Brown published A Vocabulary of Mute Signs in 1856, as well as ADictionary of Signs and of the Language of Action, for the Use of Deaf-Mutes, their Instructors and Friends; and, also, designed to facilitate to members of the Bar, Clergymen, Political Speakers, Lecturers, and to the Pupils of Schools, Academies, and Colleges, The Acquisition of a Natural, Graceful, Distinctive and Life-Like Gesticulation in 1860. Brown's works would be the only reference works on American Sign Language for decades.[1]