[.ca] Antique Typewriters & Office Collectibles (ISBN 0891457577)

a wonderful book if you like typewriters:
WHO WOULD WANT THIS BOOK Anyone that like typewriters, is nostalgic about them, collects them or can't afford to collect them (space-wise or money-wise). This lovely book contains pictures and brief descriptions of old typewriters -- there are many beautiful and crisp photos and some brief descriptions. There's also a small appendix with other office machines (calculators, pencil sharpeners, etc). WHAT'S NICE ABOUT THIS BOOK The pictures. Definitely the pictures. I could never tire looking at them. WHAT'S NOT NICE ABOUT THIS BOOK It's hard to criticise what is clearly a work of love. Some people mentioned that the prices are off. But I would like to focus on other aspects; Perhaps some of these can be fixed in further editions: - There's very little treatment of foreign typewriters. This is a pity because different languages posed different mechanical challenges to typewriter manufacturers and it's nice to see how they overcame those difficulties. It's also nice to see other alphabets. :) - It would have been nice to include a sample of the text produced by each typewriter. Just to see the various typefaces. An index of typefaces/typewriters and their samples could have been nice to have as an appendix, so that people could match samples they have (old letters, notes, etc) with the typewriters that could have possibly been used to write them. - A bit more prose -- a more thorough description of the mechanical aspects of these machines would have been a nice thing to have.

Useful Reference For Typewriter and Office Item Collectors:
175 pages with more than 400 beautiful, sharp, full color photos of everything from typewriters to ribbon tins, early calculators, pencil sharpeners, and more. Gives the history of typewriters, information on rating conditions, restoring and shipping typewriters. A very interesting and useful reference. The value guide prices could be updated, but the basic information presented is still very helpful.

In regards to prices:
I thought this book was great, regarding some complaints about price guide: It is impossible to place a standard market value on typewriters. why? 1) the market is far too small, they are not like baseball cards or comic books 2) there are only a few that are actually considered rare, i cannot tell you how many olivers or underwoods i've seen listed as: "very rare" prices are are determined by the individual collector. example: i happen to like the old maroon portables, mainly royals, this means that to me they are worth more than say the more rare royal flat-bed. they are, however far from "rare". there were something like 600,000 underwood no.5's made. most of them seem to be around...

Great Pictoral Guide But...:
Both veteran and beginners alike will enjoy Darryl Rehr's book on antique typewriters. The best feature is of course the pictures that are generally very crisp and in color. The short descriptions of each model are useful as well. This work is a handy reference, and after collecting typewriters for twenty years, I find myself always referring to it. However, as with most collector books of this type, one must use the information contained here with some reservation. For instance, nothing is footnoted, and that is a particular problem if one wishes to check information when performing research. Footnotes are sometimes the most interesting feature of a work because they can provide useful cross-references and leads to other sources that one may not have thought of. The second problem, and again this is to be expected with most collector's books, is that the prices cited for scarcer items are inaccurate even for 1997. Typewriters may not be as popular as baseball cards or antique furniture, but there is an international market for them to which prices are set. In fact, one typewriter listed as worth $5,000.00 was actually, in 1997 prices, worth at least $15,000.00 and in today's market valued between $20,000.00 and $33,000.00! My point here is that though this work is useful, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject, buyers should be aware that this is only a guide and that if he or she has a typewriter to sell, it may be wise to check beyond these pages and contact the many collectors out there for accurate pricing information (like the ones listed in the acknowledgements section at the front of the book).

A definitive guide for collectors.:
"Antique Typewriters & Office Collectibles" is an essential guide for both the serious and casual collector. Hundreds of beautiful color photographs allow for quick identification of different brands and models while the text provides interesting histories. The only flaw concerns the pricing guide, which is reliable in terms of relative (but not actual) values. Many of the typewriters pictured are currently selling for upwards of five times the prices quoted by Mr. Rehr. (For example, I recently sold a model valued at $10 by the book for more than $60.) Without "Antique Typewriters," however, the universe of typewriter collecting would be even more chaotic than it already is. Highly recommended.