Origin of Royal's Vogue by [[x over it]]

reply to u/NoDoctor4602 at https://old.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1fjrjns/ive_spent_a_few_days_searching_for_any_concrete/

In the mid to late-1950's and after several typewriter manufacturers made limited runs of gold plated typewriters for special anniversaries or for bonuses to salespeople. They're uncommon, but not rare. I've seen at least 6 or seven pop up on auction sites in the last 6 months. If you really want one, watch the lower end of Facebook Marketplace, ShopGoodwill, Craigslist, et al. where one will assuredly pop up for a much more reasonable price. I'm not sure if it was this one or another I've seen since April, but one of these went up for sale on ShopGoodwill.com recently and sold for about $600. A week later it was listed on eBay for several thousand just like this one. Given the timeframe, I doubt they spent any time cleaning, oiling, or adjusting it in any fashion—it was a pure flip. I've also seen this recently with Royal typewriters with a less common, but highly collectible Vogue typeface: a Royal P sold for about $900 there and was listed on eBay shortly after for over $1,500 with no indication that it was cleaned or adjusted. (If you watch some of the sites carefully, you can pick up a Vogue machine for under $100 easily enough depending on the type and condition.)

In my mind, as a collector, I'd try to find one in the wild and clean it up or I'd want it in stunning restored condition for over $2k. You might be just as well off picking up a working model for $100-$150 and gold plating the pieces yourself. It would probably be cheaper in the long run and you'd have a better machine in better condition. Some sucker with money to burn will eventually buy a Gold Olympia SM3 for over $2,000.

Here's a vew posts/videos as examples of gold plated machines:<br /> - A video of another Gold Olympia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnUHgyABjw0<br /> - Royal QDL https://typespec.com/weve-got-gold-in-them-thar-hills/<br /> - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kasbah-mod-typewriters_n_1453776

If you're looking for something great that you'll use, I recommend visiting a repair shop that has some stock to try out some machines to see if you'd like their touch/fee/aesthetics first. Visiting a type-in or two might give you some experience with a wide variety of typewriter models as well. Then try to find a rare or exceptional version that's worth putting some money into. Why put so much into an Olympia if it turns out you're an Olivetti, Royal, or Smith-Corona person? https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-repair.html (I desperately love Royals, but Smith-Coronas and Remingtons are much more forgiving of my mediocre typing technique, a fact which pains me dearly and cost a few hundred dollars and some sweat equity in cleaning and tuning machines to discover). Incidentally, I'll mention that for about $2,000 you could easily purchase a wide variety of about two dozen machines (even with shipping) and be able to get something truly exceptional in terms of condition and function.

Incidentally, the higher prices of $250-600 for repaired/refurbished/restored machines being sold by repair shops are usually what Harry Beercan is using as a pricing guide when he's selling his grandmother's musty, broken, old typewriter online not knowing that several hundred dollars in labor and parts has been calculated into the selling price.

Slow Motion Typing Analysis by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

Royal Quiet De Luxe - releasing keys quickly enough in terms of technique can cause skipping.

Remington Quie- Riter Typewriter 1955

"students who use typewriters get up to 38% better grades."

"gives book reports and themes a professional look"

gendered sales technique - "girls particularly appreciate" the easy change ribbon system...

VINTAGE 1958 COMMERCIAL - REMINGTON RAND - QUIET WRITER TYPEWRITER w/FABULOUS FOUR

1948 Royal Quiet Deluxe and Henry Dreyfuss by [[Alton Gansky]]

Needs better sourcing, but

Henry Dreyfuss added crinkle paint to his Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter design to diffuse reflected light so that typists who worked at their machines all day wouldn't have headaches from the glare reflecting off the fronts of their machines.

Royal Quiet De Luxe Magic Margin Stuck Won't Slide Clean Flush Restore Operation of Typewriter by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

50+ year old oil can cause parts of a typewriter to seize and not work properly. Hitting it with some heavy degreaser (lacquer thinner, mineral spirits, etc.) and some compressed air as well as getting the parts moving will help clean these parts out.

Given my current r/typewriter flair ("typewriters + card index = magic"), I couldn't help but appreciate that Lucas Dul features a 3x5" card index (aka database) of typewriter typefaces in a recent video on the 1896 Williams 3 typewriter: https://youtu.be/T1zzXwB3Xh8?si=K4FeiS-V_aev9_SZ&t=506. Those who have been following along on the typeface front will recognize some of the samples from this small index having been featured in a video on typewriter typefaces at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scrguKgDNIY.

I'm reminded of a similar card index (or Zettelkasten if you speak German) database of type I saw last year via the Letterform Archive article at Schriftenkartei [Typeface Index], 1958–1971 and a related Flickr version of it at https://www.flickr.com/photos/letterformarchive/albums/72177720310834741/

Lest you think these sorts of analog office pairings are completely obsolete, I feel compelled to mention that I've recently noticed that Pam Beasley's character had both an IBM typewriter and a metal 1970s/80s era two drawer metal card file behind her desk in the TV series The Office (NBC, 2005-2013).

