Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-05-12
PRINTING FOR THE BLIND.



Washington Special.-Onc of the no.
'lest works of man has been his eff
orts TO lead his blind brother, and es-
oecially to enable him to read by his
tense of touch. 4. number of publica-
| ions for the blind are shown in an eX-
libit of the graphic arts division OF the
United States national museum in the
Smithsonian building. The first efforts
IN this connection are credited to Il
spaniard. named Francesca Lucas. who
planned the engraving of letters on
blocks of wood in the Sixteenth CEN
jury. His scheme was followed in 1910
by II system of cast lead letters, planned
ty Pierre Moreau. of Paris, who, un-
fortunately, had not the means to car
W out his idea. There followed systems
of different sorts; pins set in cushions,
wooden letters, the movable metal let
ters of Du PuiseauX, the letters cut in
cardboard, and pricsed maps made by
r. Weissembourg, Il German. with
which he succeeded in teaching Mile.
Paradis, Il talented musician.
The honor OF being the first to intro
duce printing for the blind in raised
characters. like embCssing, is attrihut-
ed to Able Nalentin Hauy. of Paris,
who effected his plan in 1881, the re-
suit of his accidentally discovering that
his blind pupil could read parts of a
printed card heavily indented by the
types. Relief printing was the result.
James Gall. of Edinburgh, embossed
first to conceive the idea of printing the
bible for the blind; he completed the
gospel of ST. John in 1894. His system
employed the common English letter,
but replaced the curves by angles.
Printing for the blind was commenced
in the United States in 1893. at Bos-
ton and Philadelphia. improvements
We're made by f'riedlander. Lucas. Wait.
F,rere. Howe and Kneass. DIR. S. c..
Howe. of Boston. established Il system
i'm which he used the lower case Eng
lish letter without capitals. and, like
Gall, with angles instead of curves. In
this manner he printed the entire new
testament in 1893, and completed the
bible i'm 1913.
A method clearly meant for adults
and persons whose fingers are not as
sensitive as those of youth was effect
ed by DR.. William Moon. of England,
in 1S47. This preserved part of the
outline of the Roman letters, but was
nevertheless one of the arbitrary sys-
TENS and is too unwieldy for general
use. One feature of this style is the
guide for the readers finger at ahe end
of the lines; the even numbered lines
are read from right to left.
The arbitrary point system was i'm
vented early in the Nineteenth century
by Capt. Charles Barber, a French of
ficer. who substituted embossed lots
for lines. This was arranged in its pres
ent form by Louis Braille, a pupil, who
afterwards became a professor in an
Institution for the blind i'm Paris. As
it is used today. this system comprises
combinations of six dots, arranged in
two vertical lines of three each. MAX
ing possible GO different combinations.
Naturally the alphabetical systems
are of advantage over those of AN ar
bitrary nature. since they may be read
Il Inv Snairoo rcno will, CASA ,oo11i,o
anyone to read or teach from uch
books. while a special teacher is re-
quired to instruct in the others.
The first books for the blind We're
very bulky. and many attempted tc
decrease their size and. consequently,
the cost. They are still volu1ninous,
however; three more olumes than are
required for an ordinary encyclopedia
being required to complete Defoe's
Robinson Crusoe.' One of the several
books to be seer in the collections in
the Smithsonian building is a bulky
volume. of this work.
The chief American systems are J.
r. F~riedlander's Roman capitals. in
which has bee printed the only die
tionary for the blind: Howe's angular
bet, with capitals and rounded lower
case letters: and Kneass' improved
system. combining capitals and angular
lower case letters, the lower case let.
terS with tails Delng raised so That nc
part extended below the line. The last
style was the invention Of a blind wri-
ter. N. B.. Kneass, jr.. who also estab-
lished a magazine for the blind in 1867.
The graphic arts exhibit contains
copy of his Philadelphia magazine for
the blind. Publications of the Howe
Memorial Press, Of Boston; the Ameri-
can Printing House for the Blind. OF
Louisville. and specimens of the Moon
together with relief maps and illustra.
tons.