Imperial "Good Companion" typewriter, c.1937

Imperial "Good Companion" typewriter, c.1937

The Imperial Typewriters Good Companion typewriter series was named after British writer and playwright and Imperial user J.B. Priestley's play of the same name. It was an extremely popular British-made typewriter series made between 1932 and the 1960s. The first model off the production line in 1932 was presented to Priestley by Imperial thus providing some useful launch publicity - and a useful marketing boost. The company also gained the typewriter 'By Royal Appointment' insignia when a machine was sold to Buckingham Palace and thus gained a valuable PR coup as Britain's most prestigious and most visible typewriter manufacturer.

Mechanically the Imperial Good Companion portable typewriter changed very little between the first model of 1932 and the Model 6 of 1961. The model 7 was the last model of the Good Companion typewriter series. In 1963, a radically redesigned version of the Good Companion, renamed The Messenger was introduced.