Today’s post is written on a very nice item in my collection: a beautiful Olivetti Lettera 32.
These are very well regarded machines, and with good reason. It is well built; it has an aesthetically pleasing design; it is light and compact (by the standards of typewriters), but without being flimsy; despite the small size it has full-size typewriter features. The particular machine I have arrived in close to pristine condition, something that you absolutely cannot take for granted with typewriters. It is less of an endorsement than it used to be, but the author Cormac McCarthy famously wrote all his books on one of these Olivettis.
I don’t like writing on mine. The size and shape and spacing of the keys does not get along well with my hands.
It is an objectively well made machine, but it just does not work well for me. That’s a good lesson to remember. “Good” and “good for me” are too different things.
I suppose I should sell it. But it’s hard to let go of something nice, even when it is ill-fitting.