Homage to a Precursor

Once again, it's back to This Day in History. This time for another significant advance in the technology of the written/printed word: the typewriter. From This Day in History we learn that:

Numerous times in these columns I've confessed to my love affair with typewriters (though I don't think that until now I've admitted that sometimes when reading I find myself typing out the words I read on a virtual keyboard in my head). So it's only fitting that if I've come across such a significant date in the history of typewriters, I should give that date its due. Of course that first typewriter was very different from those we know today (or knew yesterday - let's admit it, most people who sit in front of computer keyboards aren't familiar with manual typewriters at all), but it certainly marked a start.

Actually, from that first typewriter until typewriting became popular and truly useful, at least 70 years transpired, and numerous significant changes took place in the machines themselves. A fascinating article on the history of this important machine can be found at the Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing web site.


Go to: When Dessert Becomes the Main Course