Peter Mitterhofer: The Forgotten Father of the Typewriter

When people trace the history of the typewriter, they usually start with Christopher Latham Sholes in the United States. His design of the 1870s became the first commercially successful machine and set the stage for a century of office life. But history is rarely that simple. In fact, more than a decade earlier, in a small village in South Tyrol, a carpenter named Peter Mitterhofer had already built the first functioning prototypes of a typewriter.

A Carpenter with a Vision

Mitterhofer was not an engineer or an academic. He was a craftsman, a skilled woodworker who saw potential in mechanizing something as old and universal as writing. Around 1864, he began constructing machines that could imprint letters onto paper by striking inked characters. Over the next five years, he built five prototypes.

His devices were mostly made of wood, with ingenious levers and mechanisms. They looked more like fine furniture than industrial tools, but they were the seed of an idea that would eventually change the way the world communicated.

An Audience with the Emperor

Mitterhofer knew his invention needed recognition and backing. So, in 1864, he brought one of his machines to Vienna, hoping to secure support from Emperor Franz Joseph I himself. The emperor examined the device, but instead of seeing its promise, he treated it as little more than a novelty. He gave Mitterhofer a small grant to cover travel expenses, but no financial backing for further development and no push toward production.

For an independent craftsman living far from the industrial hubs of Europe, this dismissal was devastating. Without investors, without factory access, and without the networks of influence that inventors in larger cities could tap into, Mitterhofer’s typewriter never made it beyond the prototype stage.

Why Scholes Succeeded in America

Just a few years later, on the other side of the Atlantic, Christopher Latham Sholes began work on a similar concept. Unlike Mitterhofer, Sholes was not working in isolation.

His success was the coincidence of three main factors.

• Industrial Networks: Sholes partnered with the Remington Company, which had the machinery, expertise, and distribution power to manufacture typewriters on a large scale.
• Market Readiness: The United States was experiencing a boom in business and administration. Offices, newspapers, and companies were hungry for tools that promised efficiency and speed.
• Investor Support: Where Mitterhofer received polite dismissal, Sholes found financial backers willing to risk money on production.

The designs were different, but the broader contrast was clear. Mitterhofer had the vision, but Sholes had the ecosystem. That’s why one name is in the history books, and the other is a footnote.

A Rare Piece of History

Our replica is modeled after one of Mitterhofer’s early prototypes, The "Viennese Model" . Wooden, intricate, and mechanically elegant, it embodies not just the birth of the typewriter, but the struggle of invention itself. It is a reminder that genius is often overlooked, and that recognition sometimes depends less on ideas and more on timing and opportunity.

We have been fortunate to own this replica, but now we are offering it for sale. It is more than an object—it is a conversation piece, a time capsule, and a tribute to a forgotten pioneer.

And here’s what makes it even more special: fewer than eight of these replicas are known to exist worldwide. Opportunities to acquire one are extraordinarily rare.

If you want a piece of typewriter history that few others will ever hold, this is it. You can find it now on our website.