One of the most quickly created Heralds, the English Braille edition served readers for over sixty years. This system of dots, which represent an alphabet, punctuation, and other symbols necessary for communicating ideas, was invented by a blind Frenchman, Louis Braille, in 1824. The Braille edition of the Herald got its start through William P. McKenzie, a Trustee of The Christian Science Publishing Society. Toward the end of 1929 or in early 1930—the historical record isn't clear—McKenzie proposed to fellow members of The Board of Trustees, and later to the editors of the religious magazines, that they consider an English Braille edition of The Herald of Christian Science.
At that time, a Christian Scientist named J. Robert Atkinson was manager of the Universal Braille Press. Atkinson had already spearheaded the publication of an English Braille edition of Science and Health in 1924. So when the Trustees contacted him, he was very interested and sent them an estimate of the cost.
In September, 1930, Roland Harrison, Manager of the Publishing Society, informed Atkinson that the plans for a Braille edition had been shelved. Atkinson replied by pointing out that other religious publications were producing Braille editions and had strong circulation for that time. Over the next few months, he continued to feed the Trustees information about what other denominations were doing, and so persuaded them to reopen their discussions.
