Poemas V2 (1976) – New Old Stock | Ángel Carmona
Barcelona: Producciones Editoriales, 1976. First edition. Softcover in color pictorial wrappers with contents printed offset in black and white. 18 x 10cm. 126 pages. Edition size unknown. Full title: Poemas V2. Poesía compuesta por una computadora.
This is one of the earliest published volumes of computer poetry, and likely the first Spanish-language computer-generated book.
Ángel Carmona (1924–1997) was a Catalan writer and playwright who, improbably, embarked on an early project in computer poetry with programmers Pedro Crespo and José Joaquín Royo. Working in the RPGII programming language on an IBM machine, the trio spent three years developing their poetry generator, which operates over a context-free grammar containing sixteen sentence patterns and a vocabulary of 470 words. Poemas V2 compiles over a hundred pages of outputs produced by the generator.
The book itself has striking front and back covers, designed by Perez Sanchez. Evocatively, its computer-generated contents are printed in offset directly from the original fanfold computer printout, which was annotated by the author—some portions are even crossed out! Additionally, the book contains introductions by Carmona, Crespo, and publisher Jaime Rosal. Here, Rosal celebrates the release of the world’s first computer-generated book—a peculiar tradition of the genre—while Ángel and Crespo discuss technical details and aesthetic concerns.
Poemas V2 stands out as a peculiar entry in the Star Books series, a collection of counterculture publications by luminaries such Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Bob Dylan, which has earned a cult reputation in Spain. The series was edited by the aforementioned Rosal (who was Carmona’s friend) and Juan José Fernandez.
This title is fairly common in Spain, but difficult to obtain elsewhere. OCLC locates only thirteen copies.
Aleator Press has acquired Poemas V2 new old stock in the form of a stack of unsold copies that were stored for decades in the warehouse of a former bookseller in Valencia. Some of the copies have foxing to the text-block edges, and a few have price stickers on the covers; all of them are tight and unread. We will be packing these such that the earliest orders receive the best copies.
Barcelona: Producciones Editoriales, 1976. First edition. Softcover in color pictorial wrappers with contents printed offset in black and white. 18 x 10cm. 126 pages. Edition size unknown. Full title: Poemas V2. Poesía compuesta por una computadora.
This is one of the earliest published volumes of computer poetry, and likely the first Spanish-language computer-generated book.
Ángel Carmona (1924–1997) was a Catalan writer and playwright who, improbably, embarked on an early project in computer poetry with programmers Pedro Crespo and José Joaquín Royo. Working in the RPGII programming language on an IBM machine, the trio spent three years developing their poetry generator, which operates over a context-free grammar containing sixteen sentence patterns and a vocabulary of 470 words. Poemas V2 compiles over a hundred pages of outputs produced by the generator.
The book itself has striking front and back covers, designed by Perez Sanchez. Evocatively, its computer-generated contents are printed in offset directly from the original fanfold computer printout, which was annotated by the author—some portions are even crossed out! Additionally, the book contains introductions by Carmona, Crespo, and publisher Jaime Rosal. Here, Rosal celebrates the release of the world’s first computer-generated book—a peculiar tradition of the genre—while Ángel and Crespo discuss technical details and aesthetic concerns.
Poemas V2 stands out as a peculiar entry in the Star Books series, a collection of counterculture publications by luminaries such Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Bob Dylan, which has earned a cult reputation in Spain. The series was edited by the aforementioned Rosal (who was Carmona’s friend) and Juan José Fernandez.
This title is fairly common in Spain, but difficult to obtain elsewhere. OCLC locates only thirteen copies.
Aleator Press has acquired Poemas V2 new old stock in the form of a stack of unsold copies that were stored for decades in the warehouse of a former bookseller in Valencia. Some of the copies have foxing to the text-block edges, and a few have price stickers on the covers; all of them are tight and unread. We will be packing these such that the earliest orders receive the best copies.
Barcelona: Producciones Editoriales, 1976. First edition. Softcover in color pictorial wrappers with contents printed offset in black and white. 18 x 10cm. 126 pages. Edition size unknown. Full title: Poemas V2. Poesía compuesta por una computadora.
This is one of the earliest published volumes of computer poetry, and likely the first Spanish-language computer-generated book.
Ángel Carmona (1924–1997) was a Catalan writer and playwright who, improbably, embarked on an early project in computer poetry with programmers Pedro Crespo and José Joaquín Royo. Working in the RPGII programming language on an IBM machine, the trio spent three years developing their poetry generator, which operates over a context-free grammar containing sixteen sentence patterns and a vocabulary of 470 words. Poemas V2 compiles over a hundred pages of outputs produced by the generator.
The book itself has striking front and back covers, designed by Perez Sanchez. Evocatively, its computer-generated contents are printed in offset directly from the original fanfold computer printout, which was annotated by the author—some portions are even crossed out! Additionally, the book contains introductions by Carmona, Crespo, and publisher Jaime Rosal. Here, Rosal celebrates the release of the world’s first computer-generated book—a peculiar tradition of the genre—while Ángel and Crespo discuss technical details and aesthetic concerns.
Poemas V2 stands out as a peculiar entry in the Star Books series, a collection of counterculture publications by luminaries such Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Bob Dylan, which has earned a cult reputation in Spain. The series was edited by the aforementioned Rosal (who was Carmona’s friend) and Juan José Fernandez.
This title is fairly common in Spain, but difficult to obtain elsewhere. OCLC locates only thirteen copies.
Aleator Press has acquired Poemas V2 new old stock in the form of a stack of unsold copies that were stored for decades in the warehouse of a former bookseller in Valencia. Some of the copies have foxing to the text-block edges, and a few have price stickers on the covers; all of them are tight and unread. We will be packing these such that the earliest orders receive the best copies.