Sunday 23 June 2013

International Typewriter Day 2013




15 comments:

  1. Hey, that's no fair to persons of age 19! I always used to say 25, too, incidentally, but I long ago threw that concept away, temporarily adhered to it again during a cross-country move, and then threw it away again.

    The best number of typewriters is the number that makes you happy. ;)

    Optimas are exciting. I can hardly wait!

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    1. OK, recalculate. Use Mercury years - good news is they 88 days long. Bad news is, I'm over 200 years old. That explains the creaking sound when I stand up.

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  2. I agree, the typosphere is in good health. Thanks for the encouraging roundup of reminders.

    But no, your rule is not reasonable. I agree with Nick!

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    1. OK, maybe not a rule exactly. More of guideline.

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  3. Your Lettera 32 looks very attractive in that light. And as I replied to your comment, looking forward to your Lexikon 80 reveal!

    If you have the space (physical and psychological) for a big collection, why not. As for me, it's the year of the downsized collection. I'll need to be creative to keep it interesting.

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    1. I'm looking forward to the Lexikon too. So far all I have seen is the ebay photo.

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  4. I join the crowd. The perfect number of machines in a collection is the number of elements that makes you happy. I'd also have to disagree with the rule that plastic machines don't count; for that matter, the same goes for electronic wedges and electrics in general. If they suit your fancy, why not collect them too? There are several nice looking plastic bodied typewriters out there, that are usually ignored by collectors precisely because they are made of plastic... but I digress.

    And now it's time for me to bite my tongue and confess that I too am trying to downsize the collection a bit... ran out of storage space. Yes, I'll have to admit to owning at least two Selectrics too many...

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    1. Quite agree, plastic's fine, it just doesn't count towards the total because it is plastic. I'm sure the same would go for electrics but that would be new territory for me to explore once I'm up to quota.

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  5. My partner James laid down the Law: I can have only as many typewriters as I have years.

    So at age 59, I can collect 25 more typewriters. Hooray! And by then...I'll be older and I'll be able to collect MORE.

    HOORAY!

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    1. So, basically, you can buy a typewriter on your birth day every year? It will be an extra special day!

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    2. Sounds like a rational number - I hope it is one you can agree on...when the time comes :-)

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  6. Well, by your rules, I'm well below the max. I've come to the system that I have the "rotation" machines which are all keepers, the "bench" machines that are probably keepers, but might drift either direction, and the "Fix and sell/gift away" machines, which were rescued just because I know I can fix 'em up and get rid of them fairly quickly.

    Still keeping the whole lineup to below 30, though (:

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  7. Hey, when did you get the Lettera 32, Rob? Seems like only yesterday that you had developed a lust for one. My current collection numbers 19 (I think), but a few of them will be moved along at some point. I'd love to get an Olivetti Studio 42, an early '60s Triumph Gabriele, and maybe a '50s S-C Skyriter. And then I'm done...hopefully.

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    1. Arrived out of the blue (blue-green?) early April - a gift! What a revelation. It finally made sense why people rate them so highly.

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  8. My "system" is pretty much the same as Ted's. Happily, after John Lavery's visit here, we have come to an arrangement by which I will take a van load and mostly plastics to John in Queensland, he will tidy up any that need a bit of work and then sell them. I will be very pleased to make some extra room for my current bent on between-wars German portables.

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