Description
Larkin, Philip (1922 – 1985)
‘Have written nothing fresh for over 6 months. This worried me at first but now I don’t care.’
A marvellous two-page typed letter signed by a 23-year-old Philip Larkin (‘Philip’ in fountain pen ink), Wellington Public Library headed paper, 18th January 1946. The young Larkin writes to an old university friend, Karl.
He opens, ‘Yes, I apologise: a card should have been enough to spur me into action, particularly such a nice one; why it didn’t I don’t k now; perhaps because I have been changing lodgings over the New Year, and the inevitable gene has seriously interfered with my correspondence.’
He goes on, ‘I am glad you came across a North Ship: it came out about September but it hasn’t been noted in Whitaker’s Cumulative Booklist so far (and of course nobody has ever reviewed it) so it might just as well have not appeared. Stay! this very night John Heath Stubbs is reading a few of them to the International Arts Centre in Bayswater. that is the dizzy height I have reached.’
‘As well as the poems, the Fortune Press (which is the dirtiest and shadiest and most incompetent firm of printers in the United Kingdom) are hoping to bring out a novel all about Oxford called JILL. I may have told told you about this. It is scheduled to appear in March, which means it will appear in June. Otherwise, I have one other book going the rounds of good publishers, and have written nothing fresh for over 6 months. This worried me at first but now I don’t care.’
‘The “daytime” part of my life continues as before. With almost no effort, I have persuaded the council to give me a charming 17-yr old assistant, who is enormously efficient and does all the work, and they have raised my salary to the incredible opulence of £260 & £59:10s bonus, on which I live like a Balkan king in Bayswater. Incidentally I have put in an application for a job similar to this at Evesham, which very likely won’t come off, but if it should I should be near you, isn’t that so?’
‘Thank you for your news. We are all waiting now (or at least I am) for the result of Norman’s [Iles] appeal to the tribunal, because in theory that is all that stands between him and a military prison. Philip junior has buggered up his finals once again (he buggered them up in June) which peeves him considerably because he wants to start earning money and to marry a girl he has found. I was pleased to hear that Jimmy is still alive even if a little queer: whether or not he is lunatic depends on whether he invites a comparison between himself and T.S.E. [T.S. Eliot] and W.H.A. [W.H. Auden] because he thinks they are bad, or that he is good, or that each will show up the other for what it most truly is.’
‘In front of me lies Bruce Montgomery’s new detective story “Holy Disorders”, Gollancz 7/6. It’s very funny in parts and sometimes good.’
Larkin finishes, ‘I hope we meet again sometime soon: I think your idea for a shop is a good one, but from what little contact I have had with the book trade I should say that this is a bad time to start such a venture as old-established firms can’t get the books they want and a new shop would get little chance with good stuff. Of course there are plenty of mushroom publishers who would unload tripe with pleasure (pardon the gastronomic air of that sentence). But it would need considerably [sic] investigation before it could be safely undertaken, Love, Philip.’
In very fine condition. A letter peppered with Larkin’s signature dry wit, and fascinating insight into the life of the young poet during his years as a public librarian with literary ambitions in Shropshire. Two publications are mentioned in the letter: The North Ship was Larkin’s debut collection of poetry, published in 1945, and Larkin’s novel Jill, which was written while an undergraduate at Oxford, was published in 1946.
Early letters of Larkin are rare and desirable.