Typewriter Mystery

This is a "typewriter mystery" revisited which appeared in ETCetera magazine back in 1988. This is fun and easy to do. You get the instructions in form of a numbered sequence of blanks and letters for each line, e.g. line 1 - 23sp, 1$. In this case you press the space bar 23 times, and then type "$" once. My Hermes is not equipped with the $-sign, so I used a capital "M", but I guess it came out good as well.

  As you see, the mystery is already revealed at this point, but this is just to encourage you guys to also have fun an solve another one - there is more in ETCetera issues of this period.  

“Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the person you are applying to for your first job. ... Imagine that it’s all going to be seen by your parents and your grandparents and your grandchildren as well.”

Sir Tim Berners-Lee (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7299875.stm)

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." Anais Nin

typeface fun

The other day I sat down and inspected the contents of a typewriter repairman's case. There was also a small paper bag with "SPENCERIAN SCRIPT" written on it. What wasn't my surprise to find a (to my knowledge) complete set of typeslugs which had never been used. With a blue inkpad at hand I printed them on paper - manual labour in times of computing.

  Success! With the full typeface on paper, I proceeded to photoshop the page, putting the letters in alphabetical order and aligning them. A cumbersome process, but finally the thing was ready for upload and conversion into a typewriter computer font with yourfonts.com. 
The result is ok, I think. You can download it for free here.

Master of the Internet

Type your summary hereType rest of the post here

Barbie typewriter

http://typewriters.ch/collection/barbie_typewriter.html

Carnival in Switzerland

Carnival in Lucerne - (c) Alfred R. Wepf

 It's a great Hermes type-in at the famous Lucerne "fasnacht" carnival 2011.

Underwood "Monster" Electric

Underwood Electric

gigantic!

"Speeding the World's Business"

What's in the bag?

A peek inside a typewriter repair tools case, located in Switzerland, but most probably U.S. made:

quite heavy - we will see why

lots of iron tools, some glass, some accessories (ribbon, oil...)

an overview

overview 2, with cat

some more pictures