If typewriters and card indexes are your sort of thing, I've got a small personal collection as well as some research and writing about them which can be found at https://boffosocko.com/research/zettelkasten-commonplace-books-and-note-taking-collection/#Boxes

If you follow my collections and work, you know I'm not beyond pairing up a nice typewriter with a card index (or two).

Image of a 1948 Royal and a matching Steelcase card index.

Syndication link: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1e5u5z3/era_appropriate_database_for_typewriter_typefaces/

Nabokov began teaching at Cornell in 1948 and must have been relatively financially well-off enough to afford the roughly $95 ($1,248 in 2024 dollars) for a brand new Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter.

The typewriter is pictured at the top of the article in a photo from a 1958 photo shoot. Presumably he bought it contemporaneously, though may have gotten it used after its release in 1949. The model changed in mid-1950.

Royal KMM typewriter - introduction & how to use by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

A different sort of fix on the hammer and anvil of a Royal Quiet De Luxe by removing some of the shims on a QDLs Anvil.

Royal QDL or Smith Corona 5 series? by [[JustMyTypewriter]]

Comparison of 1950s Royals and Smith-Coronas

Royal Model "O" Typewriter Adjust Ribbon Lift for each Type Bar Lever, Works on Quite Deluxe too. by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

Forming individual type bars, particularly for capital letters to get the tops to print evenly when they're more faint than other similar typefaces.

Royal QDL Quiet Deluxe Typewriter, Left Margin Stop, Alignment Adjustment, Repaired uneven edge by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

How to adjust the margin stops on a Royal Quiet De Luxe and related portable models.

https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/nabokov.jpeg via https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/typers.html

This photo, similar to others in the Carl Mydans series for LIFE Magazine is surely from his September 1958 photo series, though I couldn't find an original from the LIFE archive.

Nabokov, reading off of index cards in his zettelkasten, dictates to his wife Vera who is typing on what appears to be a 1949 or 1950 Henry Dreyfuss Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter.

Notice metal strip on the back of the typewriter with small rectangular blocks. This is the Royal's tabulator set up which distinguishes the Quiet De Luxe model from the Arrow model.

The body styling of this typewriter changed in 1950 from Dreyfuss' original 1948 design. Because it's light gray it has to be from '49 or '50 as the '48 original was a black body with dark gray highlights and didn't have chrome across the front as this one does in an alternate angle.

https://images.google.com/hosted/life/2bff56953d14c9d9.html

Nabokov, reflected in a mirror off camera, dictating his writing from index cards to his wife Vera who is typing on what appears to be a 1949 or 1950 Henry Dreyfuss Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter.

Notice the chrome on the front of the machine which is sitting in its bottom case shell.

https://images.google.com/hosted/life/8d0b2f02ac27973e.html

Nabokov dictating his writing from index cards to his wife Vera who is typing on what appears to be a 1949 or 1950 Henry Dreyfuss Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter.

Typewriter Video Series - Episode 234: Royal QDL Spacing by [[Joe Van Cleave]]

The anniversary gold plated Royal QDLs included gold plated type points, levers, and even set screws on the platens.

Example of a typewriter repairman calling a 1954 model a Royal Dreyfuss Quiet De Luxe.

While they did have some of the general design elements of Henry Dreyfuss' 1948 redesign, would one really still call them a Dreyfuss?

Watch Phoenix Typewriter in Remington Quiet-Riter Typewriter, Skipping Letters, Adjust Escapement, Type Bar Trip

Remington Quiet-Riter carriage lock help by [[Typewriter Justice]]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFM54VKKc4<br /> How To: Replace a Ribbon on Remington Quiet-Riter Typewriter by Typewriter Minutes

Read Repairing a 1957 Remington Quiet-Riter typewriter from 2018-06-16

Royal Typewriter Platen Variable Repair, Roller Removal by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

I'm seeing this issue on my 1949 Royal QDL. I figured it'd be an easy fix.

Turns out, it was exactly my issue and the pieces had "frozen up". A quick clean out and we're back in business in under 20 minutes.

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/196946239 <br /> Royal Quiet De Luxe <br /> Won in auction 2024-04-24

Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter Sticky Keys Segment Flush Clean by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

Royal Quiet De Luxe Typewriter Shift Repaired by [[Phoenix Typewriter]]

Anne Sexton used a Royal Quiet De Luxe (beige)

https://shopgoodwill.com/item/196139225

https://typewriterdatabase.com/royal.72.typewriter-serial-number-database

Henry Dreyfuss, Noted Designer, Is Found Dead With His Wife by The New York Times

Silent weapons for quiet wars<br /> Operations Research Technical Manual<br /> TW-SW7905.1

Welcome Aboard

This publication marks the 25th anniversary of the Third World War, called the "Quiet War", being conducted using subjective biological warfare, fought with "silent weapons".<br /> This book contains an introductory description of this war, its strategies, and its weaponry.<br /> May 1979 #74-1120

