Ian Rankin at the launch on Fleshmarket Close
A £2 million campaign was launched this week to re-house one of the nation's leading Braille printing presses - The Scottish Braille Press. It coincides with National Braille Week (4-10 Jan 2009), which this year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, whose invention in 1821 of a writing system based on embossed dots has had a profound effect on the lives of millions of people worldwide.
Braille books, magazines and other materials are produced by the Scottish Braille Press - one of the largest and most respected providers of high quality alternative formats in the UK. It is part of the national charity Royal Blind, that provides services for the blind and the press specialises in the high quality production of Braille, Large Print and Audio - providing a transcription service since 1891.
"Although equipped with state of the art printing equipment the building itself needs to be rebuilt" says Richard Hellewell, chief executive of Royal Blind, "and this is why we are campaigning to raise £2 million."
The printing press, run and managed by Royal Blind, was built in the sixties and will be completely rebuilt.
Bestselling 'Inspector Rebus' author Ian Rankin is lending his support to the campaign. His son is a pupil at the Royal Blind School, also run by Royal Blind.
One of Rankin's best selling Rebus books is Fleshmarket Close, named after a real passageway in Edinburgh's Old Town. Today he was there in person to unveil 12 pages from the novel, which have been translated into Braille and mounted on the walls of the passageway itself.
Rankin is calling for more creative works to be made available to people with reading difficulties. To mark the appeal, the Press is printing a Braille version of Rankin's Death is Not the End and the author visited the Press to see the first printed copies.
Watch a video of the unveiling and a behind the scenes look at the work of the Scottish Braille Press below: