Offline
Wiki entry on Martin Tytell.
Seems to me if you have a machine he serviced, that's something to treasure in and of itself.
Offline
Any idea what year that typewriter is? He listed the serial number as LL33024. The series LL doesn't match any Remington on the typewriter database that I see. Though it looks closest to 1923 with series in the 30,000s.
Again, we're talking about
Offline
As Fleetwing suggested, this could be a rebuilt machine, which means the serial number wouldn't tell you much. The crinkle-texture just screams 1940s-50s. I've got some Remington 10s and 12s from the mid-'20s, and they all have the standard black, glossy finish. The Tytell sticker is a nice catch, and an intriguing clue that this probably is a custom job. The eBay model has only the standard 42 keys--which a talented person like Tytell could swap out for a Yiddish typeface--vs. the 46-key version like the Underwood that I have, which definitely came from the factory that way.
Plus then there's the question of the line-space lever. As I learned from the experts on one of my first visits here, Remington moved the lever from the right of the machine to the left somewhere in the mid-1920s. But now if we're to reverse that because the carriage return mechanism on the Yiddish typewriter would need to go from right to left instead of left to right, it makes logical (1930s and beyond) sense that it would be on the right-hand side of the machine--though it looks like they took a much older drop-handle and installed it so that it points up instead of down. Just my two cents.
Offline
Yeah, seeing this picture and remembering what those levers look like makes me think the same thing.
Offline
Thanks to this thread, I found that an old Remington that I've been considering buying actually has a Tytell shop sticker on it. And now I'm super psyched about that for some reason!
Offline
nick wrote:
Great. I'll add the links where I got the pictures. I'm heading out to the Yiddish Book Center in the spring for a conference. I'll be sure to look at their typewriters. They don't have much information online about them, but they use their Yiddish typewriters in their advertising. I think I saw they have an industrial-sized setup used for newspaper printing. I'll be asking them for the serial numbers when I'm there.
Question--for the typewriter images I'm finding online at Ebay and elsewhere, should I include them at the typewriter database if all I have is the image and can figure out the make/model and approximate year, but don't have the serial numbers?
Resurrecting this thread -- here's a Craiglist post for a Yiddish Remington No. 5 portable. Looks nice, though the keytops are partly cockeyed. $350 maybe isn't such a bad price, either:
Offline
Thank you! I'll add it to my digital collection.
(I see they even quoted me!)
Offline
Don't you think you need it?? Looks pretty!
Offline
Hi, Nick. I just happened across this blog and your posting about Yiddish typewriters peeked my interest.
What is it about them that interests you, besides the fact that they are quite scarce these days? Are
you planning on using them to write? Is this for nostalgic reasons or will you be using them as working machines? There are quite a few Yiddish periodicals & newspapers published each week here in NYC. All are, of course, produced via computer these days, but perhaps you might consider contacting these publications to see if they have some old machines in the back room or the basement? Yiddish is very much alive, and not only kicking, but thriving in some growing communities here in the NY/NJ region (as well as other major cities the world over). Mainly in religious communities, where "Mama Lashon" is the language of choice in both day-to-day conversation and in education. My own sone speaks it fluently, though I can just pick out words here and there...
David