Typewriter pictures part 2: the Williams 2 Academy

Click here for part 1.

If you like the pictures, make sure to visit the website of the photographer: www.pimgeerts.nl

Shown on the pictures is my Williams 2 Academy (1906) sn 16576.

www.pimgeerts.nl

The Williams Typewriter Academy Model No 2 Foolscap

In my last post about the Williams Academy Typewriter, I pointed out that the address stamped on my machine corresponds with the address published in several post-1904 Williams advertisements. This means that the Williams Academy was probably made after 1904, and not in 1898, as previously mentioned on Will Davis' website.

Yesterday, I found an advertisement that was published regularly in the Irish Independent from April till May 1905. As far as I know, this is the only Williams advertisement that mentions the Academy model. The advertisement teaches us a lot about how this machine was marketed at the time (1905): 

"Six months ago we commenced selling our well-known WILLIAMS TYPEWRITER No. 2 at a discount of 40 per Cent from the established price. We not only reduced the price but added some new devices, thereby making the machine a little better than before. To distinguish from previous models we call it the Academy Model"

http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/

In the same advertisement, it is pointed out that the Academy model was on hire for 12 shilling and 6 dimes per month (roughly 50 dollars in todays US money). One year later, in 1906, a magazine called "The Shorthand World" placed a Williams advertisement according to which the company would "send a brand new latest model No 2 Williams Typewriter on two months trial at 12/6 per month". The Williams No. 2, however, was introduced in 1897, so it seems a bit weird to talk about it as if - nine years later - it was still the "brand new latest model". I think it is more probable that this advertisement was also about the Williams Academy.

I didn't find similar advertisements in old US papers, but on the internet, I found two pictures of the Williams Academy, made in USA: one on Flickr and the other one in the online Powerhouse Museum Collection.

Ah, and in case you wonder what is Foolscap: here is all you need to know.

Edit: I just received a copy of "Die Schreibmaschine und ihre Entwicklungsgeschichte", written by Ernst Martin (1949), and there it is (p. 129): "1904 erschien eine Neubearbeitung des Modells 2 zum preise von $ 65. Diese Maschine hatte jetzt die Verbesserungen des Modells 4, behielt indessen das dreireihige Tastenfeld bei."