Eight Years Ago, Mike Mellor, Former Editor of the Matilda Ziegler Magazine, Happened Upon

COVER QUOTE:"I want my sentences to have more meaning than words."

—Louis Braille

Paris, September 10, 1847

My dear mother,

I am getting bored in the big city and I’ll be happy to breathe the fresh air of the countryside, to walk with you through the vines. I am afraid they may not be ripening quickly, but if the warm weather comes back, the grapes will improve and I will too.

I am delighted to think that I will be back with my family of which I have seen only you and my brother since last year. So I will be happy to see my sisters Josephine and Virginia again, their children, the Marniesse family, and above all, my goddaughter who should be well behaved since she has just made her First Communion. I am not forgetting the people who have honored me with their friendship….

L. Braille

Eight years ago, Mike Mellor, former editor of the Matilda Ziegler Magazine, happened upon several dozen letters that Louis Braille had written, some in his own hand, now housed at the school in Paris where Louis was a student and teacher. Mike had worked in the field for decades and had no notion that these letters existed—he vowed in that moment to make them available to those of us who care about Braille and braille.

Fast forward to 2006, and Mike has kept his promise. Not only did he work with NBP to secure permission to translate and publish the letters, he also embarked upon a three-year study of every aspect of Louis’s life and wrote a complete historical biography. Quite a few fables have cropped up over the years about Louis’s adventures, and Mike’s book sorts fact from fiction. He used primary sources, including an eye-witness account of the last few months and hours of Louis Braille’s life.

And there’s more. Early in the project, Mike and I traveled to Paris to visit Louis’s home, which is now a museum. After a delightful tour, the curator, Margaret Calvarin, invited us back for a splendid luncheon in her French garden. She and Mike conversed in French, while I nodded and smiled politely. Suddenly Ms. Calvarin went into the house and came back with several thin boxes, which she set down on the table. She opened the lid and there, inside, were over 100 color slides covering every aspect of Louis’s life—the bed where he was born, the uniform he wore to school, the organ he played, his arithmetic prize, even the set of dominoes (which look remarkably like the braille code) that he played with as a boy. Sans projector, Mike and I held each slide up to the sun, squinting to make out each remarkable treasure squeezed into a tiny square. For more than a decade, Ms. Calvarin had been building a collection of illustrations for the book on Louis Braille that she had hoped to write—but for which there were no funds. In that moment, we realized that we had a book that could cross over—a book that bookstores and libraries would carry, and that would spread word the word about Louis’s genius beyond our own community.

The trials and travails of publishing this book were many, but we had good luck all along the way, like the day we browsed through the archives at Perkins School and found several engravings of blind people in Paris during the time that Louis lived and worked there. That required additional historical research into the lifestyles of blind people in pre- and post-Revolutionary France. And then we discovered a collection of stamps commemorating Braille from around the world, providing an interesting way to illustrate the point that Braille’s impact is worldwide—something people outside our community don’t realize. Mike also discovered other letters, including a note that Braille wrote to General Barbier about his code…. well, it’s been quite a journey.

The book is called Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius. Every aspect of bringing this book to market has been challenging, but perhaps none more agonizing than pricing. Because we want libraries and bookstores to carry the book, we had to be prepared to discount it 55% to online bookstores, like Amazon, and to “jobbers” (libraries don’t buy direct; they go through jobbers). Then there was the extraordinary expense of producing a full-color book with an elegant design—we want sighted people to associate braille with beauty (it is beautiful). The cost to run ads in Library Journal and Publishers Weekly are expensive, but they give us another opportunity to promote braille. In fact, the business plan for the book required such an enormous subsidy that we approached two major foundations who believed Louis’s story should be told: The Gibney Family Foundation and the E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation.

In the end we priced the book at $35, which is comparable to a handsome coffee table print book. We thought about discounting the braille edition, but as one braille reader said, “That gives the message that braille is of lesser value.” We agree. But what about the fact that the braille edition doesn’t have all of those pictures? To address that, we commissioned two experts from Descriptive Video Services, Andrea Doane and Valerie Ching, to describe the more than 100 images in the book. You get more detail from their descriptions than the average eye sees. The book is fully indexed and loaded with interesting endnotes. If you wish to make a gift of this book to a friend, we have gift certificates – just call customer service. Another braille reader suggested that we do a limited edition in hardcover braille for schools and libraries, which we did. It’s priced at $50 (the small print run makes it more costly)

The publication date for the book is March 6, 2006, and we are offering an advance order discount of 30% (except for the school/library edition). That means you can purchase the soft cover braille edition or the print edition for $25. If by the time you read this catalog, the advance discount has been discontinued, just call customer service and explain that you are a braille-reading customer of NBP, and you would still like the discount.

Try this experiment: the next time you get your hair cut or stop by your favorite restaurant, ask the person what they know about the inventor of braille. You’ll be surprised to discover that outside our community, most people don’t even know it was named after a person. Louis Braille should be as well known as Martin Luther King or Thomas Edison. Our goal is to get this book into every library in the country, and you can help us. We have postcards that we can mail to you to hand to your local librarian. Or you can direct them to our website at www.braille.com (we are also www.nbp.org, but it’s easier for most people to remember the former). We want the world to know that Louis Braille is a genius—he deserves to take his place in history.

Print, 148 pages full-color: $25 (discounted price, plus $5 shipping and handling)

Braille in four volumes: $25 (free matter)

Braille Library/School hardcover edition: $50 (sorry, no discount)

Another Great Soul

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known to his followers as Mahatma—or “great soul”—was a small, shy boy, and a weak student who barely graduated from high school and failed classes in college. In this truly wonderful biography, author Demi traces Gandhi’s transformation from weakling to law student, English gentleman, and world renowned leader. Gandhi’s teachings inspired Martin Luther King’s peaceful civil disobedience in the United States and Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. The message of this book is one we support—that peaceful love triumphs over violent hatred.

