Check out our new website for Louis Braille's Bicentennial!
To help celebrate Louis Braille's Bicentennial, NBP has created print/braille bookmarks featuring artist Judy Krimski's gorgeous Louis Braille icon (read about the image below). We've packaged them in bundles of 30 (for $6) or 50 (for $10), so they're perfect for the classroom, the library, the office - or for your friends. Louis Braille should be as well known as Helen Keller or Martin Luther King - please help us spread the word!
Order the set of 50 here.
These 2.5" x 7.5" bookmarks feature the Louis icon described below, with the website address "LouisBrailleBicentennial.com" in both print and embossed braille. The text on the back of the bookmark reads:
Celebrate the genius of braille!
Louis Braille (1809-1852)
Born January 4th in Coupvray, France.
Accidentally blinded himself at age 3.
Attended a residential school in Paris, where he developed the braille code by the time he was 15.
At 19, became a beloved teacher at the school.
An accomplished musician, Braille also developed a music braille code.
Co-invented the first dot-matrix printer, called a raphigraphe.
Died from tuberculosis at the age of 43.
About the Louis Braille image
This image of Louis Braille was designed by artist Judith Krimski in celebration of the bicentennial of his birth on January 4, 2009. The challenge was to illustrate Louis's vitality today while honoring his place in history. Krimski chose the silhouette, a common form of French portraiture two hundred years ago (prior to the invention of the camera). Skilled artists made silhouettes by looking at a subject's profile, or side view, and cutting out just the outline of the face, freehand, on black paper. Within minutes, the artist could produce an image with a remarkable resemblance to the contours of the face of his subject. (Even today, iPod commercials portray silhouetted figures dancing to the music they're listening to on their iPods.) But to capture Louis's genius, Krimski ignited a "fire in his head" by painting Louis's naturally curly locks in vibrant colors - orange, purple, lime, teal - giving the image a decidedly current look. The space between his head and formal collar suggests a cravat, a long-strip neckband and forerunner to the necktie.
More Bicentennial gift ideas:
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