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Busy Times for Typewriter Restorer
Words by Leila Macor  Photos by Joe KlamarLOS ANGELES, Today (AFP) - Ermanno Marzorati*has rarely been so busy. He is currently fixing a 1930 Underwood typewriter for Tom Hanks. But there are plenty...
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Choice Typewriters 1978
Above, the Adler Gabriele 25. The 1978 Choice magazine review of "heavy duty" portable typewriters includes an image of this model, but its report is actually on the Gabriele 35, a somewhat larger...
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Remington Rand Model 1 Portable Typewriter
Serial #28292, made early 1935Ernest Charles de Burgh was born on March 30, 1892, at Battersea, London, second son of Henry Augustus de Burgh, farmer and grazier, and his wife Annette Elizabeth...
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Great Gatsby or Greater Lower? My Typewriter Just Right For Mad Max
Since Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby is not a movie which can be taken very seriously (Flapper Rap? I think not!), one of the more amusing diversions for Australian viewers is to spot as many...
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Monpti Portable Typewriter
This Monpti arrived here about an hour ago and I am so excited to at long, long last get my hands on a Monpti I haven't even found time yet to put a ribbon in it, let alone test type with it. I promise...
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Uplifted by Lower: When Two Typewriters Are Better Than One
Max Cullen with his own Underwood Standard (a 5?).Yes, that's the Eureka flag in the background.After a day lamenting Baz Luhrmann's unwarranted extravagance in his direction of The Great Gatsby, it...
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Typewriter Update, May 2013
TYPE SAMPLESAnnalise Wrzeczycki, a police forensic document examiner who attended my typewriter workshop in Sydney last Sunday, Â said it was "really great to see and type on such a variety of...
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'The Ritual and Musical Quality of Old Typewriters'
Sorry if I'm coming in a bit late on this one, but it has only just been brought to my attention that West Australian-born actor Marcus Graham is a typewriter enthusiast. A spread in one of the Murdoch...
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Why I Love My 'Go-To' Typewriter
Do you have a "go-to" typewriter? I do. It's a Bijou (Erika) four-bank portable, made by Seidel & Naumann in Dresden in about 1929. I say "about 1929" because its serial number is 121444, and 1929...
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Monpti and Consul Portable Typewriters: Same Colour, Same Mechanics
Richard Polt's comment on the Monpti instruction sheet the other night reminded me that this unusual portable typewriter was made by  Zbrojovka Brno NP in Czechoslovakia, which also made Consul...
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Vale, My Brother Ron
     Ronald Wallace Messenger            Born Greymouth, New Zealand,           November 15, 1932                          Died Greymouth, NZ,                        June 3, 2013,...
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Reminiscing on an Underwood Universal Portable Typewriter
Ronald Wallace Messenger (1932-2013)Proud Dad:Ron in 1959 with his son Alan and our grandmother Isabella Jane Webber and mother Elizabeth Jessie Alma Messenger.
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Merz Typewriter
I prefer the look with the name panel in the upright position.Ah well, life goes on. Upon hearing my news this morning, my old friend Frank Neate wrote, "The most appropriate Maori saying is Ka whiti...
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Smith-Corona 5TE Electric Keyboard Portable Typewriter: Restored and In The Pink
I bought this Smith-Corona 5TE electric keyboard portable typewriter from a seller in the home of the typewriter - Milwaukee, Wisconsin - 10 weeks ago. For the past six weeks or so, I have been working...
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A Volley of Torpedoes: 14 Great German Portable Typewriters, 1924-1974
POST-WARTorpedo 18(first series, 1936-51)Â The Torpedo 18 was first introduced in 1936 (see illustration below). Production of this model resumed after World War II, in 1949 (see advert, bottom).TORPEDO...
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Choice Typewriters 1977
For its edition of October 1977, Australian Consumers' Association magazine Choice rated 59 "lightweight" portable typewriters. Among the 59, it "double-dipped" many times, including Imperials, Royals,...
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No Typewriter Ever Violated Me
This 1937 Canadian-made ("Built in the British Empire") cork-platened Model A Royal De Luxe portable typewriter, serial number A-689650, was given to me in 2011 by leading Australian war historian,...
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Hermes 3000 Typewriter: Second Style, Wide Carriage
This wide-carriage second style Hermes 3000, serial number 7031881, was made in 1971. See Georg Sommeregger's rundown of the Hermes 3000 variations here.  This  styling, says Georg, was introduced in...
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Adler Contessa De Luxe Portable Typewriter: A Most Pleasant Surprise
I love the way portable typewriters present fresh surprises around every corner.When John Lavery was down here from Beaudesert at the weekend, he asked whether I had a spare parts mainspring for an...
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The Eccentric Brain Behind Imperial Typewriters
Arthur Bott Pateman (1886-1972)When Arthur Pateman designed the Imperial Model 50 standard-size typewriter in 1926, he managed to incorporate in it Hidalgo Moya's concept of interchangeable keyboards...
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