Category: From the Desk of Reverend Munk

Typecasts from the desk of the Right Reverend Theodore Munk

Typewriter Database News

It’s been awhile since I did a news update for the Typewriter Database, tho things have been humming along very nicely. 750 Manufacturers and Marques, 2460 Typewriter Galleries and 1238 Typeface examples as of right now. Quite a few new Typewriter Hunters have joined and have uploaded some very nice collections. Checking the scores for […]

Slide Rules

I have a habit of pulling wire-bound books out of the shelves of thrift stores to take a peek at the covers. Usually they’re cookbooks, but I’m on the hunt for a book called “Rocky’s Typewriter Repair Manual” by Clarence LeRoy Jones, which I’ve never seen a copy of, but I expect it’ll be wire-bound. […]

Radio of The Month: Sony ICF-2010

I’ve always wanted a nice shortwave radio receiver, but they don’t show up in thrift stores very often, so when I saw this one at Deseret for $7 a couple of months ago, I snapped it up without hesitation. However, when I got it home and rigged up a regulated power supply for it, I […]

Isaac Asimov’s Typewriter

As seen on The Beeb’s  “Real History of Science Fiction” Season 1, Episode 1 (Robots):  Isaac Asimov at his Baby Selectric model 7×1 I have two of these fantastic little typers (well, “little” compared to most other Selectrics), and I loves ’em as much as Isaac apparently did.

Grandad’s Little Pony (135)

1971 Royal Sprite, built by Silver Seiko in Japan. Joe in his later civilian years, selling Skampers to Yankees. Grandad’s Kodak Pony 135 and a Gossen Pilot light meter (The Pony has *no* light metering) The Pony 135 is a simple, all-mechanical “zone focus” camera (the viewfinder has no focusing/rangefinding aids), made mostly of Bakelite […]

Stapler of The Week: The Aceliner

The Ace Aceliner, a true classic. Probably the first stapler I actually sought out after seeing them on other Typosphere blogs. It’s a popular design, easy to get ahold of, and there’s probably one in every casual stapler collector’s corral. There are at least two different variations, probably indicating a change in design and tooling […]

Thrilling Typewriter Database Tales of Terror: The Quest for A Complete Serial Number List for Remington Blind Writers…

I’ll admit freely that I’ve been putting off the task of rebuilding the Typewriter Databases’ Remington serial number page for well over a year. I’ve had the bulk of Source #18 from Richard Polt since then, and it’s been reasonably clear to me that the data it contains is very likely either a direct-from-the-factory master […]

Update: ProfessorC’s Non-Selectrics

By now you’ve gawked at the trailer full of Selectrics that my pal ProfessorC has obtained, now marvel at some of the other stuff. The non-Selectrics he wants to unload pretty quick, as-is. He’s only interested in Selectrics, and wants to refurbish all of those. Here is a partial list of the manual machines he […]

Selectrics by the Truckload!

So a bit ago I got an excited email from ProfessorC, he who is a young Jedi Master of Selectrics, and who has a restoration of a rare and incredibly complex IBM Composer under his belt. He told me of a trove of Selectrics and parts offered to him by a fellow in Arkansas  who […]

New Olivetti Serial Numbers found!

I was contacted this morning by Enrico Morozzi, a typewriter collector in Italy who is a member of the Typewriter Database. Mr. Morozzi had recently obtained a very nice Studio 42 from an ex-Olivetti employee, and the typewriter was accompanied by a sheet of paper which he kindly re-typed out and sent to me, along […]