More than likely my typewriter buying days are now behind me. It has been more than a year since my last typewriter purchase. (More to come on that in a future blog post here on The Typewritemosphere. ) I am okay with this as it largely happened by design in my case. As a typewriter enthusiast living in Portland, Oregon I’ve been very spoiled when it comes to the sheer number and variety of machines available to me.
What Portland lacks in terms of great bargains (most things retro tend to sell for more here than many other parts of the country), it makes up for in terms of volume. There are at least four shops that I know of around here where I can get my hands on a good number of these machines at any given time. On top of that we have a plethora of the typical antique stores and thrift shops where you are bound to find typewriters as well. Then there are the online options where locals advertise such as craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Offer Up among others.
When I first became reacquainted with typewriters a couple of years ago, I wound up spending what could only be referred to as an unhealthy amount of time researching these machines. Those who came before me on the typosphere provided me with plenty of typewriter-related information to digest. Between that and talking with others who have been involved with these machines for a very long time, it didn’t take me very long to figure out what my wish list of typewriters would look like. In just over a year’s time I had been able to get my hands on pretty much every machine on my wish list. I ended up buying quite a few of those machines after determining which ones were my favorites.
Not all of those purchases were made locally. In many cases I wound up opting to purchase certain machines online provided that the overall condition and the price were both attractive enough to me, with the hope that I would be able to make any necessary repairs on my own. (Had that not been the case, I would have been able to rely on a number of local shops for help, so it was like I had a nice safety net to depend on. ) I would estimate that ratio of typewriters purchased locally versus those bought online would be around 50:50 in my case. I have no idea how this might compare with the experiences of others.
At any rate, a little over a year ago this all came to an end for me. After trying out countless makes and models, identifying those that I preferred and then procuring them, I had managed to obtain more than enough great machines to keep me happy. And while I was gifted yet another typewriter after my last purchase, that machine and a few others that I owned have since gone on to new owners. (More to come on this in yet another future blog post.)
For the past year, my typewriter experience has been missing the component that so many others tend to enjoy the most — seeking out and acquiring new typewriter finds. But all is not lost in this regard. Since my typewriter acquisitions have stopped, I have figured out that I am now a typewriter collector by proxy. That’s right, I now get my new typewriter kicks through the experiences of others. I enjoy watching the latest trend spread through the community as excitement builds over one model, then the next, resulting in a number of purchases in some cases.
Sometimes I will have experienced or owned such machines in my past as with the Hermes 3000. Other times a model that I have given little thought to in the past becomes the next big thing, such as with the IBM Selectrics. I now find myself wondering what make/model will be the next to generate a lot of enthusiasm among the typewriter community. The reality is that I don’t have a clue. (If I did, I might find myself tempted to invest in a number of whatever is to come next.) The thing is, this is what keeps it fun for me.
As has been the case for a while now, I’ll continue to enjoy the same machines that I settled on a while back. But I’ll continue to keep my eyes on the buying habits of others so that I might live vicariously through their experiences, while also watching out for the next big thing. As to what that might be, well your guess is as good as mine.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: While I’ve been able to get my hands on a lot of different typewriters over the past couple of years, the reality is that I’ve barely managed to scratch the surface of what is out there. Sadly, the more I study up on typewriters, the more I realize just how little I actually know when it comes to all of the different makes and models produced over the years.
For that reason I pretty much kept my focus restricted to those typewriters with the greatest appeal to me personally. In my case that typically meant mid-century portable machines. As with cars, it’s only the manual models that really manage to excite me when it comes to typewriters. Though in another decade or two, it is possible that I could be changing my tune on both counts.
I wonder if it is collecting or coveting. I started this journey because of nostalgia and wanting to relive some of my past. I was also searching for a more distraction free method for writing. In time I found and bought my first machine. Then I received one from my father-in-law’s estate. Then my daughter and wife spied a really nice one at a thrift shop. By then I was hooked and started just adding machines to the pile.
In time I learned that I could only operate one at a time. It wasn’t so much about acquisition, but about use. I have some favorites that I use far more than others and some I simply admire. If I found someone wanting a machine and thought they would really use it rather than turn it into a piece of yard art or some other atrocity, I would release it back into the wild.
It is hard to imagine people collecting anything without coveting those things in some way. I know that this was a part of my own typewriter purchases. Though you and I reconnected with typewriters for somewhat different reasons, there are some similarities in our respective stories. My acquisitions were driven by the desire to find those machines with the best feel and functionality when in use. Obviously we all have our own preferences in this regard.
It’s fun to see how our collecting tastes change over time.
Indeed. And it’s not just typewriters as this is the case with countless other things as well.
That is certainly true.
One thing I remind myself of often is the fact that I have been easily and affordably able to try out, trade and own more typing experiences than any famous mid-century writer ever had a hope of experiencing. A professional writer in 1950 may have owned a half-dozen or maybe even a dozen typewriters over their lifetime. Me? I’ve experienced *hundreds* 😀
So, no need to be greedy – you got what you like and you still probably out-acquired anyone who used them when they were new.
My apologies Ted, your comment got “lost in the machine”. (I’m glad that I went in to the WordPress admin view to review comments manually.)
