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Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Typewriters For The Big Exhibition

These are a few of the typewriters headed for my exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery from July 24-September 16. Some others have already appeared in previous posts. This lot of 10 represents one-tenth of the total number of typewriters to be exhibited. So far, 35 have been selected from my museum:
Remington 2
First typewriter with case shift
Yost
Did George use it to write the memoirs of the dead?
Royal Bar-Lock
The jewel in Spiro's crown
(It's got a stand-in platen while the real one is being fixed)
Smith Premier 10
Last model with double keyboard and frontstroke action
Royal Standard 1
More on this 'machine worth fighting for' tomorrow
Blick Ninety
Per the infamous Mr Roberts
Fox 24
One of the fastest typing machines ever made
Mignon
Thank you Mr Sell
Royal 10
And hats off to Messrs Hess and Myers
Winsor
For this little gem I am indebted to Professor Polt

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7 comments:

  1. Rob Bowker28 March 2012 at 00:39

    Esoteric stuff. Looks like they have all been subjects of much burnishing with liberal applications of midnight oil. What's that Blick?

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  2. Ryan Adney28 March 2012 at 02:40

    Fine choices for the museum! I had the chance to see one of these early Remingtons at the Mesa Typewriter Exchange. I marveled at how much of these typewriters were made of wood. Particularly, I am thinking of the long keytop bars. Fascinating.

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  3. Robert Messenger28 March 2012 at 05:13

    Thank you Rob and Ryan. Yes, they've had a bit of elbow grease applied before being picked up and taken into the care of real curators. The Blick Ninety is one made by Lyman Resolved (truly, that was his second name!) Roberts. He was thought to have bought the naming rights after George C died in 1917. It was marketed by the Blick Manufacturing Co, successor to the Blickensderfer Co, in 1919. In 1921 Roberts died. After that this the machine came out as the Roberts 90, from the Roberts Co. While not folding, apparently it looks a lot like the Fox portable, or so I'm told.

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  4. Richard P28 March 2012 at 05:56

    Good choices. I'm glad the WInsor is sneaking into the exhibit! I wish I had a Blick 90 / Roberts 90, they are very hard to find.

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  5. shordzi28 March 2012 at 07:20

    WOW!!!

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  6. Robert Messenger28 March 2012 at 08:01

    Thank you Richard and Georg. Yes, the little Winsor had to be in there, as a lovely "modern" 4-bank that's comparable in size to the Underwood 3. As a very poor packer, I love things that are squeezed together so neatly and yet still function so well.

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  7. Scott K28 March 2012 at 11:21

    Now you're just showing off.

    You've not had this much fun since the collecters crew were around, have you!

    Magnificent specimens you have there. I really should pop down and visit during this exhibition!

    ReplyDelete

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