Some little-known typewriters (G-I)

The G&O (Graf & Oertel) portable is a minor German make that was marketed with a variety of really obscure names, such as Bajnok, Cawena, Mercurius, Mirina, Rex, and Standard.





I believe this is the only known example of a Garvin index typewriter. It was sold by Auction Team Breker in 2008.




The Gilman is known only from this illustration. Looks like a toy table saw!



Another obscure portable is the Gloria. This is #4189, with an Italian keyboard.



The Blick 90 and Voss Privat were also sold under the name Gloria.




I filed this one under G for Gundka, but it seems to be a British copy of the German Gundka, with a little plaque naming Enoch Jones & Sons. Maybe they were just the British distributors.



The decals on this Hansa (Franz Pehmer collection) are eye-catching. I believe the ribbon cover is missing and that this is a name variant of the Culema.



The Helma is another minor German typewriter with a fabulous decal. This is #655, from Thomas Fürtig's collection.




The Hispania is a very rare machine from (you guessed it) Spain. Some more information can be found in ETCetera No. 86 (p. 6). This is #1204 in the Sirvent collection.

This is a Hughes—or a replica of one?



IBM isn't exactly a little-known make, but a Siamese twin IBM Model C? That's obscure. The purpose of this invention, presumably, was to type in two different alphabets—a job that the Selectric made considerably easier.



This oblique frontstroke typewriter is an Imperial (an American make, not to be confused with the British Imperial). Very few collectors have seen one of these.


Here and in other installments of this series, I'm focusing on typewriters that are infrequently noticed or discussed among collectors, and am leaving out some very rare machines that are on the radar of serious collectors already, such as the  Garbell, Gardner, Granville, Hammonia, Hartford, Hogar, Ingersoll, and International. But if you want me to post photos of any of them, let me know and I'll do so in the next installment.

Some little-known typewriters (D-F)

The Dactylette Model I (was there ever a II?) is a rare Italian index typewriter.



On the other extreme of complexity in the world of Italian typewriters is the Dattilomusicografo music typewriter. It looks like something out of a Miyazaki movie.



This Daw & Taite is in Uwe Breker's collection.



The only Defi I've ever seen was in the late Don Sutherland's collection.



This Defiance from the former Onondaga collection really floats my boat.



This is a Diamond no. 4 from the Milwaukee Public Museum. It looks like someone tried to fit a conventional frontstroke into the body of a Sholes Visible.



How did this Dodson work?



The DWF is another imitation of the Adler, with a boxy shell.


Here's a beautiful Electa made in Turin. Not so rare in Italy, but unheard-of in the US.



Not really a typewriter but a stencil-making machine, the Elliott is notable for the DHIATENSOR sequence on its index—just as on a Blickensderfer.



The Engadine, another Italian typewriter, isn't as obscure as most things I'm showing you today, but I have to say I have never run across one in the wild.



This is a Fairchild-Lithotype. Sort of a super-Varityper?



The Felio, also known as the Nora, superficially resembles a flatbed Royal.



This is a Fialka cipher machine.



A Flying Fish, made in China:



This reproduction of an 1869 invention by Fontaine was constructed in 1985 and offered on eBay in 2013.



The Fortschritt (Progress) is a massive bookkeeping typewriter made by Seidel & Naumann:



Here's another modern reproduction of a 19th-century invention, this one by Foucauld.



I just love the name of the Framo-Record.





And finally, here's an 1857 invention by Francis, exhibited at the Smithsonian next to one of those run-of-the-mill little type writers known as a Sholes & Glidden.



I hope this series is whetting the appetite of typewriter collectors and reminding us of just how many amazing machines are "out there." This hobby can truly be a lifetime pursuit.

Some little-known typewriters (A-C)

It occurred to me that one of the mystery machines I showed you a couple of posts ago is very similar in principle to the Kent, one of the never-yet-found rarities of typewriter history. The Kent was an electric typewriter that used a typewheel moving along a horizontal axis—invented in 1892!

Now, several readers expressed curiosity about the 7000 photos I said I have on my computer. So I thought I'd show you some more inventions from my files — machines that are not completely unknown, but  very obscure. Today we'll look at some samples from letters A through C.

This Airgam Plumita 14 is about as flimsy a toy as you can ever find. Probably made in Spain.




The Alba is somewhere between a toy and a simple portable. It was made in both 3-bank and 4-bank versions (I have a 4-bank).



The American Telegraph Typewriter is known only from stationery and stock certificates.



The Avanti is a handsome German standard. This one bears serial number 1491.




Wouldn't it be sweet to find a Barrett, the predecessor to the Fox?



Here's a silly-looking typewriter marked B.A.T. It looks like a modern version of a 19th-century index machine.






The Bavaria is an attractive three-bank.




This Bolida looks strong and well-made.



This contraption is a Brady-Warner.




Meet the Business:



The Cantelo is a wonderful prototype, now in Flavio Mantelli's collection.

No collector would mind finding a Cash book typewriter. (It would be worth some serious cash, too.)


The Celtic is a rare French machine. There was also a Celtic portable that has never been found, to my knowledge.




The Child's typewriter is one of the ridiculous little gadgets of the 19th century that is very rare now.



The Comet is one of several thrust-action German machines that imitate the Adler, in turn based on the American Wellington.



Ever seen a Condé?



And finally, if you thought the Barbie Typewriter was the girliest typewriter in the world, I give you: the Creamy Mami.