Indiana State University Library

The department is pleased to be a repository for the publications of Obscure Publications, a small press which marries beautiful designs with intriguing texts. The following works are listed in the order of publication. The works were issued in editions of 60 copies except when indicated otherwise. Many are illustrated and signed by the author. In fact, the logo used on the back cover of OP publications was designed by OP author Eric Basso.

A brief biography of editor & publisher Paul Rosheim is available. In addition, various photographs from a fall 2002 exhibit, "Inventive Writing, Exquisite Design: Obscure Publications," may be viewed on this page along with other photographs, including one from the OP Multimedia Event featuring Kirpal Gordon and Greg Boyd, which occurred on March 29, 2003, in New York.

OP books are being cataloged and kept together in the Rare Books Collection. Searching on the phrase "Obscure Publications" in the advanced search module of Fusion, the online public access catalog, will retrieve records of all cataloged titles. It should be noted that the entries for the Eric Basso Anonym chapbooks are listed below by their cover titles. The record gives cover titles as an alternate form, instead showing the title which appears on the title page of each work as the actual, or main, title of the record. Each chapbook represents a chapter of a novel. A complete listing of Anonym title page records for this unique work is available on a separate page.

Authors or agencies holding the copyright of some of these works have agreed to their publication, or distribution, via the Internet by Indiana State University Library. Indiana State University Library is excited about hosting these publications and providing them in the PDF format. To view an image of the cover of any of the books, click on the title in the series listing. To retrieve a printable version of the text which may also be read on your monitor, click on the PDF link. You will need the current version of Acrobat Reader to view recently added chapbooks. You may obtain this free software from Adobe.com and mirror sites.

Images of all OP book covers may be viewed together via series cover links below. In addition, a separate artwork page featuring selected original compositions by OP artists is available. At this time, work by Rikki Ducornet, Amy England, Joel Lipman, and Franciszka Themerson is featured.

After ten years of monthly projects, the publisher has decided to cease produciton of the OP series. He would like to thank the Cunningham Memorial Library at Indiana State University for its support and each OP contributor for participating.

First Series

1. Paul Rosheim. Fishslices. 2000. 20 copies. Cover colors vary by copy. [Second edition, 2003: 20 copies. PDF]
2. Peter Ruric (Paul Cain). The Tasting Machine. 2000. 25 copies. [Second edition, 2002: 30 copies; third edition, i.e., second printing of 2nd ed., December 2002: 30 copies.]
3. Eric Basso. A New Shade of Gray. 2000. PDF
4. Raymond Queneau. Five Stories. 2000. Tr. Barbara Wright.
5. Robert Walser. The Nimble and the Lazy. 2000. Tr. Tom Whalen, Annette Wiesner, and Susan Bernofsky. Cover photograph of Walser in the collection of Carl Seelig-Stiftung.
6. Tom Whalen.The Wrong Mistake. 2001.
7. Greg Boyd. The Nambuli Papers. 2001.
8. Harry Mathews. Calibrations of Latitude. 2001. Cover art by Rebecca Lillard Evert. PDF
9. Stephen-Paul Martin. Pictures of Nothing. 2001. PDF
10. Kirpal Gordon. Jazz Tales from The Ghost Realms. 2001. Cover art by Rebecca Lillard Evert after a photograph by Sandra Russell Clark. PDF
11. Dallas Wiebe. Prolegomena to the Study of Apocalyptic Hermeneutics. 2001.
12. Tom Whalen. The Baby. 2001.
13. Tom Whalen. Report from the Dump. 2001.
14. Harold Jaffe. Son of Sam. 2001. Illustrations by Joel Lipman. PDF
15. Tom Whalen. The Internecine Wars. 2001.
16. Eric Basso. Actinic Light. 2001.
17. Eric Basso. Anonym: 4.1 - 4.10. 2001.
18. Tom Whalen. Concerning the Vampire. 2001.
19. Tom Whalen. Twenty-Six Novels. 2001.
20. Stefan Themerson. Fragments from Darkness. 2001. Tr. Barbara Wright. Illustrated by Franciszka Themerson. PDF
21. Stefan Themerson. Critics and My Talking Dog. 2001. Essay by Nick Wadley. Illustrated by Franciszka Themerson. PDF
22. Franciszka Themerson. A View of the World. 2002. PDF
23. Christopher Middleton. Crypto-Topographia: Selected Stories of Secret Places. 2002.
24. Georges Perec. Attempt to Exhaust a Parisian Spot. 2002. Tr. Mary Folliet. Cover art by Rebecca Lillard Evert. [Second edition, 2004: 60 copies.]

