Typewriter spotlight: Smith-Corona Galaxie Twelve

The Smith-Corona Galaxie Twelve is everything I remember about manual typewriters. It was the one and only manual I had when I was young, and I used it in the 1980's to write diary entries, dramatic letters to my cousins in the South, and reams of what is now called fan-fiction about an anachronistic and embarrassing roster of musical acts.

I loved that thing. It was compact and 70's suave. It came in different colors, like a proto-imac. And yet, a few years ago, when my parents asked if I wanted it back, what do you think that I told them?

Although Smith Corona has manufactured portable typewriters for seventy years, I choose to believe, with no evidence to support me, that there is something iconic about the Galaxie Twelve. I think people become attached to these machines. You don't think so? Here's another example.

With its compact, curved styling and choice of colors, the Galaxie Twelve was a young person's typewriter; the ipod of its time. According to Smith-Corona, "The Galaxie Twelve was designed with students in mind." It certainly reminds me of being young and taking my first comical stabs at the writing life.

I'm definitely keeping my eye on eBay for the right one to come along.