For sale: Three typewriters, masterfully used

Would you like to own the typewriter on which Philip Roth banged out Portnoy’s Complaint?

Three of the Nobel prize winner’s typewriters are being auctioned by Litchfield County Auctions, part of a sale of Roth’s estate that is taking place online at bit.ly/RothTypewriters.

While the auction catalog doesn’t say which of Roth’s novels were written on which typewriter, it notes that the manual Olivetti Lettera 32 can be seen in a picture taken of Roth in 1968, a year before “Portnoy’s Complaint” was published. The other two are IBM Selectrics. The catalog notes that one of Roth’s novels described them as “smug, puritanical, workmanlike.”

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Other items for auction from Roth’s estate include a suitcase, contemporary and antique furniture, a photograph of Franz Kafka, and a collectible plate featuring Richard and Pat Nixon.