Perhaps Strava should add “typing” as an activity… From Frank Harrison’s Shorthand Weekly, 1891 –
© 2020 – 2019, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
Until colored enamels had been developed, black was the color of choice. Occasionally, companies would produce white or ivory machines, such as the Corona 3 in the window display above, or the Remington Portable [No. 1] which was issued in limited numbers in “ivory” in 1924.
These machines are highly collectible, but hard to detect. Rebuilt typewriters were sometimes repainted, so identifying an original machine can be difficult.
From Typewriter Topics, April 1922 —
© 2020, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
To learn to type, one had to own a typewriter, or else practice at a school or business. Then, also, one could purchase a “learner’s typewriter,” a simple keyboard for practicing touch typing. ETCetera presents a series of these machines here. Collectables, indeed!
From The Phonographic World (New York), September 1886 —
© 2020 – 2019, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
Cigarette cards were popular from the 1870s through the 1940s, illustrating everything from famous people and places to art and inventions. The most popular were athletes, particularly baseball players.
In 1887, Wills Cigarettes began issuing cards on nearly every subject and continued through at least the 1930s. For typewriter collectors, only one is of any particular interest, a card commemorating John Pratt’s proto-typewriter, which he introduced in 1867 before the London Society of Arts. Labeled anachronistically as “Pratt’s Typewriter” — the inventor called his device a “typewriting machine” — the card features one of two machines he designed.
The card was issued in 1915 in a “Famous Inventions” set.1
© 2020, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
- Broom, John. A History of Cigarette and Trade Cards: The Magic Inside the Packet. United Kingdom, Pen & Sword Books, 2018. [↩]
Apart from references in the Cosmopolitan Shorthander, little is known about the Axial Typewriter. By accounts, the Axial seems to have been a type of index machine. The Axial Typewriter Company is mentioned in a government records book (see here), but no details are provided. It’s possible the machine was sold under some other name.
Cosmopolitan Shorthander (Toronto), March 1887 —
Cosmopolitan Shorthander (Toronto), April 1887 —
© 2020 – 2019, Mark Adams. All rights reserved.
Recent Comments