Yours is a very good point (as is so often the case). I imagine that when typewriters were still considered a non-obsolete form of technology, very few people looked at them as anything other than the tools that they were designed to be. It’s not like there are very many people today who collect inkjet or laser printers for example. People might choose to upgrade their printer after a period of time, but they don’t typically have a whole bunch of them to choose from. Most of us today see the typewriter through 21st century eyes and that definitely wasn’t the case when typewriters were still heavily in use.
In early 2021, I felt I needed to get away from the computer screen, to which I had been glued for 9 hours per day M-F, because of teleworking since March 2020.
I found out and bought The Typewriter Revolution and shortly thereafter I started watching the videos of JVC and others before delving into blogs. All were good sources for which typewriter were good buys. I was looking for something new to occupy my hands and my mind. Vintage typewriters that needed cleaning and fixing filled that need perfectly.
That is how I started looking for typewriters locally and found many of them. What I had not foreseen was that, in certain cases, my own tastes would be different than the bloggers’s. I must say that I did not realize many were on the same quest and their tastes would change over time.
As I write this, I feel guilty for having acquired so many machines, albeit, I justify that by the very low price I paid for most of them. Still, one thought keeps coming back in my head: that most people that used typewriters before PCs became affordable only had one single typewriter. Businesses and offices excluded.
Therefore, sometimes I like to imagine myself in a 1960 scenario, as a teenager and shortly after university. Would I have acquired a brand new and very affordable Brother, a second-hand typewriter of a decent brand made in Canada or would I have put myself in debt to buy a new, and expensive, Olympia? Or maybe I would have heard of Optima, Torpedo, Facit and what not. I might have liked one of those and just went along with my choice for years after.
But what if I had chosen a Hermes 3000 and later found out (as I did in 2022) that I did not like its typing action? I would certainly hope the store might have had a 30-day return warranty for an exchange!
Luckily, I don’t lose sleep over my collection and could afford to buy these machines. Now, if I could only find an Erika M…
Thanks for sharing all of your observations and experiences. Obviously everyone’s typewriter journey is going to be unique. Though I took a very focused approach that was fronted by a lot of research (I tend to approach most things this way, not just typewriters), many people start out in a very random fashion by buying whatever typewriter they can find for a decent price. For some, that machine might prove to be all they need or could wish for. Others might find that only through trying a multitude of different typewriters are they able to develop some sort of idea of what truly appeals to them.
I was fortunate in a number of different ways.When I bought my first typewriter I was able to compare it with more than a dozen different machines at the same antique store. It helped me realize just how much difference there was from one model to the next, and that two different examples of the same model could also feel different as well. The Hermes 3000 was the only typewriter that I bought from an actual typewriter repair shop. In that case I was fortunate that I was able to return it after deciding that it wasn’t the machine for me. They would have let me return the typewriter that I picked up in exchange as well, but I never felt the need.
I’ve been at the hoarding of these great machines for about a decade now. Since the Pandemic and all its shutdowns I’ve not acquired many new to me typewriters. They all seem to be way over priced even more so now than 3 years ago. Now I repair and restore all those that have been sitting in the shop way too long.
There are countless things have been impacted by the pandemic. It can be mind-boggling to try and put this in perspective. As far as typewriters are concerned, as with so many others it was specifically because of the pandemic that I reconnected with typewriters. Even in the little more than two years since I’ve been involved with these machines, I’ve seen quite the increase in prices. I can understand how this would be hard to accept for those who have been collecting typewriters for many years, as they could be had for far less money not that many years ago.
Yet I never set out to hoard typewriters. If anything, I wanted to avoid doing just that. Even then I ended up with more of these machines than I needed. From my perspective as a user, I still feel that generally speaking typewriters can be found fairly priced for what they are. To me, a typewriter is definitely worth more than than the $5 – $25 (or whatever range you might have experienced) that people used to get for them. That said, I’ll acknowledge that there are definitely plenty of exceptions out there as lots of these machines seem overpriced even to me, but supply & demand is what it is. As with anything, some typewriters are worth more to some people than they are to others. Sometimes I was grateful that many of the models I was hunting for weren’t on the radar of many others.
Without the community of fellow collectors and users, this pursuit would be much less fun. Part of the fun is definitely sharing in others’ excitement when they get a new typewriter.
PS: Portland = typewriter capital of the 21st century!
Thanks Richard. The great thing about yourself and many of your contemporaries who have long appreciated typewriters is that you went to the effort to document your experiences. By sharing what you learned along the way, you helped to create the great reference source known as the typosphere. Those like myself who came later on definitely benefitted from those efforts. You even took things a step further, creating a printed resource known as The Typewriter Revolution. The fact that people like yourself, Ted Munk, and others are still actively contributing to the typosphere today speaks volumes.
The “typewritemosphere” in Portland is definitely very good. This is something that I initially took for granted. But it wasn’t all that long after I bought my first typewriter that I became exposed to the stories of others’ experiences involving these machines. Only then did I come to realize that it wasn’t exactly common to have a typewriter repair shop located close by, let alone more than one, not to mention the sheer number of places selling typewriters that this area has. The downside regarding Portland as it relates to pretty much anything seen as retro or vintage (not just typewriters) is that the prices generally tend to be higher here than in many other areas. However, this is nothing new as it relates to Stumptown.