It’s true: I have to consolidate everything I own, including Alphabets merch, so this is your gift season bonanza. What about Indigo Sunday? Well, I hate Black Friday with a passion, so I’m offering an alternative, and indigo happens to be one of my favorite colors. (Or is it in fact several different colors?)
Hurry! Supplies, as they say, are limited. Prices do not include shipping, which will be calculated by a clever algorithm and added at checkout.
ALPHABETS MERCHANDISE
“Family tree” of alphabet evolution 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.
ONLY SIX LEFT
$7.50
Endangered Alphabets bandanna
The bandanna to outdo all other bandannas. You need one. Everyone you know needs one. Your dog needs one. Can also be used, in these challenging times, as a mask.
$6
Endangered Alphabets Mystery Tote Bag
Locally-made, hand-silk-screened tote bag (complete with the Alphabets logo in the endangered Manchu script) with at least two items of Endangered Alphabets merchandise, but you won’t know which. The anticipation may become unbearable.
$20
Custom fountain pen SOLD OUT
An utterly beautiful limited-edition fountain pen hand crafted in exquisite cherry wood, suitable for the finest calligraphy or simply to help rediscover the pleasure of writing by hand.
ONLY TWO LEFT $75 GONE
BOOKS
Endangered Alphabets Word Search Puzzles
Word search puzzles in a dozen endangered scripts. A perfect gift for the linguistically inclined puzzler. Complete with a short essay about each script included, and questions to ponder and discuss. Signed by, well, the author.
ONLY TEN LEFT $12
Writing Beyond Writing (paperback)
I’ve written 20 books, and this is by far the most original and groundbreaking in its thinking. Just check out the reviews. I mean, really. Signed. By the author.
Reduced to $20 for this sale only
Writing Beyond Writing (hardback)
The same remarkable book, but with the cover one associates with, well, hardbacks. Signed by the author himself.
Reduced to $27.50 for this sale only
CARVINGS
“Thank You All” in Ol Chiki script
The phrase “Thank you all” in the Santali language and the remarkable Ol Chiki script, one of the few indigenously-created scripts to win widespread acceptance and usage (in Jharkhand and Odisha). Approximately 40″x6″.
ONLY ONE $100
“Mother tongue” in Sylheti Nagri script
The phrase “mother tongue” in the Sylheti script of Bangladesh. Carved in amazing monkey pod wood, approximately 16″ x 8″.
ONLY ONE $250
Adinkra symbol Bi Nka Bi
One of the most famous and eye-catching Adinkra symbols, Bi Nka Bi (“Somebody should not bite somebody else”) represents two fish biting at each other’s tails. It is a symbol of justice, fair play, peace, harmony, and the avoidance of conflict or strife. Approximately 12″x6″
ONLY ONE $325
Manchu poem: flowers and moonlight SOLD
The vertical Manchu script, based on the traditional Mongolian script, is one of the most endangered in the world. This carving reads “Whenever I chanced upon blooming flowers and moonlight,” by the Manchu poet Jakdan. Carved in goncalo alves wood, 20″ x 10″
ONLY ONE $525. SOLD
Memorial to King Sri Satyavarmman
They don’t make scripts like this any more. This is the name of King Sri Satyavarmman who ruled the kingdom of Champa (now in Vietnam) in the eighth century, taken from his memorial stone. Carved in cherry, painted gold. 21″ x 16″.
ONLY ONE $595
Half-oval side table with Siddham script
A half-oval end table in claro walnut hand-carved with the Siddham syllable “Hum,” used in Shingon Buddhism for meditation. 32” x 22”
ONLY ONE $625
“Unchanging wellbeing” side table with Tibetan calligraphy
Without exaggeration, this is one of the most beautiful things I have ever made. Carved in amazing bubinga wood, this features the astonishing Tibetan calligraphy of the Buddhist monk Tashi Mannox, whose work is world-renowned. I can’t believe I’m even thinking of selling it, but such are the times. 31″x23″, standing 22″ high.
ONLY ONE, and a steal at $1250.
