Sorry. I meant to get back to this sooner.
Today I've made a YouTube video featuring all of my typewriters. It's current with everything I currently own. It's very simple so don't expect this to win anything at Sundance.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Good News
The Windows 64-bit scanner software has been obtained and is working properly, and there will be more typewritten updates coming. Woohoo!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
An eBay Education
I love eBay. You can get some bargains there, and you can get ripped off. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.
But in truth, what eBay gives you is an education. Some guy is selling a 1960s Smith-Corona portable for $1000. If you didn't have the other listings on eBay as a reference, you might think he had something special. But no, one look at the other listings reveals that you can easily get an identical one (since they're very common) for about $35-$50 shipped to your home.
I've bought several typewriters in the past few months. It's an obsession that has led to speculation I may have Asperger's or some similar disorder. I love small details and trivial information. I like to know as much about my typewriters as possible. This is where eBay, when used in conjunction with the Yahoo Portable Typewriters Forum, is a goldmine of information.
You can't afford them, but you'll get to look at machines you'll never be able to afford, and find out more information about the ones you have. It's a good way to get a free education, if you can resist hitting the "buy it now" button. It's tough, man...I almost did it yesterday, but I fought it.
I think it takes a special kind of person to love typewriters. You can't mind getting your hands stained with ink. You have to enjoy detailing with a toothbrush. You have to like the smell of 3-in-1 oil. You can't mind being branded a throwback or a freak. You should get used to being called a hipster even if you're not.
Names and strange looks don't really matter. This is the life I've chosen. Or, somehow, has been chosen for me. We do what we do, even if we don't know why. Perhaps that's part of the education as well...learning a bit about ourselves and what we like.
But in truth, what eBay gives you is an education. Some guy is selling a 1960s Smith-Corona portable for $1000. If you didn't have the other listings on eBay as a reference, you might think he had something special. But no, one look at the other listings reveals that you can easily get an identical one (since they're very common) for about $35-$50 shipped to your home.
I've bought several typewriters in the past few months. It's an obsession that has led to speculation I may have Asperger's or some similar disorder. I love small details and trivial information. I like to know as much about my typewriters as possible. This is where eBay, when used in conjunction with the Yahoo Portable Typewriters Forum, is a goldmine of information.
You can't afford them, but you'll get to look at machines you'll never be able to afford, and find out more information about the ones you have. It's a good way to get a free education, if you can resist hitting the "buy it now" button. It's tough, man...I almost did it yesterday, but I fought it.
I think it takes a special kind of person to love typewriters. You can't mind getting your hands stained with ink. You have to enjoy detailing with a toothbrush. You have to like the smell of 3-in-1 oil. You can't mind being branded a throwback or a freak. You should get used to being called a hipster even if you're not.
Names and strange looks don't really matter. This is the life I've chosen. Or, somehow, has been chosen for me. We do what we do, even if we don't know why. Perhaps that's part of the education as well...learning a bit about ourselves and what we like.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Mario and Luigi, My Spanish-Italian Homeboys.
Mario (left), an Olivetti-Underwood 21, and Luigi (right), an Olivetti-Underwood Studio 44. Internally, the exact same machine.
Mario (left) and Luigi (right), drug-taking, murderous videogame characters, plumbers, and racist Italian stereotypes.These I got last week. I haven't been keeping up with the blog as I should. Luigi came first. Sadly, there is a problem with the carriage return. I'd love to fix it but I don't see why it's not working right, and I'm not willing to take it apart. It is fully funtional otherwise, if I'm inclined to manually turn the knob to advance to the next line. It is a wonderful typer, though.
Mario came a few days later and I just about fell off my chair. It's perfect in almost every way. The action, the typing, the return, the feel of it...like brand new. I've never seen anything like it. If necessary I could use parts off Luigi to fix it, but I doubt I'll need to. These are both over 45 years old. I've stopped buying typewriters, at least for now, but if and when I do it will be exclusively Olivettis and Underwoods. I'm really impressed by the quality and beauty of them.
Help Me, Dr. Zaius!
Dr. Zaius, wisest and greatest of all typewriters.
