Beautiful old typewriters in photos

The Martin Howard collection of antique typewriters is stupendous -- beautiful machines, wonderfully photographed. Prints for sale at reasonable prices.

Comprised of typewriters from the very beginning of the typewriter industry (1880s & 1890s), it is the largest of its kind in Canada. The collection contains many rare and historically important typewriters, showing the remarkable diversity and beauty of the world's first typing machines.

Antique Typewriters - The Martin Howard Collection

Previously:

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Martin Howard

I have been collecting these remarkable early typewriters for twenty years now and always love to hear other peoples enthusiasm towards them.

There is a remarkable collective experience that we have towards typing and a strong nostalgia for the typewriter, as a physical and emotional symbol of writing.

When my exhibit was on at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) (2007), I often saw young children leading their parents to the display cases to look at the typewriters with them. This was one of the highlights for me during the exhibit run.
These early typewriters speak to just about everyone.

Please visit my website to see some of these extraordinary typing machines.
You will be surprised.

http://www.antiquetypewriters.com

Happy typing,
Martin Howard
charlesrichter

I can boggle the phrase “awful censor” in that top photo. Would be nice to think that some typewriter designer was making a statement there.
- dculberson
  
  I found “Gluten Mysor.” They either predicted gluten allergies or else really liked south Indian cuisine. (and were bad spellers in either case.)
lysdexia

Did anyone else read the maker’s mark on the bottom one “American Ansible” the first time?
- muteboy
  
  Yes! They did make ansibles for a while. But Big Telco shut them down.
technogeek

There’s a typewriter repair shop a few blocks from me, with some interesting old designs displayed in the window. Makes me regret that I no longer have my father’s old “reporter’s” typewriter.
Chris S

I saw some of this collection at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2009. The mechanical detail is amazing – it is unfortunate that it can’t really show up in just a few photos. The complexity puts many modern steampunk projects to shame.

In the same vein, people could check you MZTV, Moses Znaimer’s televion museum, at http://www.mztv.com/ . I saw this one at the ROM as well, back in 1996.
Pantograph

Word of warning:

I read the keys on the top picture out loud and the demon Dhiat Ensor materialized in front of me. His cap was full of figs.
JamesMason

There is a huge collection of antique typewriters at the Leonardi da Vinci museum in Milan. I toured it with my boys and they enjoyed it. Actually, that museum is just chock-filled with all kinds of cool stuff, and you don’t need to speak or understand Italian to get it. Physics pretty much transcends any language barrier…