Category: Editorial
A Rhodia fan recently in touch mentioned in addition to fountain pens he also uses and collects typewriters. A kindred spirit!
I love my fountain pens, but I also enjoy seeing and using my six manual typewriters from time to time. I love their fonts. I love the feeling of hitting a key and constructing a word.
I feel such a connection to my words when I write either by pen or keystroke. Each letter is so deliberate and can’t be easily erased–so unlike an iPhone text or computer keyboard. There is a romance to pens and typewriters–we have a relationship with them; they have a personality and help us to express ours as we write with them.
How does writing by a fountain pen or typewriter make you feel vs. a computer keyboard?
When I was in college – before PCs – typed essays were required. I thought – and still think – it was foolishness. How much time was wasted typing and re-typing?
But I seem to have mellowed with age, and the house is now crowded with typewriters. One allegedly belonged to Col. McCormack of the Chicago Tribune, another is the “typist’s typewriter” – a Hermes Ambassador that I acquired still in its original shipping crate. I doubt it has typed a dozen pages, although it is far more than 50 years old.
A computer is a vastly more efficient tool. I’m currently revising a 100+ page contract. It is a challenge with a PC; I shudder at the chore it would be with my old Hermes.
But oh those old machines are fun – all that intricate machinery, the hammering of keys, the clang of the return bell, and the zip of the carriage return. As a bonus, typing well – reaching a good speed and with high accuracy – requires a special form of concentration. Zen, they say.
As for those looking for a machine, Goodwill and Salvation Army stores are good hunting grounds, as is http://www.shopgoodwill.com. Look for Royal, Smith Corona, Underwood and Olympia manuals. Electrics don’t seem to hold up well, unless used and serviced regularly. Hermes machines are very nice, but are a bit trendy, and a bit more expensive. Of course, “expense” is relative. $20 or 30 will usually buy a nice old portable; shipping might cost more than the machine itself.
Good words to you!
I have been given two antique typewriters as gifts in recent years – a Royal and an Underwood. One of these days I will teach myself to repair them and use them for writing and correspondence.
As a workaround, I have lately been writing at the computer in plain text format, with my email and notifications turned off. I then print out what I’ve written and revise by hand.
I never really thought about the benefits of not having a delete key and allowing oneself to be more deliberate in the words put down on the page. Perhaps I will tape over my delete key and see how this works for me. Not a perfect substitute for the original, but it might come close.
I would love to have a manual typewriter.
To me it’s like the difference between using a digital camera and a film camera.
With film you have to get it all right at the time you took the picture, it’s frozen in time once you press the shutter.
It’s a lot harder than using digital these days!
It would be lovely to create some original Filofax inserts with a typewriter instead of a computer !
There is something soothing about typing on a typewriter. One has to be more deliberate in constructing each sentence. There is no quick “Undo”.
I find my thought process changes in a good way. There is no distraction to check email or Google any thought that pops in your head.
Computers are great but using a typewriter can be cathartic.