Typewriter Talk / Unusual Underwood No. 5

**Posted by typeset** 19-3-2017 15:29:54

This one is in unusually good shape and, I suspect, no earlier than the '30s. It has unusual key symbols that may be Czech, but am unsure. There are also double vertical and horizontal lines. Can anybody tell me more about it?

Thank you.

**Posted by Uwe** 19-3-2017 16:42:55

Very cool!

It doesn't look like a Czech keyboard to me (aren't they typically QWERTZ and not QWERTY?), so a full type sample using this format might help and would put the special symbols into perspective:

**Posted by typeset** 19-3-2017 17:08:49

Thanks, Uwe! I think it's pretty cool. I've been told it's from 1915 (serial number below).

Here's how the type sample looks like (I know it's kinda lame. I emphasized the odd symbols).

**Posted by SoucekFan** 19-3-2017 19:19:31

Are they scansion marks? Some of them look like the symbols for marking metric patterns in classical poetry.

**Posted by typeset** 19-3-2017 19:28:33

Oh ****, Soucek has a point. Wow: first one I see like this. Most appropriate because I'm a poet and literature teacher.

**Posted by Uwe** 19-3-2017 20:12:13

SoucekFan wrote:
Are they scansion marks?

Brilliant! I never would have got that. There can't be too many poetry typewriters around...

**Posted by SoucekFan** 19-3-2017 23:54:25

Uwe wrote:
SoucekFan wrote:
Are they scansion marks?
Brilliant! I never would have got that. There can't be too many poetry typewriters around...

Nice. I finally made use of my classics degree. That is a great find. I am imagining it in the office of some early 20th century college professor.

**Posted by Fleetwing** 20-3-2017 06:13:55

Nice sleuthing! Any thoughts about the use of the double horizontal line?

**Posted by typeset** 20-3-2017 08:34:46

Fleeting, that evades me too. Is it possible this was a custom ordered keyboard?

**Posted by SoucekFan** 20-3-2017 11:35:03

Fleetwing wrote:
Nice sleuthing! Any thoughts about the use of the double horizontal line?

The double line is a caesura. It was used to mark a break or a pause. It was used differently depending on what era of verse. There are examples of its usage for different types of poetry on the Wikipedia page for it, here.

For further explanations of the poetry symbols, the page where Uwe pulled the table has some more info on the symbols, here; as does this site.