We try to offer Endangered Alphabets merchandise without trivializing either our mission or the cultures we support. So we don’t offer key chains or resin figurines, but we do need to create sources of income to support the Alphabets and be able to offer you items that convey the fascination and beauty of the world’s minority scripts.
All proceeds go to support the Endangered Alphabets Project.
Here are the Alphabets paraphernalia for sale at the moment:
Endangered Alphabets Sudoku
Twenty-four sudoku puzzles in twenty-four of the world’s minority scripts, with an introduction to each–why it is endangered, why it is fascinating. Some of these scripts (Balinese, Tifinagh, Syriac) may be familiar to you; others most assuredly will not! Challenging, educational, fun and terminally geeky. The perfect gift for the linguist and/or the puzzle fan in the family. $17.95. Order now!
This just in: “My sudoku-obsessed poet & editor mother is visiting, so I was able to give her the copy I’d ordered for her. She LOVES it! She’s carefully drawing out the symbols as she works out the puzzle, to learn a bit of the writing system as she does it. It’s lovely!” ON BACK ORDER
Evolution of the World’s Alphabets Poster
This is the poster the world has been eagerly awaiting for, lo, these last thousand years: a poster that tells the complete story of the evolution of the world’s writing systems in a simple, single, family-tree infographic. The result of a decade’s hard research and an afternoon’s scribbling on the back of an envelope, the poster finally answers the tough questions: Which script came first, High Attic, Low Attic, or Dark Attic? Did Post-Romantic evolve from Caustic, or was it the other way around? And where did Quadratic come from — Algebraic or Higher Mathematic? The 11″x17″ poster, elegantly designed by Alec Julien, our art director, appeared first on our social media and sparked, well, a frenzy of LOLs. So now you can order one for everyone you know who will likewise get the joke. $15.
Endangered Alphabets Bookmarks
The perfect stocking-stuffer for the literate and the well-travelled–a set of four bookmarks featuring carvings of the Baybayin (Philippines), Manchu (China), Nüshu (China) and Mongolian (Mongolia, China) scripts. $12 for four.
World Endangered Writing Day Poster
Show your support for the world’s indigenous and minority scripts and the cultures that are trying to revive them. This poster includes the word “Writing” in Kulitan, one of the traditional but marginalized scripts of the islands now called the Philippines–along with the sun image from the Philippines flag. Calligraphy by Michael Pangilinan. Design by Alec Julien. $18
