Cragside Blog

Braille was invented by a Frenchman, Louis Braille

Image of Louis Braille - 1809 to 1852

Louis Braille (1809 - 1852)

The system was perfected around 1825 and the first Braille book was published in 1827.
The tactile symbols are based on a six dot pattern similar to the six on dice.  The various combinations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 dot patterns make up the signs of the Braille system.

This is a sample of Braille

Moon was devised by Dr William Moon LLD (1818 - 1894)

Image of Dr William Moon - 1818 to 1894

Dr William Moon LLD (1818 - 1894)

This system of tactile reading was based on simplified alphabetic characters, and is considered to be much easier to learn than Braille.  It is often used by people who lose their sight in later life because of this fact.

The process of producing Moon was not straightforward, and Braille became most popular because of the ease with which it could be produced, either by machine or by hand.

Today, many Braille embossers can produce ‘dotty Moon’, or the Moon characters can be printed onto swell paper and then passed through a Zy-Fuse or similar machine.

This is a sample of Moon