I opened by Christmas mail and out fell a card from Gladys. I knew who had sent it as soon as I saw that instead of a printed greeting the following hieroglyphics were embossed on the front cover.

Gladys is now 91. She has been deaf and blind for many years, lives in one room with an adjacent kitchen, and does everything for herself. We became acquainted when the National Deaf Blind Helpers League asked me to write to her. "But", they warned me "she cannot read Braille she can only read Moon. Send your letter to the Moon office in Reigate. They will put it in Moon type and post it to Gladys. She can reply by using an ordinary typewriter". "What is this MOON type?" I asked myself "which can be read by blind people who cannot read Braille?" I decided to explore.

Moon type which was largely based on the letter shape of the alphabet was invented in 1847 by William Moon a blind man of 21 who lived in Brighton with his wife and two children. The Braille system of communication which is based on a theme of six dots later came to Britain from the Continent and because of its flexibility, ease of printing, economy in production and distribution, and the fact that it could be written by hand, gradually became the official language between the "sighted" and the "unsighted" world, but although it superseded Moon it did not replace it. Most readers of MOON, are people who have lost their sight in later life or who do not have the required tactile sensibility to feel the dots of the Braille system. Thus it is that Moon printing still continues for more than a thousand people with weekly news sheets, magazines and circulating libraries of Moon books.

Its founder certainly established a lasting memorial. But before we write about Mr. Moon let us look at the basic version of his original alphabet.

To facilitate learning, all except six of these characters are arranged in groups:

William Moon was born at Brighton in December, 1818 and was totally blind by the time he was 22. A charitable lady taught him to read embossed books and he became a teacher of "Embossed reading for the blind". The method was complex and generally unsuccessful but being the man he was he persevered and constantly prayed that some simpler scheme should be introduced.

During this period his domestic affairs were in a sorry state. When he was 24 he had married the daughter of a Surgeon who at first consented to the marriage but afterwards, as Mr. Moon said in his diary, "was very adverse to it". It is not surprising that a Surgeon, quite a social figure, should have felt "very adverse" towards the idea of his daughter marrying a blind young man of 24 with an income of 5 shillings per week. The wonder is that he consented in the beginning. The Moons' plodded painfully on in their poverty stricken lives, moving from one lodging to another and finally were unable to pay the rent even when his salary was raised to 7 shillings and 6 pence per week. As he says in his diary "often did we then go nearly the whole day without food". When some kindly person paid for him to go to London to try a new treatment for his eyes he found on his return that his furniture had been taken away and his rent increased by 6 pence per week. With the burning faith which characterised all his actions Mr. Moon prayed for help and his salary was raised by 2 shillings and 6 pence to 10 shillings per week.

It was in 1847 that the great breakthrough occurred when, "With God's guidance" he produced his new alphabet. He knew that he had arrived when one of his pupils, a boy of low intellect who had been trying to study with him for five years by a method "ill-suited to his capacity" succeeded, by using the new alphabet for ten days, in reading whole sentences. "But" as Mr. Moon reminds us "To God be all the Glory".

In spite of this success he had to wait a further two years before a visitor was prepared to put up the necessary £25.00 to print the first batch of Moon. The school Committee rejected the idea but this un-named benefactor was so impressed by the merits of the new alphabet that he purchased the necessary type and wooden press at his own expense. Mr. Moon was now in business and every minute outside his teaching duties was devoted to printing, chiefly books and pamphlets with a religious flavour.

Mr. Moon's benefactor made one more major contribution before disappearing from the record, he introduced Miss Graham. "This dear Christian Lady" helped him for many years, sought out the blind in many parts of the country and seems to have become his main contact with the outside world at that time. By the end of 1851 he had printed the whole of the New Testament, the Book of Psalms and a portion of the Prophecies of Isaiah as well as several small books and the Lord's Prayer in six languages. In July 1851 he visited the Great Exhibition and learned that he had made more rapid progress in his labours for the blind than any other party who had taken the cause in hand before him.

