Friday, July 03, 2020

NY MASK #3


7 comments:

Roger Smith said...

My very heavy 1898 Underwood desk model was built to last, and it still works perfectly, perched on its original all-steel typewriter stand. Hers looks a little different, but it's of roughly the same vintage.

Chic Silber said...


Can you still get ribbons

Does it have a USB cable

Chic Silber said...


I have 1 of those gooseneck

lamps on a shelf of props

Roger Smith said...

No, it's free-standing only. No USB nothing. Ribbons I can get, here in an office supply in historic Old Town Yuma. It's the springbars that have become rare. When one breaks, and a finder's house can be your source, order half a dozen while you're at it.

We are seeing a renewed interest across the land in returning to the every-day typewriter. Those used to the light touch on current keyboards will need aggressive practice in pounding the hell out of the keys on the hardy Underwoods.

Chic Silber said...


Somewhere between then & now I have

a few IBM Selectrics which include

a Selectric Executive where you had

to memorize how many spaces each of

the letters took to back up when

you wanted to correct something

It allowed for a "Typeset" look

Great for early desktop publishing

I keep 1 in both my NY & Sarasota

offices to be able to crash type

on multi page carbon forms

Chic Silber said...


I also had a terrific tiny

lightweight Olivetti manual

portable I traveled with

I lent it to a friend who

died & I never got it back

Chic Silber said...


I was joking about the USB