Saturday, June 10, 2017

Seen but not bought

What? I exercised some restraint? Yes, believe it or not. The following items were at the Ohio Valley Antique Mall yesterday.

Olivetti Studio 44, $85.



Made in Italy. Dated to 1956.


What made it very tempting was this double gothic typeface:

("Gothic" today suggests Goths and heavy metal bands, but in traditional typography it refers to simple sans-serif typefaces.)

However, I already have a double-gothic machine (a noiseless portable), and this one would take some work to restore. I'm too busy.

Here's a cardboard box with lots of history and character. The serial number of the L. C. Smith that it once contained dates the box to around 1940.



A few more tempting typewriters:

Very clean Smith-Corona in an unusual color for $59:



Underwood DeLuxe Leader, $69:


Royal O, $69:


These were all good machines at fair prices—and yet I let them be. What self-control!

This morning I heard from another collector who passed through the same mall yesterday and picked up one of these:



It's a Campus Mark I made by Nippo in Japan. My fellow collector is staying a couple of miles from me, so we may get together today.

Yesterday I also got to meet collector Scott O., who was in town. And there will be another visitor next week. Viva the typosphere!

Another experience yesterday: I went to a show of Star Wars costumes and saw this 1975 "process plate" that shows that work on the original movie was very much non-digital, including typewritten notes and white-out.



In other news, the summer ETCetera is out, featuring this beautiful Waverley from the Martin Howard collection.






2 comments:

  1. Such self restraint indeed! I would have fallen for the Studio 44. I love sans-serif typefaces, and have always preferred the taupe color Olivettis over their blue ones.

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  2. Admirable self control :-)
    That forties' Underwood does look grand, it so looks its period!
    ( Admission: have been seeing an early forties Speedline Standard listed online for a cpl of weeks now, it's 1km away and bidding's stuck at EUR 5,- - not restraint: just can't afford to sneak one more into the home ;-)

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