Type-Writer.org — The type-writer is mightier than the mitrailleuse

The price of a type-writer in 1886

by Mark Adams on April 22, 2026

I would hazard a guess that the price of a Remington Standard No. 1 (with table) would be $10,000 or more today. In 1886, it cost only $50. (Accounting for inflation, that number jumps to $1,700.)

Note: The machine pictured above is a Remington Standard No. 2 with an eight-drawer cabinet.

The Springfield Daily Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), December 4, 1886 –

The full advertisement can be found here.

{ 0 comments }

1875: The Type-Writer is no “little joker”

by Mark Adams on April 22, 2026

In the space of one column of newsprint, this 1875 article touches upon nearly all aspects of the narrative forming around the typewriter:

Mark Twain wasn’t impressed, calling it a “little joker” (later on, he’d change his opinion), but enthusiasts saw endless potential
It’s not a new invention, but the culmination of “successive improvements” to machine writing
Sholes & Glidden designed the first practical machine
E. Remington & Sons manufactured the machine, producing some 3,000 as of 1875. (The final numbers, I seem to recall, were around 5,000 total, though the contract with Remington allowed for upwards of 25,000 machines.)
It was widely believed that the typewriter would supersede manuscript writing, i.e., handwriting.
Finally, while the machines were expensive ($100 and more), the typewriter would save time and resources, amply justifying the cost.

Note: The image above is from a 1894 article, the caption reading “Writing his sermon” – see here.

The Tri-County Independent (Honesdale, Pennsylvania), October 23, 1875 –

{ 0 comments }

Fit for a king

by Mark Adams on April 15, 2026

Typewriter manufacturers regularly gifted machines to royalty, but, in this case, Spain’s King Alfonso purchased one for himself, even receiving a typing lesson from a local agent in Madrid. The king’s Underwood No. 5 was finished in white enamel, and it was the second such machine, the first going to the Czar of Russia. Because white paint dried slowly (taking days or weeks), it was more expensive than black paint, and was rarely applied. Such a machine were exceptional prior to the mid-1920s.

The Penman’s Art Journal (New York), August 1907 –

American Exporter (New York), September 1908 –

{ 0 comments }

Typewritter has a serius defect

by Mark Adams on April 8, 2026

The Bayonne Times (Bayonne, New Jersey), September 11, 1890 –

[continue reading…]

{ 0 comments }

We’re addicted to our devices

by Mark Adams on April 1, 2026

We’ve heard it all before: you can become addicted to your devices. “Nothing is easier than to become the slave of your phone,” noted Will Alden on the Today Show. “Use it daily, and in a very short time you will find that it has become absolutely necessary to you.”

Alden described his own painful experience with his device: “I was the abject slave of my phone, and the thought of being a day beyond the reach of my phone was unbearable.”

He related this incident on a train ride in France that finally compelled him to break the addiction:

From To-Day (London), January 27, 1894 –

Happy April 1st, everyone!

And, yes, the image is AI-generated. The article is real – click here.

{ 2 comments }