This book gives a thorough and comprehensive history of the former Office Products Division (OPD) of IBM, and covers all OP products beginning with the original "Electromatic" typewriter though the subsequent typebar models A,B,C,D and the entire "Selectric" range including the IBM 'Composer' cold-typesetting products, Mag-Tape & Mag-Card products, Dictation Equipment (IPE), and the IBM Copier Series, rounding off with Office System 6 and IBM Displaywriter.
There is a fair amount of reference to individual personalities through the book, so for those outside the company or the OP division these names may mean little but the anecdotal stories are still an enjoyable read. I would doubt that anyone with even a passing interest in either the IBM company, or IBM typewriters would not learn something new from reading this book.
I did find one puzzling omission from the book which is the lack of reference in any form to the eventual success of the IBM Wheelwriter range. The first of those products was released around 1984 while the Selectric III was still in production and they were firmly established with advanced models by the time this book was published in 1991 (co-incidentally the same year Lexmark was formed).
Had these successful Wheelwriter products been released just 5 years earlier instead of the ill-fated 'Electronic Typewriter', IBM may well have retained a much greater market share that was otherwise lost to competitors. The only reason I can think for these products to be omitted is that they came along after OPD officially ceased to exist as a distinct organization in it's own right and this book was written to cover that division alone.
I would loved to have read about those final years of the modern typewriters written in the style of the rest of the book. Perhaps another 'insider' can write a sequel. But all that aside, it's a great read and I highly recommend it (if you can find one)
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