Louis Braille FAQ
Where can I find a picture of Louis Braille?
Photography was in its infancy during Louis Braille’s lifetime. The only known photographic image was a daguerreotype of his death mask.
Our website features a charcoal portrait of Louis Braille created especially for us by artist Nancy Williams.
Where can I find a sample of real braille?
A free braille calendar may be ordered from the American Action Fund.
What books were used by students before Louis Braille invented the braille method?
In those early books, the shapes of the print letters were raised and the reader had to feel the outline of each letter. The books were large and heavy and reading was very slow. Not many books were produced using this method. The books are in museums in Coupvray and Paris, France.
Where can I find copies of Louis Braille's homework assignments, letters, and newspaper articles?
We often hear this question from students who need primary resources for a report about Louis Braille. To our knowledge, Louis Braille did not write his homework assignments because there was no practical way for him to do so. At that time, students who were blind learned by listening to the lessons and memorizing them.
Louis Braille was fifteen years old when he first presented his raised dot method of reading and writing to students and teachers at the school he attended. The students immediately recognized its value.
The few writings by Louis Braille that we know of were primarily technical explanations of his raised dot method of reading and writing. A recent biography, Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius, by C. Michael Mellor, contains photos and text of some of Louis Braille’s letters.
The braille method of reading and writing that Louis Braille developed did not become widely used until after his death. There was no mention of Louis Braille’s death in the Paris newspapers of 1852.
Photography was in its infancy during Louis Braille’s lifetime. The only known photographic image was a daguerreotype of his death mask.
Our website features a charcoal portrait of Louis Braille created especially for us by artist Nancy Williams.
Where can I find a sample of real braille?
A free braille calendar may be ordered from the American Action Fund.
What books were used by students before Louis Braille invented the braille method?
In those early books, the shapes of the print letters were raised and the reader had to feel the outline of each letter. The books were large and heavy and reading was very slow. Not many books were produced using this method. The books are in museums in Coupvray and Paris, France.
Where can I find copies of Louis Braille's homework assignments, letters, and newspaper articles?
We often hear this question from students who need primary resources for a report about Louis Braille. To our knowledge, Louis Braille did not write his homework assignments because there was no practical way for him to do so. At that time, students who were blind learned by listening to the lessons and memorizing them.
Louis Braille was fifteen years old when he first presented his raised dot method of reading and writing to students and teachers at the school he attended. The students immediately recognized its value.
The few writings by Louis Braille that we know of were primarily technical explanations of his raised dot method of reading and writing. A recent biography, Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius, by C. Michael Mellor, contains photos and text of some of Louis Braille’s letters.
The braille method of reading and writing that Louis Braille developed did not become widely used until after his death. There was no mention of Louis Braille’s death in the Paris newspapers of 1852.
