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Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Revolution in the mailbox: A letter from Rotterdam



Links:

(Willem Frederik Hermans) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Frederik_Hermans

(here) http://sofiecrabbe.blogspot.nl/2015/04/nooit-meer-typen-de-schrijfmachinecolle.html


Links:

(Bookstore Limerick) http://www.limerick.be/nld/collectie-schrijfmachines-wf-hermans/1210/een-nieuwe-eigenaar-voor-de-collectie-schrijfmachines-van-willem-frederik-hermans

(here) http://www.wfhermans.net/typemach/index.htm

Thanks for your letter! That really is a beautiful typeface. Do any readers know what it's called?

Readers who know how to make image maps are officially given license to scoff at my clumsy listing of the links that Mr. Boersma provided by e-mail.
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 25, 2015 at 9:53 PM

    Terrific letter and indeed a very nice typeface.

    ReplyDelete
  2. shordziAugust 25, 2015 at 11:05 PM

    What a rich letter! And I hadn't known about the "Stasi" font.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bill MAugust 26, 2015 at 6:10 AM

    Very nice letter. That typeface is really beautiful. I've never seen that on an Underwood. If I ever get to Europe I must visit the Limerick. Fantastic display of the collection.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Typewriter KingFebruary 12, 2016 at 9:59 PM

    I think I have a similar font in elite type on one of my 1956 Underwood 150 machines. It was once my mother's. I'd seen it before in pica version on a '54 model. Anyway, as for that story around a typewriter "The size of an office building," there actually existed such a machine--made by Underwood. It was about 15' tall and weighed in @ 16 tons. Those typebars weighed about 45 pounds apiece, so if anyone, child or adult, opened up the front cover and crawled into the type bar basket, the ending would be very similar to the one described in the letter. This machine was as big and heavy as a bulldozer!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownMarch 5, 2016 at 4:45 AM

    The typeface can now safely be identified as Underwood Elite Victoria (UT56 in the 1957 Dreusicke Typeface Catalog, see The Typewriter Database/Library), thanks to an add in the Nassau Daily Review-Star (1951): http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Freeport%20NY%20Daily%20Review/Freeport%20NY%20Daily%20Review%201950%20Nov-Dec/Freeport%20NY%20Daily%20Review%201950%20Nov-Dec%20-%200091.pdf.

    Regarding the giant Underwood, it must be noted that Hermans' fictional typewriter was larger still: each letter was "the size of a shop window", the platen had the size of the canopy of Amsterdam Central Station; the carriage had to be pulled back and forth by locomotives...

    ReplyDelete