Total Pageviews

Monday 18 February 2013

Which Typewriter? 1962 British Consumers Report on Portable Typewriters

John Lambert, a typewriter enthusiast of New Haven, Connecticut, has very kindly allowed me to post this extremely interesting British Consumers' Association Report on Portable Typewriters, contained in the December 1962 edition of Which? magazine. John bought the edition with the idea of sharing the information with other typewriter lovers.
Best Buy: Olympia Splendid 33
("Light, small, cheap and very well made")
Most Versatile: Olivetti Lettera 22
Easiest to carry: Hermes Baby
But remember: 'Feel' -
So important, so subjective
These are the typewriters reviewed:


3 comments:

Bill M said...

Thanks for the informative post.
I like the introduction about typewriters save paper. And that was written way before the wasteful computer printers.

I'm not surprised the old good American made typewriters only faired poor to fair. When they were no longer made in the USA quality went -- well you know. None of the 60s on that I found of the small portables were very good.

The high ratings of the European made are also not surprising since the few I used way outperformed the USA machines in feel and quality.

Robert Messenger said...

Thanks Bill, but don't forget we need to thank John Lambert for making this stuff available to us.
I agree with your points entirely. Isn't it amazing that by 1962, there were no US manufacturers on a list of 14? Staggering!
I'm fiddling around with a Splendid 33 at the moment, to see just how good it is!

Rob Bowker said...

Thanks John and Robert. My little Olympia ticks all those boxes for sure. Maybe it is time for an update. Which? Magazine is still going and I'm sure they'd find plenty of feedback in the Typosphere.