Moon Type vs Braille: How the Moon Alphabet Works

Moon type is a raised alphabet for reading by touch, made of lines and curves that look like simplified print capitals. William Moon, a blind teacher in Brighton, England, built it in 1845, and his first book in it came out in 1847. Many people who used to read print find Moon easier to learn than braille, but Moon books are bulky, few are produced today and it is hardly used outside the UK. RNIB and other major blindness organisations focus on braille instead.

Below: who William Moon was and why he made his own alphabet, how the Moon alphabet works, who still uses and produces it, and a side-by-side comparison with braille. Every fact links to its source; where we found none, we say so.

Key points

• Moon type dates from 1845. William Moon, totally blind since 1840, designed it in Brighton, and his first book in Moon, The Last Days of Polycarp, appeared on 1 June 1847.
• Its letters are simplified Roman capitals. Moon found that all 26 letters were only nine shapes placed in different positions, and over half of them still look like the print letter.
• Traditional Moon lines run back and forth. The reader's finger follows a curved guide line down to the next line, which runs the other way. Moon produced by computer reads left to right.
• Very few people still produce it. RNIB said it was not planning to return to active production of Moon, and its Moon Library closed on 31 January 2021. ClearVision lends Moon books, and A2i and Deafblind Enablement transcribe into Moon.
• Moon can be a stepping stone to braille. It suits people who lose their sight later in life or have a less sensitive touch, but braille has more books, writing tools and technology.

Moon type at a glance

What is Moon type?

Moon type is a system of raised shapes that blind people of any age can read with their fingers. Its characters are raised lines and curves similar to the print alphabet. A small set of basic shapes, rotated or reflected, makes the 26 letters, and extra dots mark punctuation and the numeral sign (RNIB). It is not a form of braille (Duxbury Systems). Its entry in ISO 15924, the international list of script codes, gives its other names: Moon code, Moon script and Moon type (ISO 15924).

Why not just raise ordinary print? People tried. Printed letters are so complex that raised letters had to be very large to be felt, which meant slow reading and very bulky books (RNIB). Moon kept the outline of each capital and left parts of it out, so the shapes stay open and clear to the touch (CNIB, That All May Read).

Who was William Moon?

William Moon was born in Kent, England, on 18 December 1818. At four, scarlet fever took the sight of one eye and seriously damaged the other. At about 18 he settled in Brighton and studied to become a clergyman, but his remaining eye kept failing in spite of several operations, and in 1840 he became totally blind (Dictionary of National Biography).

He began teaching blind children at a day school in Egremont Place, Brighton. The raised systems he taught with, such as Frere's, relied heavily on contractions, and after some years Moon judged them too complicated for most blind people, especially older ones. In 1845 he built his own system from simplified Roman capitals, almost without contractions (DNB). Braille, first published 16 years earlier, had not yet reached the UK from France (RNIB). How braille itself spread is in the history of braille.

His first book in Moon, The Last Days of Polycarp, appeared on 1 June 1847, which is why some sources date Moon type to 1847. He went on to emboss passages of the Bible in 476 languages and dialects with the same nine shapes. By his death, lending libraries of his books existed in 80 towns of the United Kingdom and in Paris, Turin and several American cities, and in 1871 a university in Philadelphia had made him a doctor of laws; RNIB still calls him Dr William Moon. He died suddenly in Brighton on 10 October 1894, and his daughter carried on the work (DNB). In 1908 his daughter Adelaide Moon introduced the first Moon writing machine (APH Museum).

How the Moon alphabet works

Letters made from nine shapes

When he had finished his alphabet, Moon found that all 26 letters were only nine shapes in different positions (DNB). The characters are fairly large, and over half of the letters look strongly like their print equivalent (RNIB). They can be produced in any size (RNIB), and because they are made of lines, they can be enlarged without becoming harder to read (TES). The raised symbols stand much higher than braille dots (Unicode L2/02-067).

Reusing the same shape in different positions has a cost: RNIB notes that rotated characters can cause confusion (RNIB). Capital letters are usually not marked at all (Duxbury Systems). Numbers are written with a numeral sign followed by the letters A to J, which stand for the digits 1 to 9 and 0; for maths there is a separate StaffsMaths Moon code (RNIB).

Lines that run back and forth

Moon's books used what his entry in the Dictionary of National Biography calls an "ox-ploughing" order of lines (DNB), known as boustrophedon. One line runs left to right, the next right to left, and a curved guide line at the end leads the finger down to the next line. On the right-to-left lines the letters are not mirrored: the finger traces each word as if it were written backwards. Moon produced by computer is always read left to right, but most Moon books that survive alternate (Unicode L2/02-067).

Grade 1 and grade 2 Moon

Moon has two grades. Grade 1 is uncontracted: a letter-for-letter version of print, with the alphabet, numbers and punctuation. Grade 2 adds some extra signs and a simple shorthand, which makes Moon documents smaller and generally speeds up reading. Even grade 2 is quick to learn (RNIB). Moon uses fewer contractions than braille (TES); for comparison, see how braille contractions work.

Braille translation software splits it a little more finely. Duxbury's English Moon tables offer grade 2 with full contractions, grade 1 with minimal ones (the sign for "and" is used even in grade 1) and a fully spelled "grade one-half" (Duxbury Systems).

Writing Moon

There is no portable mechanical device for writing Moon, the way the Perkins brailler or the Jot-a-dot note-taker exist for braille (RNIB). There have been attempts: Possum Controls and RNIB built a Possum Moon-Writer, with a prototype in 1983 and a production model in 1986, but only in a minimal run (APH Museum).

