Typewriter exhibition in Switzerland

This was great, and great fun! My friend Mark and i organized an exhibition at the Swiss SHBS International meeting in Appenzell, Switzerland. The topic was ... Swiss Typewriters! Focus was on smaller brands like Patria/ Swissa (Swiss branch of the Patria family) and Calanda, but also for example featuring Otto Petermann, of Swiss origin and creator of the Corona portable. We were able to present 7 models of "RUF" accounting machines as well. Quite a few people came to see the show, actually. Here is some impressions:

Type-in Basel wonderful

Café La Cuna in Basel, Switzerland, is just the kind of place you need for a spontaneous type-in: space, friendly staff, typewriter-friendly clients, and also great coffee.

It was a pleasure hosting Peter during his Tour de Suisse, and Florian joined us for the day in Basel. We started warming up at the location of the typewriters.ch museum - "home to 300 typewriters and still counting", testing new old machines, amongst others an intriguing white variation of a Urania piccola Florian brought, and a classic Voss, a Mercedes Selecta, and a Smith-Corona Galaxie (sic!) I don't want to talk about too much because I totally love its typeface and find it hard not to keep it here with me in Basel.

We then set out for a spontaneous type-in at Café La Cuna, which produced the following on-the-spot protocol, and also the first special award to the owner of the café for "typewriter friendliest café", as certified by the present members of the typosphere.

 some more impressions from our great day, adding to the glory of the already all-so glorious typosphere:

Calanda K51

Calanda K51, originally uploaded by shordzi.

Cats just LOVE typewriters!

Via Flickr:
Portable typewriter Calanda K51, serial number 33531-K-51, from 1951. Made in Switzerland.

Impressions from our All-Swiss type-in

We had a fantastic day! Adwoa, in company of Mr. J., Florian of maschinengeschrieben.blogspot.com, and the author of this blog met in Berne yesterday, Sept. 10th, 2011 A.D. It was September, yet it was summer, with temperatures reaching in the 30 degrees (celsius, of course).  We had planned this event a bit in advance. Next to the local "Brockenstuben", or thrift-stores, a visit to the Museum of Communication was on our wish-list. As it often happens with dreams, this latter venture had to be dropped, as it turned out that the museum's vast collection is not on display. There is a possibility to browse the excellent on-line database, though. This being said, we got largely recompensed by the wealth of typewriters we found in the various "Brocki" we visited. According to the protocol, 20 typewriters or so were spotted by the all-Swiss typosphere delegation. In the first neighbourhood we visited, Lorraine, there were four thrift-stores within walking distance, all of them interesting. Florian got lucky with a Hermes 3000 in mint condition and a very interesting "director" typeface. Moving around the city was easy in public transport, combined with GPS help via a very very smart phone.  Heat was rising, but nothing could stop the flow of good energy on our typewriter-hunt. Having seen two more places on the other end of town (Bümpliz), we returned to the center - Florian by now carrying the Hermes plus a Swissa, Mr. J. Adwoa's shiny Remington Junior. The author came in second every time and only carried his pride. The grande finale was our type-in in a café in Gurtengasse, very close to the city centre. We had planned to type right in front of the most honorable Bundeshaus, or Federal Palace, seat of the Swiss Parliament, but the fact that a certain Swiss political party was meeting there the very same day prevented us from doing so. There was heavy police protection and access to the square was barred. So we changed plan and settled for a nice lounge-style café, which turned out to be a nice thing. We attracted quite a few looks and comments, as we were typing for peace, democracy, and the glory of the typosphere.  Just before leaving again to our three corners of Switzerland, some obscure typewriter-swapping took place at the lockers of the Berne train station. Here is a few impressions from this great day. I salute the typosphere, and thank Adwoa, J., and Florian for making this such a Lou Reed perfect day.

getting there - Remington!

the first store, inviting for the treasure hunt

A phone in the shape of Ireland!

some places were more crowded than others

one splendid Hermes Media

This is a special sheet for platen protection. It feels like a thick shower curtain. Perfect to type on a hard platen.

scientific methods to determine the exact typeface

Adwoa, Florian, Georg

THE LOCKERS

Agent S. and Agent A. hostage exchange

going home - ABC!

See also the summaries of Florian at maschinengeschrieben and Adwoa.

Swiss typewriter ribbon tins

Swiss typewriter ribbon tins from the Alfred R. Wepf collection. Also available here.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Typing it all up

Dear readers, I am happy to announce the proceedings of the First Official Swiss Typosphere Reunion, which took place this last Saturday, 9th of April 2011, in both Geneva and Lausanne. Please refer to Adwoa's detailed report. The video below gives a short impression of our indoor typing, which was later-on followed by typing at the lakeside.

in front of the Perrier Museum

preparing for the Swiss Championships...

at the lakeside - still typing!

Hermes 3000 typewriter

Hermes_3000_6, originally uploaded by shordzi.

Yet another portable typewriter, this time from Switzerland!

Fact sheet:
Model: Hermes 3000
Manufacturer: Paillard S.A., Yverdon, Switzerland
Serial number: 3109005 (year of production 1963)

The Hermes 3000's design changed several times over the years, starting with the classy rounder shape at first production in 1958 (various sources on the internet). Our machine is from this period. In the late 1960s, a new design was introduced (source: mrmartinweb.com), with at least two slight variations yet again in the 1970s and 1980s (see mrtypwriter.tripod.com for details & pictures). Read more on Hermes typewriters on Will Davis' site.


more photos here

last update: 8.3.2010