It is one of a dozen forms of alternative writing presented in a book published in 1815: Essai sur divers procédés d'expéditive française, contenant douze écritures différentes, avec une planche pour chaque procédé (Essay on various processes of French expedition, containing twelve different writings, with a plate for each process).
Charles Barbier also invented the tools to facilitate this form of writing with raised dots: a shelf ruler that had groups of 6 horizontal grooves.
[3] Barbier's night writing also faced several limitations and imperfections: In 1815, Barbier published a pamphlet titled Essai sur divers procédés d'expéditive française, contenant douze écritures différentes, avec une planche pour chaque procédé (Essay on various processes of French expedition, containing twelve different writings, with a plate for each process).
In 1829, Louis Braille published Procédé pour écrire les paroles, la musique et le plain-chant au moyen de points, à l’usage des aveugles et disposés pour eux (Process for writing words, music and lyrics by way of dots, for the use of, and arranged for, the blind).
This was based on Barbier's invention but greatly improved its legibility, and the publication marked the official birth of the Braille alphabet.
In 1832, Barbier published a new pamphlet, Émancipation intellectuelle d’expéditive française, which stresses that his writing system, though designed for the blind, could also be of use in the army and in hospitals.