I often see typewriter enthusiasts “debating” over which is the prettiest or best typeface, and often, they’re making their judgement on one machine they happen to have or really wish they had. Rarely are these judgements made with multiple typefaces on the same page for easier direct apples-to-apples comparison, so I threw together a small sample from a few in my own collection.
Gut reaction time: Which of these is your favorite?
I used to think script was the bees knees but lately I think any Italic typeface is my favorite. Toes that narrow line between legible and fancy that I just love. That SG1 Congress Elite is a dream machine too.
I am going to go with the Hermes 3000. Just enough “character” to the font without being fussy.
From wikipedia:
Larry McMurtry specifically mentioned his Hermes 3000, stating: “Most heartfelt, I thank my typewriter. My typewriter is a Hermes 3000, surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius. It has kept me for thirty years out of the dry embrace of the computer”.
Other notable users of the machine are Sam Shepard, Eugène Ionesco and Stephen Fry. Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote his final novel, Vanity of Duluoz, on the Hermes 3000 in 1966. In a March 2018 auction at Bonhams in London, the Hermes 3000 on which Sylvia Plath had typed her only novel — The Bell Jar — in 1962 was sold for £26,000 ($46,071). In 2013, in an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, actor Tom Hanks named the Hermes 3000 as the luxury item he would choose to take with him.
Of those shown, PE for sure. A sans italic is just amazing.
Of all typefaces, either Steile Zierschrift or Schräge Zierschrift.
And I say this as someone that loves cubics, I just don’t have the luck or money to find those two beautiful typefaces.
Congress Elite, by a long shot.
I really like Hermes Epoca.
Professional Elite, followed by Congress Elite
I have a soft spot for Remington’s typefaces. That SG looks pretty sweet
I like the ‘56 SG1.
Yes
Vogue looks so Art Deco!
One and four look really sweet. The rest scream I HAVE NO FEELINGS AT ALL.
Professional Elite is the most beautiful to me however Congress Elite is faster to read for me. So use case matters.
Definitely Congress Elite. The letters are thick but not too thick, nice balance of straight and round lines, especially that capital R (compared to the Clarion Gothic capital R), you just cannot go wrong with it!
Vogue, imo. As a sans serif typeface, it looks so classy and easy to read
I generally judge fonts by &, 4, 7, and g.
So . . . Sears Cutlass has the best 4. 1962 SM7 has the best 7. 1956 SG1 has the best g. None show &, so no vote.
Techno Elite.
@chrisaldrich I like 1962 but perhaps that’s from primarily using similar typewriters early when I was learning to type.
I count myself among the Vogue fanatics club, which has many members. The diagonal crossbar of the lower case e is one of the most stylish flourishes ever committed to a type slug, IMO. Gatsby in his yellow Rolls cruising along the Gold Coast.
1952 Royal Quiet Deluxe Royal Vogue. The amount of money I would give for that…!!!!
The ‘61 Gothic is soooo cooool
Just love the capital “W” that the Royal produces.
1956 Olympia SG1 – Congress Elite No. 84
The quiet deluxe or Hermes 3000. Both are wonderful!
I say PE… new pickup and I’m already bragging about it on Facebook
Why did you type more after the first entry? I mean, you had the answer right there. 🙂
Prettiest is a personal appraisal, but for me it’s the Professional Elite no. 41.
Vogue, and it will always be Vogue 🙂
https://preview.redd.it/cwmrt4b8jzph1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49b4246747a5b92f0e27a67825eec1b4de8d5f82
Royal Vogue is the easy winner, it looks like an art deco style to me. I agree with the love for the W and the lowercase E. Congress Elite is probably next because I think I prefer letters with serifs. My only reservation is that it is elite in size and as I get older, I have learned that smaller type is not a desirable quality. It is hard to choose between the Sears and Hermes, they are both very nice. That leaves two italics and a small caps, none of which I think I would want to type in all the time, but any of which could be a good choice depending on what I am typing. The Clarion is very nice, especially with its intriguing Q which is the only example of that letter whose tail does not extend into the body. In italics I think perhaps sans-serif looks better, so I would give the edge to the SM3 over the SM7.
