Series 13: The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301)
Series 13: The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty.
Dates: 1980; n.d.
Size: 2.17 cubic ft.
Material added to this series from the gift of the Estate of Eudora Welty is indicated in bold font.
Preface
In a folder labeled by Welty as “Harcourt Brace Summer 1980,” “Collected Stories,” were five versions of the preface to The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. Three of these drafts and some attendant material were contained in a folder placed inside the “Harcourt Brace…” folder. This second, green, folder was marked by Welty “Preface to Collected Stories,” and “Original, printers’ copy.” Following that folder were two additional versions of the draft. To preserve the order and grouping of these drafts by Welty, the archivist has numbered all pieces to reflect their original order within the “Harcourt Brace…” folder. These numbers appear in brackets on the verso of each piece.
| Description | Box Number | Folder Number |
| Original folder marked by Welty “Harcourt Brace Summer 1980” “Collected Stories.” 1980. 1 piece. [I] | 81 | 1 |
| Original green folder marked by Welty “Preface to Collected Stories” “Original, printers’ copy.” n.d. 1 piece. [II] | 81 | 2 |
| Preface.” 1980. 5 pieces. [pp. 1-5] The first item from the green folder, “Preface to Collected Stories…,” this carbon typescript was originally entitled “Introduction to the Collected Stories,” and has been re-titled “Preface.” It is the printer’s copy of the preface, and bears printer’s annotations and directions as well as editorial handwritten corrections in multiple colors of ink and pencil, some apparently by Welty. This corrected version closely resembles but is not identical to the version of the preface published in The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980). | 81 | 3 |
| Preface.” 1980. 7 pieces. [pp. 6-12] This draft is a photocopy of the previous carbon typescript. It includes copies of the corrections made by Welty, but was apparently made before the printer added his annotations. Photocopied too closely to the right margin, this version lacks some letters and marks. Preceding this draft is a typescript of the dedication page for The Collected Stories… [p. 6]. Following the draft is a typescript letter by Anne T. Zaroff to John Ferrone, written on June 16, 1980, regarding the editing of The Collected Stories…, and the return of the proof and manuscript [p. 12]. These items were clipped together as the second group of material in the green interior folder. | 81 | 4 |
| Introduction to Collected Stories.” 1980. 5 pieces. [pp. 13-17] Also contained in the green interior folder, this typescript with Welty’s handwritten corrections and directions in ink is an earlier version of the draft described above, with substantial differences in the arrangement of passages, and inclusions absent from later versions. | 81 | 5 |
| Preface to the Collected Stories.” 1980. 5 pieces. [pp. 18-22] This photocopy of a typescript of the preface has original and photocopied handwritten corrections by Welty, and passages circled in pencil. The photocopied typescript is identical to the one used as the basis for the printer’s copy above, but has no printer’s directions and some different original handwritten changes by Welty. This copy was placed directly after the green folder in the “Harcourt Brace…” folder. | 81 | 6 |
| For the Collected Stories.” n.d. 3 pieces. [pp. 23-25] At the top of the first of two photocopies of this one-page preface, Welty has written “Early draft” above the title. Included with the two photocopies is an untitled carbon typescript of the same draft. There are no additions or corrections by Welty on any of these three pages. This draft preface is very different from the other versions in the “Harcourt Brace…” folder, or from the published one. Rather than focusing on the contributions of Welty’s friends or agents to the creation of her stories, this version discusses the meaning Welty’s stories held for her, and the last paragraph of the draft echoes sentiments she expressed to Ken Millar in a July 11, 1980, letter written while she was reviewing the page proofs of The Collected Stories. [See Series 29a, Box 135; the letter is also quoted by Suzanne Marrs in Eudora Welty: A Biography (Orlando: Harcourt, 2005), p. 453.] | 81 | 7 |
| Proof of cover of The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. [1983.] 1 piece. This cover is for the Penguin paperback. It bears a portrait by David Gentleman of a columned antebellum mansion showing a tree branch with vines, green grass, and bushes in front of the mansion. It differs from the published version: the quotations from The Sunday Times and The Times Literary Supplement are reversed in this proof, with the former appearing on the front and the latter on the verso of the cover. | 81 | 8 |
Page Proof of Entire Collection
| Description | Box Number |
| The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. [1980]. 334 pieces. 333 galley sheets which include 18 preliminary pages, pages 3-622, and duplicates of pages 306-31; handwritten revisions and corrections; one substantial typed revision on p.185; duplicates of page 306-13 bear Welty's handwritten notation "My copy." | OS22 |