I've been using manual typewriters since the 1970s and collecting them since the 1980s. For all that, I don't have many rare or unusual machines. I got most of them nearly for free, on their way to the landfill. I've just been salvaging mainstream history; these machines are, apparently, desirable only to me.
Typewriter Manufacturers' Literature
Literature about specific typewriters, by their manufacturers. Corona (before Smith-Corona). Vari-Typer (formerly Hammond). Oliver. Royal. Remington.
Typewriter Periodicals (3rd Party)
[ Typewriter Topics NOT DONE]
Note that the the October 1923 "50th anniversary [of the typewriter]" issue of Typewriter Topics, was basically a book-length historical overview of the typewriter. It was reissued shortly as a book, and in reprint has remained a standard reference. I'll file the CircuitousRoot reprint of it below, as a book .
Books and Other Third-Party Histories
A few of the earlier books or other general works on the typewriter have passed into the public domain and may be reprinted freely. The items here are just local copies, collected here for my own convenience, of works digitized by others which are available elsewhere online. I'll also include a few bibliographic references for notable books that are still in copyright (though not always in print).
For books by specific typewriter manufacturers, see Typewriter Manufacturers' Literature, above.
Studies
Studies of individual typewriter makers, etc. (But at present these are all studies of rather obscure footnotes in the history of the typewriter (or just placeholders for those studies, with no content yet) which have come up in my research on the history of the Linotype. There is little or nothing here for the pure typewriter enthusiast.)
Resources and Links
There is an active community preserving, restoring, and using mechanical typewriters; your best bet is just to search online for a while to find out what is now there. Here are just a few resources and links that I tend to refer to.
Finally, if you are oppressed by people who tell you that typewriters are big and old and heavy, and therefore not worth bothering with, I suggest that you let them know that you could instead start collecting Linotypes and perhaps they'll leave you in peace with your beautiful machines.
All portions of this document not noted otherwise are Copyright © 2009, 2013 by David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
Circuitous Root is a Registered Trademark of David M. MacMillan and Rollande Krandall.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons "Attribution - ShareAlike" license. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ for its terms.
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