We also offer another Demi biography on the life of Mother Theresa. We decided to offer these short biographies about exceptional social leaders because we feel that moral leadership is often lacking in our world. People who take the difficult but morally courageous path inspire us to try harder in our daily lives and to expect more from our leaders and our society. This is a powerful message for kids, and one we hope you will share with the young people in your life. For ages 9 and up.

Gandhi Biography: One small braille booklet: $6

Mother Teresa Biography: One small braille booklet: $6

Tactile Cards

Two of us from NBP recently attended an International Tactile Graphics conference in London sponsored by RNIB. Twenty-three countries were represented, I believe, from Poland to Japan. It was fascinating to see how different countries approach the subject of raised drawings, and the ways in which culture influences their tactile art forms. (Thermoform, by the way, is still considered to be one of the most flexible and readable methods for reproducing graphics).

To get to the point here, I was impressed that the tactile graphics we offer through Creative Adaptations for Learning or CAL (Touch the Stars, Humpty Dumpty, and our greeting cards) are among the best in the world. We didn’t know that—even as good as we have always known that they are. And so, with renewed enthusiasm, we asked CAL to supply us with six new designs for our tactile greeting cards set. This time the designs are:

“Congratulations” written in braille, shows six balloons

Stars (one large star and 17 smaller ones)

Moonlight sailing

“Happy Birthday” written in braille, shows clown face

Hot air balloon

“Seasons Greetings” written in braille, snowperson

Keep a packet of these tactile cards on hand, and I guarantee you’ll use them. Each card costs less than a Hallmark card, and they’re better. In case you’ve never seen one, they have a tactile graphic on the front, which you can easily remove to braille or write a personal message inside.

Packet of 6 cards and envelopes: $12

Download It

At a recent convention, a college-age student asked if he could download a book because he didn’t want to wait 3-4 days to get it in the mail. What a difference a generation makes. Well now he, and you, can download any of our books, directly from our website (except for those with tactile graphics and our print/braille kids books). You can even get Our Special and Syndicated Columnists Weekly that way.

Downloading is easy; here’s how. Log onto our website, as you normally would (www.nbp.org) to purchase a book. When you choose a format, choose “PortaBook (Download)” from the format menu. Immediately after you’ve completed your purchase, your books are available on the new “My Downloads” page. The files are in BRF format, like all of our PortaBooks.

If you’ve never shopped online, order a copy of Anna Dresner’s book, Braille.com and Beyond ($10). She gives you the dance steps for waltzing around our site, and it’s a great way to learn to shop elsewhere online.

Current subscribers to OS or SCW can call customer service toll-free at 800-548-7323 (or 617-266-6160 ext 20) and Alison or Jason will make the switch for you. New subscribers can order through our website at http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/periodicals.html and select one of the “PortaBook Download” version.

Here’s a link to get you started—our Downloads FAQ: http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/downloads_faq.html

Books for Chewing

If there are little people in your life, you’re ready for our adorable and sturdy new series of print/braille board books. Board books are made of hard cardboard and stand up to the rigors of chewing and tossing. We have six selections now:

Animal Kisses (the noses are textured and squeak): $7.95

Snuggle Puppy (a good-night valentine from parent to child): $6.95

Quiet Loud (a book about sounds): $6.99

So Many Bunnies (a counting and alphabet book): $6.99

The Napping House (a bedtime story): $5.95

Counting Kisses (a counting bedtime book): $7.99

Office Update

Our publishing associate on the tropical island of Hawaii, Anna Dresner, has just updated our Office XP reference card to include all the latest JAWS and Window-Eyes commands for Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. If you previously purchased this reference card, you will receive a free supplement containing the new screen reader commands.

Two volumes in braille: $10

Who’s in the Wardrobe?

The movie based on C.S. Lewis’s book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a huge hit at the box office. This is one of seven books to introduce Narnia, an enchanted land protected by the gentle lion, Aslan, and it explores Lewis’s favorite theme of good vs. evil. It’s a great story to read to them at bedtime. For ages 9 and up.

2 volumes in braille: $10

U Rock

Every year, we design print/braille Valentines for kids to pass out to their classmates – or for adults to send to friends and family. You may receive this catalog after the fact, but we thought you might like to know about them. This year’s design is based on those popular candy hearts with short messages written on them. The image shows two candy hearts, one with the letter U and the other with the word ROCK. (Which, of course, you do.)

Set of 20 Valentines (plus envelopes): $10

Set of 32 Valentines (plus envelopes): $14

Healthy Ideas

I once convinced my husband that the new dry cleaners we used had shrunk my pants. We switched to a new one, and they did the same thing. It was during the third go-around—my husband earnestly explaining “the problem”—that he stopped in mid-sentence… hmmm, what if his wife had simply expanded?

Such is the middle-age angst of refusing to change our eating and exercise habits to accommodate a slower metabolism and a more sedentary lifestyle—especially one that involves sitting for hours in front of a computer. And yet, do you know anyone who has successfully gone on a diet plan and kept the weight off?

We decided that rather than offering a diet book, we would gather together the best tips for controlling your weight and let you—the person who knows you best—decide which ones might work. It’s called Simple Ideas to Control Your Weight, and, we repeat, it’s not a diet book. It contains the best advice we could find your weight down, or at least holding steady.