Get Victorian with me

This is a typewriter typeface?? Yes! It's listed in a 1939 Varityper catalogue as “Diacritical”— but I think a better name for it is “Varityper Ornate.” 

Want to type with it? You can. It’s a new free download from the fonts section of The Classic Typewriter Page.

Psst: Here's the whole catalogue, helpfully scanned by Brian D.

Typewriter ribbon inking machine

Now that Charlene Oesch of Baco Ribbons has passed away, many in the typosphere have been wondering what will become of her rare typewriter-inking equipment. I can report that it will not be junked; there is a likely buyer, and there are back-up takers in the wings. Now whoever gets these machines will just have to figure out how to run them—because Charlene never wrote up instructions or filmed herself using them.

I have never witnessed the process of inking ribbons until today. Jett Morton shared a video taken by Theresa of Fine Line Ribbon in Ennis, Texas. It's published here by permission of them both. Isn't this neat??

Independence Day: an excerpt from Evertype

From my novel Evertype. Illustration by Trent Reker.