Bob Brown

Bob Brown was an American writer, poet, and publisher born in Oak Park, Illinois, on June 14, 1886, and he died in New York City on August 7, 1959. Across his long career he wrote in an astonishing range of forms, including magazine fiction, memoir, political writing, avant-garde literature, and cookbooks.

In the early 1900s he found commercial success with popular fiction, and later became part of the Greenwich Village arts scene. He was also a restless innovator: in the 1930s he became known for The Readies, a bold idea for a machine that would stream text for faster reading, making him seem strikingly ahead of his time.

Brown's later work ranged from experimental publishing through Roving Eye Press to practical, bestselling food books such as The Complete Book of Cheese. That mix of literary playfulness and everyday curiosity gives his work a special charm: he could be visionary and down-to-earth at the same time.