[Celebrating Birkbecks research] A major exhibition explored the history of embossed literature for blind people in the 19 century - ow.ly/Fq069 Touching the Book: Embossed Literature for Blind People in the Nineteenth Century. This free exhibition explored the history of literacy for blind and visually impaired people in nineteenth-century Britain and Europe through the development of embossed literature. It introduced visitors to the variety of embossed writing systems that blind people were taught prior to the widespread adoption of braille at the end of the nineteenth century. There was fierce debate in this period between educators who favoured a system based on the Roman alphabet that could be read still by sight and those who advocated for an arbitrary system – such as braille – more suited to finger reading. Touching the book: Embossed literature for Blind People brings together a rich array of material, including important examples of early classbooks, spiritual guides, the first specially-commissioned embossed Bibles, writing devices, pamphlets and visual images. It details how early embossing attempts were motivated by religious desire to enable blind people to read the word of God directly through touch. This fuelled investment in embossing processes which in turn improved the quality and durability of embossed books. Celebrating #BBKresearch: from 1-18 December 2014, in the lead-up to the publication of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) results, we will be celebrating Birkbecks research by highlighting one selected story per day - ow.ly/F9cUd Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society - bbk.ac.uk/research
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 11:00:00 +0000
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