Why a Booktrail?
1809 –1852: The true story of Louis Braille
Louis Braille (Famous People, Famous Lives)
Why a Booktrail?
1809 –1852: The true story of Louis Braille
What you need to know before your trail
This book describes how one blind French boy developed a system of reading, in the early part of the nineteenth century, that opened up the world to blind people everywhere. His development of a system of dots to represent letters was based on a military method of night communications. Through his story, the reader also learns what life was like for blind people then, and what a difference Braille made to them, while accurate drawings show how the Braille system works.
Travel Guide
Paris
At the age of three, Louis had an accident in his father’s workshop, resulting in permanent blindness in both eyes. Heartbreakingly, it is said that Braille didn’t realize at first that he had lost his sight, and often asked why it was always dark. He learned to navigate the village and countryside with canes his father made especially for him.
Haüy method
The school created books using an ingenious technique of embossing paper with raised imprints of Latin letters. This was called the Haüy method after the school’s founder. Haüy wasn’t blind himself but spent his life trying to improve their lot in life. This system worked well but it was slow and cumbersome and the pupils couldn’t write themselves using it. It was also said to be wrong in the sense that you were talking to the fingers using the language of the eyes”
Barbier System
In 1821, Braille learned of a communication system devised by Captain Charles Barbier of the French Army. He had invented a system of “night writing” which was a code of dots and dashes impressed into thick paper. Soliders could therefore read in the dark without the need to speak top each other and have light. Braille found it too complicated for everyday use but this inspired him to create his own.
Braille later became a teacher at the school where he himself had studied. The school wanted to keep the system it had in place and only replaced it with Braille’s system two years after his death as his pupils insisted upon it.
Streetview Maps
A) France - Paris - Louis Braille Birthplace
B) France - Paris - School for the Blind
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Louis Braille (Famous People, Famous Lives)
Destination : Paris Author/Guide: Tessa Potter Departure Time: 1809 –1852
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
