The first acknowledged text-based art was crafted by Simmias of Rhodes, a 4th century scholar and poet. Simmias was also known for inventing the choriambic hexameter. Big deal.
Here’s one of his pieces, Hacha, a poem about a double-headed broadaxe in the shape of a double-headed broadaxe.
2400 years later Concrete Poetry would become a fad. Here’s the poem Swan and Shadow by John Hollander.
Again, big deal.
The History of Text-based Art 