You just have to keep in mind that in 1964 we were still living on carbon paper in offices, as we were when I worked there in the 70’s. So much of time what would determine type, and it’s why standard Pica and Elite were so popular, was how the type would work with multiple carbons. A ‘heavy’ typestyle, while very attractive, might not be usable on more than one carbon. I can remember in the 70’s that my favorite Selectric style was Bookface Academic. However, most of my medical work was an original and 4-6 carbons, and BA just wouldn’t work for it. Back to plain Pica!
Newbie question: I have a newly acquired Hermes 3000 with the Techno font. How would I determine if it pica, special or elite according to the image above?
type out an inch of type and count how many letters. Also, if your paper scale only goes to about 85, it’s pica, if it goes up to 110-120 it’s elite. That’s the fast way to tell.
I have a 66’script model from which I can tell has barely been used. Are these of any use in commercial writing? I’ve never seen a machine with such beautiful type. Thank you.
I have a 1965 Hermes 3000, but while I can see that it has a Pica typeface, I can’t really see the difference between the Small Pica, Director Pica, or Pica. What is distinctive about each of them? Is the height of the type?
Martyn — I don’t know about those typefaces, but I’m told that the difference between Techno Pica (typeslug code: S TP) and Techno Pica Special (typeslug code: s TP) is that the Special is 1/64th of an inch shorter.
I have a 1968 Hermes 3000 with “S TP” on its typeslugs. Does this mean the face is 10-pitch Techno Pica? Would the somewhat smaller 10-pitch Techno Special be “S TS”?
I have a Hermes 3000 typewriter with Pica font. I would love to get this typeface on my computer. Does anyone know of a font available on the internet that mimics this, or any other Hermes 3000 fonts?
Thanks for sharing all these pictures of the NOMDA Blue Book. They are really useful for research on typewriter fonts. I am currently looking for information about the typeface Epoca and there’s is something that doesn’t match my records in this picture. Setag mentions they’ve released Epoca in 1968 but the specimen here is from 1964 and includes a sample of Epoca. Can you please confirm this image is from a book from 1964? Thanks!
It’s from a 1964 NOMDA book, and these were binders that NOMDA would send updates for several times a year. These updates are dated, and you can see from the “6-70” at the bottom of each page that these pages are updates from June, 1970. (:
In the typesample, it indicates some typefaces were ‘proportionally spacing’. Does anyone know what machines by Hermes were ‘proportionally spacing’? Other than the IBM Executive and the Olivetti Graphika, I do not know of any other proportionally spacing machines.
proportional-spacing typewriters also include the IBM Selectric Composer (electric and electronic versions), Some Wheelwriters and a few hybrid electromechanical/electronic golfball machines like the Model 85, Olivetti-Underwood had the Raphael, Remington had the Statesman and Hermes had the Varia. There were also every variant of the Varityper and some Hammonds. If you go way back, there were a few very rare mechanical ones from the turn of the century, but I forget which.
oh, also Xerox Memorywriter (top-end models) and really most manufacturers of Daisywheel machines had a top-end model that could take roportionally-spaced typewheels in the 90’s.
You just have to keep in mind that in 1964 we were still living on carbon paper in offices, as we were when I worked there in the 70’s. So much of time what would determine type, and it’s why standard Pica and Elite were so popular, was how the type would work with multiple carbons. A ‘heavy’ typestyle, while very attractive, might not be usable on more than one carbon. I can remember in the 70’s that my favorite Selectric style was Bookface Academic. However, most of my medical work was an original and 4-6 carbons, and BA just wouldn’t work for it. Back to plain Pica!
Is there a Small Director Elite by any chance? I have S DE on my slugs and the don’t is tiny. Ty! 1964 model.
Hi There, I can’t seem to tell the difference between Director Pica and Director Special. Any tricks? Ty!
Special is the Elite version of the typeface in Pica spacing.
Newbie question: I have a newly acquired Hermes 3000 with the Techno font. How would I determine if it pica, special or elite according to the image above?
type out an inch of type and count how many letters. Also, if your paper scale only goes to about 85, it’s pica, if it goes up to 110-120 it’s elite. That’s the fast way to tell.
Look at the center of each type slug. TP = Techno Pica.
Terrific font guide! I was trying to figure out which font I had on my Hermes and thanks to you I know now that it is Techo Pica. Thanks again.
Mr. Munk, thank you for posting this .. I can’t tell you how many times I have accessed this page to review a Hermés typeface. Such a valuable page. D
I have a 66’script model from which I can tell has barely been used. Are these of any use in commercial writing? I’ve never seen a machine with such beautiful type. Thank you.
I have a 1965 Hermes 3000, but while I can see that it has a Pica typeface, I can’t really see the difference between the Small Pica, Director Pica, or Pica. What is distinctive about each of them? Is the height of the type?
Martyn — I don’t know about those typefaces, but I’m told that the difference between Techno Pica (typeslug code: S TP) and Techno Pica Special (typeslug code: s TP) is that the Special is 1/64th of an inch shorter.
I have a 1968 Hermes 3000 with “S TP” on its typeslugs. Does this mean the face is 10-pitch Techno Pica? Would the somewhat smaller 10-pitch Techno Special be “S TS”?
Yes.
I have a Hermes 3000 typewriter with Pica font. I would love to get this typeface on my computer. Does anyone know of a font available on the internet that mimics this, or any other Hermes 3000 fonts?
I just purchased one, and it looks like it says S PF, or S PP. Does anyone know what means?
Thanks!
“S PP” is Petit Pica, one of my favorites.
Thanks for sharing all these pictures of the NOMDA Blue Book. They are really useful for research on typewriter fonts. I am currently looking for information about the typeface Epoca and there’s is something that doesn’t match my records in this picture. Setag mentions they’ve released Epoca in 1968 but the specimen here is from 1964 and includes a sample of Epoca. Can you please confirm this image is from a book from 1964? Thanks!
It’s from a 1964 NOMDA book, and these were binders that NOMDA would send updates for several times a year. These updates are dated, and you can see from the “6-70” at the bottom of each page that these pages are updates from June, 1970. (:
Great! Thanks, it makes sense if it is an update from 1970 :)
In the typesample, it indicates some typefaces were ‘proportionally spacing’. Does anyone know what machines by Hermes were ‘proportionally spacing’? Other than the IBM Executive and the Olivetti Graphika, I do not know of any other proportionally spacing machines.
proportional-spacing typewriters also include the IBM Selectric Composer (electric and electronic versions), Some Wheelwriters and a few hybrid electromechanical/electronic golfball machines like the Model 85, Olivetti-Underwood had the Raphael, Remington had the Statesman and Hermes had the Varia. There were also every variant of the Varityper and some Hammonds. If you go way back, there were a few very rare mechanical ones from the turn of the century, but I forget which.
oh, also Xerox Memorywriter (top-end models) and really most manufacturers of Daisywheel machines had a top-end model that could take roportionally-spaced typewheels in the 90’s.
Any idea what S11 6 means?
One of my Hermes 3000 has this code on the typeslug = S11 6
I cannot find a code breaker to explain the 11 after the S
Hello, I too have S11-6 on the slugs of my 1964 Rocket. Can anyone tell me what that means? Thanks for this wonderful resource