I Say, Old Chum

Wandering around the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra yesterday, I came across my friends the Chapmans from Charlie Foxtrot selling a range of typewriters and typewriter ephemera. Front and centre of their stand was a portable typewriter I'd never seen before - didn't even know it existed - a Smith Premier Chum. It turns out these British-assembled Remington 3 variations are not exactly rare, though when they are listed for sale the price is invariably very high indeed. The lettering of "Chum" is really quite distinctive - and charming.

I gathered from Philip Chapman that this is not the first Chum they have offered. This one, however, arrived without the "H" typeslug and Terry Cooksley was able to replace it, though the alignment is not quite precise. Still, I felt this was one portable I could get really friendly with. We could easily have become very chummy. The lure was strong and the compulsion to chum it home, as the Scots say, took a lot of  resisting.

There is, apparently, a Remington 2 variation, one which doesn't have the lovely "Chum" letting: