Customer Reviews

Antique Typewriters and Office Collectibles

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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...

Although the book's good points are recited in the other reviews, this book has a major flaw that makes it a disaster for the beginning collector or seller of antique typewriters or ribbon tins. That flaw, that is alluded to by "Chuck", is that the prices given for the better typewriters and ribbon tins by Mr. Rehr, are absurdly low. Lets face it, one of the major reasons people buy a price guide book like this one is to learn about prices! When the pricing of the better quality items bears no relationship to reality in the marketplace such as typewriter auctions, ribbon tin mail/phone auctions, antique advertising auctions or e-Bay auctions the book is doing a great disservice to the public. Many, if not most of the better typewriters & ribbon tins are way underpriced by a factor of 4 or 5 times. For example, the Crandall typewriter is priced by Mr. Rehr at $1,000. Four of these typewriters have sold at various $7,343. This is only one of many examples I could give of low-ball pricing in this book.

Buy the book for the pictures and descriptions of the typewriters but do not rely on it AT ALL as a price guide. Hoby Van Deusen---RIBBON TIN NEW

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.

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).

"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.

The information and reference materials in this book are marvelous. Color photos for identification and comparison are very helpful, especially when in the field at shops and flea markets looking for these machines!! A must have for any collector or picker!!! The best!!!!!

However, if a collector writes a book including prices, beware the pricing! S/he could either be looking to buy or sell. Be sure to check with other collectors before just taking the values at "bible"!!! Most collectors will pay more than published values when the values are at "buy" prices! (lost 1 star for pricing)

This was my first typewriter book and I now have several copies, having worn out the first one quickly. It's a pleasure to look at, informative to read, and helpful to the researcher, the collector, and the reader with just a casual interest. It has additional material on typewriter ribbon tins and other office collectibles and will provide many hours of enjoyment. You will learn a lot, without being overwhelmed or having to wade through many pages of small print. It's a fine book.

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.

I've been looking through Darryl Rehr's new book, ANTIQUE TYPEWRITERS & OFFICE COLLECTIBLES, Identification & Value Guide. I rarely exclaim about anything, but this book is very different from any other. I think I have every other current book about early typewriters. None of them are like this one. First, this is the only book that has every picture, 2 to 4 per page, in full color. It is the only book showing different models of a typewriter brand. There are nice descriptions with each. The book starts with a history of typewriters. I'm glad Darryl points out that, despite myths to the contrary, the QWERTY keyboard was NOT designed to slow down typists in order to prevent them from jamming the machine. It goes on to describe and illustrate parts of a typewriter. At the end of the book, there are sections, with color photos, of ribbon tins, calculators/adders, check protectors, and pencil sharpeners. The appendices rate typewriter conditions, with a questionnaire to help non-collectors describe what they have when offering a machine for sale, how to pack a typewriter for shipping, and how to restore old typewriters. A unique feature is a rough price guide. Prices are for machines in average good condition. And lastly, the surprising thing about this book is the low price. This is certainly exceptional value compared to the many other typewriter books at $50-80. I am a long time collector, always interested in getting early typewriters. As such, I recommend that anyone interested in early office machines get this book for their library. JAY RESPLER.