1874.06.05 English

                                                                       C O P E N H A G E N   JUNE 5, 1874

 

 

 

 

                                               MY DEAR BROTHER!

 

 

 

MY BELOWED WIFE AND OUR SMALL NO.6 ARE – THANK GOD – BOTH VERY WELL.  _  ONCE MORE I TAKE THE LIBERTY OF SENDING YOU ATTACHED A PIECE OF AMERICAN BALL WRITING, OR RATHER TYPEWRITING, BEING THIS A MORE APPROPRIATE TERM; HE USES NO BALL; HIS MACHINE IS AN IMPROVEMENT OF A TYPEWRITER EXHIBITED MANY YEARS AGO AT THE FIRST FRENCH WORLD EXHIBITION. I AM COUNTING ON YOUR BROTHERLY SUPPORT TO HELP ME TRANSLATE[1] THESE LINES, THAT I HAVE RECEIVED FROM BROTHER-IN-LAW JOHAN IN CHICAGO.

 

 

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE IS ATTACHED, JOHAN WRITES THAT IN HIS VIEW – HE HAS SEEN IT – IT IS VERY INFERIOR COMPARED TO THE WRITING BALL.[3]

 

 

 

FONDEST GREETINGS FROM ALL OF US TO ALL OF YOU DEAR PEOPLE.

 

 

 

 

                                               YOUR DEEPLY DEVOTED BROTHER

 

 

 

 

                                               R. MALLING HANSEN

 

 

[1] It is difficult for us to understand in today’s world, but Rasmus Malling-Hansen could not read English. In spite of the fact that he was a trained teacher and also Bachelor of Divinity and had travelled widely in the world with the writing ball, his English language skills were so limited that he was not even able to read the brochure concerning a competing product, which had been sent to him. With hindsight, it is even more incomprehensible that he does not simply make the effort to learn the language. He must have mastered German, Latin and Greek. Alternatively, it seems odd that nobody else at the school for deaf and dumb could help him to read the brochure? It is hard to fathom – Christian Barnholdt.

[2] It must be his wife’s brother, apparently in Chicago - what might he been doing there? SA: He was working as a minister.

[3] It is a pity that RMH does not mention the product. We do know for a fact that the Remington machine appeared in 1873 and turned out to deal a deathblow to the Writing Ball. If this is indeed the Remington typewriter, it appears that RMH is neglecting all danger signals.