Second Series

1. Eric Basso. Distant Voices: French Poetry in Translation. 2002. PDF
2. Eric Basso. Anonym: 5.1 - 5.10. 2002.
3. Kirpal Gordon. Round Earth: Open Sky. 2002. Pictographs by Jesse Brewer McGraw. PDF
4. Stephen-Paul Martin. Collapsing into a Story. 2002. PDF
5. Tom Whalen. The Cosmic Messenger. 2002.
6. Tom Whalen. Memoirs from a Mousehole. 2002.
7. Eric Basso. Anonym: 6.1 - 6.10. 2002.
8. Eric Basso. Anonym: 7.1 - 7.10. 2002.
9. Cecil Helman. That Girl on the Aeroplane: Prose Poems. 2002.
10. Greg Boyd. The Tide Writers: Part Three of The Nambuli Papers. 2002.
11. Rikki Ducornet. Two Fictions: With a Tip of the Hat to Borges. 2002. PDF
12. René Daumal. Le Contre-Ciel: The Anti-Heaven, Part One. 2002. 70 copies. Tr. Jordan Jones.
13. René Daumal. Le Contre-Ciel: The Anti-Heaven, Parts Two & Three. 2003. 70 copies. Tr. Jordan Jones.
14. Cydney Chadwick. Under the Sun. 2003. Cover and text art by Meg Hitchcock. PDF
15. Lawrence Fixel. All This Is Here. 2003. Cover art by Greg Boyd.
16. Dallas Wiebe. Vibini in the Underworld. 2003. 72 copies. Illustrations by Joel Lipman.
17. Kirpal Gordon. Traces of Love. 2003. Cover art by James "Dusty" Pendleton. PDF
18. Tom Whalen. Quantum Surge in O Central. 2003. Cover photo by Oliver Wetterauer. PDF
19. Harold Jaffe. Nazis, Sharks & Serial Killers. 2003. Cover and other artwork by Katana Blue. PDF
20. Eric Basso. Revagations: Dreams, 1966-19. 2003.
21. Mel Freilicher. The Unmaking of Americans. 2003. Title page illustration by Rebecca Lillard Evert. PDF
22. Kirpal Gordon. Swingin': More Jazz Tales from the Ghost Realms. 2003. Cover art and illustration by Rebecca Lillard Evert. PDF
23. Pierre Albert-Birot. 31 Pocket Poems. 2003. Tr. Barbara Wright. PDF
24. Robert Walser. Nine Stories. 2003. Tr. Christopher Middleton. Cover and interior illustrations by Nick Wadley.
25. Stefan Themerson. Six Short Texts. 2004. Illustrated by Franciszka Themerson. PDF
26. Jordan Jones. Selections from The Wheel. 2004. PDF

