Olivetti Lettera 22
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Olivetti Lettera 22 is a portable mechanical typewriter designed by Marcello Nizzoli in 1949 or, according to the company's current owner Telecom Italia, 1950. This typewriter was very popular in Italy, and it still has many fans. It was awarded the Compasso d'oro prize in 1954. In 1959 the Illinois Institute of Technology chose the Lettera 22 as the best design product of the last 100 years.
In popular culture
The Olivetti Lettera 22 is mentioned on pg. 15 of Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel Inherent Vice.
The Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter was featured in the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
The novelist Will Self, poet and singer Leonard Cohen and actor Tom Hanks have expressed use and ownership of this typewriter.
Indro Montanelli, the famous Italian journalist and newspaper director, used his Lettera 22 almost everywhere. A monument in Milan's public gardens Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli, inspired from a famous photo of Montanelli from the 1950s, is dedicated to him and his Lettera 22.
German writer Günter Grass had three Olivetti Letteras, which he used exclusively at his homes in Portugal, Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and Denmark.
American writer Joan Didion mentions her Olivetti Lettera 22 in her book ‘’Where I Was From’’, recalling that she typed her 1963 novel ‘’Run River’’ on it.
William S. Burroughs replaced his Remington typewriter with a Lettera 22 in 1964.
Travel writer Jan Morris reported using an Olivetti Valentine, a bright red model of the Lettera, from the 1960s until she "entered the computer age.".
See also
- Olivetti typewriters (all models)
- Olivetti S.p.A.
