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Did I mention that I am getting a little desk of sorts to replace the notorious Dave?
So, this Hermes 3000 and I, we don't have the best relationship. It just sits there like a stubborn turtle with its arching, spoon-handle carriage return lever and chicklet keys and crumbling, duct-taped platen knobs, and I can't seem to see what Larry McMurtry sees in this machine.
What I want to know is, where the rest of you clock in on the Hermes 3000? It's the Cadillac of typewriters, right? Someone set me straight here.
The $1 Triumph Durabel Portable Typewriter
2 hours ago
16 comments:
I almost bought a Hermes 3000 with cursive typeface. It was an older version than yours, with more curvature of the frame. A beautiful machine, I came very close to purchasing it, but here's what held me back, which you might consider crazy: I dislike the idea of a machine imitating handwriting, the way I hate fake wood panelling to cover up perfectly sound industrial plastic or metal. If I want cursive, I'll use my beloved Aurora 88 fountain pen. I want my typewriter to be itself, a machine, and give me clear, clean industrial typeface. So I passed on the Hermes. Could this be, somehow, what doesn't "click" for you with your Hermes 3000, too? And another thing: typeface all in cursive resembles, to me, italics, which might give the wrong visual emphasis to my text.
I love the idea of this road trip, Strikethru. I wonder often what hidden treasure-troves of forgotten stationery lie in obscure American towns. My goal would not be, say, to gather stock for ebay auctions, but to explore and hold the last physical vestiges of a world. As Walter Benjamin suggested, that's what collectors really seek, to make the old world live again. What a journey that would be: one's car, entering twilight cities, would be a time machine. One would pick up and admire a new-old-stock Blackwing at the back of a dusty stationery shop and feel an intense tactile connection with the past---so many lost voices, images and moods would resurrect in that instant, through that artifact. And if one were to sharpen and write with this precious pencil, a language might come out of it that has the richness and physicality of a pre-virtual era...And just think what one might learn about America on such a journey, recovering that feeling that every city and state is different and unique, the way they used to be, before everything became a homogenous mall.
Ah, if one had the time, freedom, money...
Just for the record, Strikethru: the Blackwings I mentioned in an email were found at the defunct Danford's. Typewriters N' Things doesn't sell them. They do sell wonderful new Japanese pens as well as typewriter accessories, Rhodia, Moleskine, Clairfontaine, Black N' Red, National Brand, and many other brands of notebooks and papers. The owner is the nicest man, too. Among the many interesting things about this tiny shop is the paradox that, while every product is new, not vintage, each in its own way is already anachronistic, based on rapidly disappearing technologies and practices. But it thrives! (The shop is squeaky clean and looks prosperous.)You know, it might be interesting to interview the owner. I will certainly make him aware of Strikethru.net!
Thanks as ever for your thought-provoking blog.
Ahhh, I have a place similar to a sew'n'vac. It's a sew'n'place. Imagine that, so original. They sell buttons for 10 cents. Really exciting. I also got a lecture once for using crappy thread. They guy that fixes them is really old, so he yells more than he talks, but he knows exactly what he's going. My mom didn't appreciate the yelling. I thought it was funny because he called me 'girl'.
They're very nice, except this one old lady that's always there, and she glares a lot. Oh well.
I should go back soon. They have these cool paper bags with adds of them, and lots of sergers and embroidery machines. I got my new machine there for $317. I have no idea if that's cheap (Wal-Mart is always cheaper; stupid monopoly) but it's an amazing little thing.
I really liked your idea of traveling with a flip camera! Oh well, museums are good too I guess.
I enjoyed your excursion down retail lane. Your usage of 'chicklet' kind of threw me though. I thought it was something you might like to read, but as it turns out, Google, if not AH, does offer significant support for this variant of 'chiclet' (to be fair 'chiclet' does not appear in AH either as it is probably only a tradename). I do love the cursive script of your Hermes 3000 and it, and Blackwing 602's, make me wish for a real Typewriters And More.
Barrel Of A Pencil
Some typewriters work better for some people than others. I personally enjoy the "snappiness" of my H3K, and for a long time it was my turn-to machine. It could be that your is just a little stiff, or maybe your typing technique just doesn't agree with its mechanics. One of my three H3Ks is absolutely horrible to use. Yet the nearly identical one next to it is perfectly fine.
I heartily endorse the Great Weird Museum Roadtrip! Here is a resource to get you started:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/08/earlyshow/living/travel/main508375.shtml
In addition to The World's Only Corn Palace™, Mitchell, SD, also has a doll museum. I've never been there, but I'm sure it's suitably creepy. And then you can cross over here to Minnesota and visit The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices.
