Etcetera Beginner’S Odell
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CONTENTS Editor’s Notes ...................... 2 The First Woodstock .......... 3 First American Typewriter . 4 ETCetera Beginner’s Odell .................. 8 Typewriter Fonts ................. 9 Magazine of the Early Condition Revisited .......... 10 Typewriter Collectors Association Name Those TW Parts Answers ................. 10 International News ........... 11 Collector’s Insurance ........ 11 Ads ..................................... 12 Letters ................................ 12 No. 29 ------- Dec., 1994 Overhead view of the 1829 Burt Typographer. Photo shows an 1893 reconstruction of machine, built by the inventor’s grandson. Full story, page 4. ETCetera #29 / December, 1994 / 1 Ribbon Tins. We need good images follow suit… except that they didn’t of ribbon tins. Take your favorites to a bother to do the restoration work! So, ETCetera copy store with a high quality color when the paper published the price of copier (usually Canon or Kodak). Have an Oliver at $495, a lot of dirty, rusty Magazine of the Early the clerk place a whole bunch of your $495 Olivers started showing up, with Typewriter Collectors tins directly on the copier window, and the article often displayed to “justify” Association ask him to copy them at 50% for the price tag. One dealer offered a real regular tins. Please copy tall tins at bargain, though. Seeing a $1495 price Dec., 1994 100% (since most of those are about published for a restored Yost No.4, he 1-1/2" wide, a 50% reduction makes offered his own rusty machine for pea- No. 29 the image too small). For every tin nuts at $300. Too bad it didn’t include image I use, you’ll get a $1.50 discount the carriage. Editor on the following year’s ETCetera sub- Darryl Rehr scription. That should more than cover ††† 2591 Military Ave. the cost of a page-full of tin images. Los Angeles, CA 90064 Machines. Please send me clear shots In Print: The Wall Street Journal’s (310)477-5229 of interesting machines that look good Peter R. Kann wrote a column in in color. Don’t worry too much about August entitled “Ode to the Type- German Summaries the size of the image. The size that fits writer and (Gasp!) Those Who Still Siegfried Snyder on a regular print is usually OK. Please Use One.” The article was part of the 2018-2020 James St. send me two copies of the photo. I will WSJ’s “Personal Technology” feature, Syracuse, NY 13206 usually trim these and use the original regularly written by Walter Mossberg, (315)479-6162 for pasteup, so I would appreciate an who was on vacation at the time. The extra for the files. For each machine column usually targets hardware in the ISSN 1062-9645 image published, you’ll get a $2.50 computer field. When Kann told ©1994 by The Early Typewriter discount on the following year’s de- Mossberg he used a manual typewriter, Collectors Association scription. Mossberg said, “you’re the only one!” Published four times per year in Color Ads or Ephemera. Use your Kann’s piece was written to proclaim March, June, Sept. & Dec. judgement. Generally these’ll have to the contrary. Says Kamm, “If radio can $15/yr North America be color copied at a reduction so they coexist with TV, matches with light- $20 overseas won’t take up a whole page by them- ers, parents with teenagers, why not selves. Same discount as machine pho- typewriters with computers?” Ayup. tos–$2.50 per image used. EDITOR’S NOTES ††† ††† Color Supplement Update. Things are looking good for not one, but two And speaking of incentives, I may Last August, I received a visit from pages of color in each ETCetera start- as well mention the freebie offered for Jan Beck of Seattle and Peter Tytell of ing next year. We’ll do it by printing those who submit articles as well. Any- New York. Both were in town for a two pages of the magazine itself in one who submits material resulting in meeting of forensic document examin- color. Since that’ll keep the entire two or more pages of ETCetera’s con- ers. The Tytell name, of course, is issue to 12 pages (without adding a tent gets a free subscription the follow- familiar to typewriter collectors. Peter sheet for a supplement), ETCetera will ing year. I know, it’s not much, but and his father Martin are proprietors of squeeze (barely) into a lower postal we’ll try to do better once our sub- a well-known TW business in Manhat- weight class, saving money, and mak- scriber list reaches its first million. tan. They have long been prominent ing the extra color possible. Any objec- in the field of identifying machines tions? ††† from the documents they produce by ††† carefully examining the typeface, and Some local dealers here in the L.A. Peter was quite a whiz at recognizing WANTED! Speaking of the color area are pricing their old typewriters in any font I happened to put in front