Preview our Spring 2020 catalog, featuring more than 500 new books on art, photography, design, architecture, film, music and visual culture.
FOUR CORNERS BOOKS
Eyeball Cards: The Art of British CB Radio Culture
Text by William Hogan. Photographs by David Titlow.
The late 1970s and early 1980s was the golden age of British Citizens Band (CB) radio. Legal to own but illegal to operate, a CB radio and an antenna could connect you to other users nearby, creating a community for anyone with a rig and a desire to shoot the breeze. Entirely social, separate from the more technical HAM radio scene, CB radio was for everyone.
The reach of the average set was only a few miles, but each local area had “breakers,” figures who would crossover the conversation into the next area and link ever-expanding social circles.
Every breaker had a “handle,” a pseudonym they used to identify themselves on air. These alternate identities could be amusing, fantastical, dark or bawdy, but they were always personal. Many breakers took this identity one step further and made business cards to exchange when they met up in person—Eyeball cards. With the Eyeball cards, the alternate identities and communities of the CB radio scene were made physical.
This publication, presenting hundreds of the funniest, strangest and most intriguing Eyeball cards from across the UK, is the first to document this unique subculture. The result is a window into an outpouring of creativity that prefigures online identities—social media handles before there was even an internet.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Eyeball Cards: The Art of British CB Radio Culture.'
in stock $30.00
Free Shipping
UPS GROUND IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. FOR CONSUMER ONLINE ORDERS
How we love Eyeball Cards,Four Corners Books’ perfectly out-of-left-field new collection of social / business cards made by users of British CB Radio in the “golden age” of the 1970s and early 80s. “Irreverent, coded and rich with playful imagery, the phrases of CB radio make up a pidgin language all of its own,” William Hogan writes. “When in full flow, it can include a heady mix of amateur radio’s Q code and elements of the police 10 code, but usually it’s a scattergun of accepted half-sense and carriageway wisdom.” Thus, “bubble trouble” means “tire problem.” “Pregnant rollerskate” equals “VW Beetle.” And “88s” stands for “kisses.” continue to blog
NEW YORK Showroom by Appointment Only 75 Broad Street, Suite 630 New York NY 10004 Tel 212 627 1999
LOS ANGELES Showroom by Appointment Only
818 S. Broadway, Suite 700 Los Angeles, CA 90014 Tel. 323 969 8985
ARTBOOK LLC D.A.P. | Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.
All site content Copyright C 2000-2017 by Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. and the respective publishers, authors, artists. For reproduction permissions, contact the copyright holders.
The D.A.P. Catalog www.artbook.com
Distributed by D.A.P.
FORMAT: Hbk, 6.25 x 8.75 in. / 192 pgs / 380 color / 24 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $30.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $40 ISBN: 9781909829084 PUBLISHER: Four Corners Books AVAILABLE: 2/27/2018 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ME
Eyeball Cards: The Art of British CB Radio Culture
Published by Four Corners Books. Text by William Hogan. Photographs by David Titlow.
The late 1970s and early 1980s was the golden age of British Citizens Band (CB) radio. Legal to own but illegal to operate, a CB radio and an antenna could connect you to other users nearby, creating a community for anyone with a rig and a desire to shoot the breeze. Entirely social, separate from the more technical HAM radio scene, CB radio was for everyone.
The reach of the average set was only a few miles, but each local area had “breakers,” figures who would crossover the conversation into the next area and link ever-expanding social circles.
Every breaker had a “handle,” a pseudonym they used to identify themselves on air. These alternate identities could be amusing, fantastical, dark or bawdy, but they were always personal. Many breakers took this identity one step further and made business cards to exchange when they met up in person—Eyeball cards. With the Eyeball cards, the alternate identities and communities of the CB radio scene were made physical.
This publication, presenting hundreds of the funniest, strangest and most intriguing Eyeball cards from across the UK, is the first to document this unique subculture. The result is a window into an outpouring of creativity that prefigures online identities—social media handles before there was even an internet.
