We are traveling this week to the Capital Rare Book Fair in Washington DC. We wee be open again on May 8

Julius and His Friend the Computer [Blissymbols] [Bilingual Books] [Children with Disabilities]

$450

Author: Chait, Thelma; Blissymbol translation by Annalu Waller

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Illustrator: Words and drawings by the Author.

Edition: First Edition, First Printing

Condition: New
Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket, As Issued

Color pictorial wraps. 8 by 7 inches.; 62 unnumbered pages. No Flaws or Blemishes; Gift Quality. Fully illustrated with two color portraits. Text in English and Blissymbolics. From our research this may be the first bilingual edition of any book published in English and with a translation into Blissymbols. OCLC/WorldCat  notes only three copies in libraries…and all in South Africa. The copy-write notice indicates that publication was underwritten by several individuals including the mother of Julius as well as the Blissymbolics Institute in Canada. Subjects: Cerebral Palsy; Assistive Technology; Inclusive Education; Symbolic Communication; Blissymbols; Computers and Technology in Education; Disability and Accessibility; Bilingual Books; Communication Tools for Special Needs; Children with Disabilities; Assistive Devices for Communication; Personal Growth through Technology; Universal Design for Learning; Storytelling and Technology; Empowerment through Technology. Julius and His Friend the Computer by Thelma Chait is a groundbreaking children’s book that introduces young readers to the world of computers through the true story of Julius, a boy with cerebral palsy, who embarks on an adventure to understand how technology has transformed his life. The book chronicles Julius’s experience with a computer and how it has become a vital tool for him to communicate and interact with the world. What sets this book apart is that it is the first bilingual edition published in both English and Blissymbols, a symbolic writing system developed by Charles Bliss. The integration of these two languages—one verbal and one visual—ensures the story is accessible to a broader range of readers, particularly those who use Blissymbols for communication. This unique bilingual approach not only introduces children to technology but also demonstrates a novel way of conveying information using symbols, which transcend traditional language. The inclusion of Blissymbols promotes inclusivity and allows readers to engage with the content on multiple levels, making it especially valuable for individuals who communicate using symbolic systems. Beyond its educational value, the book serves as an innovative bridge between traditional language and symbolic communication, emphasizing the evolving ways information can be shared. This pioneering work highlights the importance of developing educational resources that cater to diverse communicative needs, establishing Julius and His Friend the Computer as a significant contribution to inclusive learning. The artist-author, Thelma Chait (1918-2009) was a South-African born painter and illustrator of some renown who spent the last years of her life in Seattle.  We believe she knew the boy and his family which gave her the motivation to record the story, which she did so with great expression and much compassion. In 1949, Charles Bliss (1897-1985) developed a symbol-based language inspired by his father’s circuit diagrams and the universality of chemical symbols. While in Shanghai’s Hongkew ghetto after escaping German concentration camps, he mistakenly thought Chinese characters were ideograms and realized he could read them in German. This led him to create a pictorial writing system, initially named “World Writing” and later rebranded as “Semantography.” Despite little initial recognition, his system eventually became known as “Blissymbolics.” In 1971, Bliss discovered his symbols were being used to help children with cerebral palsy communicate at the Ontario Crippled Children’s Centre, but he became disillusioned when they adapted the symbols for other uses. After legal disputes, the Blissymbolics Communication Foundation gained the world copyright for using his symbols. Bliss’s contributions earned him the Order of Australia in 1976 and an Honorary Fellowship in Linguistics in 1979. His story was documented in the 1974 film Mr. Symbol Man.