An IBM Executive & Albert Borgmann

I was recently in Chicago for a few days for a conference, and on the way I passed through a suburb where someone had advertised this 1955 IBM Executive for $40 on Craigslist. It's in near-perfect condition.




I can't say the typewriter is a beauty, but its typeface is:



More information on IBM typefaces can be found on Ted Munk's site. Here are some proportional typefaces. Mine is type mark PO.







Meanwhile, I'm teaching a philosophy of technology course in which we are reading Albert Borgmann's 1984 book Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. His basic idea is that the typical technological pattern makes commodities easily available while obscuring the underlying mechanism that delivers the commodities; this tends to encourage a consumerist lifestyle that is alienated from nature, craft, and other people. Disturbingly, he argues that liberal democracy tends toward this superficial, technological way of life because in order to maximize freedom, we have to dissolve our ties to more substantial, committed ways of relating to society and to things. This line of thought inspired the following ditty.




The following thought, which I copied on my MBM (Consul), seems especially appropriate to typewriters.

Revolution in the Mailbox: From Linköping to Christiansburg and more

Many goodies were waiting in my real mailbox when I returned from London. Here's a sample. And to my correspondents, please excuse my tardiness in replying; more plans and responsibilities this month will probably make it a while before I get down to typing letters.

First, there's good news from Linköping, Sweden:




Next, and speaking of telegrams, the good news continues with an impressive mill-typed message from a certain typospherian. (A mill, for those who don't know, is a capitals-only typewriter used for transcribing telegrams.)




Also in my mailbox was this "antholozine" from Poems While You Wait, a dynamic team of street poets in Chicago.



The book collects some of the group's best poetry, all typewritten, and also includes a reflection by Eric Plattner on the demise of Chicago's Independence Business Machines. I'll extract one page here.



Finally, my thanks go to the correspondent who sent me a copy of the first issue of Footnotes, a new Swiss periodical about type design. Among other things, this issue includes a 1962 article by Alan Bartram on typewriter typefaces. Here is one page that includes some very interesting proportional typefaces used by Underwood on its rare Raphael.

Tributes and trickery

See Alan Brignull's "typecast" here.

آلة كاتبة عربية

Here's a typing sample from Ned Brooks' Arabic Olivetti Lettera 32:



An early Erika folding (#3032):






A few stages in the evolution of the Erika, 1910s - 1950s:





My '50s Erikas (left to right: Erika 10 #1909032, Aztec 700 Super #1976404, and Arabic #2000670). The Arabic machine lacks several features of the others and has old-fashioned round metal keys, even though it's newer. I believe the others are both the "Super" version; they include include touch adjustment and tabulator, among other things. On the left of the keyboard is a lever for disentangling typebars, and a "+" key for setting tabs.




There are plenty of small differences among these machines. Consider the line spacing markings:




There are more differences under the hood. On the left (#1909032), a decal from VEB Schreib- und Nähmaschinenwerke Dresden (Volkseigener Betrieb, or "People's Enterprise" Dresden Typewriter and Sewing Machine Works -- the socialist successor to Seidel & Naumann). On the right (#2000670), no decal and a different system for securing the hood.





The Arabic Erika and its capitalist rival, an Olympia SM5:





The Olympia's logo:





Let's take a closer look at the Arabic Erika:





Who can tell me what these decals say?











The shift key is a work of calligraphic art:





For those of you who want to get into the nitty-gritty of proportional typewriting, here is a non-proportional mechanism (#1976404) and then the Arabic, proportional mechanism (#2000670).






And finally, here is Ned's Arabic Lettera.



Wikipedia article on the Arabic alphabet


Marty Rice on the Aztec 700

Reiner Graphika font

Olivetti Graphika typeface by Imre Reiner

Peter Brill, of Kingsley, Western Australia, found my entry on the Graphika and contributed this typing sample from his own Graphika. Evidently it has the one other typeface available on the machine, which according to Jörg Thien was designed by Imre Reiner. Click to enlarge.

Free Cassandre Graphika font

PS: I used a carbon ribbon, advancing it by hand, to get the crispest possible impressions of the characters.

Visit my website to get Cassandre Classic — a new font designed by Ian Davies — and Reiner Graphika.

Olivetti Graphika