CARRIELLA: (Second-hand Memoirs of Carrie Ella Macdonald Stauffer as recollected by Ruth Mary Stauffer, her daughter). by (Stafford, Jean). Stauffer, Ruth Mary - [1972].

Privately printed, circa [1972]., [1972].. Very good. INSCRIBED TO PULITZER-PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR JEAN STAFFORD - Oblong octavo, 7 inches high by 8-1/2 inches wide. Spiral bound softcovers, bound in stiff light violet wraps titled with a portrait on the front cover and bound with a blue plastic spiral. The corners of the covers are lightly creased with a couple of tiny stains. Title, iv, and 25 mechanically reproduced pages printed on one side only, with occasional annotations penned in ink, printed corrections & tipped-in portraits printed on paper mounted onto the facing blank pages. Several of the portraits are themselves annotated in ink. There are also occasional annotations, highlighting and corrections in ink penned within the text. Very good.

Together with Pulitzer Prize winning author Jean Stafford's copy of notes about her own family: "Notes on the Stafford Family by Marjorie Stafford Pinkham drawn from my own reminiscences and those contributed by Lois Burton Moon, daughter of my Aunt Ida Stafford Burton". These biographical and historical notes on the Stafford family are typed on one side each of 10 sheets of 11 inch high by 8-1/2 inch wide paper stapled together along the top edge. This typescript, which includes 2 corrections in ink, is hoUsed in a 12-7/8 inch high by 9-3/4 inch wide brown two-pocket folder with a depiction of Medusa framed by the zodiac illustrating the covers. The folder is heavily creased with some damage to the front edge of its rear cover. Jean Stafford has penned her name and address inside the folder's cover: "Jean Stafford - Mrs. A.J Liebling / 929 Fireplace Road / East Hampton, New York 11937".

A brief privately printed biography and genealogy, quite possibly a draft, of the Macdonald and Stauffer families as recounted by her daughter from the memoirs of Carrie Ella "Carriella" Macdonald Stauffer. Carriella herself was the daughter of Sarah Barney Bellamy, with recollections of Grandma Bellamy in the opening chapter. Two genealogical charts serve to illustrate these recollections and memoirs.

The author knew the Pulitzer Prize winning author Jean Stafford when they were children. She sent her this draft of her book for comment. The book is inscribed in green ink by Ruth Mary Stauffer to Jean Stafford Liebling at the top of the front blank: "For JSL, F.Y.I. - or rather, I hope for comments - from RMS". Ruth Mary Stauffer has additionally penned a 55-word annotation in black ink at the bottom of the front blank "I didn't quote you after all But if I later add a chapter on Martha, may I?...."

An entertaining memoir with colorful anecdotes: "'They said that they'd give me a silver dollar if I'd cry for them.' My mother was remembering her chance to be a an actress, aged six. Not exactly an actress, just drafted entertainment. I was never sure whether the story was sad or funny. She said the men were all laughing. And she did get the silver dollar." [Quoted from page six].

The author of this work, Ruth Stauffer was the older sister of Jean Stafford's childhood friend Martha. The American short story author & novelist Jean Stafford (1915-1979) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her collected stories. Stafford attended the University of Colorado Boulder. Following unhappy marriages to the poet Robert Lowell and Life magazine staff writer Oliver Jensen, Jean Stafford found happiness after marrying The New Yorker writer A.J. Liebling.

RARE. We have located no other copies.