by Richard Polt | Nov 10, 2025 | Royal
Last summer, I sold my Royal KHM to Cincinnati writer Katherine Durack, who wanted to use it to type some of her research on Margaret Longley. Longley opened a typing school in Cincinnati, developed an eight-finger method, and published the world’s first typing...
by Richard Polt | Aug 22, 2024 | Royal
This 1912 Royal no. 5 “flatbed” machine was one of a group of three typewriters I bought locally. The other two were a very nice green Lettera 22 and a Blick 7 that needed some serious disassembly and cleaning. They are all bringing funds to WordPlay...
by Richard Polt | Nov 9, 2023 | font, Royal
Patrician fontOlivetti logo
by Richard Polt | Sep 17, 2023 | electric, One weird trick, Royal
The Royal Saturn is a nifty-looking lightweight electric, actually made by Silver-Seiko.The problem on this one: some typebars weren’t reaching the platen. They just weren’t being activated with enough force. I concluded that the belt had lost some...
by Richard Polt | Sep 11, 2023 | Royal
Here’s the typewriter that goes in the case whose handle I replaced with “one weird trick.”This is a 1935 Royal A portable with a deep green finish—still lovely despite the wear and chips.This typewriter was quite grimy, so I removed the shell...
by Richard Polt | Nov 3, 2022 | Royal, WordPlay
Unnecessarily Beautiful Spaces for Young Minds on Fire (McSweeneys, 2019) is an inspiring tour of places such as SF’s 826 Valencia which foster youth writing—including Cincinnati’s own WordPlay Cincy. Libby Hunter’s kind words about me here are a genuine source...
