This is the world's first commercially produced typewriter, the Malling-Hansen "Writing Ball", produced in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1867.
The Writing Ball's most famous user - but definitely not its happiest - was the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. "Hurrah! The machine has arrived at my house!" he wrote to his sister on 11 February 1882, upon the delivery of the machine he had ordered for 375 Danish krone.
Suffering from failing eyesight, Nietzsche had hoped that the new invention would allow him to write more easily. Despite his initial excitement, Nietzsche eventually gave up on the complex machine after it was accidentally damaged during a trip to Genoa, Italy....
.....though not before commemorating his struggle to learn to use it in verse:
"The writing ball is a thing like me:
Made of iron yet easily twisted on journeys
Patience and tact are required in abundance
As well as fine fingers to use us."
"The writing ball is a thing like me:
Made of iron yet easily twisted on journeys
Patience and tact are required in abundance
As well as fine fingers to use us."
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