Typeface Mystery: Can You Identify It?

Calling all typeface-fiends... a reader sent scans of some pages from a pre-World War II manuscript, and would like to know the machine it was typed on, if possible.

JPG scans are in my Google Drive here and individually, below:

• Part of Chapter 5
• Part of Chapter 8
• Part of Chapter 11
• Part of Chapter 20

Please offer up your guesses/clues in the comments, and any strategies you've used in your deductions. Thinking caps on!

Typewriter Day 2014

Yes, it's coming up yet again! I got smart this year and put it on my calendar, so there's no chance of it sneaking up on me unawares. Now I have plenty of time to be under-prepared.

I think we're up for a little challenge this year, so by the power vested in me by Blogger.com's admin panel, I hereby declare the "theme" of Typewriter Day 2014 as Type Unconventional, and a more awkwardly-worded phrase I could not hope to have dreamt up.

Your challenge, dear Typospherian, is to mark the passage of Typewriter Day -- Monday, June 23rd -- by using a typewriter in an unconventional manner: be that typing on something other than 20# white or even bypassing paper altogether or working with a broader palette than red and black. It may mean "extreme typing" a la the extreme ironing movement. Or heck, a whole art installation.

These are just ideas, of course, and as stringent and strict as the 'sphere... which is to say, not very much at all. No judging, no prizes, just a chance to unbend your brain a little and celebrate Mr. Sholes' world-changing idea.

Vintage Sounds at NPR

NPR (National Public Radio in the U.S.) is running a series on "Vintage Sounds" -- the disappearance of the sounds of old technology. They're looking for contributions from the public, if anyone happens to know someone with access to a noisy hunk of old machinery. Gee, I might be able to find one around here somewhere...

The first piece ran on Monday and was about film cameras: you can hear the audio and read a transcript on their web site.

To contribute, fill out their contact form with "Vintage Sound" in the subject line.

https://www.fuzeqna.com/npr/includes/customer/npr/custforms/contactus.aspx

Campy Rhinos?

Anyone out there in the 'sphere going to give Camp Nanowrimo a try this year? It's like regular NaNoWriMo, but held in June and August. I tried this last year, but had trouble working up the motivation to write every day during the peak of a California summer when the pool was so inviting. I could be convinced to "cheat" this year and spend a month rewriting and digitizing my 2011 draft. I appear to be crippled into inaction without a menacing deadline hanging over my head. Seems like this would be the perfect time of year for our Southern Hemisphere members to play along, too, as it's the depths of winter.

Anyone? I could be convinced to slap a little sunblock on the Nano Rhino. He's been hiding on my desk since November, and might enjoy the chance to dance on the keys again.

Two Weeks to Go Time

November is just under two weeks away. Have you thrown your hat into the Typewriter Brigade ring? Consider using a typewriter for your draft this year, so you don't get trampled by this guy:

Didja Hear That?

That funny rumbling sound? I think it's the NaNoWriMo Typewriter Brigade starting to wake.

And lo, the literary world doth tremble, for a million monkeys were nigh upon the keys.

Who's starting to feel a little Brigade withdrawal? According to the calendar, we are forty days and nights away from the start... give or take a few hours depending on your local timezone. What are your plans for sacrificing free time, common sense, and personal hygiene in the name of massive amounts of terrible writing?

They cast down the backspace key. They rejected the false god of spell-check. They embraced their run-on sentences and comma splices unsullied by the hands of Strunk and White, and grammarians did weep at their passing.

The NaNo Powers That Be usually apply their scorched-earth policies to the forums at the end of September: this may be one of your last chances to read last year's threads here and here. Supposedly the new forum software is Bigger and Better and More Badass than years' past, but that remains to be seen. Will the Brigade continue to top the "Technology" forum? Will we continue to smack talk the AlphaSmart group? Will we attain the nexus of collective smug every time someone's laptop dies mid-novel? Oh yes, yes we will.

And thus there arose from the bowels of the forums a tremendous chatter, and there was talk of ribbons, and there was talk of onionskin, and there was talk of word count, and yea did the moderators quake at their advance, for the Typewriter Brigade had come home.

