At Last, an Update!

Here's the work I did on the Royal Century:



Here's the 1941 Underwood Universal, at the Ernie Pyle Library event:



I think the standout machine at this event was the Remington Portable No.2 (which formerly was my machine but I've since given it to my friend Bill), as Ernie evidently used one of these as a traveling journalist in the 1930s.



Okay, back to that pretty blue Seiko-made Century, I was impressed with the consistency between it and both Mercurys I've owned, in terms of build quality, precision of alignment, type quality and feel on the keys. I've discussed this before many times with friends, and did at least one video on the subject, but if there is a spectrum of quality in typewriters, where the smaller and lighter the machine the poorer it is, I'd rank the Seiko machines as the smallest, lightest with decent build quality, alignment and typing feel. Any smaller, like the Hermes Baby/Rocket and SC Skyriter and there always seems to be noticeable compromises at play. This is my experience from having owned three Seikos (four if you count the electric Saturn), two Rockets and a Skyriter. Here's a video where I discuss small typewriters:



Both Mercurys I've owned were made in the early 1970s ('71 and '72) while this Century appears to be vintage 1967. The electric Saturn was also made in 1971.

Both the Royal Saturn and Century are irresistable if for no other reason than their blue color; there's something about a blue typewriter!

Before I close, I must also mention another machine that entered my collection, a green Kmart 300 Deluxe, made by Brother. This was a gift from our friend Matthew, and the machine comes in a handy clamshell plastic case that I think is very convenient for protecting the machine and makes it easy to carry too.



It features keyset tabs, a repeat spacer and a 12 inch carriage. Brothers are another Japanese-made machine that seem to be high quality, but it's been a few years since I've had one. I think this begs for me to make a comparison video between the two Japanese-made brands in my collection, the Seiko and the Brother. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, here's my review video on the Brother-made Kmart 300:



Since my last blog update I also made a video about how to use the Typewriter Database:



Finally, I also made a video about this crazy idea for a typing scale, inspired by our friend David Karoly:

May 2025 Cherry Hills Library Type-In

Fingers on keys

Our spring 2025 typewriter event was once again at Cherry Hills Library, located near the foothills of the Sandias in northeast ABQ. Myself and Matthew Bouchard set up the event and brought a total of 23 machines, only one of which, a Hermes 10, was electric. There were a few other people who also brought their own.

We ended up having over 40 participants, many of whom stayed and typed for an extended period of time. In particular was a mother with three kids, who were very enthusiastic -- as it seemed this may have been their first time experiencing a typewriter. The lady was gratified that one of her daughters said she wanted to be a writer!

As is often the case after these events, we rushed to pack up and leave before closing time, but I made sure to collect as many of the typed sheets left behind as I could. The following images are writings culled from my found harvest of creative work.





















Of course, I also took photos of typewriters, in my recent style of close-ups of hands on keyboards, as a way to preserve people's privacy.


Remington Ten Forty

Underwood Portable


Underwood 6


Hermes 3000


Olympia SG3

Olympia SM


Underwood Universal


Royal O


SCM Galaxie Twelve


Princess Exemplar 300


Olympia SM9


Triumph Norm 6

Part of the preparation for these events happens behind-the-scenes at home, where I print out and cut to size the half-sheet typing papers, information handouts and contact information sheets. Also new for this event was I made up some "Tyepwriter 101" sheets, including a diagram showing the controls of a typical machine and how to thread paper, set the margins and get the machine ready to use. We also had available sheets of typing prompts. All of these sheets get placed on each table for participants to take and use.

Matthew was very helpful in having brought his laptop so he could sign up newbies to our distribution list, right on the spot. This helps ensure nobody gets lost in the shuffle, as we want people to be notified of upcoming events.

Putting on these events is a labor of love; we love typewriters, typewriter people and writers, but the labor is in hauling several dozen heavy machines, moving table and chairs and setting up the rooms, then tearing it all down again after. Luckily I've had help these last few years, but changes are coming to our local typewriter society. Matthew will be leaving us at the end of June, and Kevin is moving out-of-state. Then at the end of July I go in to get my other hip joint replaced. This means that the events we had scheduled in August will have to be cancelled, and I won't be able to haul around typewriters for at least several months after. In the meanwhile I hope to find another assistant who can help share the burden of putting on these events, someone who is enthusiastic about typewriters and writing.

I hope by posting these articles showing a bit of what goes on to hold one of these events, that you will be encouraged to put on your own events.

Three Typewriter Events

Woz Flint typewriting

It's been a fun week here in ABQ for typewriter events! Here at the ABQwerty Type Writer Society world headquarters, we've been busy with a littany of events intended to encourage the inner writer in all of us.


Matt writing on his Olivetti-Underwood Studio 44 at the Tony Hillerman Library

Matthew Bourchard, one of our key members, has been instrumental in arranging these Type Away events at local library meeting rooms. Rather than being social in nature, these are intended to offer a solid hour of nothing but writing via typewriter. On this day we had Matthew with his Studio 44, along with David who brought a Swintec 1186CM, which appears to be a 1980's era Nakajima machine, similar to my Olympia Report Electronic.


