I requested this book at the library some time ago. I can't even remember where I heard about it. Maybe I should work on that. Writing down where the recommendation comes from. Except of course it is hard enough to write down the book title and I've only just started a separate little book filled with "must reads".
Anyway, I went to return Kim Harrison's Where Demons Dare and asked if there were any books on hold for me. Two were, one of which is the a fore referenced The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal. I sat in the car and read the inside cover, which had me sitting in the car for a little longer starting to read the prologue. I decided to actually get out of the car and take this fascinating book to the coffee shop and read it while I drank coffee and ate croissant. So I did, and I've been reading it on and off all day. Not too much, and not too little. Just the right amount to immerse myself in the New York of the 20's. On page 72 I came across a picture of a Remington typewriter, made in 1928 and painted lavender that the diarist had convinced her parents to buy for her. I was suddenly seized with the need to touch my Remington typewriter.
To say that it is mine is a little misleading. This Remington typewriter belonged to my Grandmother or my Great Grandmother and has been sitting in my father's shed for all almost-32 years of my life. I've never seen it operational and I have no idea whether or not it can be made operational. All I know is that it is time to try and restore it. I actually know nothing about restoring typewriters. A helpful website here suggests I start with a soft damp cloth and go from there, so I'm going to give it a try tomorrow. The website also suggests some steel wool and a few other cleaning products (alcohol for the keys apparently) so I'll get those tomorrow too and see what I can see. So far I know there is a LOT of rust, so that will take some getting rid of. Plus, I suspect that not really knowing what I'm doing will be a problem at some point. But for now, I'm just excited!
Here are some pictures of my Remington's current sad state:
This is the "carry case". You seriously do NOT want to know how heavy this typewriter is. Maybe it is made out of iron???
Despite the sheer amount of rust visible, and the very fact I'm restoring a typewriter when what I don't know about typewriters could fill a warehouse, I'm still excited about my project. I feel a strong sense of serendipity here. I'm a writer, and I have to assume that my Grandmother or my Great Grandmother (who both died about 20 years before I was born) was a writer. Why the hell else would they drag this incredibly heavy typewriter out from England when they moved to Australia?
I'm a writer. And maybe, just maybe, this is a Grandmother's gift to a granddaughter she knew she would never meet. I couldn't think of a better present.
3 comments:
How fun! My mom had an old Underwood, & my mother-in law had one of those (has? She never gets rid of anything - tho at 93, she's just gone to a care facility) & also one with the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet! Think she did pass that one on to a University.
I also commented on the library - wow - I want one, too!! Would be nice to have enough shelves for all my books, lol :)
Hi, You will get to the part in The Red Leather Diary about Paul Schweitzer, a Manhattan typewriter repairman who could help you out to make your Remington sing again: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/nyregion/21ink.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=lily%20koppel%20and%20paul%20schweitzer&st=cse
~LK
Interesting!
A diary or a personal journal is your most intimate confidante. You can confidently share your secrets with it knowing that your personal diary will not talk to someone. So you should be very careful about your personal dairy. Leather is one of the most versatile materials that finds application in many areas. I would suggest to maintain a leather dairy instead of any normal dairy.
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