New stamps on Louis Braille

Louis Braille (1809 - 1852)

Hi ! Most of the countries have been issuing speical stamps on Louis Braille to commemorate his 200th Birth Anniversary. Here are the new stamps issued by poland and Belarus. Many of You must be collecting stamps of Louis Braille and it is the best theme for preparing a One Frame Exhibit. on 4 January the Polish Post introduced a postage stamp with an adjoining field. The stamp itself features a portrait of Louis Braille, and the field includes his full name inscribed in Braille. A First Day Cover was introduced on the day of the stamp's release, featuring an illustration presenting Braille's alphabet.Polish Post always issues stamps with very exclusive design which can be found on this stamp too. In the second part stamp on Braille by Belarus. It's also a nice one. The postmarks given by both the countries are very remarkable and impressive.Well Readers ! This is all for today !......Till Next Post .....Have a Wonderful Time !....

Date of Issue - 4 January 2009

200th anniversary of the birthday of Louis Braille
In January 2009 two hundred years had passed since the birth of one of the greatest benefactors of mankind, Louis Braille - father of the system used by blind people to read and write, commonly referred to as the "Braille". Braille's system opened up a whole spectrum of new opportunities for the visually impaired, such as the possibility to independently communicate with the world through, among others, reading press and literature, the possibility to receive education and to find employment. In appreciation of this memorable invention, the European Blind Union (EBU) announced 2009 the year of Louis Braille. The Polish Post is one of numerous European institutions that are participating in these celebrations.

A childhood tragedy

Louis Braille was born into a family of leatherworkers on 4 January 1809 in a small village near Paris. At the age of three, he suffered eye injury in his father's workshop, and although he was given immediate medical attention, his sight never recovered. Owing to his family's loving care and the support of a local priest, Louis Braille was admitted to a district school where he started his education alongside regular children. Standing out among his peers with his intelligence, his excellent wit and his remarkable memory, the boy learned the same curriculum as his healthy colleagues with no trouble. At the age of ten he travelled to Paris in order to continue his education in the Institute for the Young Blind (Institution des Jeunes Aveugles). It was there that he had first encountered embossed writing, which was inconvenient as the process of inscription was cumbersome. Apart from typical school subjects, the programme of the institution included learning to play the cello and the organ, as well as practical skills such as weaving, knitting and crafting chairs from wicker and cane. Having graduated, Braille started working as an organist in the Saint-Nicholas-des-Champs church in Paris and as a teacher in the Institute for the Young Blind. He died of tuberculosis in 1852. He was buried in the Pantheon building in Paris, the resting place of the most outstanding and renown Frenchmen.

Reading the world with touch

The writing system taught at school, devised by Valentin Haüy - the founder of the institution, was inconvenient (it comprised Latin characters inscribed with convex ribbon lines). Between 1824 and 1840 Louis Braille worked on his own system of writing for the blind. Pursuing this task, he followed the model of the twelve dot system of convex symbols (translated into appropriate sounds) used in the French army to communicate orders in darkness. Braille's writing was simpler - it was based on a six dot convex mark, known as the cell, arranged symmetrically in three rows and two columns. The dots in the left column have been numbered from 1 to 3, and in the right one - from 4 to 6. The cell is constructed in such a way that it might be felt with a single touch of the finger tip. As a result of numerous combinations, Braille's alphabet consists of 63 marks, including also digits, as well as punctuation marks and mathematical, musical and chemical notation. Braille may be used to inscribe anything.

Courtesy - Polish Post

Stamp from Belarus - 4 January 2009