Cobbing, Bob

(1920-2002)

   Born in Enfield, Middlesex, he trained as an accountant, then as a teacher. In the mid-1950s he was involved with the Hendon Experimental Art Club and the Hendon-based magazine And, then later, with the setting up of the Writers Forum in 1963. He left teaching to manage Better Books on Charing Cross Road, London. In the early 1970s the Poetry Society allowed Cobbing to use its facilities and his own equipment to allow anyone to print their own book of poetry. He was co-founder of the Association of Little Presses. Much of his later work consists of visual texts, anything that was readable as a sign on the page. His obituary was written by Robert Sheppard in the Guardian, Monday, 7 October 2002. Some of his publications: A B C D Sound Poem Sequence, 1965. So Six Sound Poems, 1968. Etcetera: A New Collection of Found and Sound Poems, 1970. Chronology Sound Poetry, 1974. Cygnet Ring Collected Poems, 1977. Concerning Concrete Poetry, 1978. Vowels Consequences Collected Poems. 1985. Some of his poems: "Alphabet of Fishes," "Beethoven Today," "Bird Bee," "Hymn to the Sacred Mushroom," "Worm."

   Sources: Anthology of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry. Keith Tuma, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001. Bob Cobbing Publications: Bob Cobbing Author Page (http://wings.buffalo.edu/epc/authors/cobbing/cobbingpub.html). For an example of Cobbing's work see (http://www.artpool.hu/kepkolteszet/Cobbing.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New British Poetry, 1968-88. Gillian Allnutt, Fred D'Aguiar and Ken Edwards, eds. Grafton Books, 1989. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).