A Note on the Design of the J.K. Rowling Braille Book
J.K. Rowling’s address generated a visual quandary: How can I enact the process of failure and inspire the imagination through the reading of this speech? Happily, the question was short-lived. That same afternoon my preschool son returned home with his name in braille. I then discovered an incredible story.
In his father’s harness shop in the French countryside, a young boy accidentally wounded his eye with an awl. Before his fourth birthday, an infection caused both eyes to fail. Now blind, Louis Braille (1809–1862) became increasingly frustrated by learning primarily through listening, though he impressed his teachers with a deep desire to learn and a strong imagination. He received a scholarship to the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris at age 10.
The school’s library held only a few “raised letter” books which were difficult to read. Louis realized that independent reading–and writing–were fundamentally inaccessible to the blind. A visiting soldier then came to speak to the students of the Royal Institute to share what he called Night Writing, a series of twelve raised dots used to communicate top-secret information on the battlefield. Louis’ imagination ignited. Inspired by the secret code, he began his life’s work. By age 15 Louis had created the six-dot braille system.
Louis published his first braille book at age 20, including tactile symbols for the alphabet, mathematics and even music. Although braille did not spread widely until after Louis’ death, it is now the universal written language for all blind and severely sight-impaired people throughout the world.
Catalyzed by the failure of his eyes and the power of his imagination, Louis Braille invented an elegantly simple and brilliant cipher. As a young boy in a Parisian boarding school he envisioned his own kind of extraordinary magic: placing the world of reading and writing at the fingertips of all who cannot see.
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination © J.K. Rowling, 2008
Limited edition artist’s book concept & design © Francie Randolph, 2009 No. of 15
Click to link to the strange coincidences that assisted in the creation of this book.
Back - Click to return to the J.K. Rowling Braille Artist’s Book.
