Beyond a linguistic experiment, Esperanto was a movement—this work tells the untold story of how its pioneers built real bridges across cultures, one postcard at a time.

In the early twentieth century as the world grew increasingly interconnected, a Scottish family found an unlikely tool for forging transnational connections—Esperanto. Postcards, Translators and Esperanto Pioneers unmasks the fascinating microhistory of how everyday speakers of the constructed language built international networks, exchanging ideas and friendship across borders. Through postcards and translations, the book depicts how language and media shaped a grassroots vision of global communication long before the internet era. Moving from the Russian Empire to Scotland, the book stresses the crucial role of women in Esperanto’s success. It also studies the translation of the Bible into the language as an act of both faith and diplomacy. By centering the experiences of ordinary Esperanto speakers, this work provides an alternative perspective on early twentieth-century globalization; one built not by political elites or economic forces, but through words exchanged between individuals striving to connect across cultures.

Bernhard Struck is a reader in modern history at the University of St Andrews and founding director of the St Andrews Institute for Transnational and Spatial History. Guilherme Fians is a social anthropologist, Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, and member of the board of directors of the Centre for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems. Claire Taylor is a final-year English and modern history student at the University of St Andrews.