The Authorized Version of the Psalms of David in Metre, Embossed for the Use of the Blind 2 vols (Glasgow: Printed in the Asylum at the Institution Press by John Alston, 1838). Book, Alston type. Dimensions: 266mm x 434 x 80mm (open)
RNIB Collection Acc No: L1/1.
Credit: RNIB
John Alston identified his embossing project as a spiritual act, with the hand and finger assuming new religious sensitivity in his imagined blind readers. He later wrote in 1846 that ‘though we cannot open the eyes of the Blind, we teach their hands to serve the purpose of eyes—by means of the power of touch, we pour in the light of information on the eyes of their understanding’. This was materially, however, something of a challenge, Alston detailing how he printed 3300 volumes of the Old Testament using 1272 reams of specially-weighted paper weighing 10,812lbs. The heavy pressure of printing meant the copperplate types had to be recast four times.
References:
Statements of the Education, Employments and Internal Arrangements, Adopted at the Asylum for the Blind, Glasgow; With a Short Account of its Founder, and General Observations Applicable to Similar Institutions (with Lithographic Illustrations) 10th edn (Glasgow: John Smith, 1846)
Object Description:
This book is opened at the frontispiece. The left hand page is blank. The right hand page contains embossed writing, set inside an embossed decorative border of recurring leaf-shaped patterns. The embossed writing is a version of the Roman alphabet, in upper case. The text reads: THE [new line] AUTHORIZED VERSION [new line] OF THE [new line] PSALMS OF DAVID IN [new line] METRE [new line] EMBOSSED [new line] FOR THE USE OF THE BLIND: [new line] IN TWO VOLUMES [new line] VOL 2. [new line] GLASGOW: [new line] PRINTED IN THE ASYLUM, BY THE INSTI- [new line] TUTION PRESS, AND SOLD BY JOHN SMITH [new line] AND SON, GLASGOW: SMITH, ELDER & CO., [new line] LONDON. AND JOHN JOHNSTON, EDINBURGH. [new line] 1838. [End description]