Moon alphabet

Origin
The Moon alphabet was invented by Dr. William Moon (1818-1894). Dr Moon lost his sight
completely at the age of 21 after being partially sighted throughout his childhood. He learnt all
the embossed reading systems available at the time but found them unsatisfactory so invented
his own system. He brought out his first booklet in the new alphabet, 'The Last Days of Polycarp',
in 1847.

News of Dr Moon's new alphabet spread quickly and he was soon swamped with requests for
parts of Bible. At first Dr Moon printed all the documents at his home in Queens Road, Brighton,
UK. In 1856 however, he managed to obtain funding from the blind philanthropist Sir Charles
Lowther to set up a printing press and workshop nearby. The Moon Printing Works operated on
the same premises until 1960, producing books and magazines in 471 different languages.

Dr Moon also travelled to many parts of the British Isles and other parts of the world setting up
printing presses, libraries and home teaching socities. After his death in 1894, his daughter
Adelaide continued his work.

Today Moon's alphabet is little used or known outside the UK. Since the 1990s though there has
been a revival of interest in it.

Notable features
The Moon alphabet consists of embossed shapes which can be read by touch. Some of
the Moon letters resemble the letters of the Latin alphabet, others are simplified letters or
other shapes.

The Moon alphabet is easier to learn than Braille, particularly for people who lose their
sight in later life.

The letters of the Moon alphabet can represent individual sounds, parts of words, whole
words or numbers.

Moon alphabet