This story is part of the Comox Valley Record鈥檚 winter edition of Trio Magazine, published quarterly and available throughout the Comox Valley and at the Record office at 407D Fifth Street in Courtenay.

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Chris Cottle says that he has an addiction.

Last year while recovering from kidney cancer, he decided to start a hobby since he wasn鈥檛 allowed to lift anything heavy. This is when he found his long-lost love for typewriters.

While searching through his family belongings, he came across a 1952 Royal HH typewriter, which he had since 1967 when he took his Grade 9 typing class.

Before starting his collection, he had to learn how to clean and refurbish typewriters, but he eventually learned to have fun with it.

鈥淪o I had this 1952 Royal HH typewriter in my house. And I鈥檝e had that since 1967 and so I decided just to clean it up and get it all working. So I did that and I could do that just sitting down and not lifting anything,鈥� Cottle said.

The first new addition to his collection after this was a 1922 Royal Standard Model 10. The rest is history.

鈥淚 decided to keep going and then I just got hooked into buying more and more. It鈥檚 a disease thereafter,鈥� he said.

Cottle now has 36 typewriters, with 10 that are more than 100 years old.

While Cottle wants to continue to increase his collection, his wife believes that he has way too many.

鈥淚 keep most of the typewriters in the crawl space in the house. That way, my wife doesn鈥檛 see them.鈥�

Now retired, Cottle spent his working days in the Canadian Navy.

He attended the Royal Military College at Saint-Jean, and was in the Navy through the 鈥�70s into the mid-鈥�80s.

Later on, Cottle switched over to be a dentist, ultimately returning to be a dentist in the military for a few years until 1992.

He then worked as a dentist in private practice until he retired last year, which is when he moved from Salmon Arm to Courtenay.

Cottle was the only boy in his 30 student typewriting class. He says that he only took the course because he needed a bird course.

To pass the class, students needed to be able to type 50 words a minute. This was challenging for Cottle.

鈥淚t ended up being my hardest course. It took a lot of practise to be able to do that,鈥� he said.

Many of the typewriters that Cottle has collected would be very dirty. He says that they would normally be all black and covered with office soot, since everyone smoked back then.

It usually takes Cottle a minimum of five hours to clean them.

He says that he gets some typewriters locally but most of them come from the United States, bringing up how shipping and customs increases the cost.

Cottle鈥檚 most prized typewriter is a 1898 Blickensderfer, the oldest one he owns at the moment.

He says that most typewriters sell for $50 to $100, but they鈥檙e usually not in good shape. Other ones that are fixed up can be upwards of $500.

On July 19, the public was invited to see and try Cottle鈥檚 collection at the Courtenay Library. He says that it went very well.

This was planned after having a meeting with the head librarian, who had never used a typewriter before.

After Cottle let her use one of his, she said it was 鈥渢he coolest thing ever.鈥�

He went on to bring many typewriters to the library, including 10 which nobody were allowed to touch, as well as 15 other typewriters that people could type on.

People were allowed to type on the typewriters and make postcards that would be mailed to them by the library.

There were 130 people who attended the three-hour event. According to Cottle, the librarian said that this was the largest event they鈥檝e ever had, and invited him to do it again the following year.

In the future, Cottle wants to start 鈥淐ourtenay Typewriters,鈥� a little job that will help to clean peoples鈥� typewriters, as well as to help them sell or buy typewriters.

Cottle also spoke about the importance of typewriters.

鈥淭oday, everybody just texts and emails, and those have no meaning to anybody. It took no effort to do. Whereas typing on a typewriter, you have to get it out. You have to put the paper in, you have to think and you want to not make many errors. So typewriting has become the most formal way of writing a note to somebody.鈥