The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-23
THE BIBLE IN POINT ALPHABET.
The Completion of a Great Work for
the Benefit of the Blind.
From the Courier-Journal.

| lately been printed in Louisville. II con-
sists Of ], S39 pages, is in eleven volumes,
and was turned out by the American
Printing House for the Blind, which is an
annex of the Kentucky Institute for the
Blind. The eleven employees of the print
| ing house were engaged on the work for
about ten months, and ON May z, 1894,
just little over a year after the work
was begun, the- first shipment to the
American Bible Societyat New York was
made. SSi.s 5
OF course thissIss not the only Bible
that can be read hyet the blind. Those
thus afflicted have. been reading Bible
( for the past forty years, but it was pub
| liShed in what Is known as the line alpha
bet. The line alphabet and the New
York point alphabet differ from each
| other very greatly. The former is made
| up of the Roman letters enlarged and
raised on the leaves of the book, so that
the blind reader may know them by fol-
| lowing their outline with his fingers.
| Every school child can read a book
| printed in that way. But with the New
| York point alphabet it is different. Each
letter is representa- by different num-
Der of raised dots Mrranged in fixed po-
| sition. Strange To say, this second
method is the easieF to learn, and is al
ways taught before the line method. 1t
may seem queer that the Bible published
/ AOtb1 y cars aEO OAA hOb COluO OnH III NlC
| point language, but that was because
only the line alphabet was known then.
That any sort of Bible for the blind
/ came out at all is due to a beqGest of
$40 600 made to the American Bible Soci-
! ETY. by wealthy woman of New York
city. II was made permanent fund for
! printing Bibles for the blind The first
work was publishes in Boston, where the
only publishing Aouse for the blind in
America was sitn&ted. All of the print
| ing of Bibles forsthe blind was done al
! Boston up to 1888 ,IKhen the second Amer
| lean printing house. for the blind was es-
tablished at Louisville.
This was done by a special act of con-
| gress The bill authorizing the act was
first introduced by MIR Henry Waiter
son in 1876, and was finally passed through
both Houses in 1879, through the efforts
| of MIR. Albert s. Willis. who was then
| the representative from this district
| One of the provisions of the law is that
the national treasury pay an annual sub
sidy of $4,000 toward maintaining the
| publishing house here. The state of Ken
lucky was not TO DE outdone, so in 1888, it
bought the present site-of the publishing
house adjoining the Kentucky Institute
for the Blind, on the west, and had cree
| ted 3-story brick building. Since then
this western branch of the publishing
house has been tHrntRg out text books
anu religious nIpEUDkEf, DOUn IN bQe line
and point alphabekSs1Hlarg amounts.
During all this Hissthe Bible fund had
been growing, SO ~ concluded to have
a new Bible, donkNhAbe point alphabet,
| published. Thes#&%HARn branch of the
American Publ sG1H ouse for the Blind
was the only h$ys that could do the
work, so orders HaFe Gent to Superintend-
ent Huntoon to bH&3ftas n the volumes at
once. The four EtTis$Fho do the type set
ting began thAirgf5EFS1hf the IvOrlF Anrii
IS, 1898. AS soonas one page was set up
it was carried into the molding room
and an impression taken. The page
was then ready to be cast 1t
was carried down stairs and placed
in the stereotyiRg machine. A thin
coat of tin foil was then laid over
the mold and light pouring of metal
made so as to melt the tin foil into the
mould. Another,p pouring was then made
to fill in the blank spaces between lines
and re-enforce the back. A piece of ordi-
nary roofer's tin she size of the page was
then laid over the back of the thin metal
impression, and another light pouring
made to make the two adhere. When
this had cooled off the workman had a
true copy Of the page on a very light,
flexible plate of stereotype. All the rest
of the ! $3.50 pages were treated in the same
way, and on Jan. %, 1904, the day the last
page was set up the last page was also
completed.
The work of printing was then begun.
The leaves are necessarily very heavy,
and, of course can be printed on only one
side. Four sheets or pages were printed
at time. When the pages were ready
for binding, six of them were grouped to-
gether and stitched with wire. The in
side edge of each sexto is bound by a
clothlined cardboard guard This is
made necessary BY the thickness of the
/ lea and the SfaDf haDflliuu nv tho
reader. When these sextos are bound to-
gether they make a volume varying in
thickness of from three to four inches.
The New Testament is included in three
volumes, the old in eight All Of them
are bound uniformly in Russian calf. On
the back of each volume are the words
| Holy Bible in the point alphabet. and
also in ordinary print The books of the
Bible included within the volume are also
indicated in the same way.
The whole work of printing the first
set of this Bible cost Just So, 900. The
cost of binding is actually a dollar a vol
ume 1t may seem that for the blind to
have this Bible in their homes is an ex-
pensive luxury. But this is not the case
Provision was made that the sacred lib
rary might go into every home at really
a very small outlay ofsmoney. The inter
est on the bequest.nsHSly half a century
| ago has grown sosghakn the books can be
sold to the blind asikeally less than the
cost OF the bindiAI5,The whole set is
sold at 81, and thE New Testament alone
| can be secured arFsysEtss These Bibles
are being sent Srits tdSSil the schools for
the blind in uh6 cpnntry through the
American Bibkess AS ociation. 1t is ex-
pected that theytVsaff eventually take the
place of the lineSBfbles not only in the
schools, but In every household where
there are any educated blind who may
care to read the scriptures.
Among the other work in the New York
point alphabet turned out exclusively by
4 the Publishing house here in Louisville
are the International Sunday school les
| son leaves. The money to pay the ex-
penses of printing these is furnished by
! private subscription, secured by the I'M
| aided efforts of H. l.. Hall, blind man,
whose home Is in Philadelphia. These
! leaves have been coming out for little
over ten years, and during that time
| 1900, 600 have been published Up to 1892
the copy for these leaves was edited by
| Miss Alice V. Broadus, daughter of DR..
John A Broadus. Since that date Miss
Rosalie Broadus, niece of DIR. Broadus,
has done the work. The blind who are
/ able must pay $3.50 year for the leaves,
! but the poor can have them for the ask
! ing. All they have TO do is to apply to
the nearest superintendent of a school for
the blind and show that they really want
! the leaves, and they are readily and
! gladly furnished. So few of the 4,600.-
/ non Loo voc min ad bava haau aal1