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Mind the minute indication of any knowledge of the history of these typewriters. This is education under development. Pictures on the site. Need a higher resolution picture, contact me.
1951 - Hermes Baby Typewriter - With Case - Cleaned - Retouched red - QWERTY
Price: 150 euro (amounts to 163 USD) ex. shipping.
# Serial number: 5195236
Production year: 1951
Model information: Swiss engineering. The machine weighs in as the worlds lightest portable typewriter according to some. Due to its compact design, light weight, ideal for students, occasional typists and people on the road. It gained instance success since its introduction and gathered a following among stylish writers of the day including a beatnik.
Source:
Rarity: Fairly popular model, so probably not very rare. But nonetheless sought after by enthusiasts. Many different versions throughout the years. Hard to get in good condition because these baby's like to travel.
History: Hermes Precisa International would become a typewriter manufacturing subsidiary company for Paillard, a Swiss company, which had enjoyed flings with watches, vinyl players, speakers, radio, and so on. Made it big for a while in cinema. In fact Paillard would later become Bolex, which still sells and maintains 8mm and 16mm classic cameras. Hermes typewriters are also part of that legacy too making numerous models applying high grade Swiss engineering where possible.
Model related authors/poets: Many! William S. Burroughs, John Steinbeck and Ernst Hemingway. Earlier versions of this models though. I suppose Hemingway liked the robustness / lightness of the model, and used it for journalistic feats. This typewriter was used by war correspondents, revolutionary leaders, political commentators and so forth.
Source:
Previous users: Unknown, sold on a market.
Condition of Typewriter
Keys: Good, a couple of keys have lost some of their paint. Will need retouching.
Paint: Good/great exterior surface, red has been repainted into a burgundy red. Smoking...
Decals: Good.
Platen: Works fine.
Construction: Great.
Function: Good. Had a slight problem with the Q key. But works now.
Condition of Case
Exterior (Paint/Canvas): Great
Handle: Good.
Construction: Good.
Get in touch for more details or questions.
Last edited by TheHammersmith (08-5-2015 13:46:37)
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TheHammersmith wrote:
The machine weighs in as the worlds lightest portable typewriter according to some.
According to who? The 1951 Groma Gromina weiged around 1.5 pounds less...
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See the sources. It's all very very secondary source. We'll have to weigh them sometime.
Last edited by TheHammersmith (27-4-2015 18:19:08)
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Sold.
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