The Moon Reader 

Created by Teresa Jaynes, The Moon Reader is an interactive art installation that invites participants to learn to decipher and read through touch, a raised-letter writing system for the blind invented by blind educator William Moon in 1845.

The stories in The Moon Reader are a compilation of excerpts from the Zinman Collection of Printed Materials for the Blind at The Library Company of Philadelphia. Beginning with an exercise to learn Moon, visitors can read a series of stories inspired by history, music, and science textbooks in the Zinman Collection. The primary theme of the Reader is the nature of perception and learning. The selected stories, and the experience as a whole, is intended to expand the reader’s understandings of historical and contemporary connotations of sight through curiosity, humor, and empathy.

The Moon Reader was made possible with funds from The Independence Foundation Artist Fellowship in conjunction with The Visual Culture Program at The Library Company of Philadelphia.