'There is no telling where I may apply, if you turn me down'

And yet, despite a faultless letter of introduction, they turned her down

Eudora Welty. (Everett Collection Historical / Alamy Stock Photo)

In March 1933, in an attempt to secure some writing work, 23-year-old Eudora Welty sent this impossibly charming letter to the offices of The New Yorker magazine and gently laid her cards on the table. It’s genuinely difficult to imagine a more endearingly written introduction to one’s tal…