Deputy Mayor Angela Dobbins and an army of volunteers offload 140 typewriters from a Translink bus. Pix by Little Acorns Bookstore
But at the weekend it had a different kind of passenger – 140 typewriters with the help of a group of volunteers.
The collection of typewriters of all shapes, sizes and colours at Little Acorns Bookstore, which moved to its new home in Great James Street from the former shop in Foyle Street, has been popular hit since it started in 12 years ago.
Speaking on BBC Radio Foyle’s Mark Patterson show, shop owner Jenni Doherty said she needed some help moving the vast collection to their new home in Great James Street.
“Some people collect shoes, some people collect cars, but for me, I collect typewriters,” Ms Doherty said.
“I actually didn’t realise how many I had until I counted them all up.
Ms Doherty estimates the collection in their old location housed about 135 typewriters, not counting the ones she had to store at home due to a lack of space.
The independent bookstore owner received her very first typewriter at the age of seven as a Christmas present.
And since Jenni has been an avid collector.
The typewriter enthusiast said her collection has grown and grown over the years, mainly thanks to kind donations from people in the north west.
“I have had people simply donate to the collection over the years because they find an old typewriter in the attic and don’t know what to do with them,” she said.
“I’ve even had some people even come in with them and swapped them for some books.”
Some prized items in the collection include a typewriter used by the Field Day Theatre Group started by Brian Friel and actor Stephen Rea in the 1980s.
Other typewriters, some of which are more rare, are the ones with Irish language script – which she said takes pride of place in the collection.
These typewriters were donated by Irish Language children’s author Myra Zeph, whgich belonged to her late father, Roger Blaney.
Ms Doherty hopes to invite Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Tom Hanks to the typewriter museum in their new location in the near future.
Mr Hanks, as well as being a Hollywood A-lister, also boasts a massive collection of vintage typewriters, which he has amassed since he began collecting in the 1970s.
He said he is always on the lookout for weird and wonderful varieties of typewriters.
The actor previously published a book of short stories inspired by his personal collection of vintage typewriters.
Translink supplied a bus for volunteers on Friday afternoon to place the typewriters on the seats and let them be whisked away safely to the new bookstore location.
Ms Doherty said some volunteers even had the honour of placing the very typewriter that they previously donated to the collection on the bus.
She thanked Translink for their huge help in making the event so successful and also said she is indebted to the vast amount of volunteers who turned up, describing them as her “type of people”.
Tags: