I consider Valentines 'designer' typewriters, and generally overrated. If you want to write on an Olivetti, I'd go for the Lettera 22/32/DL. The Valentine is based on the Lettera 32, so the mechanical part is solid, but the Valentine is not as well-balanced as the 32. And about ten times more expensive.

Glenn Horowitz, a rare-book dealer who handled the auction for Mr. McCarthy, told The New York Times earlier this week: “When I grasped that some of the most complex, almost otherworldly fiction of the postwar era was composed on such a simple, functional, frail-looking machine, it conferred a sort of talismanic quality to Cormac’s typewriter. It’s as if Mount Rushmore was carved with a Swiss Army knife.”

Olivetti Lettera 31 (Another name for the Dora -- or is it the opposite?) olivetti Dora (the actual base model if I'm not mistaken, with a bunch of rebrands worldwide) ETON (naturally this belongs on this list, I've even seen 2 others for sale online since) Underwood 315 (rebrand) Montgomery Ward Escort 33 (rebrand) Olivetti Underwood 310 (pretty sure this is a rebrand too, or at least very closely related) Olivetti Index (this is the closest thing I've found to my ETON branded one. It s PRACTICALLY the same in every regard - seen two online for sale) Montgomery ward escort 44 (also a rebrand of the DORA?!) Mercedes Super T (rebrand as well, seen one for sale) Montomery Ward Escort 77 (pretty close to being the same model again again... But not quite?) Neckermann BRILLANT Special T (DEFINITELY a rebrand. The manual is a dead give-away among other things) JUPITER (A typewriter 100% identical to the IDEX or ETON, but rebranded again again) Underwood 314 (no idea on this one. I gave up at this point)

Olivetti Dora, Lettera 31, Underwood 310, or in Sweden also branded ”NK Futura” for Nordiska Kompaniet, but it’s the exact same machine.

My favorite is always changing. Any Smith-Corona Sterling or Silent is a gem. Any Hermes, either the green or tan, all work like lightning. I have a thing for my Olivetti Lettera 22’s, as they are masterpieces of design, the action is crazy fast and light, and the typewriter is in the Museum of Modern Art.