HARLAN'S TYPEWRITER

Please visit The Open Sale hosted by David Silver for more information about this historic item.



HARLAN ELLISON
- Tuesday, August 31 2010 16:11:35

HARLAN'S TYPEWRITER
Harlan was born in 1934. His first real typewriter was a Remington noiseless portable, circa 1936-1940. In 1949, Harlan's father died, and Harlan and his mother moved from Painesville to Cleveland, Ohio. Harlan's mother worked at the B'nai B'rith second-hand resale thrift shop, and Harlan had three jobs, because they were broke. This is not a sob story; it is no different than the stories each of you can tell. It is merely background history.

Harlan's Mother, Serita Ellison, encouraged her son's writing enthusiasm, and his love of science fiction, and sometime between 1949 and 1951, she bought for an unknown sum, the Remington portable noted above. At the thrift shop. And she brought it home to Harlan. You know what happened from then until now. The books, the stories, the tv shows, the movies, the spoken word albums, the adventures...the misadventures.

Harlan switched to Olympias in 1952 approximately, and the old Remington in its case was put in storage. Harlan wrote his earliest stories on that Remington, as well as his fanzine, DIMENSIONS. Comparison of the typefaces from the Remington and "Dimensions, issue #15, August-October 1954" authenticate that they are the same.

Harlan did not see (or think about) his first adult typewriter until (circa) late in 2003, when Harlan's niece, Lisa Rubin (daughter of Harlan's recently-deceased sister, Beverly) found the storage bin in which Harlan's mother had packed away items no longer needed. Lisa shipped it to Harlan in Los Angeles, something like 60 years after Harlan used it.

In early 2004, Harlan was solicited by the SF Museum in Seattle for "historic or pivotal" items bearing on his career, so he could be included in their exhibitions in the SF Hall of Fame (a part of Paul Allen's Experience Museum). In April of 2004 Harlan sent 5 items, one of which "on loan" was the 1936-1940 era Remington portable typewriter, still in its battered case.

The period of exhibition ended with the Museum in 2009. It was on display till 2010. It has been returned to Harlan, packed and ready for storage...or shipment.

It was insured by Marsh USA Inc. from 2004 'til 2009 as "fine Art," valued at $5000. Five thousand dollars.

Harlan wants to sell it to the highest bidder, who will then likely resell it for a great deal more money in a catalogue or e.marketplace site.

Harlan asks for your collective mind to use your smarts about The System of Sale that will best, and most easily, make the biggest buck for Harlan and his wife.

Harlan is ADAMANT that he doesn't want to get into the deep-pockets of his general readers or friends. He needs advice how to BEST start up the machine that will conclude its efforts with some INSTITUTIONAL or BUSINESS entity, some fat cat, giving him a gigantic wad of dough.

Harlan asks that you decide among yourselves a code-word thread, or site, or whatever, and the most cogent among you as Ombudsman or Trail-Boss or Co-ordinator, whatever, who will get the preceding out to as many chop-licking entities as possible.

Let it begin. I am, genuinely, deep in your debt.

Yr. Pal, Harlan


HARLAN ELLISON
- Tuesday, August 31 2010 16:16:33

P.S. TO HARLAN'S TYPEWRITER

I forgot to mention: I have all the paperwork, provenance, and verifications of the preceding post in a folder, right here.

Yr. Pal, Harlan


Return to the Harlan Ellison Art Deco Dining Pavilion

HarlanEllison.com is under new management. Thank you to Rick Wyatt for his many years of dutiful stewardship of this site.