Welty, Eudora

Corrected typescript of "The Bride of the Innisfallen," 50 pages (10 1/4 x 8 1/8 in.; 261 x 206 mm), with numerous emendations in the hands of Welty and William Maxwell.  Stiff gray paper covers with imprint of literary agents Russell & Volkening; front cover with paper clip tears in upper left corner.

Condition a described in catalogue entry.
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Eudora Welty's great short story, with her emendations and the corrections of her New Yorker editor William Maxwell.  Although Welty and Maxwell had known one another since 1942, it was not until 1951 that he was able to persuade the New Yorker to take one of her stories.  "The Bride of the Innisfallen" was published in the magazine on 1 December 1951.  It was to be the beginning of a celebrated association, which resulted in the publication of "The Ponder Heart" and many other important stories and reviews by Welty.  When Maxwell received "The Bride of the Innisfallen" in 6 June 1951, he immediately wrote to Welty, "I love your train story beyond all possibility of telling you. I loved it so much, while I was reading it, that I could hardly bear to pass it on to the next reader."

"The Bride of the Innisfallen" is one of the few stories Welty wrote which is not situated in the American South.  It was written almost immediately after Welty's first visit to Ireland.  Before departing, Welty wrote to the Anglo-Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen, introducing herself and reminding Bowen that she had written a very favorable review of Delta Wedding some years before. Bowen invited Welty to Bowen's Court, her family home near Cork, for a weekend.  The two women remained close for the next two decades, with Welty returning to Bowen's Court and Bowen visiting Jackson, Mississippi.

The short story is set on a train from London to Fishguard in Wales, where the passengers will board the Innisfallen, an overnight boat to Cork.  On the train, a young American woman shares a crowded compartment with a group of Irish passengers and a single Welshman.  The group all share their stories in the train and the boat and go their separate ways in Cork early the next morning.

There are approximately 100 emendations and deletions here in the hands of the author and her editor.  These range from short paragraphs deleted (but still legible), added phrases and sentences to changes in punctuation. 

Manuscript material by Eudora Welty is seldom seen on the market, although letters do occasionally appear.