No single body of primary sources in the literary heritage of West Africa has attracted as much attention and attained as much celebrity as the fabled manuscripts of Timbuktu.

To Hell and Back!

These lively prints are from the series Libellus Novus Elementorum Latinorum by Polish goldsmith Jan Christian Bierpfaff (1600-ca.1690) and engraved by Jeremias Falck (1610–1677). These hugely imaginative, abstract and fluid prints come to life on the page. Bierpfaff worked as an apprentice at the Mackensen family of metalworkers in Kracow, a group, who, according … Continue reading "Bierpfaff’s Alphabet of Organic Type (c. 1650)" The post Bierpfaff’s Alphabet of Organic Type (c. 1650) appeared first on Flashbak.

My podcast cohost Agnes Callard has been thinking lately about why we don’t have more deep conversations wherein we try to figure out important things together.

Henry Kissinger was a consequential American diplomat who served as U.S. National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, helping shape American foreign policy for much of the 1970s. In the broader context of the Cold War, Kissinger led American diplomacy with pragmatism and opportunism. Some believe he was one of the most effective American […]