A tactile alphabet is a system for writing material that the blind can read by touch. While currently the

Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

system is the most popular and some materials have been prepared in

Moon type The Moon System of Embossed Reading (commonly known as the Moon writing, Moon alphabet, Moon script, Moon type, or Moon code) is a writing system for the blind, using embossed symbols mostly derived from the Latin script (but simplified). It is ...

, historically, many other tactile alphabets have existed: *Systems based on embossed Roman letters: **

Valentin Haüy Valentin Haüy (pronounced ; 13 November 1745 – 19 March 1822) was the founder, in 1785, of the first school for the blind, the Institute for Blind Youth in Paris (now Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, or the ''National Institute for the ...

's system (in italic style) **

James Gall James Gall (27 September 1808 – 7 February 1895) was a Scotland, Scottish clergyman who founded the Carrubbers Close Mission. He was also a cartographer, publisher, sculptor, astronomer and author. In cartography he gives his name to three ...

's "triangular alphabet", using both capital and lower-case, which was used in 1826 in the first embossed books published in English ** Edmund Frye's system (capital letters only) ** John Alston's system (capital letters only) ** Jacob Snider, Jr.'s system, using rounded letters similar to Haüy's system, which was used in a publication of the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...

in 1834, the first embossed book in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. ** Samuel Gridley Howe's Boston Line using lowercase angular letters, influenced by Gall's system but more closely resembling standard Roman letters ** Julius Reinhold Friedlander's Philadelphia Line, using all capital letters, similar to Alston's system, used at the Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind (now the Overbrook School for the Blind) in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

**William Chapin (also at the Pennsylvania Institution)'s system, combining the lowercase letters of the Boston Line with the capitals of the Philadelphia Line, forming the "combined system" (used by 1868 in books printed by N. B. Kneass, Jr.) ** Elia Chepaitis's ELIA Frame tactile alphabet/font system includes the major characteristics of the Roman alphabet letter within a frame. The frame denotes where the letter begins and ends and allows for systematic exploration. The use of the Roman alphabet's features in the design helps previously sighted people learn it. And its similarities to standard Roman fonts helps sighted caregivers to learn and share the alphabet with people who have a visual impairment.http://abstracts.iovs.org/cgi/content/abstract/46/5/4590/ *Systems based on arbitrary symbols: **

Night writing Night writing is the name given to a form of tactile writing invented by Charles Barbier de la Serre (1767–1841). It is one of a dozen forms of alternative writing presented in a book published in 1815: ''Essai sur divers procédés d'expédit ...

** Thomas Lucas's system, based on

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to Cursive, longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Gr ...

and phonetic principles ** James Hatley Frere's system, similar to Lucas's in that it was based on shorthand, but written in a

boustrophedon Boustrophedon () is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the l ...

manner **

New York Point New York Point (New York Point: ) is a braille-like system of tactile writing for the blind invented by William Bell Wait (1839–1916), a teacher in the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind. The system used one to four pairs of po ...

, a system of points invented by William Bell Wait, that competed with braille for some time before braille won out ** Decapoint See also Vibratese.

External links

* riginal from Columbia University Digitized Aug 18, 2009GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LD., ST JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL ROAD, LONDON, E.C.]
A Critical Evaluation of the Historical Development of the Tactile Modes and Reading and an Analysis and Evaluation of Researches Carried out in Endeavors to make the Braille code Easier to Read and to Write
* Virtual Exhibition "Signs - Books - Networks" of the German Museum of Books and Writing

{{reflisthttp://abstracts.iovs.org/cgi/content/abstract/46/5/4590 Tactile alphabets,