Security

It is patently impossible to discuss social engineering or the automation of a society, i.e., the engineering of social automation systems (silent weapons) on a national or worldwide scale without implying extensive objectives of social control and destruction of human life, i.e., slavery and genocide.<br /> This manual is in itself an analog declaration of intent. Such a writing must be secured from public scrutiny. Otherwise, it might be recognized as a technically formal declaration of domestic war. Furthermore, whenever any person or group of persons in a position of great power and without full knowledge and consent of the public, uses such knowledge and methodologies for economic conquest - it must be understood that a state of domestic warfare exists between said person or group of persons and the public.<br /> The solution of today's problems requires an approach which is ruthlessly candid, with no agonizing over religious, moral or cultural values.<br /> You have qualified for this project because of your ability to look at human society with cold objectivity, and yet analyze and discuss your observations and conclusions with others of similar intellectual capacity without the loss of discretion or humility. Such virtues are exercised in your own best interest. Do not deviate from them.

https://ia802300.us.archive.org/10/items/silent-weapons-for-quiet-wars_202110/Silent%20Weapons%20for%20Quiet%20Wars.pdf

This is deep. Even when you have the great job, the money, the control, you’re constantly wearing a mask, hiding who you really are. And the only way out is the way out. Been there. Done that.

https://www.zylstra.org/blog/2022/06/spring-83/

I've been thinking about this sort of thing off and on myself.

I too almost immediately thought of Fraidyc.at and its nudge at shifting the importance of content based on time and recency. I'd love to have a social reader with additional affordances for both this time shifting and Ton's idea of reading based on social distance.

I'm struck by the seemingly related idea of @peterhagen's LindyLearn platform and annotations: https://annotations.lindylearn.io/new/ which focuses on taking some of the longer term interesting ideas as the basis for browsing and chewing on. Though even here, one needs some of the odd, the cutting edge, and the avant garde in their balanced internet diet. Would Spring '83 provide some of this?

I'm also struck by some similarities this has with the idea of Derek Siver's /now page movement. I see some updating regularly while others have let it slip by the wayside. Still the "board" of users exists, though one must click through a sea of mostly smiling and welcoming faces to get to it the individual pieces of content. (The smiling faces are more inviting and personal than the cacophony of yelling and chaos I see in models for Spring '83.) This reminds me of Stanley Meyers' frequent assertion that he attempted to design a certain "sense of quiet" into the early television show Dragnet to balance the seeming loudness of the everyday as well as the noise of other contemporaneous television programming.

The form reminds me a bit of the signature pages of one's high school year book. But here, instead of the goal being timeless scribbles, one has the opportunity to change the message over time. Does the potential commercialization of the form (you know it will happen in a VC world crazed with surveillance capitalism) follow the same trajectory of the old college paper facebook? Next up, Yearbook.com!

Beyond the thing as a standard, I wondered what the actual form of Spring '83 adds to a broader conversation? What does it add to the diversity of voices that we don't already see in other spaces. How might it be abused? Would people come back to it regularly? What might be its emergent properties?

It definitely seems quirky and fun in and old school web sort of way, but it also stresses me out looking at the zany busyness of some of the examples of magazine stands. The general form reminds me of the bargain bins at book stores which have the promise of finding valuable hidden gems and at an excellent price, but often the ideas and quality of what I find usually isn't worth the discounted price and the return on investment is rarely worth the effort. How might this get beyond these forms?

It also brings up the idea of what other online forms we may have had with this same sort of raw experimentation? How might the internet have looked if there had been a bigger rise of the wiki before that of the blog? What would the world be like if Webmention had existed before social media rose to prominence? Did we somehow miss some interesting digital animals because the web rose so quickly to prominence without more early experimentation before its "Cambrian explosion"?

I've been thinking about distilled note taking forms recently and what a network of atomic ideas on index cards look like and what emerges from them. What if the standard were digital index cards that linked and cross linked to each other, particularly in a world without adherence to time based orders and streams? What does a new story look like if I can pull out a card either at random or based on a single topic and only see it or perhaps some short linked chain of ideas (mine or others) which come along with it? Does the choice of a random "Markov monkey" change my thinking or perspective? What comes out of this jar of Pandora? Is it just a new form of cadavre exquis?

This standard has been out for a bit and presumably folks are experimenting with it. What do the early results look like? How are they using it? Do they like it? Does it need more scale? What do small changes make to the overall form?

For more on these related ideas, see: https://hypothes.is/search?q=tag%3A%22spring+%2783%22

I definitely believe this was the beginning of the Quiet Revolution. It was definitely the incident that tipped the scale! At the time, Quebec was already a powder keg because of the great fight for the french language and against the overpowering of the Catholic church.

No athlete has embodied the soul of a city and the spirit of its people as Richard did in the 1940s and '50s in Montreal. The Rocket's triumphs were the people's triumphs. In a match the previous Sunday, Richard had twice viciously slashed his nemesis, Hal Laycoe of the Boston Bruins, and then assaulted a linesman. Richard was then suspended for the remaining regular season. Richard had led the Canadiens to three Stanley Cups and had scored 50 goals in 50 games, but he had never won a scoring title and was on the brink of his first. The Richard Riot is generally considered the first explosion of French-Canadian nationalism, the beginning of a social and political dynamic that shapes Canada to this day.