Manual typewriter mania continues at the Durbin household! The fleet has now grown to four, all write-worthy and in good shape. I’ve been typing a lot on all of them, learning their quirks. And I’ve been studying typewriter care and maintenance, consulting with some very helpful experts both near and far. I’m going to say very little in this post. Let the dignity and mystique of these beautiful old machines speak for itself!
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1/30/2016: The Underwood (1951), Julie’s Christmas present that started it all
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Second arrival: the Royal (1953), whose keys respond to the lightest touch — you’d almost think it was electric!
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Down from an attic: a lovingly-kept secretarial Smith-Corona (1964) — a heavy-duty machine that handles like a dream
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Last but not least, the Olympia SM9 (1971) — truly a writer’s typewriter!
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A new used sturdy display table from the local used furniture store
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A happy typist
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Under the hood — Olympia SM9
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The Underwood is the oldest and most temperamental of the four: but though they’re all wonderful, I love the Underwood the most — typewriters don’t get any realer than this!
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Olympia
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Underwood
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Olympia
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Smith-Corona
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I gave the Royal a little brushes-and-vacuum cleaning today and cleaned the type (the slugs) on it and the Smith-Corona, so the “n” and the “e” look a lot better.
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SM9
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Underwood
i am mr brown snowflake says: