Typing events are always fun. Good old Underwood Champions, Universals, Olympia SM-7, SM-8, and SM-9 as well as old Royal QDLs, companions and a few old Smith-Corona models generally are difficult to damage as are Wards Signature (Brother JP-3) series. They are generally reasonably priced and plentiful. I’ve also used SCM Galaxie and Classic-12s with the carriage release levers removed.
Just a few of the many many different ones out there that generally survive public typing.
I usually choose my cheapest ones, Skyriters, Silents, Brother Chargers, Signature 510s, etc. Or office machines.
If I were not going to be involved in typing myself, I would consider bringing my Olympias. Last time I caught a few students attempting to slide the carriage while some type bars were jammed in the upward position. Goodbye, Escapement. Perhaps a sign that advises people to ask for help would be useful.
I’m afraid I’m one of those guys who won’t even bring his typewriters to a meeting of other typewriter users, because not even most enthusiasts match my standards for their treatment. It’s not just typewriters: I don’t dog-ear the pages of books, or even lick my finger to turn a page (ewwww!); thirty years ago I not only cleaned my record albums before every playing, I brushed any dust (visible or not) off the stylus needle; and I sharpen every knife after I use it. I’m sure it’s dispiriting for anyone to see someone else being less careful, no matter what your standard of practice.
Although my lifelong inclination is not to write in books, I changed my mind after reading Blake’s annotations to the books in his library (Swedenborg, Bacon, Lavater, Reynolds and others). It depends on the worth of the book and the worth of the comment. Trivial notes (oiseaux = birds) deface a book. But intelligent responses dignify it by engaging in discourse.
The most satisfaction I’ve had annotating was with Kory Stamper’s Word by Word. It’s a mass-market book by someone whose expertise is similar to my own, so I had a lot of worthy comments and arguments. I made a small pencil mark in the margin where I had a comment, and then wrote it on one of the back endpapers, together with the page number. Lots of fun, I found!
I pencil tailored indexes into the front pages of novels I teach. That helped a lot with graduate work, too. I never use pens, and special books always stay clean. Regarding old books, I would never write in one but I love finding a thoughtful note inside. I have a first ed of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, gifted from one woman to another. The content of the note, matching the nicotine pages, wishes the recipient years of good reading and smokes.
That is awesome—what a treasure! My equivalent would be a copy of Rebecca West’s 1933 biography of St. Augustine, from the library of Sir Julian Huxley, with Huxley’s penciled annotations in the margins. (You wouldn’t expect a famous agnostic scientist to be interested in Augustine, but there used to be such things as Renaissance men—and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sir Julian and Ms. West were personally acquainted.)
The Untimely Typewriter:Daily Writings Against the Tides of Distraction 
Typing events are always fun. Good old Underwood Champions, Universals, Olympia SM-7, SM-8, and SM-9 as well as old Royal QDLs, companions and a few old Smith-Corona models generally are difficult to damage as are Wards Signature (Brother JP-3) series. They are generally reasonably priced and plentiful. I’ve also used SCM Galaxie and Classic-12s with the carriage release levers removed.
Just a few of the many many different ones out there that generally survive public typing.
I usually choose my cheapest ones, Skyriters, Silents, Brother Chargers, Signature 510s, etc. Or office machines.
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If I were not going to be involved in typing myself, I would consider bringing my Olympias. Last time I caught a few students attempting to slide the carriage while some type bars were jammed in the upward position. Goodbye, Escapement. Perhaps a sign that advises people to ask for help would be useful.
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Yep, this Royalite should be a good beater typer for this event.
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I’m afraid I’m one of those guys who won’t even bring his typewriters to a meeting of other typewriter users, because not even most enthusiasts match my standards for their treatment. It’s not just typewriters: I don’t dog-ear the pages of books, or even lick my finger to turn a page (ewwww!); thirty years ago I not only cleaned my record albums before every playing, I brushed any dust (visible or not) off the stylus needle; and I sharpen every knife after I use it. I’m sure it’s dispiriting for anyone to see someone else being less careful, no matter what your standard of practice.
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What’s your view on annotations and reading? I write notes in softcover trade books. I need to hold higher standards for my LP use.
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Although my lifelong inclination is not to write in books, I changed my mind after reading Blake’s annotations to the books in his library (Swedenborg, Bacon, Lavater, Reynolds and others). It depends on the worth of the book and the worth of the comment. Trivial notes (oiseaux = birds) deface a book. But intelligent responses dignify it by engaging in discourse.
The most satisfaction I’ve had annotating was with Kory Stamper’s Word by Word. It’s a mass-market book by someone whose expertise is similar to my own, so I had a lot of worthy comments and arguments. I made a small pencil mark in the margin where I had a comment, and then wrote it on one of the back endpapers, together with the page number. Lots of fun, I found!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I pencil tailored indexes into the front pages of novels I teach. That helped a lot with graduate work, too. I never use pens, and special books always stay clean. Regarding old books, I would never write in one but I love finding a thoughtful note inside. I have a first ed of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, gifted from one woman to another. The content of the note, matching the nicotine pages, wishes the recipient years of good reading and smokes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is awesome—what a treasure! My equivalent would be a copy of Rebecca West’s 1933 biography of St. Augustine, from the library of Sir Julian Huxley, with Huxley’s penciled annotations in the margins. (You wouldn’t expect a famous agnostic scientist to be interested in Augustine, but there used to be such things as Renaissance men—and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sir Julian and Ms. West were personally acquainted.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow. That’s a real find. Yeah, those Huxleys were dynamic thinkers, and a classical education was a necessity.
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