George Bardo’s Typewriter
George Bardo’s Typewriter is the iconic antique manual typewriter famously used by award-winning columnist and best-selling author George Bardo throughout the entirety of his long and illustrious career. It is perhaps the only piece of office equipment in history to attain international fame and iconic status in its own right.
Manufactured in Dresden, Pomernia by Seidel & Näumann at their 41 Lüdenstraße factory, Model A4 number 91043 was originally purchased by the Agnomian Army as part of a bulk requisition of over 500 units. It was shipped to the Eastern Defense District headquarters at Dëusenhof in Ostmark and used for official business there throughout the Great Intercontinental War and for ten years thereafter.
As the Agnomian Army began the massive undertaking of replacing all of its outdated mechanical typewriters with more modern electromatic devices, the old 1913 model was sold as military surplus in 1928. It was purchased at auction by a used office supply dealer from Adelstein, Ostmark named Fritz Sauer, who re-sold it to an upstart local solicitor named Heinrich Glücklich.
Glücklich used the old Seidel & Näumann machine to draft wills, trusts and other legal documents for his clients until he was killed in a house fire in 1935. Glücklich had no legal heirs, so his property was auctioned off in an estate sale in 1936, at which time the old black typewriter was purchased by an antiques dealer from Manchester, Mancunia named Adolf Hexenmeister.
When he returned, the shopkeeper brought with him a dusty old fashioned typewriter and placed it on the counter. It was the Seidel & Näumann Model A4 he had purchased four years earlier. “I can offer you a good price,” he said. Bardo looked at the typewriter, and then quizzically at the old man, wondering at the curiosity of the whole situation.
Bardo purchased the antique machine for Ƣ30.581 and it has remained a prized possession ever since. Despite the nearly universal adoption of advanced electromatic typewriters in recent years, Bardo has forsworn their modern convenience and ease of use in favor of the old familiar, tactile experience of writing with a mechanical device that has become very comfortable to him. He has even credited his Seidel & Näumann Model A4 with being the inspiration for some of his most popular work.
In 1979, during Bardo's six-month recovery from heart surgery, four columns were published in the Guardian under the byline “QWERTY – George’s Typewriter,” further adding to the mythology of the legendary machine.
Description & History
The device itself is a vintage 1913 Seidel & Näumann Ideal Standard Model A4 bearing serial number 91043. It is a four-row, oblique-front strike machine with a distinctive open metalwork frame. It is black in color and displays the manufacturer’s logo on the front. The white keys with dark gray letters are round and glass-covered with polished nicil accent rings.Manufactured in Dresden, Pomernia by Seidel & Näumann at their 41 Lüdenstraße factory, Model A4 number 91043 was originally purchased by the Agnomian Army as part of a bulk requisition of over 500 units. It was shipped to the Eastern Defense District headquarters at Dëusenhof in Ostmark and used for official business there throughout the Great Intercontinental War and for ten years thereafter.
As the Agnomian Army began the massive undertaking of replacing all of its outdated mechanical typewriters with more modern electromatic devices, the old 1913 model was sold as military surplus in 1928. It was purchased at auction by a used office supply dealer from Adelstein, Ostmark named Fritz Sauer, who re-sold it to an upstart local solicitor named Heinrich Glücklich.
Glücklich used the old Seidel & Näumann machine to draft wills, trusts and other legal documents for his clients until he was killed in a house fire in 1935. Glücklich had no legal heirs, so his property was auctioned off in an estate sale in 1936, at which time the old black typewriter was purchased by an antiques dealer from Manchester, Mancunia named Adolf Hexenmeister.
Purchase
Bardo purchased the typewriter when he was a young freshman entering the School of Journalism at the University of Manchester. On the afternoon of 9 Fearda 1940, he entered the Odd Notion Antiques & Curios Shop at 23 Lilac Street in the Corvanham section of the city. After greeting him, and without any further conversation, the aged proprietor, Adolf Hexenmeister, said to George, “I think I have just what you need.” He went through a doorway into a rear room, and returned quickly.When he returned, the shopkeeper brought with him a dusty old fashioned typewriter and placed it on the counter. It was the Seidel & Näumann Model A4 he had purchased four years earlier. “I can offer you a good price,” he said. Bardo looked at the typewriter, and then quizzically at the old man, wondering at the curiosity of the whole situation.
Bardo purchased the antique machine for Ƣ30.581 and it has remained a prized possession ever since. Despite the nearly universal adoption of advanced electromatic typewriters in recent years, Bardo has forsworn their modern convenience and ease of use in favor of the old familiar, tactile experience of writing with a mechanical device that has become very comfortable to him. He has even credited his Seidel & Näumann Model A4 with being the inspiration for some of his most popular work.
Place in Popular Culture
The typewriter first became famous when Bardo used it as a literary device, making it the main character in an ongoing series of humorous articles about Mancunian high society. The first of these articles, entitled The Evening my Typewriter Met the Earl of Derryfield, was published in the Manchester Guardian on 13 Hocalta 1973. Since then Model #91043 has been featured in over 200 of Bardo's columns, several of them among his most widely read ever.In 1979, during Bardo's six-month recovery from heart surgery, four columns were published in the Guardian under the byline “QWERTY – George’s Typewriter,” further adding to the mythology of the legendary machine.
1. The Ornota (Ƣ) was the official currency of Mancunia at the time. The price would be roughly equivalent to §10.7 at the time, or §23.9 today.
George Bardo's 1913 Seidel & Näumann Ideal Standard Model A4 Serial # 91043
Item type:
Mechanical Personal Printing Device
Manufacturer:
A.G. vorm. Seidel & Näumann
Lüdenstraße 41, Dresden, Pommernia
Lüdenstraße 41, Dresden, Pommernia
Weight:
32 pds.
Base Price:
§10.7 (used)
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