1894 Edison Mimeograph 1 #1218
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Martin Howard (MartinHoward)
Created: 01-25-2026 at 06:51PM
Last Edit: 01-26-2026 at 02:33PM
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Description:
Despite its name, the Edison Mimeograph Typewriter was invented by Albert Blake Dick and manufactured and sold by the A. B. Dick Company. To understand this attribution, one must look back to the developments that led to the invention of this intriguing and ultimately ill-fated typewriter.
Thomas Edison received a patent in 1876 for “Autographic Printing,” which covered the electric pen and a flatbed press. A related patent for “Autographic Stencils” followed in 1880. The mimeograph, from mimēma meaning something imitated and graph meaning to write, was developed by Albert Blake Dick and introduced in 1887. Dick licensed and refined Edison’s patents, improving upon earlier duplicating methods. In 1888 he purchased a patent for a wax-coated stencil backed by porous tissue, that would not tear, for use on his Mimeograph.
For marketing purposes, Dick astutely branded the device the Edison Mimeograph, even going so far as to state that Edison himself had invented it, a claim prominently featured in contemporary advertising. This inexpensive, stencil-based printing technology proved enormously successful and remained in widespread use until it was displaced by photocopying in the 1960s.
Buoyed by the success of the Mimeograph, A. B. Dick turned his attention to designing a typewriter that would exploit his improved stencil technology. With these stencils, a typewriter’s typebars could penetrate the wax coating without tearing the stencil itself, making it possible to create multiple copies from typed originals using a mimeograph, rotary printer, or printing press.
The resulting machine, the Edison Mimeograph Typewriter, was designed primarily to prepare stencils for mimeograph duplication, although it was optimistically marketed as suitable for general typing as well. Once again, Edison’s name was applied to the machine for its considerable marketing value.
Despite its impressive name, the Edison Mimeograph Typewriter was a commercial failure and was withdrawn from the market within two years. The reasons were twofold. First, the machine was awkward to operate and slow in comparison with contemporary typewriters. Second, Dick’s improved wax stencils could be used effectively on many full-keyboard typewriters, which were faster, more versatile, and already well established.
As an artifact, the Edison Mimeograph Typewriter occupies an important place in the history of duplicating technology. Its failure helps illuminate the challenges inventors faced and provides valuable context for the solutions that ultimately succeeded. As a collectible early typewriter, it remains a striking, elegant, and intriguing machine.
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Typeface Specimen:
Hunter: Martin Howard (MartinHoward)
Martin Howard's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 263
I am a collector of 19th century typewriters and have built a collection that shows the remarkable ingenuity and beauty of the world's first typewriters. I have always been interested in the beginnings of a machine when there is an eruption of approaches to making it. Early typewriters are an exceptional example of this incubation period.
My collection can be seen at antiquetypewriters.com
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Edison Mimeograph 1 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Edison Mimeograph Serial Number page and the Edison Mimeograph 1 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
