O.K. this is for serious sentimental noir writers. Oxymoron? The Book Oven blog today features The Royal Woody. Isn't this beautiful? Don't you want one? I do.The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1904 by E.B Hess in Hartford, CT. The company is now owned by Olivetti, but it still markets Royal, Adler-Royal and Olivetti machines, as well as things like PDAs. Weird. Website.
The Virtual Typewriter Museum writes that being a dominant brand in the early 20th century, "The Royal is not the most exciting machine in the world. But it wasn't intended to be exciting or revolutionary. The Royal was intended to be a sturdy work horse." My mother still had her Royal typewriter, and I used it when I was growing up. Yes, Virginia, there was a machine before computers that writers actually typed manuscripts on. Mistakes took longer to correct.
Anyway, my mother's typewriter was not a Royal Woody. The Royal Woody was circa 1932. Isn't it stunning?
Oh that is lovely.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous. I grew up using a heavy cast iron Royal and don't remember what became of it. I'd love to have another! There was something so satisfying about typing on one, and the pleasure cannot be duplicated on a computer keyboard.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! I"m off to ebay...