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The SM series ran from 1949 to 1972 across seven numbered generations. Each generation solved a problem the previous one had created. Read together they are a compact history of the post-war portable.
Overshadowed by the Royal Quiet De Luxe on the collector market, the Silent-Super is arguably the better typing machine. Here is what it does well, where it struggles, and how to buy one.
Between 1939 and 1955 Royal built more Quiet De Luxes than any other portable in the American market. Here is how to read the serial, spot the good years, and avoid the tired ones.
The best first portable is the one you will still be typing on in six months. Here are four machines that consistently reward beginners and four that consistently disappoint them.
Two hundred dollars will not buy you a museum piece. It will buy you a reliable daily writer that keeps you in the hobby past the first month. Here are five specific models and where to look.
Ernest Hemingway typed on one. Ian Fleming typed on one gold-plated. But the Quiet De Luxe's real achievement was making a serious portable typewriter feel like a proper writing instrument.