Born Ethel Florence Lindesay in Fitzroy in 1870, Henry Handel Richardson became Australia’s greatest writer of the early 20th century. She published books across four decades, including such classics as The Getting of Wisdom and The Fortunes of Richard Mahony.
She studied music in Germany, where she met Scotsman JG Robertson, whom she married three years later. Richardson’s first novel, Maurice Guest, was based on her experiences in Germany, and although she lived most of her life in the United Kingdom she used her Australian life as a starting point for many of her best works. In writing Richard Mahony, Richardson drew heavily on the life of her father, and in The Getting of Wisdom she drew on her own time at Melbourne’s Presbyterian Ladies’ College.
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This audio tour is narrated by Ramona Koval, who hosts The Book Show on ABC Radio National every weekday at 10am and 8pm. Ramona Koval has written several books and her many interviews with leading writers have been broadcast on ABC Radio and published in books.
Illustration
Typewriter belonging to Henry Handel Richardson, Varityper typewriter, gift of Clive Probyn, 2008, Rare Books Collection
Transcript
Despite its mechanical nature a writer's typewriter brings us a little closer to the creative spirit whose fingers tapped its keys and the mind who pondered the pages of the typescript. The writing machines on display in this exhibition include Henry Handel Richardson's Varityper, Tony Wheeler's portable Royal 200 typewriter and Peter Carey's Apple Macintosh laptop.
The typewriter in this cabinet belonged to Henry Handel Richardson. The Varityper was designed in the United States and was capable of using over 300 different type styles and writing in 55 languages; it could adjust the space between characters, and even produce right-justified copy. It has been described as an ingenious 'word processor' of the pre-digital age.
The ability to type in Danish, French, German and Swedish must have been invaluable for Richardson, whose facility with languages was remarkable. She is known to have been familiar with French and Danish, and to have read Dostoyevsky in Russian and Freud in German prior to their translation into English.
It is thought that Richardson may have used this typewriter while writing the English edition of Ultima Thule and it is certain that this typewriter was used to type her extensive correspondence with readers in Australia, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.
After Richardson's death the typewriter was in the possession of Richardson's literary executor, and companion, Olga Roncorni, whose handwriting appears on the box containing the fonts. It was presented to Professor Clive Probyn in 1999, by the then literary executrix of Handel Richardson, Margaret A Capon, and Professor Probyn kindly donated this wonderful relic of Henry Handel Richardson's writing life to the State Library of Victoria in 2008.
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