Typewriter Talk / New Member Thread

**Posted by Kasper** 19-5-2014 11:35:21

Zedwardson wrote:
...I am most likely young for this fourm (34)[...]

Interesting, I never thought about the age demographics but you're right... maybe this forum would attract an older contributor. I'm 32 though so I don't know what that does to the graph...

**Posted by Zedwardson** 19-5-2014 11:53:54

Kasper wrote:
Zedwardson wrote:
...I am most likely young for this fourm (34)[...]

Interesting, I never thought about the age demographics but you're right... maybe this forum would attract an older contributor. I'm 32 though so I don't know what that does to the graph...

From what I have seen, its older individuals who grew up with them, and then the 20 something crowd that finds it really cool.

Just curious, how much is a fair price for a Hermes 2000, as I plan to get one at some point but do not want to overpay.

Last edited by Zedwardson (19-5-2014 11:58:06)

**Posted by Kasper** 19-5-2014 14:34:44

Good question. I'm in the UK so most of my typewriters came from my local flea market for £3-£5, and once you start collecting something people start giving you freebies and these things start to escalate... I've got about 20 typewriters now but no Hermes so looks like I need to find one too...

**Posted by zebrettino** 26-5-2014 23:38:07

Hey guys, I'm David, 25, Canadian. I've always been interested in typewriters but I don't come across them very often at all in my suburban town, and when I do, they're usually the... unpleasant-looking, blocky plastic electronic typewriters from the 80s. The only typewriter I've used to date is my parents' Canon electronic typewriter, which really feels more like a word processor (stores a line at a time in memory).

Picked up my first typewriter yesterday at a thrift store, a Smith-Corona Corsair, and I would also love to find an Olivetti Lettera 22.

Last edited by zebrettino (26-5-2014 23:40:05)

**Posted by Uwe** 27-5-2014 01:12:58

Hi David, and welcome to the forum; it's always good to have another Canuck here.

**Posted by Kasper** 28-5-2014 15:51:34

zebrettino wrote:
...and I would also love to find an Olivetti Lettera 22.

Welcome David... I hope you find your Olivetti soon. Here's a slightly rough-looking Lettera 22, that I frustratingly found in my parents' loft shortly after spending £70 on one on ebay. The most I've ever paid for a typewriter! As with most collections, once you have a couple, people seem to start giving you them for free...

**Posted by Kasper** 01-6-2014 16:54:58

teeritz wrote:
My interest in typewriters stems from a romantic notion of writers like Hemingway, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler hammering away at these glass-topped keys, and Hollywood screenwriters re-writing draft after draft of classic film noir throughout the '40s and '50s.

Hey Teeritz, it's a bit old-hat now but here's a portrait I made of Dashiell Hammett on the typewriter about seven years ago... I guess I am always partial to a little noir... I guess it works best if you see it from a distance, apologies for the poor photo...

**Posted by zebrettino** 02-6-2014 12:13:23

Kasper wrote:
zebrettino wrote:
...and I would also love to find an Olivetti Lettera 22.
Welcome David... I hope you find your Olivetti soon. Here's a slightly rough-looking Lettera 22, that I frustratingly found in my parents' loft shortly after spending £70 on one on ebay. The most I've ever paid for a typewriter! As with most collections, once you have a couple, people seem to start giving you them for free...

Thanks for the welcome!

Aaaah, that's unfortunate. I collect vinyl records and I've had the same thing happen a couple times, although usually it's paying $20+ for an album at a record store and then finding it for $1 at a thrift store. :/ It's a great-looking typewriter though, and I've read that many well-known Italian journalists and other writers swore by it, so I'd love to find one.

Last edited by zebrettino (02-6-2014 12:14:14)

**Posted by malole** 03-6-2014 04:49:21

Hello, I'm Martha, based most of the time in East Anglia. I've used typewriters since 1988 when I was given a half-dressed Silver Reed to write college essays on. It was my faithful companion wherever I went, never going wrong no matter what I did to it, no matter how I transported it... fast forward to here, and I have a few more typewriters and a lot more respect for their mechanisms much of which still baffles me.
I don't have a lot of space, so I've stuck to portables. An Olympia Splendid 66; Lettera 22; Adler Tippa 1; and a Tippa S with script type. I have a Remington portable no.2 which I bought purely as a rescue, but managed to fix it up. Those are my working typewriters for the time being.
I'm a writer, so when I'm not pootling about with metal polish I'm using these machines pretty much every day for first drafts and for other projects, letters or whatever.
I'm really glad to have found this forum, I'm not sure I'll be able to contribute much in the way of advice, but I have enthusiasm for typewriters in spades.
cheers!

**Posted by Uwe** 03-6-2014 13:21:38

Great to have you here Martha. That's a nice collection of portables that you have. Feel free to write a little more about them, or post a picture or two, in the Portable Typewriter sub-forum if you feel inspired to do so. I for one would like to see a few photos.