Hermes Media Portable Typewriter

Opening

There is something quietly extraordinary about a machine that types fractions. Most portable typewriters of the mid-twentieth century were built for letters, memos, and manuscripts and nothing more. This Hermes Media was built for something more precise: its keyboard carries dedicated fraction keys for ½, ¼, ¾, ⅝, ⅞, and ⅛, a specification that places it squarely in the world of technical and scientific correspondence, not the journalist's desk or the novelist's study.

The Object

The Hermes Media is a mid-sized portable mechanical typewriter, manufactured in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland by Paillard S.A. and housed in its original dark-coloured carrying case. The machine sits on a base plate secured by three fixing screws, with four rubber feet seating it precisely into leather-lined holes in the case, an engineering solution designed for travel without vibration damage. The outer shell carries the name HERMES in raised lettering across the top of the machine, and the badge MADE IN SWITZERLAND / paillard s.a. YVERDON on the rear panel, cast directly into the machine body and repeated on a separate affixed plate.

The keyboard is a standard QWERTY layout in the English arrangement, extended well beyond the standard complement. Beyond the alphabetic and punctuation keys, this machine carries a full set of fraction keys (½, ¼, ¾, ⅝, ⅞, ⅛), mathematical symbols (+ and =), a pound sign (£), and an underscore. A two-colour ribbon system (black and red) is controlled by a three-position switch on the right: position I for the upper (black) ribbon, position II for stencil mode with the ribbon disengaged, and position III for the lower (red) ribbon. The paper bail carries transparent card holders designed to secure cards and labels against the platen during typing, a feature absent from simpler portables of the period.

The serial number stamped on the underside of the base reads 2018220. Cross-referenced against the Typewriter Database serial number records for Hermes, and triangulated against confirmed dated examples (serial 20,656 from 1933; serial 2,046,794 from 1952), this machine sits firmly in the production range of approximately 1939 to 1945. The machine retains its original instruction booklet, published as booklet No. 501 (English edition) and printed in Switzerland by Paillard.

The Maker

Paillard S.A. of Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, has one of the most remarkable corporate histories in precision engineering. Founded in 1814 as a family firm making watch components and music box mechanisms, Paillard had already spent a century building miniature mechanical precision before it ever touched a typewriter. The company began developing typewriters in 1913 and launched the first machine under the Hermes name in 1923. Over 160,000 Hermes standard typewriters were produced between 1923 and 1953 alone.

The portable line began in earnest in 1932 with the Hermes 2000, an all-steel machine that established the company's reputation for engineering quality in a travel format. The Hermes Baby followed in 1935 and became one of the best-selling ultra-portable typewriters ever made. The Hermes Media was introduced in 1936 as a lighter, less expensive variant of the 2000, with a simplified feature set but the same fundamental Swiss mechanical quality. When the 2000 was reworked into the Hermes 3000 in 1958, later used by writers including Jack Kerouac, the Media was updated in parallel as the Hermes Media 3, priced at 100 Swiss francs less than the flagship. Paillard continued typewriter production at the Yverdon factory until 1989. The factory building still stands today, now occupied by offices and other tenants, with photographs on the walls as the only memorial to what was made there.

Paillard was not only a typewriter maker. The company also produced the legendary Bolex 16mm film cameras, precision optical instruments that became standard equipment in documentary and experimental filmmaking worldwide. That dual identity, precision writing machines alongside precision imaging machines, reflects a consistent corporate philosophy: tools for recording human experience, built to last.

The Dealer

The machine carries a dealer's label reading TAYLOR'S TYPEWRITER CO. LTD. / COMPLETE OFFICE FURNISHERS / 74 CHANCERY LANE, LONDON, W.C.2, stamped on the keyboard surround and reproduced inside the case. According to Graces Guide, Taylor's was established in 1884, making it one of Britain's longest-running typewriter and office equipment specialists. The presence of the Taylor's label on this machine confirms UK retail distribution through one of the country's most established office machine dealers, and by the time this machine was sold, Taylor's had been in business for over fifty years.

The Wartime Context

This machine was almost certainly manufactured between 1939 and 1945, placing its production squarely within the years of the Second World War. Switzerland's official neutrality throughout the conflict meant that Paillard's factory in Yverdon continued civilian production while manufacturing capacity across neighbouring countries was largely diverted to war industries. A Swiss-made precision portable typewriter leaving the Yverdon factory in, say, 1942 represents something genuinely unusual: a civilian consumer product built to peacetime standards in the middle of a continent at war.

This Copy

Several details distinguish this specific machine. The keyboard carries the extended professional fraction set, a configuration associated with technical, scientific, or commercial correspondence requiring regular fractional notation. Not all Hermes Media keyboards were specified this way; the fraction keys were an additional-cost feature ordered to meet particular professional requirements.

The original instruction booklet (No. 501, English edition, printed in Switzerland) survives with the machine. Survival of original documentation is uncommon for objects of this type, as booklets were typically discarded or lost within a few years of purchase. The Taylor's label appears in three locations: on the keyboard surround, inside the case lid, and on the booklet itself, confirming that the case and booklet are original to this machine and not later additions.

The carriage escapement is currently not advancing correctly, the ribbon is absent, and several keys are sticky. These are consistent with long-term storage rather than active use damage, and all are conditions a qualified typewriter technician can address.

Significance

The Hermes Media occupies a precise and interesting position in the history of the portable typewriter. It was never the flagship model, that was always the 2000 and later the 3000, but it was the machine that brought Swiss precision engineering within reach of a wider commercial market. The extended fraction keyboard on this example suggests it was specified for a particular professional environment, most likely a firm dealing in measurements, quantities, or technical documentation. Together with its Taylor's dealer label connecting it to a London trade lineage stretching back to 1884, and its original instruction booklet, this machine carries a richer documentary record than most surviving portables of its generation.