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A nice pair
I found another Olivetti Lettera 22. It is blue and has a blue case. It says "Underwood-Olivetti" and was made in Italy. My first Lettera 22 is beige, and has the "Olivetti" stamp. It was made in Barcelona. Are there any noteworthy differences between the two? Also, which is prized the most or harder to obtain? I prefer the Barcelona model because the Italian, though in great cosmetic shape, has an "a" that tends to skip.
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- thetypewriterman
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- From: Leiston, England
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Re: A nice pair
The blue machine is the later one of the two. It dates from the early 1960's and was the transitional model between the original 1950's Lettera 22 (most of which were beige, but some blue and some pink ones were also manufactured) and the Lettera 32 - launched in 1964. People seem to like the 1950's model better, because of the 'retro' circular keytops, but both machines are good. The advantage of the later blue model is that Olivetti changed the linespace lever bracket from a cast aluminium one to an all-steel one (the cast-in shaft on the aluminium one often works loose - causing the linespace lever to drag on the ribbon cover) and the scale plate on the paper table is rivetted on (the earlier one was simply stuck with adhesive and tends to come off). Over here in England, both versions were made in the British Olivetti factory in Glasgow.
- typeset
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Re: A nice pair
Great info, typewriterman. I too prefer the round keys.I always keep that Olivetti Lettera 22 in the car, in case I want to stop and type. I've noticed, however, that this Olivetti requires a more delicate touch than my other machines. If I type too heavily, the letters have shadows.
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Thread Starter- TypewriterKing
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- From: DeepInTheHeartO', Texas
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Re: A nice pair
I've attempted to keep a typewriter in my car at all times, but the problem I run into is that ribbons tend to dry out fast in this gosh-awful heat we have down here in the Summer (sometimes as high as 110 degrees fahrenheit). It gets impractical to take the ribbon out of the machine everytime I disembark from the car and go in someplace. Not too many people go into a grocery store with a typewriter ribbon in their shirt pocket.
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- Javi
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- From: Valladolid (Spain)
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Re: A nice pair
What surprises me is that your Barcelona-made Lettera 22 is a Lettera 22 and not a Pluma 22. I think they´re far less common than the Spanish versions. In fact, Spanish Plumas 22 are very common, but the rarity breakdown comes like this:
Machine green < Camo brown < Cream white < Bubblegum pink
The most common one, the "machine green". At least it´s what they call this tone, machine green.
An early brown one, just like yours! This one is the Spanish model, labeled Pluma 22. It may look a bit dull, but that´s my camera´s fault. It´s just as brown as yours 
And a cream/ivory one. These are not as common, and usually they double the price of the green and brown ones. One note about pricing: more often than not, prices are terribly unrealistic, and the most commonly found price tends to be an unfair one. I mean, people around here will try to sell these machines at 80€ because if they´re looking for an orientation on price they´ll find always the same specimens foating around. That is, typewriters which are never going to be sold at that outrageous sum. Then, those 80€ are what you´re going to pay if you don´t "hunt" carefully. And the pink ones are far worse: they have skyrocketed over the 200€ mark, which is absolutely ridiculous. True, they´re rare, but I can´t fathom how can they be priced higher than an M20. I don´t have any pink Pluma 22, but I don´t have the intention of getting one either. Not like that.
As for preference... In my opinion the "classic" model is the green one. At least that´s how most people think about the Pluma 22 in Spain. The performance is very similar, and that´s good because I think the Pluma 22 is one of the best portables out there. Compared to typewriters similar in size and weight it´s incredibly fast and durable. For example an Olympia SM3 is a heavier machine for heavier work, but the Lettera (or Pluma or whatever. I always think first about the Pluma!) 22 is fully portable at 4 kg, and should be put in the same group as the Hermes Baby, Groma Kolibri, Antares Parva, Olympia Splendid 33... That´s how it´s quality is better appreciated .
TaktaktataktaktakcluccluctaktaktaktaktakDINGtaktaktaktakCREEEEEEEEECtaktaktak...
(Olivetti Linea 98)
- Uwe
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Re: A nice pair
Javi wrote:
What surprises me is that your Barcelona-made Lettera 22 is a Lettera 22 and not a Pluma 22. I think they´re far less common than the Spanish versions. In fact, Spanish Plumas 22 are very common...
From an international perspective it's very much the opposite case: It's actually the Hispano Olivetti Lettera models that are very common, while the Pluma is rarely seen. In the last four years I've only seen one Pluma being sold in my area compared to seemingly hundreds of Lettera models that were made in the Barcelona plant. A number of the Lettera models that I own (and other Olivetti models such as a Studio as well) were made in Spain.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Richard Polt
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Re: A nice pair
Then there is the Scribe, which you can see here:
