Meet Julia Donaldson Summer reading Books of my life - RNIB

Behind the scenes
I’ve also brought along a brailler from the
late 1940s. This is a matrix brailler from
the Coventry Gauge and Tool Company.
It looks like a small typewriter with keys
coming out of the end which are flat.
This one still has a little bell that rings to
tell you when the paper is running out.
The later ones didn’t have that.
Dr William Moon created a system of
embossed lettering in 1847. Can you
tell us about the woman claiming to
be related to him?
We were left a large amount of
correspondence from Miss Lillian Moon,
who claimed originally to be the great
granddaughter of Dr Moon. Her story
changed over time to being his niece and
eventually his great niece. She wrote to
lots of eminent people and organisations
but it turned out that she had no
connection to the Moon family at all.
However, we are left with a wonderful
collection of correspondence which
draws together lots of contemporary
documents from different blind societies
of the time so it’s an interesting social
study in itself.
We are hoping to make this kind of
material more accessible to the public
and perhaps to have some kind of
display area in RNIB’s Judd Street office
so that we can show some of these
things off.
And finally, I have a Swiss made braille
alarm clock probably from the 1930s.
One of the problems we have is a great
number of artefacts which have simply
arrived over the years without any notes.
It’s part of the fun working with these
things that we have to play detective to
find out more about them.
If someone wants to come and use
this amazing resource what should
they do?
It’s best to get in touch with us first to
get the most from your visit. You can
call us on 0207 391 2052 or email us
heritageservices@rnib.org.uk
You can also find more about us
on our web pages at
rnib.org.uk/heritageservices
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