...typing for peace, democracy, and the glory of the Typosphere
Thursday 31 March 2011
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Just my type
I'm a graphic designer by profession and, though you'd never guess, fonts are my stock in trade. I have to admit never giving much thought to the fonts used on typewriters. Even now, I wouldn't have a clue how to identify the fonts on any machine I own but I'm sure further digging in the Typosphere would help. There's a lot of enthusiasm among some typerati for certain fonts - just recently schordzi's industrial archaeology resurrected Spencerian. Blazing a trail from analogue obsolescence to a bright, if contraversial, digital future. So, I thought readers might be interested in this book. I read Just My Type a few months ago and thought it was really interesting and would make a good primer for anyone with a developing interest in typefaces, the thinking behind them and the use - and misuse - to which they are put. Typewriters, Dymo and Letraset (remember Letraset?) all get a mention in passing, but the book concentrates mostly on printers' fonts, from Guttenberg to the present day. If you haven't read it, you can download a publisher's sample here. [3.6Mb pdf]
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Sunday 27 March 2011
Saturday 26 March 2011
Friday 25 March 2011
Thursday 24 March 2011
Milestone
Not that anyone's counting, and at the risk of trumpet blowing - ta daa - a thousand views! Thanks.
Boris
I spent part of today working on some post cards for a client, Fundraising Training Ltd.. That's right, printed cards - not everything happens online - some people call it 'marketing collateral'. One of their courses is The Art of Persuasive Writing and I had to come up with a character-driven set of images, of which this is one...
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| Boris the robot with his machine-made words |
Wednesday 23 March 2011
Tuesday 22 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
[we]'b-log
Is there any virtue in rigorously blogging daily? The word 'journal' implies daily, but web-log? The measurement from a trailing ship's log would have been measured at least twice daily - the original rolling news? No log - no way of knowing how fast you are travelling. Unimportant in itself, but essential to know your whereabouts. Yikes, 2 minutes to go...
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| Many boats have something like this screwed to the bottom - even carbon-fibre racing shells. This one would have been thrown over the side several times a day. |
Sunday 20 March 2011
Saturday 19 March 2011
Friday 18 March 2011
Thursday 17 March 2011
Wednesday 16 March 2011
Thread-bare
Anyone know where I can get replacement ribbon for a Blick Universal/Klein Adler? Because of the horizontal striking action, and being a three-bank, the type-head depth calls for a 3/4" ribbon. Is this unique to this machine? Was 3/4" the Betamax of Golden Age Saxony? I re-inked this ribbon with a tube of ballpoint ink with some success - but it is perforated and becoming thread-bare.
Tuesday 15 March 2011
typecast #2
A little bleak but Typewriter Heaven seems as good a place as any.
Circa 1982. From the keys of my Blick Universal
Circa 1982. From the keys of my Blick Universal
Monday 14 March 2011
Sunday 13 March 2011
Friday 11 March 2011
Machine à écrire
Encouraged by The Reverend Ted Munk's investigation into the typewriters of Cronenberg's The Naked Lunch, I looked up the machine a ecrire which led Antoine Doinel astray in Truffaut's Les 400 coups (1959).
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| © Les Films du Carrosse |
Thursday 10 March 2011
Wednesday 9 March 2011
Renaissance or what?
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| CC: flickr.com/belfegore |
I can't remember who it was in the last few weeks who raised an eyebrow, possibly both, at the idea of:
- Being remotely interested in typewriting
- Assuming anybody else would be
Then Check this out.
Pretty recent too.
Tuesday 8 March 2011
Monday 7 March 2011
Oil bodkin
Here's an oil can which arrived in the lid of a Corona 4. The oil in it has a fragrant eucalyptus scent. Over-oiling was the curse of many a typewriter. It congeals to a sticky mess over the decades. The flat-ended applicator bodkin is meant to administer the smallest of drops. Looks like a mini-dipstick.
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| Length: 90mm |
Sunday 6 March 2011
Home keys
Early 20th century reference card for the would-be typist. I'm still a two fingers and a thumb luddite.
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©Pitman's |
Saturday 5 March 2011
Naming the parts
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| © 1919 Underwood Typewriter Company Inc, NY |
Double page spread in the back of my user manual for an Underwood three-bank portable.
Click image to supersize.
Click image to supersize.
Margin bells ring in Mumbai
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| ©AFP |
Phil Hazlewood writes: MUMBAI, Wednesday 23 February 2011 - Purushottan H. Sakhare perches on a wall by a Mumbai pavement, slips a sheet of green paper behind the roller of his battered typewriter and winds it into position with two deft flicks of the wrist.
Friday 4 March 2011
Thursday 3 March 2011
All done
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| Nancy made a bee-line for The Good Companion |
Unless I find a typewriter under the bed or in a cupboard, and until the next one comes along, I've done taking photos. If you enjoy looking at this collection, please comment and share a link. Surprised it only came to 22 machines. Here's my wish list - keep your eyes open and drop me a note if you stumble upon any of the following:
- Oliver 3 or 5
- Anything in bakelite
- 1970's Olivetti Valentine
- Hermes 3000 (curvy, like this one)
- Bennett
- Corona 4 in Lavender and Rose Gold
- Blickensderfer 6 (featherweight)
Wednesday 2 March 2011
Getting there
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| Blick Universal under the spotlight |
Only half a dozen or so more machines to photograph and upload:
- Corona Junior
- Corona 3
- Antares Parva (from 1960s Italy)
- Underwood 4-bank in hnd painted brown (yuk)
- Remington Home Portable
- Remington Rand Model 1
- Remington Portable Model 5 (streamline)
- Imperial Good Companion (from Leicester)
- Corona 4 (the organ donor)
