1949 Royal Quiet De Luxe #A-1839006
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Jonathan Mitchell (Ouzelum)
Created: 11-17-2015 at 10:13AM
Last Edit: 11-17-2015 at 10:27AM
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Description:
Another Dvorak Typewriter I found. This one I came across by pure chance on Craigslist. The man selling it had it simply listed as a Royal Typewriter, but was asking a bit much for any Royal typewriter I could think of unless it was in excellent condition. When I saw the pictures, I realized he was asking far less that what it was worth. It's become one of my favorites to type on though, so regardless of what worth it might have if I cleaned it up (which i really need to do anyway), I can't imagine selling it.
However, the more interesting thing was that I got to meet Harry, the typewriter's original owner. He told me about his typing teacher who could type 100WPM on a qwerty keyboard and 150WPM on a dvorak keyboard. Though I imagine those numbers probably come from desktop models that she had, and not from portables like this.
He told me that at the end of the typing class, each student got to pick which layout they preferred, and his teacher would order them a typewriter with that layout. He chose Dvorak. Either his typing teacher had a small connection with Royal, or alternative keyboard layouts were always an option if a person asked for them.
When computers started to replace everything, he said he sadly put it away, and learned to type in qwerty.
But I'm happy to be it's second owner, and to have met the first owner of this nice little machine.
Typeface Specimen:
Photos:
Hunter: Jonathan Mitchell (Ouzelum)
Jonathan Mitchell's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 230
A writer and beginner collector/restorer of typewriters. I'd always written a few pages a day, been sort of a habit for a number of years now, and I saw a few typewriters in movies and loved the sound they made, so I decided to buy one to see what it was like.
Ended up with a Olivetti Lettera 22, and after writing about a hundred pages with it, I was hooked.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Royal Quiet De Luxe on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Royal Serial Number page and the Royal Quiet De Luxe By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
