The Journal•Model guide
The Olivetti Lettera 32
The Italian portable of the 1960s, drawn in Ivrea. Compact, elegant — and the most expensive typewriter ever sold at auction.
An icon of Italian design
The Lettera 32 succeeded the Lettera 22 in the early 1960s, following Marcello Nizzoli’s design work for Olivetti. Same spirit: a compact, understated portable with soft lines, in a blue-grey tone that became instantly recognisable.
Olivetti, based in Ivrea in Piedmont, did not merely sell machines: the company made industrial design part of its identity. The Lettera 32 is its most widely distributed example — found in schools, newsrooms and travel bags alike.
Cormac McCarthy’s machine
It was a Lettera 32 that the American novelist Cormac McCarthy used for decades. Auctioned at Christie’s in New York in 2009, it sold for $254,500 — a record for a typewriter.
That is obviously not the price of an ordinary Lettera 32. But it says something about the bond people form with this machine: it carried an entire body of work.
In daily use
The strike is direct, a little firmer than a Hermes Baby. The format stays very portable, with a rigid case. It makes an excellent first typewriter: sturdy, common, easy to maintain and using a standard ribbon.
Do not confuse it with the Lettera 35, its 1970s successor, with more angular lines.
What we check in the workshop
- Segment and typebars cleaned, full degreasing.
- Typing action, line spacing and margins adjusted.
- Carriage and return checked, often clogged.
- Condition of the rubber platen and feed rollers.
- New ribbon, then a full test page.
The right ribbon
Every machine leaves with a new ribbon fitted. When the time comes to change it, we stock ribbons that fit this model — ordinary spools will not always do.
Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriters available now
2 examples currently restored and ready to type. Each one is unique.
