Victoria & Albert museum

Support the ’26 Treasures’ Book from Unbound

January 26th, 2012

26 is a network of professional writers who care about words (the name 26 stands for the 26 letters of the alphabet).

In 2010, they persuaded London’s Victoria & Albert museum to choose 26 objects from its British Galleries and randomly assigned them to 26 writers. Each person wrote exactly 62 words – 26 in reflection – in response to the object. In 2011, 26 took the idea to the National Library of Wales, the Ulster Museum and the National Museum of Scotland, where writers were let loose on objects as disparate as a medieval illuminated book, a beggar’s badge and a 16th century Scottish guillotine. Now they have produced a book of the results, including contributions from Lucy Caldwell, Gillian Clarke, Alexander McCall Smith, Paul Muldoon, Bernard McLaverty and Maura Dooley.

But the book will only be produced if enough people sign up – in advance – to buy a copy, because 26 have teamed up with the innovative startup Unbound Books and this is the way Unbound runs things. 26 has 35 days to gather enough support to make the book happen. Click here to visit 26 Objects on the the Unbound site and buy a piece of the future (and the past).