VATICAN – The Vatican post office says it has issued its first Braille stamps to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, the French creator of the writing and reading system for the blind.
The stamps feature a portrait of Braille and his system's raised dots that spell out Braille, Vatican City State and the price.
The stamps issued Wednesday have a value of $0.96.
The Vatican said it will print 300,000 stamps, which will go on sale at its post offices near St. Peter's Basilica.
Braille was born in France in 1809 and lost his sight at an early age. He then developed a reading and writing system based on patterns of raised dots that allow blind people to recognize the alphabet with the tips of their fingers.
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