It’s sometimes claimed that a thousand monkeys typing on a thousand typewriters will eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare. According to research, this is not possible (see here). But one monkey could at least type the word “typewriter” back in 1925.
According to the caption in the Washington Herald, “‘Consul’ Mystified Many by Spelling Out Words on the Typewriter Just as Though He Knew the Letters, but It Turned Out that ‘Consul’ Did Not Actually Know Any Letters and Did His Stunts Just Like Any Other Trained Animal, Including the Signature Which He Was Laboriously Taught to Write, but Did Not in the Least Know What It Meant.”
From The Washington Herald (Washington, DC), August 02, 1925 –
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-washington-herald/189058596/
Article from Aug 2, 1925 The Washington Herald (Washington, District of Columbia)
Note: AI was used to improve the original scanned image.
© 2026, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
.. a few weeks ago, a special was dedicated on Typewriters Paradise to the Infinite Monkeys Theorem.
https://typewritersparadise.com/
.. a few weeks ago, a special was dedicated on Typewriters Paradise’s website to the Infinite Monkeys Theorem.