I came across the word "typewriter" yesterday and a synapse in my brain fired. (It doesn't happen often so it's a remarkable occasion.) When I was 13 (1958), I spent my summer earnings on two items: a Petri 35mm rangefinder and a portable typewriter. But this wasn't just any portable typewriter. It is one of the most beautiful typewriters ever made — an Olivetti Lettera 22. Olivetti, is Italian. In the 1950s, Italian industrial design was on a different planet that in this country. And the Olivetti products were good examples of Italian design. The Lettera 22 was the best of them all. Even the ads were beautiful. I have been wanting to restore mine. Yes, I've been dragging it around for decades. I think I last used it in the early 1970s. I found it and lovingly enticed it out from it's hiding place. When I get through working on cameras I think I will clean this thing up. I might even write something on it.

My dusty Lettera 22

Lots of information on typewriters:

The Classic Typewriter Page

These people have typewriter ribbons for my Olivetti and a lot of typewriters for sale:

myTypewriter.com

And more typewriters for sale:

mrTypewriter.com

You can even send email on a Lettera 22:

Housefold Objects in the act | Aparna Rao | Interaction Design Institute

In collaboration with Mathias Dalhström, 22 Pop was inspired by my mother’s own fruitless attempts to imbibe the practices and conventions of the ‘connected’ world, and her growing sense of despair and exclusion from all social exchanges that take place exclusively over email. To her, instant electronic communication is a fascinating idea and so close at hand; yet any attempt to use a computer leaves her feeling flustered and inadequate. A simple email operation is a daunting task. She is not alone in her misgivings and inability to keep abreast with digital technologies constantly in flux. In India, typewriters were a commonplace object in the home, and associated with popular street culture to this day. With the influx of communication dissemination systems in India in the 80’s, and the sprouting of little kiosks with phone, fax and photocopy facilities on every street; the typewriter still has its much-cherished corner. Outside many buildings, a portable office and typewriter is seen. 22 Pop (‘22’ because of the Olivetti typewriter classic, Lettera 22 it is modeled on; ‘pop’ as a reference to the email protocol used) is simply a portable typewriter that sends and receives email. An ordinary Lettera 22 is embedded with electronics, which enables any letter that is typed, to be sent as an email. Through the use of various sensors concealed in the body, a small chip interprets all the mechanical operations of letter writing. When the letter is completed and the paper pulled out of the typewriter’s carriage, the email is sent to its addressee via a telephone cable that fits into the back of the machine.

Hmmmmmm.