In 1855 a society was formed in London for the purpose of instructing the blind and Mr. Moon travelled extensively over the British Isles establishing eighty Home Teaching Societies and Free Libraries.

In 1856 Sir Charles Lowther Bart., himself blind, financially assisted the inventor and generously donated large quantities of his books to libraries at home and abroad.

In 1870 a few books were sent to the USA and later in response to urgent requests two thousand volumes were donated by Sir Charles Lowther himself. Libraries were also sent to Canada and Australia. It was in this year that the University of Philadelphia conferred on William Moon the Honorary Degree of LL.D and from then on Mr. Moon became Dr. Moon.

By 1880, a hundred and ninety-four foreign alphabets had been produced for the use of missionaries.

At this point it is interesting to learn from Dr. Moon's autobiography how he had approached the staggering problem of printing MOON for the Chinese. He began by writing to the secretary of The British and Foreign Bible Society saying that he thought he could print some books for the blind in the Chinese language. The secretary replied "Do you not think it a great piece of presumption to suppose that you can do anything for the blind in China?", "Not at all" said Dr. Moon "If I had I should not have written to you." The Secretary enquired what assistance he needed and was told, "Money and a Chinese dictionary," Two days later he received a cheque for £25 and seven large quarto volumes of a Chinese dictionary and grammar. "To work I went" reads the autobiography "and studied the language and in short time was able to prepare a few texts of scripture in my simplified alphabet for the blind." He was given the opportunity of meeting Mr. Hockee, a Chinese gentlemen, who helped him to prepare The Lord's Prayer in the "Pekin Colloquial". This was sent to the local missionary at Ningpoo, a Miss Alders. She liked it and ordered some portions of the Church liturgy and a chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. This was immediately provided at the expense of a benevolent gentleman, Mr. Taylor, of Clapham Common. And so the story proceeds.

In his report for "Moon's Institution..." for that year Dr. Moon mentioned that since its inception in 1847 more than a hundred and twenty-four thousand volumes had been embossed and circulated. In addition to the Bible the list contains 51 volumes of religious works, 62 biographies, 50 books of tales and anecdotes, 37 of poetry and a few educational books, besides many volumes in foreign languages.

In 1882 Dr. Moon and his daughter made an extensive tour of America and established free lending libraries at Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. The year 1894 was a sad one for the Moon Society as its founder died on October the 10th aged 76 and his great benefactor Sir Charles Lowther Bart, passed away three weeks later at the age of 90. By this date the number of volumes produced exceeded two hundred thousand.

For the next twenty years Miss Adelaide Moon carried on the work started by her father, with the assistance of her brother Dr. Robert C. Moon then secretary of the Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society. 1914 was another sad year for the Moon Society. Dr. Robert C. Moon passed away at Philadelphia on February 13th and his sister Adelaide died at Brighton on November the 12th. By this time production of volumes and books had exceeded three hundred thousand.

During 1915 and onwards grants were made to the Moon Society by the R.N.I.B. to develop its production and capacity and the two organisations have worked happily together ever since.

I have asked many lay people including Doctors and Psychiatrists if they had heard of Dr. Moon's blind language and have been surprised at the number who thought it was either a catch question or a school-boy quiz. But the more I learned about the man and his method the more I began to admire them both.

Braille is cheap and simple to produce but it is difficult to learn. Moon is expensive and difficult to produce as the symbols are large and have to be embossed on paper, but it can be learned in a few hours. Dramatic changes are taking place in the printing of Moon. A unit has been developed by Dr. Gill of Brunel University which can print MOON directly from a typewriter form of keyboard. This has speeded up and simplified the process to such an extent that it will be possible to supply a great increase in the number of readers.

Willie Moon of Brighton travelled a long way in his 76 years and should not be forgotten.

Easy isn't it.
Now translate the message on my Christmas card.