PEN International Photoshoot (and Outtakes)

You can see this and other Detusch & Luba productions on their blog: http://blog.socialadvertising.dk/

For another instance of the Hermes Baby being used to illustrate a story, see this article.

Some favorites from the other typewriters I photographed:

Maroon/ burgundy Groma Kolibri that I got in a swap from Georg back in May.

Oh, this old thing? Another Groma Kolibri in grayish-green that I stumbled upon (what a stroke of luck!) sometime this summer. It even has a Swiss-French keyboard! I'll tell you all about it one of these days.

This frakturschrift three-bank Senta needs no introduction.

Neither does this  Seidel & Naumann Erika 5, the result of another swap with Georg in April. 

I have since parted ways with this Annabella (keys felt a bit flimsy and rattly; I never used it), but I can't deny that she takes a good picture.

I have found it rather difficult to capture the unique blue-green color of the Olivetti Lettera 32 (this one has an international QWERTY keyboard); but camera tricks helped a lot here :)

Finally, you can't bring up the subject of photogenic typewriters, surely, without showing an Olivetti Valentine! Ours comes without the cheerful yellow ribbon caps, but I suppose that is what keeps this from looking like every other Valentine stock picture out there.

Typewriters in Paris II: The ones we came upon

 

Entering the Communication collection at the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris 

 

Very early Remington, with decals for the most part nicely preserved

The Remington 1 (dated 1873) is actually a Sholes & Glidden, as you can see here. 

 

AWERTY - now there's a keyboard layout I haven't come across yet. An error, perhaps?

 

Speaking of inscrutable keyboard layouts... don't even get me started on the Hammond :)

 

The folding Corona 3; ever popular even in Paris. 

 

Doesn't get much more unusual than the Lambert; as for most of these typewriters, I was glad Mr. Perrier had already given us a close look and demonstration of their mechanisms in Lausanne. 

At the flea market, this Olivetti M40 wishes all a "Happ Hour".

Underwood standard (with plastic keys, oddly enough) livens up a stationery store. 

Hard to see, but there's a Royal typewriter lurking in this window, beside the books and underneath a taxidermied crow (don't know and didn't ask... a reference to The Raven, perhaps?).

Typewriters in Paris I: The ones we sought out

This poster looks promising... or so you would think. Number of typewriters seen = 0.

The first typewriter we spotted at Vanves: a Cyrillic-keyboard Hermes Baby.

This was followed by an AZERTY Olympia SF; ordinary pica typeface.

Finally, a French machine in France: this Japy Reporter is of a rather recent '70s vintage, though, hence the plastic. The seller swore vehemently that it worked perfectly, and I nodded politely, not bothering to point out the twisted ribbon and the crooked ribbon cover.

We moved on to a street garage sale, which seemed more promising - and delivered rather nicely, too. A pretty, mint green, mid-'50s Hermes Baby, even with an extra ribbon. That dratted azerty...

Hermes Babys seemed popular that day - here, a '30s Featherweight.

That was about it for the interesting (and seemingly functional) manual typewriters. The rest were either electric, like this one...

... or so poorly kept there was no way on God's green earth they had typed a word in decades...

... or toys like this Petite Super International typewriter, but still presumably functional, unlike...

... this Japy ceramic typewriter ashtray, which, while it tied in nicely with the Reporter we spotted earlier, was definitely not about to be used for typecasting anytime soon. And even this had an azerty keyboard - remarkably consistent!