Tim Youd had a typewriter mystery on his hands.
He was out to find the make and model Bram Stoker used to type the famous vampire novel Dracula, published in 1897. But he could find no photos or records with that information.
Enter Shanna Early, instruction archivist at Emory’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Books Library. She came to the rescue by sending Youd scanned pages of a facsimile edition of the author’s manuscript, which Youd passed along to a trusted typewriter expert.
The good news: The expert identified the machine, a Hammond No. 2 — one of the earliest typewriters produced commercially. The bad news: While Youd owns more than 100 typewriters, none of them was that model.
After several blind alleys, Youd tracked down a functioning one in North Carolina.
And that is the Hammond No. 2 the visual and performance artist will bring to Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Library to retype Dracula in its entirety. His live typing performance is a centerpiece of Emory Libraries’ Striking Characters: Typewriters, Literary Worlds and the Art of Tim Youd, which opened in late August and continues through Dec. 20 in the library’s Schatten Gallery.
Early co-curated the unique, living exhibit with Hannah C. Griggs, humanities librarian for English at Woodruff Library.