My Hermes 3000 is an older one, and maybe that makes the difference, I dunno. It does feel way, way different from any of the others, and maybe that's what you find off-putting? Everything moves so softly and quickly and lightly; there's not the big, solid motion you feel with a 60s Olympia. I like them both, but the adjustment from one to another can be jarring.
I like the typewriter road trip idea! Hey, I'd watch....
We've got a sew n' vac place here that for some reason has a life-size mechancial gorilla greeting customers just outside the front door. They bring it in every night, lug it out every morning. I have no idea why. The South is a funny place and we don't question our mechanical gorillas often. They just are.
I don't have a Hermes 3000 with a script typeface, but I dream of owning one. I'd say the problem couldn't possibly be the script itself, but that's because I'm a script-typeface girl from waaaay back.
More about the desk! The only thing better than a script typewriter is a sturdy and gorgeous place to put it.
I'm picking up my script-typeface SM4 with the wide carriage tomorrow. I was on the fence about the typeface, but then I saw a writing sample, and that was that. The Olympia script is just lovely, and it makes the output of my SM9 look harsh by comparison.
As for the Hermes...they're fine machines, built well, but I'd climb over a pile of mint Hermes 3000s to get to a decent SM-series Olympia.
I have a Hermes 3000 that is actually Swiss Army surplus with the European keyboard. It is a good machine -- reliable and tough -- but I rarely use it because it is just too darn Teutonic for my taste. I see it almost as a Bauhaus version of a typewriter.
Instead I do my typing on either a Smith-Corona Sterling or Smith-Corona Corsair. They seem more human for some reason.
Could it be that the Hermes 3000 approaches perfection in operation and that perfection is intimidating
Hitz, hello, you might have the Hermes that I seek, so long as the typeface isn't script. I am looking for a European keyboard, and I happen to love Bauhaus style. (A Swiss designer who attended the Bauhaus, Max Bill, actually did design a typewriter, but for Olivetti.) By the way, actual Bauhaus objects are extremely human, made with a profound respect for craft. Most of them were hand, not machine-made. If you see them in real life, rather than in the stark photos of the 20's and 30's, this will become clear. I'd love to hear more about your Hermes 3000.
Adair- the typeface on my Hermes is actually beautiful, in my opinion (in my case, no manner of attractive handwriting will ever come out the other end of a pen I'm holding, fountain or otherwise). I'd love to interview the owner of T&M. Must get to New York! You make the road trip sound so noble... sigh...
Rad-tastic, that is indeed another feature of the Sew Vac I didn't mention-- they are very quality focused and will run you out of the store for using crappy thread, machines, etc. I love it.
B of a P -- I misspelled 'Chiclet." One of the drawbacks of typecasting, it exposes my dirty secret. I make my living as a writer, and can't spell.
Olivander, I am thinking to hunt down one of those minimalist depression-era all caps machines. Haven't been too much of an old-old typewriter collector but I find them intriguing.
Elizabeth, I think you described my issue with the Hermes-- it is kind of light to the touch, and Swiss-watch-y. I like the imposing snap of German engineering I guess...
Monda, my new desk is actually a rather sad little convertable craft table that folds up into a cabinet when not in use. But this beats "Dave" by a mile. I wonder what the connection is between mechanical gorillas and sewing?
Marko, a fellow German engineering guy. We can't help what we love, I guess (although I do love the Smith Coronas, too).
Hitz, I can see I have some research to do on the various movements in object design. I know little about the topic, sadly.
Hitz,an apology: Max Bill designed the Patria typewriter, which was not, I do not think, an Olivetti line. I've seen a Patria portable at an exhibition in Berlin---at the Bauhaus Archiv, in fact---but can find nothing about this typewriter on the web.
At 61 I guess I'm one of those elderly sew & vac guys. My wife & I run a sewing machine dealership, but we don't have vacuums. Diane says that she can't sell a product that she can't demonstrate. The reason that sewing machines and vacuums are often found together is that back in the day (circa 1920-1930) both appliances used the same motors. Some sewing machine companies even made vacuums for a short while. After being in the industry for more than 20 years, I think that stores owned by men are more likely to have both sewing machines and vacuums than stores that are owned by women. The assumption seems to be that vacs are more masculine, although you'll hardly ever find a man using one!
i wonder how you created the image shown at the beginning of your article. Analog or digital? What is the font's name? Looks beautiful.
where is "typewriters and more" in nyc?
56 8TH Ave
New York, NY 10014-5104
Phone: (212) 255-5252
do you know of any place to get a H3K font lookalike?? I love the font so much!!
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