The ways to produce Moon writing, as RNIB described them in 2022, are:

• By hand, with a Moon hand frame: a sheet of plastic embossing film in a hinged frame. You draw each character freehand with an inkless pen or a braille stylus.
• Labels: pre-embossed Moon labelling sheets.
• Linear Moon: text typed in a Moon font and copied onto swell paper, which rises when it passes through a heat fuser.
• Dotty Moon: Moon shapes made of dots, from some braille embossers. Evaluations suggest most people find it as easy to read as linear Moon (RNIB).

Dotty Moon needs software and an embosser with a Moon mode (Duxbury Systems), and the equipment and swell paper are very expensive (RNIB).

Who uses Moon type today?

Moon has been found particularly suitable for people who lose their sight later in life and for people with a less keen sense of touch. Some children with additional physical or learning difficulties gain some literacy through Moon, and reading a few words on signs and labels can make them more independent (RNIB). It has traditionally been read by people who lost their sight later in life and by the Deafblind community, and it is sometimes used by children who cannot learn braille, for example because of reduced sensitivity in their fingertips (ClearVision). More on how deafblind people read and communicate is in deafblind communication.

It has always had a small readership. In 1997 the National Library for the Blind had 4,000 Moon titles, in more than 20,000 volumes, for 300 Moon readers, many of whom were also deaf (TES). It is hardly used outside the UK (RNIB). In Canada, the Halifax School adopted Moon type in 1877, and the CNIB Library distributed Moon books until 1971 (CNIB). In the United States, a committee set up in 1905 to settle which raised type to use still recognized Moon's value for "blinded aged and hard-handed persons" (AFB).

We found no current figure for how many people read Moon today.

Is Moon type still produced?

Only in small amounts, and no longer by RNIB in the way it once was.

• RNIB has stepped back. RNIB said it had serious reservations about Moon's viability and had decided to focus on teaching and promoting braille and other formats. It was "not planning to return to active production and promotion of Moon", but would offer products until stocks ran out (RNIB, archived 2021). We found no source that gives the date it stopped active production. In 2002 RNIB was described as the last producer of Moon texts (Unicode L2/02-067).
• RNIB's Moon Library closed. The Giant Print Library and Moon Library in Peterborough closed on 31 January 2021, because borrowing had been falling and costs rising. RNIB kept its braille library and Talking Books (RNIB). When we searched RNIB's online shop in October 2026, it listed no Moon products.
• ClearVision is one of the few remaining sources of Moon books. It lends a small collection of very simple books and tactile books with added Moon text, has some issues of Moon Mag for teenagers and adults, and gives away a small number of Moon teaching resources (ClearVision).
• Transcription services: A2i in Bristol offers transcription to Moon (A2i), and Deafblind Enablement has started a national Braille and Moon Transcription service (Deafblind Enablement).

The museum of the American Printing House for the Blind sums it up: Moon's popularity in Britain declined after braille was adopted, but it is still produced in small quantities (APH Museum).

Moon type vs braille

Braille is a code of raised dots in a six-dot cell, first published by Louis Braille in 1829, and it became the dominant raised system (CNIB). What braille is and how the cell works is explained in what is braille. Here is how the two compare, point by point:

Sources for the table: learning and touch (ClearVision; RNIB); reading speed, writing, books and technology (RNIB); book size (Unicode L2/02-067); braille library (RNIB); Unicode (Unicode roadmap; Unicode braille chart); where used (RNIB).

On reading speed, none of the sources we checked measures Moon and braille side by side, so we make no claim either way. Braille displays are covered in refreshable braille display, and the braille writing tools in Perkins brailler and slate and stylus.

Should you learn Moon or braille?

For most people who want to read by touch for years, braille is the safer choice: it has far more books, portable writing tools, braille displays, and the backing of RNIB and the other major blindness organisations. Moon is worth a look if braille has not worked for you, if you lost your sight later in life and find the dots hard to feel, or for a child with additional needs, where a qualified teacher of visually impaired children should advise (RNIB). And it does not have to be one or the other: Duxbury, which makes braille translation software, notes that Moon can be a stepping stone to braille (Duxbury Systems).

If you choose braille, how to learn braille shows where to start, learning braille as an adult covers learning it after losing your sight, and the braille alphabet shows every letter. Braillito, our app, teaches uncontracted braille: 59 lessons in 8 worlds, in 38 languages. Braillito is a subscription with no free version; depending on the plan, it starts with a free trial or a discounted first period, if it's your first subscription (is Braillito free?). Get Braillito.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Moon alphabet?

The Moon alphabet, or Moon type, is a raised alphabet read by touch. Its letters are simplified print capitals made of raised lines and curves: a few basic shapes, rotated or reflected, give all 26 letters, and over half of them still look like the print letter. Extra dots mark punctuation and numbers.

Who invented Moon type?

William Moon, an Englishman who went totally blind in 1840. While teaching blind children in Brighton he found the raised systems of the time too complicated, so in 1845 he designed his own. His first book in Moon came out in 1847.

Is Moon type easier to learn than braille?

For many people, yes, especially those who read print before losing their sight, because over half the Moon letters resemble print. Its large characters also suit people with a less sensitive touch. The trade-off is that Moon books are bulky and scarce, and there is no Moon equivalent of a braille display.

Is Moon type still used?

Yes, by a small number of readers, mostly in the UK. RNIB stopped actively producing and promoting it and closed its Moon Library in January 2021. ClearVision still lends Moon books, and A2i and Deafblind Enablement transcribe documents into Moon.

What is the difference between Moon type and braille?

Moon uses lines and curves based on print letters, while braille uses raised dots in a six-dot cell. Moon is often easier to learn, but its books are much bulkier and few are made. Braille has far more books, mechanical writers such as the Perkins brailler, and refreshable braille displays for computers.