Typewriter Video Series Episode 420: Royal O or Royal Varsity

It's difficult to choose between these two pre-war portable typewriters, one has more features while the other is smaller and lighter.

[@AtelierDBurgoyne]

I really like that you covered the different pitch of the bells. ❤

[@andrewnicholls3730]

Two beautiful machines. But what impresses me Joe is how you handle the typewriters. You really know how to operate them and your knowledge shines through. Love all of your content. Great stuff!!

[@dadtype2339]

Hi Joe, I love watching you Type, it's inspiring. Good to see the Royal O up and running. You're absolutely right, it's much easier to write on a machine you like the looks of, and/or feel, I think of it as like the machine is talking some you can understand and enjoy listening to, the way they make you feel. Absolutely, it's how I feel about 3 I've been favoring right now, My '59 Hermes 3000, '64 SCM Galaxie Deluxe, and the 1990 brother EP-43. Been using all three to write a cosmic horror, most of which was written with the brother thermal typewriter it's nearing 200 pages, single spaced and about 150 of those pages are thermal. When you got a machine you click with, enjoy it, truly a beautiful amalgamation of thought, mind, body, soul, and machine, to paper. I have a big project coming up and it will call the need of my Hermes 3000 and so I'll be doing a full service cleaning on it, and I'll be using the repair manual I got for it by Ted Munk and feel I'll be able to do it a bit more confident now with that, thank you for the link to that and the other repair manuals I picked up. The ill dispatch you a clean new letter from that Hermes machine before I work on a Top Secret highly classified project, can't tell much as it will spoil it, but it's definitely going to be a great recreation of documents that will make you swear time travel was involved. Very excited about that project. I think if I had to pick between the two, I would probably go with the O, as it's a better fit, I like the way it looks and sounds over the varsity. But hard to tell over the Internet, it's not until a physical contact has been made to make a final decision, although I had always loved the Hermes 3000 only ever saw one online, but I knew I'd love it....well in truth, that not exactly correct, I did see and type on one in an antique store a good 25-30 years ago. It's seafoam green and curvy body just sang to me. Looking back it was $60 bucks and I remember thinking wow that's a lot of money for an old Typewriter. Fate had it that I would own one eventually. Okay, back to work.

[@christophermckellar1352]

Thanks, Joe. Nice comparison. Always good to have a post from you!

[@brendablomberg8483]

I like both of them

[@saulysw]

I like the Varsity, but I think I’d miss the bichrome ability. Both nice machines though and a pleasure to watch you go over them.

[@herik1263]

Thanks Joe for the comparison of these two machines. the varsity is really small. I found one for sale but at a crazy price. I also found a royal companion for sale, it looks like a mix between the varsity and the model "O".

[@avq5]

As a fan of pre-war Royal portables I really enjoyed this comparison. There was also a hybrid version of these two models called the Companion, same body as the Varsity but with a margin release key, color selector and the curved space bar. It also came in a very nice brown textured finish with chrome trim.

[@vermontmike9800]

I love that Varsity…must find one in the wild.

[@user-zt5xz5fz4q]

I ❤ only the almighty Allah.

[@elliotwhite32]

Textured finish for the win

[@dm1523]

Very nice look at these. I don’t have either, but have a Royal Deluxe (not quite Deluxe). Interesting to see the close similarities and not so obvious differences.

[@douglasjackson9058]

I own them both! Thanks for the comparison 😁

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

The model O is lovely and is more refined with more features. I'd choose it, if forced to pick one.

[@abitofearth]

Great video! Very informative, I own the Royal Portable Type “O”. Would it be possible to make a video comparing that model to the type “O” shown here?

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

🌎👍❤

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

like the music! who does your nails?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Me!

[@user-zt5xz5fz4q]

J❤e for president of the U.S.A..

[@hyun-shik7327]

It would be nice if you stopped down your aperture a little so both your face and the typewriters would be in focus at the same time.

[@joaoalbertodosanjosgomes1536]

Who does your makeup to be nice on the video?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

No makeup! Though, because of my skin condition, I’ve been tempted to use some.