Third Series

1. Dallas Wiebe. Skyblue's Memoirs: Selections. 2003. Cover and other artwork by M. Kasper. PDF
2. James Sallis. My Tongue in Other Cheeks. 2003. PDF
3. Kirpal Gordon. Against the Grain: Music, Memory & the 'Merican Way. 2003. PDF
4. Charles Borkhuis. The Sound of Fear Clapping. 2003. PDF
5. Catherine Kasper. Optical Projections: Short Stories. 2004. Photographs by Amy England.
6. Ted Stimpfle. Understudies. 2004. Drawings by Seann Mccollum. PDF
7. Stephen-Paul Martin. A New Kind of Happiness. 2004. PDF
8. Eric Basso. Anonym: 1.1 - 1.10. 2004.
9. Eric Basso. Anonym: 2.1 - 2.10. 2004.
10. Eric Basso. Anonym: 3.1 - 3.10. 2004.
11. Richard Martin. Sideways. 2004. Cover art by Tom Haines. PDF
12. Tom Whalen. Strange Alleys: Prose Poems. 2004. Illustrations by Nick Wadley. [Second printing, September 2004: 20 additional copies.]
13. Eric Paul Shaffer. You Are Here. 2004. PDF
14. Opal Louis Nations. The Once Upon a Time Stories. 2004. Illustrations by Joel Lipman. 72 copies. PDF
15. Greg Boyd and Paul Rosheim, eds. The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder: A Prose Poem Anthology. Part 1. 2004. Contributors: Lawrence Fixel, Robert Bly, Cecil Helman, and Tom Whalen.
16. Greg Boyd and Paul Rosheim, eds. The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder: A Prose Poem Anthology. Part 2. 2004. Contributors: Greg Boyd, Nin Andrews, Dallas Wiebe, Ian Robinson, James Sallis, Peter Johnson, and Russell Edson.
17. Rikki Ducornet. The Deep Zoo: Two Essays. 2004. PDF
18. Amy England. Broody Yaga & The Wheel of Shadows. 2005.
PDF
19. Frederick Dawson. Cyclicist Dreams: 1969-1976. 2005. PDF
20. Nick Wadley. Mind's Eye: Poems and Drawings. 2005. PDF
21. Paul Rosheim, ed. Merlin: Selected Stories. 2005. Contributors: Alfred Chester, P.W. Bowles, Alexander Trocchi, and Cleveland Moffett.
22. Terry Southern. The Donkey and the Darling. 2005.
23. Tom Whalen. The Spectral University: A Memoir of the Late Sixties. 2005. PDF
24. Eric Basso. Anonym: 8.1 - 8.10. 2005.
25. Stefan Themerson. The Finishing School and Chapter 18. 2005. PDF
26. Kirpal Gordon. X Country: Touring the Nation with Jazz & Poetry, Election Season '04. 2005. PDF

Fourth Series

1. Raymond Queneau. A Fish's Life: Being the First Chapter of Saint Glinglin. 2005. 70 copies. Tr. Barbara Wright. Cover design and interior artwork by Stanley Chapman.
2. Dallas Wiebe. The Notebook of Laura Bonair and Other Stories. 2005. 72 copies. Cover design and interior artwork by Joel Lipman. PDF
3. Dallas Wiebe. Fer Fio's Journey: Two Fantasies. 2005. 72 copies. Cover design and interior artwork by Joel Lipman. PDF
4. Dallas Wiebe. The White Book of Life: Two Reminiscences. 2006. 72 copies. Cover design and interior artwork by Joel Lipman. PDF
5. Eric Basso. After Silence / The School of Darkness: Poems, 2003-2005. 2006. Cover illustration based on a photograph of John Arbelada. PDF
6. Stephen-Paul Martin. Apparently. 2006. PDF
7. Richard Martin. Obstinate Midgets. 2006. Cover art by Tom Haines. Photograph by Bern Mulligan. PDF
8. Eric Basso. Decompositions: Essays on Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Paul Valéry, Alfred Jarry. 2006.
9. Opal Louis Nations. Etiquette for Ladies and Gentlemen of Good Society. 2006. Illustrations by M. Kasper. PDF
10. Nick Wadley. The Way It Is. 2006. 72 copies. PDF
11. Greg Boyd. Chakannah. 2006. PDF
12. Alfred Schwaid. Poise and Counterpoise. 2006. Cover illustration by Yves Budin. PDF
13. Stefan Themerson. General Piesc or the Case of the Forgotten Mission. 2006. PDF
14. Joel Lipman. Ransom Notes. 2006. PDF in color
15. Raymond Queneau. Exercises in Style. 2006. 70 copies. Radio version and introduction by Barbara Wright. Images by Stefan Themerson.
16. Tom Whalen. Green Man and the Priests. 2007. 70 copies. Drawings by Nick Wadley.
17. Barbara Wright. Raymond Queneau, Novelist. 2007.
18. Stefan Themerson. The Bone in the Throat. 2007. Images by Franciszka Themerson. PDF
19. Terry Southern. Puritan Porn. 2007. 80 copies. Illustrations by Norman Conquest.
20. Louis de Cahusac. Double Game: A Libertine Tale. 2007. 70 copies. Tr. Kate Deimling. Illustrated by Gena Oppelt. PDF
21. Kirpal Gordon. Hoo-Doo Mudras. 2007. 70 copies. Cover images by Yves Budin. PDF
22. Eric Paul Shaffer. Road Sign Suite: Across America and Again. 2007. Book & cover design by Jordan Jones & the author. PDF
23. Derek Pell. The Art of Romance Writing in America & Other Texts. Issued as a double book with: Norman Conquest. A Beginner's Guide to Art Deconstruction & Other Works. 2007. PDF
24. Stefan Themerson. The Chair of Decency. 2007. PDF

