de Grummond Collection

RICHARD CUFFARI PAPERS

Restrictions
Noncirculating; available for research.

Copyright
The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.

Biographical Sketch
Richard Cuffari was born on March 2, 1925 to immigrant parents in Brooklyn, N.Y. Both parents worked during the Depression to support Cuffari and his mentally handicapped brother. There was not much money to support Cuffari's artistic talents. However, as a student at Madison High School, Cuffari won numerous awards for his art work.

From 1943 to 1946, he served in the U.S. Army. After World War II, Cuffari enrolled at Pratt Institute, graduating in 1949. While attending Pratt, he met fellow art student, Phyllis Klie. They married in 1950, and the first of four children was born the following year.

Cuffari began freelancing as a children's book illustrator in 1966 with his first book, The Wind in the Willows. He went on to illustrate over 200 books for children. Cuffari specialized in illustrating historical, non-fiction books: "I have always been fascinated by things historical; events, personalities, how people lived and how they looked. I believe that the study of these things help provide insight into the present." For his work, Cuffari was awarded the Citation of Merit from the New York Society of Children's Illustrators in 1969 and 1970 and the Christopher Award in 1973.

Cuffari who once said, "I think that working with or for children in any way is a privilege" died in 1978 at the age of fifty-three.

Sources:

• Fifth Book of Junior Authors & Illustrators, pp. 90-91.
• Major Authors and Illustrators, pp. 605-608.
• Something about the Author, vol. 6, pp. 55-57.

Scope and Content
The Richard Cuffari Papers are divided into two series: correspondence and books. The correspondence includes 13 letters between Richard Cuffari and the de Grummond Collection from 1973-1976 and 13 letters between Ester Wier and the de Grummond Collection concerning The Hunting Trail (1974) from 1974-1976. The four titles represented in the collection date from 1966 to 1974, and they are arranged alphabetically by title. Materials for each title are arranged in the probable order of creation.

The collection holds jacket art and six pen and ink illustrations for The Capricorn Bracelet (1973). Color separations and color draft for jacket art and copies of the dust jacket as well as 11 pen and ink illustrations are held by the collection for The Hunting Trail (1974). For A Wind in the Door (1973), the collection holds watercolor jacket art, and two illustrations from The Wind and the Willows (1966) are held.

Related Collections
The Madeline L'Engle Papers (DG0605) include a partial manuscript and partial typescripts in various versions as well as galleys and proofs for A Wind in the Door (1973). The Ester Wier Papers (DG1051) contain manuscripts and other materials for The Hunting Trail (1974). See also The Rosemary Sutcliff Papers (DG0958) for additional Sutcliff materials.

Series and Subseries

A. Correspondence

B. Books

• THE CAPRICORN BRACELET (1973)
• THE HUNTING TRAIL (1974)
• A WIND IN THE DOOR (1973)
• THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS (1966)

Box Inventory

 Box/Folder 

     A.   CORRESPONDENCE 

     1/1       Between Richard Cuffari and the de Grummond Collection, 1973-
               1976, 13 items.
     
     1/2       Between Ester Wier and the de Grummond Collection concerning
               The Hunting Trail, 1974-1976, 13 items.
     
     1/3       Between Madeleine L'Engle and the de Grummond Collection 
               concerning The Wind in the Door, 1973, 4 items.

  
B.   BOOKS

     THE CAPRICORN BRACELET by Rosemary Sutcliff, illustrated by Richard
     Cuffari (New York:  Henry Z. Walck, 1973).

     1/4       Illustrations, pen and ink, 

                    pp. 22-23
 
                    pp. 36-37
 
                    pp. 74-75

                    pp. 90-91

                    pp. 116-117

                    pp. 136-137

               Book Jacket 


     THE HUNTING TRAIL by Ester Wier, illustrated by Richard Cuffari (New
     York:  Henry Z. Walck, 1974).

     1/5       Illustrations, pen and ink, 

                    frontispiece

                    pp. 8-9

                    pp. 18-19

                    pp. 28-29

                    pp. 36-37

                    pp. 44-45

                    pp. 56-57

                    pp. 66-67

                    pp. 78-79

                    pp. 88-89

                    pp. 98-99

               Jacket art, color separations

               Jacket art, color draft

               Dust jackets, preliminary, 8 copies          


     A WIND IN THE DOOR by Madeleine L'Engle, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
     (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973).

     1/6       Jacket art, watercolor


     THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Richard
     Cuffari (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1966).

     1/7       Illustration, watercolor, p.34

               Illustration, watercolor, not used? 

Biographical Sketch | Scope & Content | Related Collections | Series & Subseries | Box Inventory
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The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive, #5148
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
(601) 266-4349
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