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The Englishman who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects
by
John Tingey
The first impression of W. Reginald Bray (1879-1939) was one of an ordinary middle-class Englishman quietly living out his time as an accountant in the leafy suburb of Forest Hill, London. A glimpse behind his study door, however, revealed his extraordinary passion for sending unusual items through the mail. In 1898, Bray purchased a copy of the Post Office Guide, and bega...more
Hardcover, 176 pages
Published
September 22nd 2010
by Princeton Architectural Press
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Remarkable, fascinating, whimsical. Even heroic at some points. Admirable. Inspirationally creative. And what wonderful illustrations - that really adds to the story.
This book is as easily loved as a chocolate cream pie. By me anyway.
Great for anecdotal history lovers and avid postcard senders. Not suited for hard core historians that are easily bored with ordinairy life's chit chat, or looking for scientific proof on everything.
This book is as easily loved as a chocolate cream pie. By me anyway.
Great for anecdotal history lovers and avid postcard senders. Not suited for hard core historians that are easily bored with ordinairy life's chit chat, or looking for scientific proof on everything.
This book takes about half an hour to an hour to read, depending on the speed of reading and how long you choose to stare at the pictures. It's mostly a picture-book. The first half details the Englishman himself's love of playing with the post office: he writes things backwards (mirror-style), ships his dog, ships himself, ships a skull, collages things together, tries weird ways of sending things from other countries to himself, sews addresses into starched cloth and tries to send that, etc. T...more
A slight but amusing account of English eccentric W.R. Bray, a practitioner of proto"Mail Art" a half century before Ray Johnson 'invented' the genre. Nicely designed and illustrated with photographs of his postal relics , but frankly there's not much here in the way of aesthetics. Bray's preoccupation wasn't with art but with testing the mettle of the Royal Post by sending prank challenges through the mail -- cards with pictorial/rebus/versified addresses and the like. After successfully mailin...more
Oct 27, 2010
Ash
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
philatelists, mail artists, eccentrics
Recommended to Ash by:
New Yorker
Shelves:
history,
pretty-things
I simply loved, loved, loved this book. Not only is W. Reginald Bray a fascinating character-- a true English Eccentric-- but Princeton Architectural Press put together an incredibly beautiful book. The illustrations bring the text to life and gave me loads of creative ideas.
It's a short book-- most of the pages are dedicated to illustration-- but one that I'm sure I'll come back to for inspiration. It's not a detailed postal history, it's much more fun! I suggest you read it when you're feeling...more
It's a short book-- most of the pages are dedicated to illustration-- but one that I'm sure I'll come back to for inspiration. It's not a detailed postal history, it's much more fun! I suggest you read it when you're feeling...more
I picked up this book because, who wouldn't want to read about a man who tried to mail all sorts of cool things? The answer is, disappointingly, all of us.
The book, which has maybe 20 pages of text, is almost all images of the postcards and other artifacts from his life. Yes, what he did is curious and mildly interesting and would be well worth a magazine article or a human interest piece. But what he did is also shockingly wasteful of an decreasingly important civil service (he mailed himself t...more
The book, which has maybe 20 pages of text, is almost all images of the postcards and other artifacts from his life. Yes, what he did is curious and mildly interesting and would be well worth a magazine article or a human interest piece. But what he did is also shockingly wasteful of an decreasingly important civil service (he mailed himself t...more
A fascinating and beautifully designed examination of the origins of mail art and pushing the (literal) envelope of what could be accomplished through the post. However, probably due to the fact that the story is told mainly through artifacts, clippings, and family legend several decades removed, there is a certain soul lacking in this account. Was there a reason for Bray's obsession with manipulating the postal system? We'll never know.
John Tingey's The Englishman Who Mailed Himself and Other Curious Objects (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010) is a wonderful book for anyone interested in mail art, this guy was before Ray Johnson and did some fantastic mailings! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in mail art & postal art. The book is beautifully designed, full of illustrations!
The perfect book with which to start the year. John Tingey's beautifully written, beautifully designed and beautifully illustrated book chronicles the story of W. Reginald Bray (1879 - 1939), who tested the limits of postal regulations by sending different unwrapped objects - a turnip, a bowler hat, his terrier, and yes, himself - through the mail.
I love this biography. I don't like biographies, but this one was cool. Everyone's got to have a hobby, I guess, and posting strange objects and sending requests for autographs is just as good as any. Dude led and interesting life.
What made Englishman Bray tick? He could be like Willy Wonka, with a method to his madness, but we don't find out. The book, like a poorly-done museum, displays bewitching objects without illuminating them.
Loved this book. Reminds me of the times I would send items home to the small Kansas town where my parents lived. I would simply address the letter to Mom with the town name and zip code. They would always make it to the right place :-).
I love stories of individuals fascinated with odd pursuits. For W.R. Bray, the earliest pioneer of mail art, it was experimenting with the British postal service. [full review].
Delightful quick read with many fantastic pictures of Bray's collection. Great for people interested in the mail, collecting, and ephemera.
LOVED this book. Complete review at http://cineastesbookshelf.blogspot.com
The inventor of mail art.
Totally whimsical. And, it makes me want to send more postcards.
this man is my hero.
Super fun!
Mar 11, 2011
P.k. salter
added it
BEAUTIFUL!!
A fun read for anyone with the collecting bug.
Only took me about an hour to read this...more suited to a coffee table than a bookshelf. Based on the title I expected more stories about the interesting adventures of posting strange things in the mail, but that only occupied a fraction of the book. I imagine it would be more interesting to stamp-collectors and historians interested in the turn of the century era.
I was mostly interested in his successes exploiting the British postal system mailing things that one wouldn't think could be mailed (including himself) rather than the longer section about his collecting autographs. The illustrations are excellent.
Interesting to think of what he would have gotten up to had he lived in the Age of the Internet.
I hate to say this but it was only okay. I wanted to know EXACTLY how he posted his dog and himself. I raced through it maybe an hour of so.
May 22, 2013
Caligulove
marked it as to-read
May 12, 2013
Rachel
added it
Apr 30, 2013
Mberhault
added it
Apr 06, 2013
Kristina
marked it as to-read
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I'd go for that! And I love that you use it in a review.
Feb 27, 2011 11:06am
*leans back with a super-duper, megalomaniac desire for a huge piece of that!*
Feb 27, 2011 03:36pm