Typewriter Movie Trailer, Fundraising

Chris and Gary have posted the trailer for their typewriter documentary and have a Kickstarter round going to finish it off, with some typewriters generously offered up by the Typosphere. To plagiarize Neil Gaiman, WARNING: BRIEFLY CONTAINS ME. Mercifully, it also contains a number of other far-more-photogenic folks.

Weekend Virtual Type-In?

Looks like there's some interest in having a virtual Type-In over the weekend using the Google+ video chat. If anyone is interested or would like an invite to Plus, drop a note in the comments. Leave an email address for the Plus invite if you're looking for one.

Virtual Type-In?

Hello Typosphere, long time no post.

I've been fiddling around with Google+ (a.k.a., Google's response to Facebook.) I've found a number of you over there already, but it's still pretty quiet. One feature the Google folks have built in, though, is an easy way to set up a group videoconference (a "Hangout" in Google parlance.) It's all very high-tech and magical.

Anyone in the 'sphere willing to give this a try and go for a virtual type-in? I can invite people if I have an email address, and am happy to do so if folks are so inclined. Or maybe I should stop compensating and just move up to the Seattle area, which appears to be the spiritual hub of U.S. typecasters.

Typewriter Day 2011: Schedule of Events

• TIME: Whenever you can
• PLACE: Wherever you are
• EVENT: Type

Typewriter Day 2011 is nearly upon us. Take a typewriter and camera in hand tomorrow and share a little digital postcard with the rest of the typosphere.



Typewriter Day NAQ (Never-Asked Questions)

What should I type?

• How about a letter to someone else in the typosphere?
• Got a friend with you tomorrow? Have a speed-typing contest with pangrams.
• Puzzle-masters take note: you've got an assignment due.

I'm shy/not photogenic/a vampire: I don't want to film myself.

• There's good precedent for only showing your hands. (Barbie typewriter not required.)

OK, fine, but then what?

• Upload your video/photo gallery/radio interview to your favorite sharing service. Tag it, if you can. Post a link here in a comment. Check out the other links that have already been posted, and then wait for the super-mega-after-the-fact-roundup-post here.
• Any public sharing service will do, as long as we're allowed to link to the content. Embeddable content would be better, but not required.
• If you have a Yahoo address and a typewriter blog, you can request to join the "Anablogger Archives" group that I administer. Please include the URL of your blog so I can sort out the real requests from the random ones. Flickr can host videos as well as slide shows, though be aware of their upload limits for free accounts.

"Tag it?"

• Most services allow you to attach keywords to uploads. TypewriterDay2011 was suggested in the comments, and I think this sounds excellent. Feel free to use a hashtag if you're tweeting, too. #TypewriterDay2011

Anything else?

• It's a little late now, but I think t-shirts decorated with Sholes' patent drawings would be an excellent idea. Any typospherian who is both highly creative and independently wealthy is encouraged to follow up on this. (Click the above image to jump a Sholes patent.)
  

Typewriting Around the World?

Quick, before Blogger melts down again!

A few years ago, I got all ambitious over on Clickthing and declared an elaborate celebration of Typewriter Day, known to mortals as June 23. This is the anniversary of the date when Christopher Sholes received the U.S. patent for his device that in time grew to become the one we know and love.

Inspired by shordzi's excellent videos, I wondered... do you think we could get everyone to shoot a little video of themselves typing on June 23rd? Perhaps write up a little bit about where you were, what you were typing, etc.. Post on your favorite video-sharing site, and we can make a gallery here after the fact.

What say you all?

Anyone Still Using a Typewriter?

I think we can find a few people to reply to this post, can't we?

Drop a (typewritten) note to:

Don Worthington
c/o Rock Hill Herald
P.O. Box 11707
Rock Hill, SC 29731
USA

"Please include phone numbers with your correspondence." Those of you luddites who own a phone, anyway. ;-)

Typosphere Roll Call

Do you type? Do you blog? Do you dabble in that weird offspring known as typecasting? Then you, too, are part of the Typosphere. There are a number of personal blogs and sites out there dedicated to typewriters and their uses in the twenty-first century, and we'd like to hear from you.

If you're typecasting or otherwise using typewriters in some capacity, please comment on this post with:

1. The URL of your blog/site and an optional brief write-up: just a sentence or two
2. Your name, or preferred nom de plume if you're shy
   
3. Your approximate location in the world (to be published here on a map)

Thanks all!