Long before Woody Allen wrote the screenplay for Vicky, Christina, Barcelona (Rebecca Hall is superb as Vicky, so how come she didn’t get top billing?) I’ve wanted to visit Barcelona.
Not that I can really afford such a trip. What I can afford to do (just) is fritter my hard-earned dollars on Barcelona-related items like this 1972 typewriter …
Apparently, Woody prefers his typewriters topless
I may have raised expectations in my last post, sorry, but to me this Lettera 32 deserves top-billing. Its typing feel is looser than that of my “squishier, snappier” Glaswegian Lettera 22, but that’s no bad thing, and I can type more quickly and more accurately on the ’32’s finger-friendly square keys.
Both these typewriters share the same Universal Pica typeface and I love them equally.
Although the ’22 and the ’32 may look similar upon first glance, there are plenty of subtle differences in their body shape, paper rests, keytops, etc.
Viewed from behind they look very alike …
Apart from the carriage ends of course …
Another Barcelona-related typewriter purchase I made recently was this pin …
Designed by Javier Mariscal, Cobi was the official mascot of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, and is generally recognised as being the most commercially successful Olympic mascot ever.
The list of sponsorship partners who paid to have their products endorsed by this cheeky Catalan Sheepdog (in Cubist style inspired by the interpretations of Picasso of a masterpiece from Velázquez, Las Meninas) included such corporate heavyweights as Coca-Cola, Kodak, Xerox, IBM, and, as shown here, Brother.
Seems like the ’92 ‘Games organisers struck a rich vein of gold!
Cathy Freeman didn’t win a medal in ’92, but she knows GOLD when she sees it, and so do I…
(The typewriter I mean, not the pin!)
E.T.ZONE 
Sounds like a fantastic trip!
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Thanks. That’s a very good comparison you’ve made.
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Under the hood, the 22 and 32 are different as chalk and cheese. If you bought them today, the 32 would cost $1000 and the 22 would cost $5500! The 22 has a full cast-alloy chassis, eccentric ball bearing and stainless-steel rod supported carriage, multiple bellcrank articulation, locking basket-shift, full-length comb line-lock, and many other extremely complex and fascinating engineering design elements. The 32 is pressed steel, simple as a pencil sharpener in comparison, much cheaper to build, but offering a surprisingly good typing experience for such a modest outlay.
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Not only was I just in Barcelona, but I visited Las Meninas in Madrid! Didn’t come away with any typewriters, though.
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I once went to a market in Barcelona to look for a typewriter! I did find a few, but negotiations broke down… Too expensive, alas…
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That Olivetti is sure in great condition. The Italian and Spanish ones seem to stand up to time almost freakishly well.
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Rather oddly, I have seen the prices of the 32 come down in the UK since I started collecting about a year ago. Time to try one out! I love my Glaswegian-made 22 too.
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