Recently, Tom Hanks’s love for typewriters inspired us to take a look back at classic photographs of authors with their treasured machines. Our readers joined us on our nostalgic shoot to share their stories and pictures of typewriters – including anecdotes from the past but also great stories of modern reinventions and art projects. Here is our selection, and do head here to see the rest of the contributions.
Starting young
The moment Kevin Godinho tried out his father’s typewriter was sweetly immortalised: “My father took these photos, also developed and printed them himself and added captions. I was about 15 months old.” By KevinGodinho
With my typewriter in the Andes
“My Olivetti Dora typewriter travels with me everywhere these days. This fall it’s accompanied me to Colombia, Ecuatorial Guinea, and Venezuela. Its portable size makes it convenient to carry on board airplanes – and to rest on my lap for an interlude of typing while perched on a rock in the Andes. I began writing a novel on the typewriter this summer because the machine is designed for only one purpose: to write. No more googling or checking email as a distraction. Also no more obsessively going back and rewriting the last page. There is only one direction to go in when writing on a typewriter – forward. Rather than limiting me, it has freed me to improvise on the page and not worry about achieving perfection.” By Hugo Perez
Man at work
Testing an Olivetti Lexikon 80 in 1957: “My late father spent his working life at the Olivetti factory in Glasgow. The photo in the typewriter is of him, in his role as foreman, testing a Lexikon 80 on the production floor … the year I was born!” By Masham2002
Summer afternoon, 1957
“It’s 1957 and I’m six, hunt-and-pecking on my mother’s portable typewriter – which has a case like a tweed overnight bag and weighs nearly as much as a bag of cement.” By SCDeGhett
Life’s like that
“I recently found my Nanna’s typewriter. It’s celeste, my favourite colour. I like to run my fingers along the keys, and imagine her fingers doing the same. I never knew she was a writer. Actually, I didn’t know much about her at all. The typewriter probably knew her better than I did. It is only now that I read the stories she wrote so many decades ago that I am getting to know her. Getting to know her wit, her humour and her personality.
This is my favourite:
Life’s like that
After three years, I finally summoned the courage to go to the dentist. My friend said that he was young, witty, and took one’s mind off the dreadful torments I knew I would have to endure. I sat quaking in the chair, and opened my mouth. “How do you chew,” he said. I laughed, loudly, and for too long, then looked up and saw the quizzical expression on his face. When he had finished the inspection he asked me why I had been so amused. What I thought was his witty way of saying “how do you do” was in fact a serious inquiry as to how I chewed my food with so few back teeth.
Miss S. A. Burton.
17. JUN 1969.”
By hannahbirks
Red beauties
“Monpti and Valentine – probably the coolest looking typewriter couple ever. So happy to have them both, never mind the one’s disfunctionality and the other’s urgent need for a decent bath.” By kpropaganda
Dad teaching me to type in the 1970s
“My parents always encouraged me to type using the old manual machine we had (no idea where we got it from). By high school, I was winning speed typing contests at 110 wpm on a newfangled IBM Selectric.” By TinaTinaTina
One typewriter, 12 reporters
“When I joined a weekly newspaper as a trainee journalist in 1955 most news copy was still written by hand. There was only one typewriter for 12 reporters. Things improved slightly in later years but to ensure I always had a typewriter I bought my own, an Olympia SM3 – which I ferried between home and office. It was portable but robust and always proved very reliable.” By AJWorrall
My sister’s typewriter
“In the 1960s my 13-year-old sister was given a beautiful pale green portable Olivetti typewriter. I was so envious but was told that because I was ‘academic’ I had no need of a typewriter like my sister, who would study typing at high school. My sister grew up to marry an Olivetti salesman who eventually became a self-made millionaire and my sister never had to work. She still has that typewriter!” By LINDAJANICE
Hidden story
“This is on my morning walk with my dogs and has been for the past nine years – no one has ever moved it. I sometimes wonder what stories it could tell , what it has seen on that railway track all that time.” By Nichola Jane
A throwback to Pop
“After 32 years, I am finally a journalist and my brother gave me our dad’s typewriter as a graduation gift. I thought the box had a kitchen appliance in it and when I opened it and found this, I was shocked and overcome. Dad belted out hundreds of letters on this machine all through the 70s as I recall. I’ve lost my fingers in the keys many times but using it makes me think of my dad and of the days when everything took a little more time – and that was OK.” By jenjwms
Reconditioned Royalite
“This is one of my painted typewriters, it is a Royalite in pastel green and pink. My job is reconditioning old typewriters and giving them a new lease of life by painting them in fresh new colours and restoring them to working order.” By Annie Atkinson
My “portable” electric typewriter
“I bought this Smith-Corona Sterling Automatic 12 at Argos in the mid 70s. It came with us to Australia when we emigrated in 1980 and, apart from fitting an Aussie plug, is in much the same condition as when it was bought. It comes in a substantial moulded plastic case, and works perfectly. I was an early convert to computers so this never really got the use that was expected – but plug it in, turn it on and (complete with very ‘retro’ neon indicator to show it’s powered up!) it works perfectly. I suppose getting new ribbons might be a problem. I must show it to the grandchildren … along with 12-inch LPs. They’ll wonder what world we came from … ”. By HappyInPerth
