The Gospel by St John for the Blind: With an Introduction, Containing some Historical Notices Regarding the Origin and Establishment of a Tangible Literature for Their Use (Edinburgh: Printed and Published by James Gall, 1832/34). Book, Gall type. Dimensions 300 x 480 x 50mm (open)

 RNIB Collection Acc No: L1/8

Credit: RNIB

Gall’s first embossed book from 1827 contained an appeal for subscriptions to support the expense of embossing an edition of St John’s Gospel, realised five years later. Although subscriptions faltered and Gall initially had to sell copies for the high price of one guinea, the book shows innovations in embossing techniques with the use of metal types and frames. This enabled printing of larger book volumes (which would have been crushed by wooden frames) and a more even and tactually legible typeset. In terms that are uncomfortable to a modern reader, Gall writes here that ‘the privations caused by blindness are the most numerous and calamitous in the catalogue of human suffering’.

References:

William Hanks Levy, Blindness and the Blind: or, a treatise on the science of typhology, etc (London: Chapman & Hall, 1872)

Object Description:

This book is open on the frontispiece. The left hand page contains printed text; the right hand page contains embossed text. The printed text on the left hand page reads: ‘The Gospel by St John for the Blind: With An Introduction containing some Historical Notices Regarding the Origin and Establishment of a Tangible Literature for Their Use: Edinburgh: Printed and Published by James Gall, 24 Niddry Street, 1834’. The writing on the left hand page consists of letters from an adapted version of the Roman alphabet in which curves and circle shapes have been changed to triangles. The text reads: The Gospel by St John in the Angular Characters for the Blind / Edinburgh: Printed and Published by James Gall, 24 Niddry Street, 1834.