The Hermes Baby ... What A Great Design!

[Dickkooty2]

I am not a typewriter collector but I saw an Hermes Baby, and thought "what a great design"!

 

I do collect mostly German vintage pens from the 50s-60s because I like the classic lines. I then try to assemble ads or merchandising to support that moment in time.

 

Following my design nose, I now have (well, they are at Pacific Typewriter in Portland) a Baby from 1934, 1939 (top two), and 1964. I am waiting to receive a Baby from 1949 (bottom two). Together they will show the progression in mechanical and product model design. I also am waiting for an ad featuring the 1949 (perhaps the best known model) and a refrigerator magnet with the illustration from the ad.

I know from past history there are many true typewriter collectors on the blog. I am interested in background related to this Baby model.

 

I do have bookmarks for ...

 

http://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2012/01/hermes-featherweight-and-baby.html

 

and

 

https://typewriters.ch/collection/hermes_baby.html#models

 

 

Any info will be gratefully received.

[Jerome Tarshis]

Not typewriter history, but a response: i began typing on my father's Royal portable, a pre-World War II item that was smaller than portable typewriters became in later years. The first typewriter I could call my own was a Hermes Rocket, which was a renamed Hermes Baby. I liked that typewriter a lot, but it walked on the desk a little bit, because it was so light.

 

The next typewriter, somewhat larger and heavier, but still small enough to go in my lap, was an Olivetti Lettera 32. Abandoning the typewriter-in-lap idea, I evolved to an Olivetti Studio 44. And then, giving up Italian charming design accompanied by fragility, I did as other free-lance writers have done and went with what I considered to be an ugly but rugged Olympia. Possibly the same model that Paul Auster still uses. And has written a book in praise of.

 

I retain my affection for that Hermes, and mildly regret that I didn't evolve to the Hermes 3000. An almost-office-sized portable.

 

It must have competed with the Olympia for the affections of free-lance writers, because William Kotzwinkle published a work of fiction titled Hermes 3000. This raises in my mind the question of how many books, in whatever languages, pay tribute to the author's typewriter. Is there an Italian book called Lettera 22 or Studio 44? Guyanese? Singaporean?

Edited August 14, 2017 by Jerome Tarshis

[penrivers]

Hi Jerome, the Olympia of Paul Auster was or is an sm9, I dont remember the name of the painter who helped him to make the book. Btw i have the Hermes 3000 and a Olympia sm10, here in México there are cheap in mercado libre mexico.

[penrivers]

Dont forget that 20 pesos are 1 dollar, and a typewriter is máquina de escribir.

[Dickkooty2]

Well, I guess when I like the feel of a mid-century design and particularly of a portable typewriter, I have a hard time stopping!

 

I have added these four:

 

 

 

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UPPER L - R Olivetti Lettera 22, Olivetti Valentine (Ettore Sottsass) / (Italy)

 

Lower l - r Cole Steel / (Germany), Groma Kolibri / (Germany)

 

I'm starting in on the ads while waiting for delivery. I've got a great company for typewriter repair ... Pacific Typewriter in Portland. The owner was the Olivetti dealer and then the IBM dealer.

[Dickkooty2]

@ Jerome Tarshis and penrivers ... both discussing their affection for particular typewriters they have used over their years of writing. Thank you for sharing this degree of attachment through shared history that can join the writer in a bond at least as strong as writers with their pen or pencil paramours.

 

I looked up the artist who worked on the Auster book:

 

http://art.yale.edu/SamuelMesser

 

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The Story of my Typewriter: Paul Auster, Sam Messer Authors D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.; 1 edition (September 13, 2002)

 

This is the story of Paul Auster's typewriter. The typewriter is a manual Olympia, more than 25 years old, and has been the agent of transmission for the novels, stories, collaborations, and other writings Auster has produced since the 1970s, a body of work that stands as one of the most varied, creative, and critcally acclaimed in recent American letters. It is also the story of a relationship. A relationship between Auster, his typewriter, and the artist Sam Messer, who, as Auster writes, "has turned an inanimate object into a being with a personality and a presence in the world." This is also a collaboration: Auster's story of his typewriter, and of Messer's welcome, though somewhat unsettling, intervention into that story, illustrated with Messer's muscular, obsessive drawings and paintings of both author and machine. This is, finally, a beautiful object; one that will be irresistible to lovers of Auster's writing, Messer's painting, and fine books in general.

 

... Amazon Book Reviews

 

https://www.amazon.com/Story-My-Typewriter-Paul-Auster/dp/1891024329/ref=sr_1_1?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1506810864&sr=8-1&keywords=auster+typewriter

 

... No Sales Resistance ...

 

I just bought the book used. In better shape or new, it seems to be reaching the end of the carriage return at $100 plus! This is still less than the actual very collectable typewriter itself.

 

I typed stencils on an Olympia in the mid-50s in Germany for the 16th Field Artillery, 2nd Battalion, 4th Armored Division weekly newspaper, The FABian. Yes, there was a bit of fun going in the masthead.