NEDELKA, Marek (ed.)
National Letters: Languages and Scripts as Nation-building Tools

National Letters travels through the episodes of the past in which letters, languages, and scripts played an important role in creating nation-states and national identities. Through four case studies (Turkey, Israel, Georgia, Ethiopia), the main body of the book explores four languages and nations which were each, against all odds and for various reasons, able to develop and maintain their writing system throughout their entire history, up to the founding of their nation-state. [publishers’ note]

Contributions and texts by Rusudan Amirejibi–Mullen, Ivo T. Budil, Birol Caymaz, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Marek Nedelka, William Safran, Emmanuel Szurek.

Postcard letterings by Jan Horčík, Seb McLauchlan, Anežka Minaříková, Jan Novák.

Co-published with UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague).

Published by Letter Books, 2023
Design by Marek Nedelka
Essays / Typography / Politics