History
When Tee was working at Shakespeare and Company in Paris, they started repairing the old typewriters in the Shakes & Co library and wrote a little article for the shop blog which they titled “Typewrongers.” As a result of this and various other typographical exploits word got out that they could repair these machines. Tee typed up business cards that read “Typewronger – Paris’s Only Typewriter Mechanic” and registered typewronger.com so if folk asked them about typewriters at work they could give out their contact details easily. When the time came for Tee to return to Scotland to start their own shop they kept the name (it’s a good name!)
Booksellers are not typically very wealthy people, so to start the shop Tee had to find a space that wasn’t too pricey. After doing some voluntary work at St Margaret’s House (a wonderful Edinburgh arts centre with over 200 studios) Tee discovered the Leith Walk Police Box. They set up shop there on the 5th of November 2017 selling a selection of second hand books. Within two weeks they had an account with the UK’s main book wholesaler and could offer new books and even offered customer ordering. Typewronger would pop up every Sunday, with Tee and their friends transporting boxes of books, a carpet, folding bookshelves, a table and even an armchair from Tee’s flat so that customers would have a place to browse the books in comfort en plein air.
The pop-up was a great success, in part because though it was done with very little money it was done with a lot of energy and attention to detail. Harriet Bruce, an artist Tee knew from their time in Paris, made a lino-cut stamp which customers could have put in their book to remind them where they got it. Local artist Jo Robson created the artwork for bookmarks that would be included in each purchase, and the shop even offered free wrapping (with brown paper and string) and little origami animals Tee would fold at home in advance. Today the shop stamp is a rubberised version of that first linocut, the bookmarks, and even the shoestring brown paper gift-wrapping is still on the go and everybody who works at Typewronger has to learn to make our four origami animals: the frog, shark, dragon and elephant!
Though the pop-up shop was tremendous fun, Tee still had to work the other six days in the week to keep going. Five of those were spent in a call center, but one day a week they worked for McNaughtans, Scotland’s oldest antiquarian bookshop. Established in 1957, Major McNaughtan and his wife occupied number 3a Haddington place, furnishing the shop with various bits of 19th century shelving bought from other bookshops that were closing down at the time. The Major died soon after, but his wife Marjorie continued to run the shop with her assistant, Elizabeth Strong. Elizabeth bought the shop, and subsequently bought the shop next door, number 4a. After knocking through an archway between the two premises she used it for a number of purposes before eventually settling on creating an art gallery, which it remained until it was bought by Derek Walker and Anna Fomicheva. Derek and Anna kept the gallery for a couple of years, but when they realised Tee was looking for their own premises they offered to rent out the gallery space. The deal was struck – Tee would stick to new books, McNaughtans would stick to old books, and between the two of them create a bibliographical offering unique in Edinburgh!
When the shop first opened the back part was curtained off as we still couldn’t afford enough books to fill all the shelves! For the first year Tee worked every shift, with the shop open 11am-9pm Tuesday-Sunday. On Mondays Tee could often be spotted nipping into the closed bookshop to take in deliveries/do cleaning and suchlike.
The shop began to grow, as more and more folk found out about us and our community expanded. Eventually we got to the point at which we could afford to hire more staff, and McNaughtans were at that stage too! We advertised a position working for both shops, and one applicant stood out from the start. Elsa presented us with an origami elephant they’d made (the most difficult of the Typewronger origami) and a CV typed up on a typewriter they’d bought from the shop a few months previously. With Elsa on staff the shop was finally able to open every day and Tee could take a full two days off a week (in theory!) Not only that, it was finally time to bring down the curtains to open up more room for our poetry and zine sections (which were already beginning to take over the rest of the shop!)
In 2020 there was a global pandemic. The world shut down, and during lockdown Elsa was furloughed and Tee grabbed the shop’s computer, the plants, and most essentially the shop gong (an open mic essential) and ran the shop from their bedroom across town. Our wholesaler was able to send out book orders on our behalf, we ran online open mic nights through our YouTube channel, and fielded Skype calls from our regular customers who missed coming in for a chat. Tee would bike across to the shop once a week to write things on the windows and sweep the steps so that passers by knew we were still in business.
Eventually we were able to start operating a pickup service from the shop, and Tee moved the desk and computer into the doorway. Occasionally we made an outdoor shop on the steps outside where customers could browse safetly, and sent books all over town with a local cycle courier. Eventually we were able to reopen, masked up and limiting numbers coming in to the shop. Around this time a student called Viv took to swinging by. She sold so many books chatting to customers that of course we had to hire her, and she stuck around for four years. Viv, if you’re reading this, we miss you!
In 2022 we started renting a studio at St Margaret’s House again – back where it all began five years before! After various nudges from Ce Simonis at riso des bois, Tee purchased a risograph machine with four ink drums. Over the next few years our colour palete grew and today we have nine drums. Tee started teaching intro-to-riso zine-making workshops, printing a bunch of zines for folk, and today the studio is a fully-fledged part of the business.
In 2024 Typewronger incorporated as a Community Interest Company – the shop never really just belonged to Tee, and it made sense to move into a structure that fits what we do. There are now three directors – Tee, Elsa & Alex – we’re a not for profit social enterprise, more of which you can find out about in our mission statement.
I’m going to stop writing now, as I should probably go and do something more useful like dust a shelf or have a cup of tea with a customer. As the slightly crazed human who started all of this I want to thank everyone who has ever had anything to do with the shop – thank you! We have all kinds of plans for our future – so stay tuned!
– TSJH