SHAKESPEARE BY TOUCH: TACTILE READING AND N. B. KNEASS JR.’S MERCHANT OF VENICE (1870)

Abstract

This essay tells the story of N. B. Kneass Jr.’s 1870 edition of Merchant of Venice, the first complete play by Shakespeare printed in tactile form for blind readers. It identifies key design choices made by Kneass, a blind printer and publisher, and situates them within the world of nineteenth-century tactile book making. Contextualizing the decisions that gave shape to the 1870 Merchant of Venice helps us to appreciate why Kneass chose to print his edition as he did, but it also raises questions about whether the book suited the particular needs and skills of tactile readers. These questions take on added significance through copy-specific examination; inscriptions found in a copy held at the Library Company of Philadelphia hint at its cir-culation among both blind and sighted readers, and they describe the physical toll taken by the book’s raised roman type on the body of one former owner. Ultimately, this copy of Kneass’s Merchant of Venice materializes the complex legacy left by Kneass and the tactile books he produced. These books opened new avenues for literacy to blind readers in the nineteenth century while, at the same time, re-sisting their bodies and sensory needs.