They Sell Actual Typewriters at Oblation Papers and Press

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We sallied forth in search of fountain pen cartridges.

I don't make a huge deal of it here but I am fond of fountain pens for a bunch of reasons, some of them intellectual (Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the author seems to make pointed note of, uses a dip or fountain pain in writing his illicit diary) but most of them sensual (handwriting aficionados probably have a gut feeling for what I just now laid down, and I hope it's a solid ASMR hit, too). I have a Kaweco Perkeo in the Old Chambray color style, and have had a lot of happy fun writing with the Preppy Platinum fountain pen, a low-cost, good-quality, high-value way of satisfying your fountain pen writing jones on the cheap.

Birbs, they haz them too.

Recently I was sent a vintage fountain pen by a beloved friend as a memento. It's neither of the above brands and needs a proprietary-design ink cartridge, and in this world where everything seems to fall out of the sky if you ask the right way this was a bit harder to locate. 

But this is Portland, Oregon, and we do stuff artistically AF, yo, so, no, finding this sort of thing is hardly impossible and led us down a very delightful path which ended at a place at 516 NW 12th Avenue called Oblation Papers & Press. 

This is a worthwhile place to be for anyone who loves letterpress, old-school printing, stationery and pens and pencils. They have it all there from Mont Blanc pens to Blackwing pencils ... and they had what I'm looking for, the Lamy T-10 ink cartridge. Sadly, the darkest Lamy ink is only blue-black, and I much prefer the absolutest black ink I can find, but the quality is quite nice and I won't mind this.

They have a great many paper products, all very artisanal (and I mean this is in the good, not my usual sarcastic way). They do custom jobs for special occaisions ... and they have this, which had me over the moon: honest-to-goodness typewriters. 

Now, mind you, those old-school presses in the back there got my attention as well, but I couldn't get all drooly over those. Just as well. All the typewriters seen  here are on sale, and one can go right up to them and give 'em a few test hunt'n'pecks if they are so inclined.

Prices? Well, technology being what it is, actual mechanical typewriters are a thing of vintage, and these are priced to match. The days of finding a retired typewriter at the stack at the back of the Goodwill store for five to ten bucks are long, long gone, my friends. These are all lovingly refurbished and run about $100 and up. 

But if it's a vintage typewriter you're looking for, you'll get what you pay for. The picture below is a model that caught my eye because it looks like one of the models that L. Ron Hubbard used to brag about wearing out because he typed on them so hard. What's really eye-catching about this one is the keys that show this was obviously produced for a certain European market, with a QWERTY keyboard but with an Å next to the P and a Æ with an Ø to the right of the L.

Danish, Norwegian, Faroese, Wikipedia tells me. 

We weren't able to stay long but we'd like to be going back here I think, and I'll be taking more pictures at a later time perhaps. It's around the corner from Portland's Dick Blick store, so those who want to spend a leisurely afternoon with upscale art supplies ... well, here's your place.

They sell actual typewriters at Oblation Papers & Press.

Because this is Portland, and that's what we do here.

[type] The Royal Futura 800 Manual Typewriter

3069.

I do, in fact, have a manual typewriter.

It, as near as I can ID, is a Royal Futura 800. Here it is:

It's a lovely machine, stylish, and with the sorts of lines you'd expect something that exulted in the model name Futura to look like if it came out in the late 50s … streamlined corners, a cool wedge-shaped cross section, with the lid section sitting on top like a plugin.

The best feature there is the ROYAL logo … it's clear plastic and if you press on it, it turns out it's the latch that opens the top, which is spring loaded, which is a bit of a plus.

Ribbons being what they are, it's fortunate for us that we have an old-school office-supply store a fifteen-minute walk away from us. They'll sell us a ribbon whose spools will work in this machine, however, you have to install brads at each end of the ribbon or it won't trip the mechanical link that reverses the travel of the ribbon.

Annoying, but fixable. DIY, y'all!

The biggest niftiness about this? The font. Peep:

[pdx] Vintage Typewriters On Display At Powell's Books

2920.When we visited Powell's Books downtown store this last evening, I went to the Pearl Room, on the 3rd floor as is my wont, because I loves me them art-how-to books and the graphic design and typography books. And if you can't find it there and you don't already have it, you don't need it.

The third floor has a display featuring books on typography and type. So, what perfect accompaniment than … typewriters.

To those of you who were gebornt during the last 20-30 years or so, a typewriter is much like a computer, except your files were 'typewritten' (that Wikipedia thing would probably call this a portmanteau of typewriter and written) on things called pieces of paper, and these files were saved by a method we called putting them away in a safe place. Crazy, right?

Typewriters, while not able to run World of Warcraft, EVE Online, or connect to the cloud, did have the advantage of working during a power failure or after an electromagnetic pulse … though, honestly, if you were suffering through the aftereffects of an EMP you probably had other matters on your mind and stopped typing, at least for a while.

And you couldn't download apps to them. They kind of were the app. Anyway, please browse this brief little gallery, presented for your illumination. Clicky to embiggen.

This first one is a Royal of some make and more than a little antiquity. It was on the uppermost shelf, and was actually out of sight to me, even at 5' 11" in height. That didn't stop me from holding the camera up, though, and letting it do the dirty work:

 The next one is a Corona, distinguished most by this lovely maroon color.

Next comes a Corona that looks a bit older than the last one, with a plate on detailing the seller-servicer.

 The (poorly photographed) seller's plate tells us it was sold and/or serviced by E.W. Hall Co, Inc, purveyors of Office Appliances who were located in Seattle at 911 2nd Avenue and could be phoned at ELliot 3441. 

This next one is a Remington Model 2, or maybe Model 5. 

 
The card in the lid gives us a bit of information on one of this model's most famous owners – Agatha Christie, who we understand was a mystery writer of some note. We also note that this card does not state that this was the model Dame Agatha herself owned, the implication being her portable was of that ilk.

This Remington, in particular, was sold/serviced by Oregon Typewriter Company, 330 SW 5th Avenue, Portland, Phone ATwater 5378. That would be 503-289-5378 today. You can at least tell it was post-1930 by the post-Great Renaming address (otherwise it would be in the 80-100 range on Third Street).

If you can get by Powell's within the time these sweeties are on display, give 'em a good look. 

They also have great books on type there, several of which are in my collection.

[art] The Resurgence of Miss Ankle-Strap Typewriter

2842.They say that typewriters are dead and/or dying?

Maybe. But maybe not.

There is a particularly vital existence for the typewriter in this post-typewriter media world however. Similar to the retro/funky/cool/connoisseurs vibe that the vinyl LP record is enjoying these days, the typewriter simply refuses to die. And people keep coming back to rediscover a classic:

 Banuelos, who started working at the store 44 years ago, when he was in high school, isn’t surprised by the recent bump in interest. Typewriters are beautiful objects, he said. People want to buy them.
“We have customers all the time,” he said. “[It’s] somebody’s birthday, somebody’s anniversary, or somebody in love with a young boyfriend.” To want a typewriter, you have to be a bit of a romantic, he added, “and besides, they’re cool.” They can also be a relief from computers and the distractions of the Internet. “They want a machine that has to be old, unique and nice,” Banuelos said. “Why? Because of this. The click, click, click. They want that.”

Not only are people who value and feel romantic about the past using them, certain Great American Writers still swear by them.

The whole story is at Salon, here: http://www.salon.com/2012/06/19/a_typewriter_renaissance/singleton/