Tony Allan, Typewriter: The History, the Machines, the Writers (New York: Shelter Harbor Press, 2015), 1–96. ISBN 978 1 62795 034 3. RRP: $16.99
More than 50 people are credited with inventing the typewriter, going back to the 17th century. The industrial revolution created mountains of paper needing armies of clerks to write and copy legal and financial documents. Inventors competed to devise a cheaper and faster way. Allan takes us through the different solutions which culminated in the first truly modern typewriter, the Underwood 5 of 1901. This sold in millions and Underwood became the world’s leading typewriter manufacturer.
There are many illustrations of machines and typists, including Marilyn Monroe in 1949 with a typewriter balanced on her lap and showing plenty of leg. Perhaps she was advertising not typewriters but stockings for the modern typist.
Mark Twain was probably the first serious writer to adopt the typewriter because he found he could type much faster than writing. In 1883 he submitted Life on the Mississippi to his publisher in typescript, the first author to do so.
Other authors are listed with their favourite machines and there is a photo of Jack Kerouac working away at his Underwood Portable. Truman Capote famously said of Kerouac’s output “That’s not writing, it’s just typing.”
Cormac McCarthy’s Olivetti, bought from a pawn shop in 1963, was auctioned for charity in 2009, bringing $254,500. He bought an identical replacement for $20 and continued writing.
Conan Doyle used the typewriter in one of his stories in which Sherlock Holmes traced anonymous typed letters to their source. Movies that have featured typing, typists and typewriters in their plots are listed and summarised.
The rise of the word processing computer has not led to the demise of the typewriter. They are popular in developing countries where the electricity supply is unreliable and in recent years the Russian government reverted to using typewriters for sensitive material because they can’t be hacked. Since 2010 the 'type-in' has become a social event in many countries, groups gathering at bookshops or coffee shops for hours of typing fun. Look at http://type-in.org and be amazed.
Allan’s engaging and comprehensive survey presents enough typewriter facts and photos to excite the collector and to interest the layperson.
Neil Radford
2015
Tony Allan, Typewriter: The History, the Machines, the Writers (New York: Shelter Harbor Press, 2015), 1–96. ISBN 978 1 62795 034 3. RRP: $16.99