Why “Postille”
Post illa verba: “after these words”.The Latin origin of the word postil
In medieval manuscripts the text sat in the middle of the page. Everything around it stayed blank, and readers filled it in: a correction, a doubt, a “remember this”. They called them postils, because they came after those words.
The text belonged to someone else. The margin belonged to the reader. And centuries later, the margin is often the liveliest part of the book: it's where you can see a person thinking.
We still read that way today, but the margin ends up scattered: a sticky note, a photo of a page, a note in an app you can never find again. Meanwhile, reading apps mostly ask for a rating and a ranking.
Postille was made to put the margin back at the centre. A place where your notes are tidy, yours, and private — and where, when you decide, your shelf becomes a way to meet other readers.