Fifth Series

1. Alexander Trocchi. Three Early Stories. 2008. Cover illustration by Gena Oppelt.
2. Tom Whalen. "What an Edifice of Artifice!": Russell H. Greenan's It Happened in Boston? 2008. Cover by Tom Whalen and book design by Annette Wiesner.
3. Eric Basso. Shoals / Petroglyphs: Poems, 2007. 2008. PDF
4. Derek Pell. Lost in Translation & Other Works, An Oulipian Collaboration: Alphonse Allais/Derek Pell. 2008.
5. Dallas Wiebe. Home on the Range and Other Stories. 2008. Cover and title page designs by Norman Conquest. PDF
6. David Vancil. Night Photo. 2008. Cover by Erin Allison. PDF
7. Stephen-Paul Martin. Safety Somewhere Else. 2008. Cover drawing by Franciszka Themerson. PDF
8. Kirpal Gordon. Ghost in the Gone Realms. 2008. Cover image by James Pendleton. Photography by Laura Carrigan. PDF
9. Catherine Kasper. Hovering. 2008. 70 copies. Cover photography by Toshiko Okanoue.
10. Tom Whalen. It's What We Do Best: Essays on War Films by Godard, Malick, and Carpenter. 2009. 70 copies. Cover and book design by Annette Wiesner. PDF
11. Stefan Themerson. A Few Letters from the 1950s: Selected Correspondence with Lars Gustav Hellström and Bertrand Russell. 2009. Cover self-portrait by S. Themerson. PDF
12. Nick Wadley. Man + Doctor: Drawings above the Horizontal. 2009. PDF
13. Eric Basso. Bestiary: Poems 2008. 2009. PDF
14. Alfred Schwaid. The American Songbook. 2009. Cover design by Norman Conquest. PDF
15. Mel Freilicher. Stories We Tell Ourselves. 2009. 72 copies. Illustrations by Joel Lipman. PDF
16. Eric Paul Shaffer. Restoring Lady Liberty. 2009. Book and cover design by Jordan Jones and the author. PDF
17. Stefan Themerson. Geometry of Satire and Non Sequitur. 2009. PDF
18. Alfred Schwaid. This Moonlit and Dream-Visited World. 2009. Cover by Derek Pell. PDF
19. Tom Whalen. Walser Wandering. 2009. Cover by Tom Whalen and book design by Annette Wiesner.
20. Nin Andrews. The Accidental Seduction. 2010. 75 copies. Cover by Greg Boyd.
21. Jorge Luis Borges. My Work in Prose: A Lecture Given in London, May 6, 1971. 2010. Introduction by Jasia Reichardt.
22. Jorge Luis Borges. My Life in Books: A Lecture Given in London, May 13, 1971. 2010. Introduction by Jasia Reichardt.
23. Eric Basso. Trimaldus / Reefs: Poems 2009. 2010. Cover montage by the author. PDF
24. Franciszka Themerson and Stefan Themerson. Cadaquès. 2010. Drawings by Franciszka Themerson. Text by Stefan Themerson. Introduction by Nick Wadley. PDF