David on his Swintec

I brought the Olympia Splendid 33, one of my favorite small portables.


Joe on the Splendid 33

Because David had forgot to bring an extension cord, he had to sit at the far end of the rather long row of tables, close to an electrical outlet. Matthew and I found it rather humorous. Meanwhile, with David and Matt working on stories, Joe got caught up with letterwriting correspondence.


A ceramics booth at the Nob Hill street fair

Next up, on Sunday morning Joe attended a street fair in the Nob Hill district, across Silver Avenue from Michael Thomas Coffee and Limonata Cafe, two of my favorite places for coffee in that part of town. The reason for attending the fair was because fellow Burquena, author and typewriter aficionada Woz Flint would be there to typewrite poetry.


Wozs with a refreshing iced tea

After I perused the craft booths while waiting for Woz to finish talking with another client we had a good chat, and I gave her a poetry prompt. I went off shopping for crafts at the booths while she crafted the poem on her Smith-Corona.


Woz busy writing my poem

Finally I returned and she had finished the poem, based on a prompt I had given her about my funky boonie hat, covered in pins of various kinds.


Woz's hat poem

Finally I said my goodbyes and headed back uptown to Lala Cafe, where we were to meet for another of our Typewriter Pop-Ups, intended to be entirely social in nature, a perfect mix of typewriters and good company. In the process of planning this event, Matt and I had agreed that we both should represent the "sub-cult" of teal Olivetti Studio 44s! And represent we did!


Matt's Olivetti-Underwood Studio 44

Matthew's machine was made in Barcelona, Spain and branded as an Olivetti-Underwood, and has elite-sized type.


Joe's Underwood-Olivetti Studio 44

Meanwhile, my nearly identical Studio 44, also made in Barcelona, was branded as an Underwood-Olivetti and features a pica-sized type. Two nearly identical machines, made only a year or two apart from one another in the same factory, but with different brandings, indicative of the changing marketing strategies Olivetti were struggling with, after acquiring Underwood. Both machines feature a standard US keyboard, with the key caps on Joe's machine showing more wear from use.


Kevin's Royal P in Vogue

Meanwhile, not to be swayed by our Sub-Cult of the Studio 44, Kevin showed up with his Royal P in the legendary Vogue typeface, sporting a blue ribbon! Yes, despite our cultish ways, Matt and I were duly impressed!


David's Kmart 200

Not to be swayed by the show-offs across the table, David brought his down-to-earth Brother-made Kmart 200, which we dubbed the Blue Light Special, in keeping with the blue theme of the day. Despite its humble appearance, it was probable the most practical machine for on-the-go typing. David also brought his Canon Dial 35 half-frame camera, a hefty, solidly-built camera with selenium light meter and built-in extension handle for easier use.

This was a fun way to spend the weekend, with good friends and typewriters. I'm looking forward to next month's events!

Typing Poetry at La La Cafe

La La Cafe in northeast ABQ has become one of our favorite venues for impromptu typewriter meet-ups


Joe's writing iron of choice, a 1929 Corona 3, in spectacularly good condition, with new rubber and a rebuilt carry case

Practice makes perfect, and here you can see the title at the top is not well centered!

We, Matthew and I, had originally planned to do some actual, honest-to-gosh public poetry busking, with our typewriters, at another coffee shop in the area, that's usually crowded enough on weekends that we'd have to sit outside. But due to cool weather from a storm that blew through last night, we decided to move to our favorite venue, La La Cafe, that's rarely crowded but affords a nice atmosphere for us to do a practice session of impromptu poetry typing, without the pressure of performing before a real crowd when we hadn't any actual prior experience.

I had brought an assortment of quality papers, cut down to smaller sizes, along with a fountain pen and stamp kit for my signature trefoil stamp. After all, with typewriter and accessories, that's all a person needs to be a poet, right? Well, not exactly. Poetry is a craft, like any other form of writing, it takes skill, study and some innate talent. Oh well, zero out of three ain't bad, right?!

We gave each other poetry prompts to exercise our on-the-spot creativity, and it was a great way to work out the gray matter in a no-pressure environment, giving us confidence when the day comes that we do this in public, "for reals," as the locals say.

Here are a sampling of our work done today, Matthew on his 1930s Underwood Universal and me on the 1929 Corona 3.

By Joe:

Matt had given me the prompt of pianos, because there happens to be one in La La Cafe, and another patron was playing it as we were typing

By Matt:

Matt came up with this on his own; I think he's a real talent!

By Joe:

We had been discussing how little we knew about poetry, and I decided my poem woulde be the best, regardless!

By Matt:

We gave each other the same prompt, write a poem about clouds

By Joe:

And my version of clouds

By Matt:

Next, we gave each the topic of coffee shops, this was Matt's version

By Joe:

And Joe's version of a coffee shop poem

Here are two more poems by Matt, this first one another take on coffee:


And this one also from Matthew:


I found it fascinating how two completely different poems can come from the same prompt, once again reminding me that each writer brings to the table the stuff from inside that's uniquely their's alone. We will definitely be doing this again, most likely in front of strangers next time. Wish us luck!

Here's a video I made of today's adventure; enjoy!