Last typewriter factory in the world closes

I guess I never really thought that there would still be typewriters manufactured in this age of computing, but then again, I have seen some printers recently that were definitely more low-tech than the electronic typewriters I used when I was at school. Sadly, there was just one typewriter company left in the world, and it has had to close its doors because of low demand (although there still was some demand!). Godrej and Boyce, a company in Mumbai, India, once sold 50,000 typewriters a year, but lately were down to fewer than 800 orders, mostly for Arabic script.

There’s something about the typewriter that brings to mind a lone writer in a shack somewhere, with no company but a stack of paper that wants to be something great. No matter how convenient computers and word processors are, typewriters make me think of a different kind of dedication to work (of course, I couldn’t blog from a typewriter, no matter how romantic it might seem). I remember using a manual typewriter, too, with uneven spacing, tangled ribbon, and white-out sheets for correcting my mistakes.

It’s the end of an era that allowed people to create their own printing without a press. It’s sad, but it’s exciting to think about what might be the next step.

For a fuller article and some great pictures of typewriters through the ages, visit The Atlantic.