Typewriters of Britain, unite!

Another week has nearly flown by; what a busy month this has been!  Summer has finally arrived too, although I read that it will be going away again come the weekend.

Anyway, I had intended to do a post today about a player piano and a bicycle.  There's a novel combination, eh?  It sounds like something from a Laurel & Hardy film, doesn't it?  I bet you're wondering now just what it'll all be about, aren't you?  A bicycle-powered player piano, perhaps?  Some chap cycling across America with a player piano in tow, maybe?  Well, you'll just have to wait a little bit longer to find out I'm afraid.

A type-in is essentially people meeting up, usually in a public place - a park, a café, a town square (other suggestions welcome!) - and typing!  Whether it be a letter, a poem, a short story or just some faint random lines mixed with expletives it's just an excuse to socialise with folks who share an interest and give these old typers a new lease of life.  You don't even have to have a [portable] typewriter yourself as there are always collectors and multiple-typewriter owners willing to lend machines for the purpose.

Type-ins (or type-outs, depending on the weather!) have been a great success in the States - as well as the above video see Life In A Typewriter Shop and Writing Ball amongst others - so why shouldn't they be in the UK too?  Don't we have the name of British manufacturer Imperial (maker of my own Model 66) to uphold?  Haven't we got antiques stores, car boot sales, lofts and the like where typewriters may be hiding?  Didn't we invent the blessed thing?!  Surely the time has come for us Brits to take a hand?  The world of the vintage and typewriter enthusiast is ripe for a crossover - I can't be the only retro-minded chap to enjoy the clacking of keys on paper?

What has been suggested is still only in the early planning stages (and may not come off if there is no interest) but the crux of it is simple - a type-in somewhere in the British Isles.  With that in mind and assuming the availability of typewriters and a suitable (central) location the question as it stands is this:

Would you be interested in a UK-based type-in?

Feel free to vote and/or comment below and - depending on how it goes - I'll be back with the results next week.  In the meantime, don't forget to stay tuned for that bike-piano combo!

The digital generation rediscovers the magic of manual typewriters

source - MRS

The digital generation rediscovers the magic of manual typewriters

From across the Pond comes the first mainstream media coverage of an idea that is slowly gaining popularity across the United States and continental Europe since its introduction by several typewriter collectors - the type-in.  With any luck it may gain a foothold here in Britain too and I for one would certainly be up for it - it sounds like a wizard wheeze!  Sort of like an Internet cafe, only with typewriters.  What's not to like?!



The attraction is not just limited to vintage aficionados such as ourselves, either.  Judging by this particular article the so-called "digital generation" are practically lapping it up as well.  The typewriter shall not go quietly into the night, indeed!  It is more than encouraging to see the popularity of these meetings with young people who are more used to their laptops, mobile telephones and Blackcurrants (or whatever they're called) but who are obviously keen to explore the simple, tactile nature of the manual typewriter and the involvement it demands.  That alone provides a good deal of hope not only for the preservation of typing machines but also the actual enjoyment of using them.

My shamefully poor-condition 1955 production Imperial 66.   I keep promising myself I'll get it reconditioned.  Maybe someday as a birthday or Christmas present to myself.  Although even then I won't be carting it along to any type-ins (unless I've got an actual cart!) because it weighs a ton!

Of course the reaction of some young people, such as the first girl mentioned in the article, is amusing yet also befuddling.  I can still remember the time, a few years ago, when two of my nieces (then aged about 7 and 9) first laid eyes on my typewriter.  Their first question was "What does that do?" and for a moment it left me stuck as I suddenly realised I was being asked to explain something, which was so familiar to me, to two people who had never seen one before.  In the end I struggled to come up with some simplistic explanation along the lines of "it's like a computer, but the words are printed straight on to the paper".  Then, of course, they immediately wanted to try it for themselves!

It incidents like that, and occasions such as these type-ins, which prove that there is still an active interest - and what's more, a growing interest - in the good old manual typewriter and that therefore its future is assured.