A web log, an æthereal scrap-book if you will, with a somewhat vintage flavour. News items, occurrences, experiences, thoughts and opinions related to Victoriana through to Fifties Americana can all be found here.
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Sunday, 11 June 2023
Of Aristocrats and Good Companions (plus other "types" of news)
I wrote the above typecast back at the beginning of April, which shows just how much life intervened that I am only just now able to get round to posting it here! Those 78s will have to wait for another day, I think, as instead I intend to focus on the aforementioned Empire Aristocrat - as well as a couple of more recent arrivals. Sprinkled around them will also be some more typewriter-related news stories that I hope will be of interest.
Let's have a closer look at this first little typer that I bagged at the beginning of the year from a local garden/ antiques centre. I clocked it almost as soon as we went in (my typer-sense is now well-honed enough to spot even the smallest of machines sitting among the usual vintage/ antique fare!) even though its case was in place and therefore the machine itself not visible. It may have been the £20 price tag that piqued my interest further and on removing the lid I felt it more than justified the sum. A quick Google seemed to confirm it so after a brief test (as always seems to be the case in these instances) I passed over the lolly and returned home a happy chap. As mentioned I've found it a lovely little thing, with just one or two little foibles since discovered (such as a slightly recalcitrant spacebar) that I hope to iron out with practice over the coming year.
To show how behind I am with the posting of interesting articles, this one has been sitting in my drafts since February 2021 (and that's not even the oldest one - there are some going back to 2020 that I need to get round to posting!). Still, the subject suits this post and I am sure the young fellow mentioned in it is still repairing typewriters in the Tamarac, FL area and continuing to plough his own furrow as an "old soul at heart". Here we see again a phrase I'm sure we're all more than familiar with and which no doubt has been directed at ourselves more than once, along with the feeling (whether through our own emotions and actions or ascribed to us by others) of somehow being a reincarnation or just "born in the wrong time". In any event, this has led to (the by now) 20-year-old Patton Horton already being a de facto professional typewriter repairman judging by this news item. To take on a 100-year-old Oliver 9 as one of your first jobs shows a great deal of promise and kudos must also go to the Our Backyard Museum (which looks well worth a visit!) for having the faith and open-mindedness to let the plucky lad take on the challenge of fixing it. I hope he makes a success of what is obviously a passionate hobby for him and that he continues to find pleasure and enlightenment in the vintage lifestyle that he has chosen to pursue.
The future maintenance of typewriters (plus early PCs and laptops) in Lansdale, Pennsylvania seems assured if this next article is anything to go by, featuring another teenager who has been bitten by the typewriter bug and looks to have the skills necessary to ensure their survival. It is splendid to read of Max Wein's enthusiasm for his hobby - which I am sure, as he says, will become a lifetime's interest - his appreciation of its tangible link to times past and how he manages to successfully integrate it into his schooling. Stories like this continue to show that typewriters, not to mention early computers, still have a purpose and can be used as they were intended. I salute young Mr Wein and wish him well as he starts his journey into the world of typewriters and related "obsolete" technology.
Type-ins are still going strong across the Pond - or at least in Albuquerque, NM, where the brilliantly-named ABQwerty Type Writer Society holds regular events at a local library according to this article. One of the founder members, Joe Van Cleave (a well-known name in the typosphere, I believe), is the main subject of the piece and once again it is clear that we are dealing with a true typewriter enthusiast. A splendid collection of typers adorns Mr Van Cleave's home and judging from things he has been a driving force behind the local type-ins and the resurgence of typewriters and typecasting on the Internet in general. Long may he continue to be so and I look forward to hearing more of his influence, both in New Mexico and further afield, as we are sure to do.
We're I ever to attend a type-in in the UK (and believe me, if I knew of any within striking distance I would be off like a shot) I would now be somewhat spoilt for choice of which machine(s) to take along, as my collection of portable typewriters has doubled in this year alone thanks not only to the Aristocrat but also two more that both came into my possession within days of each other. That they are both the same model would, I fear, be something only really understood by true collectors(!), although the lay-person should notice some differences as well.
