1876.05.10 English
R. MALLING HANSEN’S
WRITING BALL
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK.
MAY 10, 1876[1]
MY DEAR BROTHER. - - THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER AND FOR THE TRANSLATION.[2] WE ARE DEEPLY GRATEFUL AND HAPPY THAT OUR DEAR MOTHER IS BETTER. THE TWO TODDLERS ARE GETTING BETTER; THE OTHERS HAVN’T YET CAUGHT THE DISEASE. THESE LINES WERE TYPED WITH A NEW MACHINE, WHOSE PISTONS HAVN’T YET BEEN PROPERLY ADJUSTED. IN PARTICULAR, THE TWO DOTS ABOVE Ö, Ü AND Ä ARE BAD.
I ALSO FIND THAT THE AMERICAN IS NOT RIGHT. I AM EXTREMELY THANKFUL FOR YOUR OFFER TO TRANSLATE A LETTER TO DENSMORE[3] INTO ENGLISH. HOWEVER, I WILL NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT BEFORE I HAVE HAD A LETTER FROM THE YOUNG ADLER[4] IN AMERICA. AMOS DENSMORE I SUPPOSE MUST BE A RELATIVE OF THE OLD DENS:[5] - NOW HE HAS, IN FACT, ACKNOWLEDGED TWO MAJOR POINTS, THAT MY MACHINE CAN BE FABRICATED AT A MUCH LOWER PRICE, AND THAT IT TYPES MORE NEATLY. THE DEFECTIVE TEXT THAT YOU HAVE KEPT WITH YOU HAS BEEN TYPED WITH AN AMERIC. MACHINE. THE REMINGTON FACTORY IN LONDON IS THE ENGLISH AGENT FOR THE AMERICAN. HOWEVER, I HAVE SEEN FAR MORE DEFICIENT TYPING SAMPLES FROM OTHER AGENTS AND FOR THE SAME MACHINE, EVEN IN CASES WHERETHE TEXT WAS MEANT TO BE RECOMMENDING SAMPLES FOR THE MACHINE. I HAVE HAD A GOOD OFFER FROM A SWEDISH NATIONAL[6], WHO ISWILLING TO INVEST 20000 KRONER IN THE PRODUCTION OF WRITING BALLSHERE IN COPENHAGEN AND TO RAISE ANOTHER 50000 KR. MY PAY WILL BE3000 KR AS DIRECTOR IN ADDITION TO 6 P. C[7] OF 50000 KR PER YEAR AND, BESIDES, 6 P. C. OF THE SALES PRICE OF EACH MACHINE. I DO HOPEFOR GOOD AND PROSPEROUS TIMES FOR THE WRITING BALL HENCEFORTH.
DON’T BUY JÖRGENSEN’S PUBLICATION, AT A CONVENIENT TIME YOU WILL GET IT FROM HERE. IT IS NOT DEVOID OF INTEREST, ALBEIT A TRIFLE HIGHFLOWN.
IT HAS NOW BEEN DECIDED TO HOLD A CONFERENCE ON SPECIALEDUCATION[8] IN STOCKHOLM FROM JUNE 30 UNTIL JULY 7. FROM HERE I EXPECT THAT I WILL PARTICIPATE, AS WELL AS JÖRGENSEN, STICHMANN, LASSEN, PETERSEN AND MISS ALLEN. THE OTHER INSTITUTES HERE WILL SENDA PROPORTIONAL NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS.
WARMEST REGARDS FROM ALL OF US TO ALL OF YOU DEARPEOPLE.
YOUR LOVING AND DEVOTED BROTHER
R. MALLING HANSEN
[1] JMC: This letter was typed on the writing ball. The stationery has a pre-printed vignette showing the writing ball. It is noteworthy that the pre-printed letterhead includes Denmark; this is an indication of RMH “going international” during this period. The transcription is faithful to the original, which has a narrow shape and rather peculiar division of words.
[2] JMC: Rasmus’ brother, Thomas Jens Jørgen Hansen (1837 – 1919) was a secondary school teacher and skilled in the English language. He helped, on many occasions, RMH with translations between Danish and English.
[3] JMC: James Densmore (died 1890) was one of the initiators behind the earliest typewriters in America. He worked together with his two brothers Amos and Emmet, as well as James’ stepson, and together they established the “Densmore & Densmore Company”, launching the Densmore typewriter type 1 into the market in 1891. However, much before that, in 1878, the Densmore family is working with Sholes & Glidden to produce the Remington 2 model, launched in that year.
[4] JMC: Possibly, this may be the German national Adler who later on returned to Germany and in 1900 designed and produced his own “Adler” brand of typewriters, the model 7.
[5] JMC: Amos Densmore (1825 – 1898) was a younger brother of James D.
[6] JMC: Unfortunately we do not know the identity of this investor
[7] JMC: The translation keeps the original expression ‘P.C.’ instead of the modern %
[8] JMC: The current term at the time, in Danish, was “Abnorme-møde”, in other words meeting around
‘abnormal education’ which was a broad term covering everything we today understand as ‘special
education’.
