Ok, I just HAVE to get my hands on an Olivetti Lettera 32. I was just looking at La Vie Graphite’s latest post, and that close up of the front of the machine just pushed me over the edge. I’ve been struggling about what my next machine should be. I like Hermes Rockets, Royal QDL’s from the late ’50′s,(when you could get one in a cool red, blue or pink color), Olympia SF’s, etc. I definitely have a look that I prefer. Usually something that has that New Frontier modernism about it, when we were all still dreaming about outer space or thinking about how the Russkies might get us. Something with a retro space-age vibe to it. The Lettera 32 just does it for me. The flat top, the fonts on the front logo, the square keys with rounded corners and smallish letters, the color, the thin space bar, and the lone red key just together give off that vibe of ‘Jetsons meets book report’ or something like that. Maybe somebody can better encapsulate it for me. Anybody use one of these beauties? Anyway, I have a mission to land one of these fish in the next few months. Wish me luck – I’m goin’ in!
January 16, 2009
My Next Mission
Posted by Chris under Uncategorized | Tags: Hermes Rocket, Lettera, Lettera 32, Olivetti, Olympia, Olympia SF, Royal QDL |[3] Comments
January 16, 2009 at 11:34 am
Way to go, Chris (and thank you) !
My Lettera had been my Dad’s; he bought it in the late-’60s, and used it every day at work and home. He even had some customized keys added to it.
I love using it, and find it to be the ultimate take-everywhere machine. It’s very flat in profile- and has a smooth action. and rugged (the whole thing is metal). It’s like owning a Swiss watch.
There are a few more views of it when I wrote with it in a monastic hermitage in Vermont last Fall.
January 16, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I have a Montgomery Ward Escort that is mechanically a Lettera 32 in a different shell. I can’t say that it’s my absolute fave in the world to type on, but that’s just me. It feels ever so slightly flimsy, and the unusually wide key spacing doesn’t quite agree with my typing style. Other than that, it’s a fine machine, and I’m sure that a proper Lettera in its original shell has much less of the resonation that gives it that flimsy sensation.
January 17, 2009 at 12:05 am
Hmmmm….I’m thinking a wider key spacing might work for me, actually. My SM-9 is a great machine, but I’m teaching myself to touch type, and I think its smallish keytops and tighter spacing may be a hindrance. Either that, or I have hands too chunky for most portables to be comfortable. We’ll have to find out.