National Letters: Languages and Scripts as Nation-building Tools, 384 pages, 110×180 mm, Fourth edition, 300 copies, ISBN: 978-80-11-03522-8
National Letters is the first book published by Letter Books. 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.
Edited and Designed by Marek Nedelka
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
Translations by Ian Mikyska and Sam Mackay
Copy-editing and proofreading by Aren Ock
Co-published with UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague)
$32 + shipping
Mysterious Letters: Language, Science, and the Voynich Manuscript, 168 pages, 110×180 mm, First edition, 300 copies, ISBN: 978-80-11-03523-8
Mysterious Letters is a private investigation into the unsolved mysteries surrounding the Voynich Manuscript. The manuscript is considered to be a “UFO of a book world” as it was written in an unknown language and script, in an unknown location in the 15th century. The book features interviews and essays from various experts in different fields, all pondering the question of what it means to encounter something that remains beyond our comprehension in a world where all information and knowledge seem to be readily available.
Edited and Designed by Anežka Minaříková & Marek Nedelka
Essays by Anežka Minaříková, Arnošt Vašíček
Interviews and Conversations with Ivan Zelinka, Vladimír Matlach, Barbora Anna Janečková, and Reed Johnson
Copy-editing and proofreading by Aren Ock
Letter Books is a small publishing imprint founded by Marek Nedelka in 2019. The main focus is on language, writing systems, and typography.
If you are interested in purchasing books for your bookshop or want to inquire about workshops and presentations, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or Instagram.
Past events:
Letter Books as an Extension of a Design Practice
Presentation at Pratt Institute
November 2024
The Book as a UFO (Mysterious Letters)
Presentation at GHMP Art Book Fair 2024, Prague
September 2024
Mysterious Letters: Language, Science, and the Voynich Manuscript
Launch and Presentation at Molasses Books, New York
November 2023
National Letters: Languages and Scripts as Nation-building Tools
Presentation at Type@Cooper, New York
November 2023
Imagining Letters: Languages and Scripts as Emancipatory Tools
Presentation at ENSBA, Lyon
March 2021
National Letters: Languages and Scripts as Nation-building Tools
Presentation at Printed Matter, New York
April 2020
National Letters: Languages and Scripts as Nation-building Tools
Launch and Presentation at Inga, Chicago
March 2020