The Royal P with Vogue Typeface - The Rarest Typewriter.

Hemingway Jones · Jul 2, 2014

This is the circa 1930 Royal P typewriter with Vogue typeface. It is perhaps the rarest typewriter from US companies.

Mine is a lovely Duotone brown into tan color. It is far from perfect, but types well.

Vogue was a Jazz Age typeface meant to be edgy and modern in its day and now is charmingly associated with the Art Deco era. This is the font of a dinner invitation from Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, the same font used for skyscrapers, and magazines of the era; perhaps even Vogue.

These are very difficult to find and becoming more so with jewelry makers and Steampunk aficionados destroying much of the available stock of old typewriters. This typeface was on very few machines even then.

I have searched for one of these for a very long time.

I am sharing this with you all for fans of typefaces and typewriters. I hope that you enjoy it.

DeaconKC · Jul 3, 2014

Man, that is so classy, I don't even know where to begin! I'm going to have to re-read all my Nero Wolfe novels again!

vintage.vendeuse · Jul 3, 2014

Wow, love both the typewriter and the typeface!

:love::love::love::love:

DesertDan · Jul 3, 2014

That is beyond cool!

Hemingway Jones · Jul 3, 2014

Thank you all. It is an awesome machine and I cannot get over the typeface.

Flat Foot Floey · Jul 3, 2014

Amazing. The letters look so cool it would almost be worth the while if the letter was just gibberish.

1930artdeco · Jul 3, 2014

How does one know if this type face is in a machine, short of knowing which machines it came in?

Mike

Hemingway Jones · Jul 3, 2014

1930artdeco said:
How does one know if this type face is in a machine, short of knowing which machines it came in?

I think I understand your question.
The easiest way to know if it is in a machine is to type with it, obviously.
If it is on an auction house and you cannot, then I would restrict my search to the Royal P. This typeface was designed for these machines and so the law of averages favors you restricting the search to them. Nevertheless, the typeface could possibly be on any machine made between 1929 and 1955 or so; it could be special order, but in the vast majority of cases, it wasn't. I only know of Walter Gropius' Royal HHs having this beside a Royal P.
Ask for a type sample or look at the keys and if they have serifs, or feet, it's not Vogue.

Hemingway Jones · Jul 3, 2014

Looks like a very similar type has appeared on a Royal Aristocrat! http://cambridgetypewriter.blogspot.com/2011/11/rare-art-deco-typestyle.html

Leave it to my friend, Tom Furrier of Cambridge Typewriter to find this one.

He also lists its official name with Royal: "Modern Pica Block RA 280."

BTW, I highly recommend a visit to Tom's shop in Arlington, MA on Mass Ave right on the Cambridge line. He is a wonderful guy and has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things typewriter.

Talbot · Jul 6, 2014

Simply beautifull. Is the letter spacing specific to this font also, or is it a machine setting?

Hemingway Jones · Jul 7, 2014

Talbot said:
Simply beautifull. Is the letter spacing specific to this font also, or is it a machine setting?

The spacing is fairly wide and the font is a pica typeface, which is relatively larger. On the Ps it always looks like this, but were it on an Aristocrat or an HH, it may look different.

BrooklynGirl · Oct 19, 2014

I bought a Royal typewriter online and it has this typeface. The serial number begins with C so it's a Royal Arrow made between 1940-41. I thought that all manual typewriters had Courier font because I don't remember EVER seeing one with anything different. Imagine my shock when I started typing. I think it hasn't been used in a long time because when I started typing on it, the carriage wouldn't advance at all. It's doing better now that I've been using it for a bit, but it sticks a little bit when you get to the middle of the page, so I probably need to take it to get cleaned.

Anyway, thanks for this information! I'm going to look for more info on this font.

Hemingway Jones · Oct 19, 2014

BrooklynGirl said:
I bought a Royal typewriter online and it has this typeface. The serial number begins with C so it's a Royal Arrow made between 1940-41. I thought that all manual typewriters had Courier font because I don't remember EVER seeing one with anything different. Imagine my shock when I started typing. I think it hasn't been used in a long time because when I started typing on it, the carriage wouldn't advance at all. It's doing better now that I've been using it for a bit, but it sticks a little bit when you get to the middle of the page, so I probably need to take it to get cleaned.

Anyway, thanks for this information! I'm going to look for more info on this font.

Well done! Post some photos of the machine and the typeface. I'd love to see it.

BrooklynGirl · Oct 19, 2014

Hemingway Jones said:
Well done! Post some photos of the machine and the typeface. I'd love to see it.

Absolutely! This is my first typewriter so I was excited anyway. However, knowing it has a superpower makes it even more special to me. I'll try to take pics tomorrow.

BrooklynGirl · Oct 22, 2014

It's been really overcast here and the flash only highlighted how much I need to clean up my typewriter (there's some sticker residue on the spacebar and the case needs to be wiped out). Anyway, I did take a pic of the typeface but after 45 minutes of troubleshooting, I just saw that I don't have permission to post attachments. I'm not sure why (maybe my low post count?). I'll check with the admins.

Hemingway Jones · Oct 23, 2014

Yup. You need to post more. You could email it to hemingwayjones@mac.com. I'd appreciate it!

LadyBaltimore · Nov 4, 2014

Damn, typewriter envy over here! What a beauty! And that typeface is just the icing on the cake.

I have a 1930s Royal Portable, and just bought a early 1960s Remington Quiet Riter which I hope will be a bit more reliable than my Royal, because I really do use these for writing, but who knows. I think I read on here, that out of the 1940s-1950s came some of the most solid and reliable typewriters and they used cheaper materials henceforth, but fingers crossed, I'm not expert and mostly I'm drawn to a certain aesthetic and the way a typewriter looks before I even worry about function.

Hemingway Jones · Nov 5, 2014

LadyBaltimore said:
Damn, typewriter envy over here! What a beauty! And that typeface is just the icing on the cake...

Thank you for the kind comments.

What's wrong with your Royal?

Most typewriters were pretty solid before 1965 and even as plastic was introduced they did not become more uniformly cheaply made until the late 60s. I have a Royal Safari and it's great, plastic? Yes, but it is very warm and precise. I'm not a fan of the Magic Margin though. The Olympias of the mid 50s had some cheaper parts but we're among the best machines ever made.

Good luck with the Remington. I don't know much about those at all. Report back what you think.

The Royal P with Vogue Typeface - The Rarest Typewriter.

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