Bad Quarto is a private press (
listed in the International Register of Private Press Names) that produces work for fun, teaching, and exchange. Some publications are also offered for sale online (here at this site); online via the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA; and at the MIT Press Bookstore in Cambridge, MA. The printing/production of Bad Quarto book objects and other literary matter is done using various systems and equipment, including:
- An Adana Eight-Five platen press, first made 1953, from c. 1975
- The Espresso Book Machines of the Harvard Book Store & the MIT Press Bookstore
- Epson & Commodore dot-matrix printers
- Standard consumer laser printers
- Flat panel displays connected to Raspberry Pi Zero computers
- The World Wide Web hypertext system from c. 1990
for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
Sofian Audry, 2018–2019
5.5" × 8" × variable (272–282) pp. book, presenting the increasingly coherent results of a machine learning process that uses only Wuthering Heights as data.
31 unique books, produced on the MIT Press Espresso Book Machine.
$120.
Viral
Anthony Etherin, 2018–2019
A letterpress-printed palindrome contained in a 14ml polypropylene test tube.
Edition of 100.
$5.
Leaflet of Eden
Nick Montfort, 2017–2018
4.25" × 5.5" twice-folded leaflet with type-in computer program.
Edition of 50, numbered and signed by the author.
Printed on an Epson LX-800 printer using Lydia Davis’s Kaypro II.
$6.
Hard West Turn
Nick Montfort, 2018—
5" × 5" × 320 pp. computer-generated novel focused on gun violence in the United States, drawing on the English and Simple English Wikipedias.
This is the 2018 edition; Hard West Turn will be regenerated and published annually.
Edition of 13 (corresponding to the original 13 states) + 3 author’s proofs (red, white, and blue), numbered and signed by the author.
Copy-edited and designed by the proprietor; Produced on the MIT Press Bookstore Espresso Book Machine.
$130.
Type
Christian Bök & Nick Montfort, 2016–2018
Folio of three 3.5" × 8.5" sheets in gold-colored case, numbered and initialed by the authors.
Edition of 100 + 10 author’s proofs; Printed on the Adana Eight-Five.
$12.
Taper
Collectively edited, Spring 2017–
Web-based literary journal for short, computational work.
Sliders
Nick Montfort, 2017
5" × 5" × 40 pp. book of poetry, MIT Press Bookstore Espresso Book Machine.
$9.99.
Sold out.
Autofolio Babel
Nick Montfort, 2017
Unique book object. Standard/reused computer hardware, free software OS and custom free software program.
Megawatt
Nick Montfort, 2014
5.5" × 8.25" × 252 pp. book, Harvard Bookstore Espresso Book Machine.
$16.
World Clock
Nick Montfort, 2013
5.5" × 8.25" × 246 pp. book, Harvard Bookstore Espresso Book Machine.
$14.40.