of Supplement, I’ll be looking for good the stratosphere. One high-end retail his face! Anyway, we all crawled around color material to publish. I have an dealer, who does extensive restora- my garage, scrutinized a couple of extensive library myself, but I’d rather tions, prices his machines to reflect the Sholes & Gliddens I had on hand, and get the rest of the membership in- expensive labor involved. When his had a great time talking shop. Both Jan volved and the least I can do is offer a prices appeared in a local antiques and Peter signed up as new ETC mem- little incentive. newspaper, other dealers started to bers, and we welcome them. 2 / ETCetera #29 / December, 1994 The First Woodstock by Alexander “Sandy” Sellers Mention “Woodstock” to most collectors, and the reaction will likely be as enthusiastic as if you mentioned an Underwood No. 5. To many collectors, and supported by most reference books, Woodstock models 3 or 4 or even the Electrite are simply not worth the shelf space. However, did you ever wonder about models 1 or 2? Read on. The first Woodstock was apparently not related to the Emerson/ Roebuck/Woodstock Typewriter Companies at all, but was rather a cheaply-made Oliver merchandised solely through To meet the demand for a really high grade machine we offer the Woodstock the Montgomery Ward Catalog of 1898-99. to our patrons, a standard typewriter, at In an 1899 pamphlet published by the Linotype Com- a low price. The business, professional or pany of Canada (manufacturers of the Oliver for Canadian literary man wants a high grade type- and South American markets) this very first Woodstock is writer at a moderate price. We are now able to supply this demand in the above described by W.A. Waterbury, manager of Oliver Type- typewriter, secured through special con- writer Company, Chicago, as “an unguaranteed machine, tracts, enabling us to supply to you of which 19 were all that were made.” They were made direct, thus avoiding agent’s commis- specifically for department stores, and only Montgomery sions, a typewriter equal to any machine in the market and now guaranteed by us Ward contracted for them. The agreement with Montgom- in particular. Shows every word and ery Ward specified that the Woodstock was not to be sold letter as fast as written. As a manifolder for under $60–the price that appears in the Fall-Winter it has no equal. For mimeograph work it 1898-1899 catalog. Perhaps on account of poor sales, the produces a copy that cannot be distin- guished from original writing. It pos- model was withdrawn after 10 months–but not before sesses all of the strong features of the agents of the Typewriter Trust had taken notice and used $100 machines, as well as a number of the catalog ads in an attempt to discredit the manufactur- new ones peculiarly its own, insuring ing, marketing and bidding practices of the Oliver Type- permanent alignment. The machine is particularly adapted to filling out blanks writer Company. and forms where writing on ruled paper Oliver tried to minimize these attacks, countering with is desirable, as well as tabulated work. the information that only 19 were made and “proving” it The machine has steel type and produces by offering $5000 to anyone producing 20 of their a clear, legible text. It has 84 characters obtained from a standard universal key- “Woodstocks”–a price I think any collector would certainly board, and is readily operated by anyone be willing to pay for only a dozen of these, the rarest of the familiar with other machines. The ma- Oliver family. But how to identify it? Unfortunately, the chine is complete in a highly finished line cut from the catalog gives little indication of how the metal case with handle, and weighs about 20 pounds, or about one-half the weight actual machine was labelled, or what name (if any) was cast of other high grade standard machines. into the plates below the carrying handles. Price each ................. $60.00 The Woodstock name reappeared about 15 year later in association with the Woodstock Typewriter Company, Facsimile ad from 1898-99 Wards catalog. The original was of which at first manufactured the unusual Emerson Type- poor quality, requiring resetting of type. In addition, some words writer, but, in 1914, introduced the conventional Wood- in the original were lost in the margin–most important, the de- stock. The first model, however, was “No.3.” Perhaps the scription of the machine’s weight. The word “half” is the editor’s bad press of 16 years earlier concerning the “Woodstock” guess! Olivers were certainly close matches in weight to other name dictated some prudence in designating the “new” “standard" typewriters (about 30 pounds), so the Ward’s blurb Woodstocks with a model number suggestive of consider- here, indicating a 20-pound machine, hints at a tantalizingly able improvements.