''Pataphysical Hardware Company
by jwc 3o2
the ''Pataphysical Hardware Company was formed by bpNichol in may 1985 in practical homage to Alfred Jarry's Doctor Faustroll. it was launched in a demonstration booth at L'Affaire ''Pataphysique in Toronto, the catalogue containing a few more items than were actually produced in time for the fair (& leaving numerological room for many more). due to the nature of some of the publications, i asked if barrie'd mind if i did some of my own gruntwork with the devices (instead of always hieing over to his place to get him to put a sticker on something) & was taken on as official factotum.
barrie died in late september 1988, putting an end to his plans of producing any further items.
much was made of the PHC in critical work about bp but the material itself had only ever been displayed once & didn't really receive the distribution it deserved, a good chunk of stuff being swallowed up at L'Affaire & the rest going into a box in bp's closet, the only further distribution being Eleanor Nichol's donation of some of the backstock for inclusion in the grOnk MayDay Mailout anthology produced by Nicky Drumbolis & i (which didn't occur until 1994) & random sales of individual items by 2 booksellers: Nelson Ball & myself (through Room 3o2 Books).
in 1992, as my participation in the spring Toronto Small Press Book Fair, i took my position as factotum a step or 3 further & produced a few further items he'd already described in the Catalogue, as well as reprinting a handful of unavailable titles. the set here describes only these later issues not produced by Nichol.
