Embossed Books

“Valentine Haüy's original method of embossing books was to apply soaked paper to raised letter forms, so that the tactile shape of the specially crafted large round cursive letters remained after the paper dried. Pages were then glued back-to-front to produce a two-sided sheet. These books were, of course, extraordinarily slow and difficult to make--and almost as slow and difficult to read, since the shape of each letter had to be traced individually. The finished books were often too heavy for the smaller students to lift.”

round cursive letters Embossed Books

The Embossed Book

These books were as big as a small suitcase and probably as heavy when fully loaded with luggage.

You could try making some embossed pages as a class project.

Back to Top

Embossed Books

Back to Braille