Braille Books: Where to Get Them Free
Braille books are easier to get than most people think, and many are free. In the United States, the Library of Congress lends braille books by mail at no cost and lets readers keep up to five a month. Children with vision loss in the US and Canada can get five free books a year from Seedlings. In the UK, RNIB's library posts braille books free and lets readers keep them. Braille Bibles are sent free worldwide. And a refreshable braille display turns any digital book into braille.
Below: each source, who qualifies, what it costs, and what a braille book actually looks like. Everything was checked on the organizations' own pages on October 7, 2026.
Key points
- NLS (Library of Congress) is a free braille and audio library for eligible readers in the US. Books come by mail free of charge or by download, and Braille on Demand lets you keep up to five books a month.
- Seedlings Braille Books for Children gives each child with vision loss, from birth to 21, in the US and Canada, five free braille books a year, and sells many more at low cost.
- RNIB Library in the UK is free to join, has more than 11,000 braille books, and posts them free; the books are yours to keep.
- Lutheran Braille Workers sends braille Bibles free of charge to blind readers anywhere in the world, including in Spanish.
- Digital braille files can be read on a refreshable braille display: Bookshare, for example, offers books you can read in braille.
What a braille book is like
A braille book is embossed on heavy paper, and it is much bulkier than the print edition, because braille cells are larger than print letters and cannot be shrunk below a size a fingertip can read. A complete braille Bible from Lutheran Braille Workers, for example, is 37 volumes in English and 44 in Spanish.
That is why many braille readers today mix paper and digital: paper for what they want to keep or study closely, and a refreshable braille display for everything else. In English, almost all published braille is contracted (grade 2); see braille contractions.
In the United States
NLS, the Library of Congress
The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) describes itself as "a free audiobook and braille library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical, perceptual or reading disability that makes it difficult to read print". Through a network of cooperating libraries, it sends books and magazines in braille and audio by mail free of charge (through USPS Free Matter) or as downloads from its BARD service.
Two details are worth knowing:
- With Braille on Demand, you can request up to five books a month in hard-copy braille to keep, chosen from the tens of thousands of braille titles in the NLS catalog (Braille on Demand).
- NLS also has braille books in other languages, including Spanish, mostly in hard copy (international language materials).
To apply, check eligibility and find your state's network library on the NLS website. NLS also lends a free braille eReader with a 20-cell display; more in refreshable braille displays.
Seedlings Braille Books for Children
Seedlings is a nonprofit that produces low-cost braille books for children. Its Book Angel Program gives each child with vision loss, from birth to 21, in the US and Canada, one order of five free braille books per calendar year; it has given away nearly 125,000 free books since 2002 (Seedlings free programs). You choose five titles in its store and place a new order each year.
National Braille Press
National Braille Press in Boston sells braille books, including print/braille picture books, which have both print and braille so a sighted parent and a blind child can read together, and runs a Children's Braille Book Club (nbp.org).
Bookshare
Bookshare is a digital library of more than 1.3 million titles that can be read aloud, enlarged or read in braille on a braille display. About 10,000 public-domain books are free to anyone in the world; the rest of the collection is for members (bookshare.org).
In the United Kingdom
RNIB Library is the UK's largest library for people with sight loss. It is free to join, has more than 11,000 braille books for adults and children, and books are delivered free of charge to your home, school or work and are yours to keep, share or recycle (RNIB braille books).
Braille Bibles, free
Lutheran Braille Workers provides braille books and subscriptions free of charge to readers who are blind or visually impaired throughout the world. In English it produces the ESV Bible in Unified English Braille and the NIV Bible in grade 2 braille, in 37 volumes, embossed on 10 × 12 inch braille paper. It also has the complete Bible in Spanish braille (44 volumes, or the New Testament alone in 11) and the New Testament in French (LBW braille materials).
In other countries
Most countries have a national blindness organization or library that lends braille books, and in many of them that is the first place to ask. In Spain, for example, the ONCE lends braille books to its members through 33 libraries and a digital library. Sources for Spanish-speaking countries are in our Spanish guide, libros en braille.
Digital braille: books on a display
Many braille books today are files, not paper. A refreshable braille display connected to a phone or computer shows the text of an ebook in braille, a line at a time, and some devices, like the NLS braille eReader, download braille books directly. Braille book files often use the BRF format, which is ready-formatted braille text. How displays work and what they cost: refreshable braille displays.
If the book you want does not exist in braille
- Ask a library first. NLS, RNIB and similar libraries can tell you whether a title exists in braille somewhere.
- For a school textbook, ask the student's teacher of the visually impaired; braille textbooks are usually arranged through the school.
- For a short text, you can see how it is written in braille with our braille translator. For anything a braille reader will rely on, use a professional transcription.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I get free braille books?
In the US, from NLS, the Library of Congress braille library, which mails books free and lets you keep up to five a month through Braille on Demand. Children in the US and Canada can get five free books a year from Seedlings. In the UK, from RNIB Library. Braille Bibles are free worldwide from Lutheran Braille Workers.
Are braille books free to mail in the US?
Yes, for eligible materials. NLS sends braille books through USPS Free Matter, which is free postage for materials for blind and print-disabled people.
Why are braille books so big?
Braille cells are larger than printed letters and cannot be made smaller without becoming unreadable by touch, and braille is embossed on heavy paper. A complete braille Bible takes 37 volumes in English.
Can children get free braille books?
Yes. In the US and Canada, Seedlings' Book Angel Program gives each child with vision loss, from birth to 21, five free braille books a year. NLS also serves children.
Can I read braille books on a phone?
Not by touch on the glass, but a refreshable braille display connected to a phone shows ebooks in braille. Bookshare and NLS offer books you can read that way.