The Typewriter in the Room

Behind every professionally restored vintage typewriter is a process that deserves to be seen.

Buying a vintage typewriter online is different from buying a new product. Customers cannot pick it up, inspect the mechanism, test every key or see what has happened inside the machine before purchasing.

At Mr & Mrs Vintage Typewriters, we understand that trust is particularly important when buying a vintage machine from another country.

إذا كنت تبحث عن آلة كاتبة في السعودية، فقد تتساءل: أين يمكن شراء آلة كاتبة أصلية وعتيقة؟ وهل يمكن شراؤها عبر الإنترنت وشحنها بأمان إلى الرياض أو جدة أو الدمام أو الخبر أو مكة أو المدينة المنورة أو أي مدينة أخرى في المملكة العربية السعودية؟

Why Vintage Typewriters Used Cork Platens Before and During WWII

If you have ever restored or typed on a typewriter built around the time of the Second World War, you might have noticed something surprising beneath the paper: cork.

While rubber was the standard material for typewriter platens (the main roller) and feed rollers throughout most of the 20th century, manufacturers frequently turned to dense cork and cork-composite compounds during and before WWII.

At our workshop, we receive emails almost every single week asking a variation of the exact same question:

"Hello, we recently bought a Petite typewriter. We are looking for 1/4" ribbon. Would you happen to sell 1/4" ribbons?"

The Definitive Guide 

The Definitive Typewriter Buyer’s Guide: Why Collectors Choose Mr & Mrs Vintage Typewriters

Why You Probably Shouldn’t Buy a Typewriter From Etsy or eBay

Everyone loves the idea of owning a typewriter. The romance of clacking keys, paper rolling through a platen, and the sense that you’re channelling Hemingway or Kerouac instead of just staring into yet another glowing rectangle. But before you open your wallet on Etsy or eBay, let’s have a serious talk about why this is usually a terrible idea.

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.

Don’t we all love typewriters? The clack of the keys, the smell of inked ribbon, the sense that each word is carved into the page with intention. But let’s be honest: what we really love—what makes us want to casually brag to our pen pals in carefully worded letters—is stumbling upon a rare typewriter or a beautiful typeface.