Dr. Zaius, wisest and greatest of all apes. My newest, bestest friend, and 11th typewriter buddy, Dr. Zaius. An eBay purchase I won on Labor Day that got lost by the post office, it arrived here yesterday. This is a big, heavy typing machine. The serial number indicates it's from 1949. This isn't my oldest machine (that would be Ignatius the '48 Remington Rand Portable DeLuxe), but it's a very good typewriter indeed. The seller's story was that this belonged to his uncle, a reporter who wrote for the Chicago Sun Times (among other papers) and who was also a devoted Underwood enthusiast. I will tell you this: no one is going to steal my typewriters. But if they did, I wouldn't miss any of them except the Underwoods and the Olivettis. These are some wonderful machines.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Farewell, My Typewriter Summer
Farewell, my obsessive typewriter-hoarding summer. I'll still love and enjoy the ones I have, but my buying spree has ended. I began the summer with one machine and I currently have eight. With the coming weeks I'll have three more, for a final tally of eleven. These have all been paid for and are making their way to me though the U.S. postal system.
Here's a rundown in order of purchase, for those keeping score:
01. '60s Sears (Smith-Corona) Citation 12 ("Typie")
02. 1948 Remington Rand Portable Deluxe ("Ignatius")
03. 1955 Underwood Universal Quiet Tab ("Sam")
04. '50s Smith-Corona Skyriter ("Mr. McMahon")
05. '50s Hermes Rocket ("Sigmund")
06. '60s Olivetti Lettera 32 ("Rusty")
07. 1958 Royal (Montgomery-Ward) Heritage ("Dirty Harry")
08. '70s Olivetti Lettera 35 ("Pablo")
The three in the system (which I bought instead of that $150 Android smartphone I was looking at) haven't arrived yet, but I'll list them here for reference purposes. Any day now the first of them should be arriving, and they'll be presented here and given their (probably Italian stereotyped) nicknames.
09. '60s Olivetti-Underwood 21
10. '60s Underwood-Olivetti Studio 44
11. '40s Underwood Standard
I look forward to getting to know these machines and cleaning and installing ribbons. It's something I really enjoy doing. They're much larger and less portable than the machines I've been using, particularly the Underwood Standard, so it's a matter of making a little space available. The Standard was a very heavy office machine (about 30 pounds), and there's no case for it, but I got a good deal and I've developed a strong affection for Underwoods in particular. I like the way they feel and type (the '55 Underwood is the single best typewriter I've ever used).
Olivetti bought Underwood in the late '50s, so the other two machines I bought are from the studio series...very similar inside but different in outward appearance. Tennessee Williams used an Olivetti Studio 44, which looks like a larger, heavier version of the Lettera 22/32. Excited to get the typewriters and hope to have some good news the next time I post something here.
Here's a rundown in order of purchase, for those keeping score:
01. '60s Sears (Smith-Corona) Citation 12 ("Typie")
02. 1948 Remington Rand Portable Deluxe ("Ignatius")
03. 1955 Underwood Universal Quiet Tab ("Sam")
04. '50s Smith-Corona Skyriter ("Mr. McMahon")
05. '50s Hermes Rocket ("Sigmund")
06. '60s Olivetti Lettera 32 ("Rusty")
07. 1958 Royal (Montgomery-Ward) Heritage ("Dirty Harry")
08. '70s Olivetti Lettera 35 ("Pablo")
The three in the system (which I bought instead of that $150 Android smartphone I was looking at) haven't arrived yet, but I'll list them here for reference purposes. Any day now the first of them should be arriving, and they'll be presented here and given their (probably Italian stereotyped) nicknames.
09. '60s Olivetti-Underwood 21
10. '60s Underwood-Olivetti Studio 44
11. '40s Underwood Standard
I look forward to getting to know these machines and cleaning and installing ribbons. It's something I really enjoy doing. They're much larger and less portable than the machines I've been using, particularly the Underwood Standard, so it's a matter of making a little space available. The Standard was a very heavy office machine (about 30 pounds), and there's no case for it, but I got a good deal and I've developed a strong affection for Underwoods in particular. I like the way they feel and type (the '55 Underwood is the single best typewriter I've ever used).
Olivetti bought Underwood in the late '50s, so the other two machines I bought are from the studio series...very similar inside but different in outward appearance. Tennessee Williams used an Olivetti Studio 44, which looks like a larger, heavier version of the Lettera 22/32. Excited to get the typewriters and hope to have some good news the next time I post something here.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
A.K.A. Pablo
What 99 cents buys. This is Pablo, my Italian/Spanish Olivetti Lettera 35 typewriter, circa 1972. This baby is all metal, and it's nice and shiny. I put a new ribbon on it and mostly cleared the jam that was keeping paper from going through. It's a wonderful machine. Life is short, and we need to find happiness where we can...tinkering with these old machines and trying to make them work, and hearing the clack clack clack when I type on them...few things make me happier in this world. Don't ask me why. I have no idea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)