tell me, do you write everyday?

Sure.
Today?
Sure.
It’s a beautiful typewriter.
Of course. It writes nothing but sensitive, intensely felt, promising prose.
There’s no ribbon in it.
There isn’t?
No

-Breakfast at Tiffany’s

typewriter-original

There’s something about typewriters that I find irresistible. the clacking sound of them is intoxicating. I remember having one as a kid and I’ve wanted one ever since. I think there’s something beautiful about the care which goes into typing. We’re too lazy now and it’s far too easy to just hit delete or backspace and remove errors. Something written on a typewriter has to be thought out and carefully keyed.

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Ernest Hemingway is shown at his typewriter as he works on For Whom the Bell Tolls at Sun Valley lodge, Idaho, in 1939.
Photograph: AP

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Agatha Christie behind her desk with towers of her own books piled around her.
Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images

Authors-and-typewriters-010
Tennessee Williams searches for an idea in his Key West studio in 1957.
Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

Authors-and-typewriters-008
Helen Gurley Brown at home in her Park Avenue apartment in 1965.
Photograph: Corbis

Authors-and-typewriters-005
William Faulkner works on a screenplay on a balcony, Hollywood in the early 1940s.
Photograph: Alfred Eriss/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

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Bonjour Tristesse author Françoise Sagan in 1955.
Photograph: Thomas D. McAvoy/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

The observant of you may remember that I tweeted about this collection of images a couple of weeks back but I couldn’t resist sharing some of my favourites.

You can see the full collection of images on the Guardian website (view gallery).

It’s sad that this is another piece of technology which is slowly but surely heading for extinction. Paul Bailey wrote a very moving piece on this for The Guardian. (read article).

So my first week of freedom, having completed a three year degree in English literature has been spent… reading.
I went to chester-le-street with my Dad and found a load of cheap books in charity shops to add to my ever increasing pile of ‘books I can now FINALLY read for pleasure’. Currently reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. It seemed a good choice when there’s so much upheaval in my life and change happening. I have to say I’m surprised by how much it moved me. It made me think a lot about what I want to achieve in these next couple of years, and how I need to go about it.

Any recommendations of good reads are always welcome (now I have the time to!)

15 Comments

  1. May 30, 2011 / 6:07 pm

    gorgeous blog

    x Camilla

    intothefoldfashion.blogspot.com

  2. May 31, 2011 / 2:32 pm

    Love typewriters if only it was easy to find!

    luckysparkle.blogspot.com

    ~Anya

  3. May 31, 2011 / 2:41 pm

    What a great post!! I am an avid reader… and writer and now follower of your blog:)

  4. June 1, 2011 / 5:08 pm

    Totally loved ur pst babe! Thank you for your kind words : ) Happy Wednesday xx

  5. June 5, 2011 / 3:09 pm

    Beautiful post, such inspiring images of talented authors at work! I was so glad to have time to read for pleasure when I finished my degree, it's a lovely feeling isn't it? 🙂

  6. June 6, 2011 / 5:39 pm

    I agree! I love typewriters! I see them on Etsy all the time, and I always want to buy them! Sometimes I'm tempted to start a collection, lol!

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