.
unseen sight.
unutter.
up ms.
uselesslesson.
utter.
vanished translated novel title, arp and schwitters’ ‘franz müller’s wirespringtime’.
versus.
violent translation.
water on paper.
whirling.
white sugar paper.
white, unmarked.
whytoyota.
wirelesslesslessness.
withindex.
withoutit.
withoutpaperwork.
woodland reader.
woodnoteswild.
writing lark, scribbling lark or scribe.
writing mirror.
xray.
y of toyota as both symmetrical and asymmetrical pivot.
y tt.
yellow alternating orange.
yellow birdsnest.
yellow manilla.
yellow sugar paper.
yellowhammer.
yellowing of paper.
yett.
yettey.
z path z.