What this exercise has taught me is that perhaps I am lucky to have a limited number of typewriters with a limited number of typefaces, because I am not a good decision maker. All of these typefaces have nice qualities. I can see myself taking forever to pick which one to use.
Question: How do you determine the name of a typewriter’s font? A code on the slugs, or do you have to research it by production date through the typewriter database or elsewhere?
Congress Elite followed by Clarion Gothic, followed by Royal Vogue.
My favorite would have to be the top one I guess, the Royal.
Vogue has a certain quality that makes it beautiful
The 1962 Olympia SM7 – Italic Pica No. 31. Elegant, draws my eye right to it, and large enough that my weak eyes can still easily read it. Smashing all the way around.
This isn’t fair, you’ve picked some real beauties. The only one that really stands out to me as unworthy is the 1956 Olympia, I’m just not getting anything from it. All the others have real personality and I can imagine proofing reams riddles with these characters, all the leaves falling in an irresistible collage on the floor.
So much for proofreading…please substitute “riddled” ~!
For me it’s the Cassandre type of Olivetti Graphika. A proportional typeface from the late 50s. Wild. And very pleasing.
The SM 59 and the 56 SG1.
I like the smaller tyoefaces.
Definitely not the Sears lmao
I think Congress Elite is actually very technically impressive but it’s not what I want a typewriter for. I think it’s cool that they made it work though.
I’m not gonna nominate a slant/italic as my fave, so it’s between the Epoca and the Clarion. I have a soft spot for geometrics like the Epoca, feels almost Futura, but it kinda just makes me wish I had a typewriter that did Futura directly lol, so I think I have to go with the Clarion Gothic as my fave, Epoca runner up, and actually I’m gonna surprise myself and pick the Professional Elite slant in the italic category over the true italic.
Oh and Vogue is a fascinating novelty font but I wouldn’t use it either lol, I appreciate that it exists tho
Congress Elite. The shading really makes it easier to read.
Olympia Congress…
Congress Elite no. 84
to me, the clarion gothic
My choices and votes are based on the given sample list. If the 1949 Royal KMG (Pica 10) were included, I’d choose it based on the elegant numerals (and, of course, the lower-case g).
https://preview.redd.it/svctxth3x2qh1.jpeg?width=2549&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2bd0a57e49560b56f9de65c9cab70bf9b38b3a2a
The 1962 Olympia
Olivetti, early 70s.
Hermes Epoca is my favorite
That first one, holy cow. Love that deco style.
Vogue > Congress > Epoca, but those three are all pretty close.
I really want a cursive script typewriter so bad
I think I would do crimes for that Vogue typeface
My vote is with Hermes Epoca. It’s good enough that a foundry in Switzerland called Optimo has spent about twenty years building it out into a full contemporary type family.
I gotta say, the Royal Vogue on that 52 QDL really calls out to me.
Hermes Epoca is a personal favourite. Clean. Minimal. Easy on the eye.
Congress Elite and Vogue are my 2 favorite
52 Royal. Gorgeous.
No. 1, Vogue Art deco for sure!
Vogue is my favorite, then Congress Elite. Excellent post. Now I’m gonna do the same for my machines.
So, a few days after this post, I counted up the “votes” across the Reddit and Facebook versions of this post to tally up the following:
Typeface / Votes
Vogue / 34
Congress Elite No. 84 / 19
Epoca / 16
Professional Elite No. 41 / 8
Italic Pica No. 31 / 5
Clarion Gothic / 2
Numode No. 61 / 0
I can certainly see some bias in the voting based on manufacturer and potential model. If I did this again, I’d definitely leave off the provenance.
Syndicated copies:
Seeing the samples side by side on one sheet makes the comparison so much fairer than judging from photos of single machines. Professional Elite gets my vote, with the Vogue a close second for sheer Art Deco charm.