Raffling an information design classic

I had a copy of Otto Neurath’s classic work: International Picture Language, published in 1936.

I discovered that similar copies were for sale on Abebooks at between $1,250 and $3,500.

It felt crazy to have this sitting on my bookshelf, so I raffled my copy to raise funds for the amazing people at Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

I edited this page after the draw and left it on my website, in case anyone followed a link to it later.

Rob Waller, June 2026
‍

By the way this page is sitting on my e-book website: Things an Information designer should know. Click the logo at the top if you want to take a look.

The cover of International Picture Language, with some original sketches by Marie Neurath

About the book

I bought it about 30 years ago in a London bookstore for 40 pence. It’s a fabulous book, explaining the principles of Isotype and written in Basic English – the plain language system developed by CK Ogden and IA Richards. You can read it online.

The raffle

I asked people to donate £25 (or the equivalent in their currency) to MSF. We raised around £1,200.

The draw took place at 31 May 2026 to coincide with a conference in Vienna to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the book.

Extra prize

The runner up got an original sketch by Marie Neurath – one of those in the picture. They were left with me by Marie when Michael Macdonald-Ross and I did a project with her in 1975.