Reply #117: IBM Selectrics had proportional spacing 1970's [View All]

[Cogito ergo doleo]

Just read an article linked from Drudge.

"There are several reasons these experts are skeptical of the authenticity of the Killian memos. First the typographic spacing is proportional, as is routine with professional typesetting and computer typography, not monospace, as was common in typewriters in the 1970s. (In proportional type, thin letters like "i" and "l" are spaced closer together than thick letters like "W" and "M". In monospace, all the letter widths are the same.)"

"Third, the apostrophes are curlicues of the sort produced by word processors on personal computers, not the straight vertical hashmarks typical of typewriters."

http://weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=4596&R=9FCD2F192

I'm not a typewriter expert, but IBM selectrics were common. I don't know what all they had on the type balls but maybe they had superscript? They had curly apostrophes as seen on the list (link below).

http://www.ibmtypewriters.com/type.html (scroll to the bottom to see the legend where it mentions proportional spacing)

http://www.etypewriters.com/history.htm (dates and models of selectrics)