To start at the beginning I have always been what I call an "Imperial Man", inasmuch as I tend to focus my attention (so far!) on typewriters manufactured by Imperial Typewriters Ltd. of Leicester. I suppose this is because the first typer I encountered was the 1956 Model 66 that Dad brought home from work one day when the company was going to throw it out as being "beyond economical repair". It has always been a part of my life and started me on the road to being... well, I suppose a collector(!), so Imperials have always been my first passion. That they are sturdy, well-made British machines (even the portables!) that epitomise the style and mechanical design of their 1930s heyday merely adds to their appeal for me. Thus is my affection for British-made Imperials of the 1930s-50s. However, with space even in a 3-bedroom house at a premium and my strength not up to hefting weighty desktop models about, my focus recently switched to the portables and in particular the "Good Companion" models of the '30s & '40s. Having done some research I established that, over the years from its introduction in 1932 to its final iteration in 1957, the original Model No. 1 went through several changes during its lifetime. Clearly one could go overboard collecting versions from every single year and easily fill one's home with Good Companions and nothing else, so I decided early on to keep it simple and get an early model with white keys and a later one with black keys. I bided my time and kept my eyes peeled at local vintage fairs and on eBay. On the latter I missed out on several examples (as one does) but my hopes remained buoyant and one day two weeks ago my perseverance paid off and a deal was struck on eBay for a black-keyed No. 1 in good condition, complete with some original accessories including cleaning brush, oil can, cleaning fluid bottle (empty), ribbon tin (with a "dead" ribbon!) and leather carry pouch (so dry and cracked I feared for it, however liberal applications of lanolin and leather restoring cream have managed to bring some life back to it). The machine itself seems to be in working order but in need of a good clean and what service my little knowledge can provide. New ribbons have also been procured and await fitting.
You'll notice I put "ribbons". Well not two days after I had sealed the deal for the first one (and before it had even arrived), the very second one I was after crossed my path in one of those serendipitous events that sometimes makes you wonder about a Higher Power. On a fleeting weekend outing to Rochester, Mrs P-P and I were returning to the car when we passed a charity shop that we had clocked at the beginning of our visit. A lovely, typical old chazza that is now sadly becoming all too rare (an Aladdin's Cave-cum-Tardis of items - that now tend to be the preserve of specific vintage emporia - slung all over the place) its siren call made us want to stop in even though our parking ticket was on the point of expiration. And there, just inside the door and partly hidden behind some wooden packing cases and a fencing mask (so as to discourage [little ]people from playing with it, so the lady behind the till informed me (and a not unreasonable idea as I'm sure many collectors will know), was an early-model No. 1 with white keys!). Following a quick request to test it out (and the removal of the aforementioned impediments) and an equally quick zoom around the rest of the shop to check it out and have a think, the decision was made, money changed hands, the wife ran off to get the car and my quest was complete. Two 1930s Imperial Good Companion No. 1s - one with black keys and one with white - were mine!
If anything the second one - a 1933 example according to its serial number - is in even better condition than the first (undated as no serial no. is visible - a common occurrence on some later examples I understand - but I would guess at late '30s, maybe 1939-ish). It could still use a freshen-up and definitely a new ribbon but, regardless of their conditions, the fact that I can now tick off this particular typewriting wish (and perhaps shift my focus to other portables!) makes me a very happy chappie and I am very much looking forward to putting them to use. Watch this space! (Although I won't be using them on my lap any time soon, I can promise you that - they still weigh a flippin' ton!)
My own collection of typers now numbers a total of six - the Imperial 66, the two Good Companions, the Empire Aristocrat, the Litton-Imperial 200n and the Corona Model 3 (not to mention my wife's two desktops - types unknown - that are apparently still somewhere in the loft at my in-laws!) - so I still have some way to go to match Mr Van Cleave. We both have a looooong way to go, though, to catch up with Mr Everett Henderson of Austin, TX, the subject of this next item and who has over 100 machines and counting in his collection. As with Joe Van Cleave and his fellow Albuquerquian collectors so has Mr Henderson helped to set up a series of local type-ins with a like-minded friend under the title of Austin Typewriter, Ink group. That same desire to share the tangible, mechanical experience of using a typewriter is equally as evident in Texas as it is in New Mexico and it pleases me no end to know that there is another enthusiastic restorer and fellow collectors out there connecting with each other, both physically and virtually, to help keep the enjoyment of typewriters alive.
The final typewriter-related news in this now-gargantuan post (and then, you'll be pleased to know, I shall probably disappear again for another couple of months) takes the form of this recent video report from the Irish Times detailing the work of typewriter restorer Leo Molloy. There's really nothing I can add to what he says, so I'll just sign off by leaving the last words - words that we typosphereans know so well - to Mr Molloy.
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