My dear Mop & Pop,
The frost was just intense last night and the windows are icy and everything outside crumbly with frost.
However I am up at 10.35 a.m. in a clean room feeling reasonably warm (three things that wouldn’t happen at Glentworth) so I don’t feel inclined to complain.
My Berkhamsted trip went off very well, except that connections at Stafford were abominable & the train was late. The Amis’ (plural) were awfully kind. On Sunday morning a tray of tea & toast was put into our room and we lay in our beds till 12 playing the gramophone & talking. I mention this not because I admire it but because that is how some people dispose of their guests. The one horrible thing was that the beds were cold.
On Sunday afternoon Kingsley & I went from Watford to Euston and picked up Ruth, then I called on the Fortune Press. When I rejoined them I found that they had been to the Picasso exhibition which infuriated me, because I wd much sooner have gone there than kept an entirely needless appointment with the Fortune Press. All we decided was that I shd use my discretion in the alterations, which was what I had suggested by post anyway. I learnt with enjoyment that my typescript had sent a girl into hysterics and gravely offended a chapel-trained compositor and generally played merry hell.1 They say the book will be out by March (grossly untrue) and that it will cost 9/6. This is to ensure that nobody buys it, I suppose. Not that I care. I get no profit from it and the book itself is childish and ordinary.
Talking of books, “Holy Disorders” comes out on Jan 21st, and I already have a copy. Don’t forget to buy it!2
They also said The North Ship was an edn. of 600, but whether to believe that or not I don’t know. In my next letter I shall be able to include an account of what John Heath-Stubbs read at the Arts Society on Friday.3 I am having a trained observer there.
Thanks for your letter: I do hope the mess about the boiler has cleared up, and that you have managed to get someone to do the work regularly. With regard to my lodgings, they are really very nice: an index to Miss Davies may be found in the fact that she washed my brushes without asking or being asked. I live chiefly on eggs & bread & butter.
The delay over Welsh Ambassadors4 is due to my assistant’s having sent it back without my knowing, but I have reordered it and it shd be along shortly. My dentist has started work on me again and has not hurt so far, but I can’t help feeling that this tooth he is so painstakingly “saving” will never settle down and will have to come out in the end.
I have entered for Part 1 of the Registration exam as it seems impossible to do all 3 parts at once by spare-time study. At this rate it will take ages. How boring.
Much love to both,
Philip
1 On 21 January Eva commented on this reaction to Jill: ‘What a strange book it must be to cause such an uproar amongst the girls who were fortunate enough to read it.’
2 Bruce Montgomery’s second novel, published under the pseudonym Edmund Crispin.
3 The poet John Heath-Stubbs (1918–2006) had co-edited Eight Oxford Poets in 1941, with Sidney Keyes and Michael Meyer.
4 Louis Umfreville Wilkinson, Welsh Ambassadors: Powys Lives and Letters (1936).
19 May 1946
7, Ladycroft, Wellington, Salop.
My dear Mop & Pop,
This is a very great change from last Sunday. Outside, it isn’t actually raining but it’s very dark and there’s a cold wind. Last night produced a tremendous cloudburst which all the farmers and gardeners say they’ve been needing.
And thank you again for the lilies – they are still in good condition and are in my sitting-room. I was amused by your phrase “the electricians are tapping about” – I see them as a set of woodpeckers hopping over the furniture. […]
There is not much news here: on Tuesday I face another committee, probably slightly differently constituted from the old one. That does not greatly cheer me. More pleasing is news from Peter Watt that Fabers have enquired about my “previous work” after reading The Kingdom.1 This no doubt means very little. But I do wish they would take it: heaven knows their fiction list is as uncommercial as it could be, and not very good either. You’ll be amused to hear that Cape, Secker, Chatto & Windus & the Cresset Press have declined it. I should be more hopeful if I remembered the book as being any good … but sincerely the only parts I recall are amateurish in the extreme.
Thursday sees the advent of a new Isherwood book, since we speak of literature.2
I should think my overcoat could be turned, at considerable expense – however I don’t seem to have finished with it yet “this winter”! I’m still dressed as for January. It really would be nice to expose the other side – but would the “hang” be affected? That overcoat always ‘hung’ well, in my opinion.
I think, if it would not flutter the dovecotes too much, I should enjoy visiting you next weekend as I promised at Easter to visit you ‘soon’. Will you let me know if all the electricians have “tapped away” by that time?
Am reading the Pelican book on local government by W. Eric Jackson.
Very much love to both,
Philip
1 The Kingdom of Winter, Larkin’s preferred title for A Girl in Winter.
2 Prater Violet (1945): Isherwood’s satire on the vacuousness of American film-making.
30 June 1946
47 Wellington Sq. Oxford
My dear Mop & Pop,
Yes. I’m afraid I have run down here again, mainly to see Bruce who has been negligently adding a degree of B. Mus. to his honours during the past week.
Well, thank you for your card! I am neither elated nor depressed by the success.1 I shall no doubt be happier when I have settled there. Including myself, there were four candidates – two men & two women. I think I was the worst one as regards library training & the best as regards general knowledge and education. The people seemed friendly and I shd imagine that the academic calm will suit me far better than my present sordid hullaballoo. You can imagine the incredulous amazement that fell on me when they summoned me a second time – a signal I have learned to recognise as the committee’s choice.
So far as anybody in Wellington knows, the reaction there is embarrassingly regretful. I am beginning to long for someone to come up & say “You’re goin’, eh? Good riddance to rotten bad rubbish!” […]
YesNo. I shall not apply for Scotland now, but thanks all the same for the information.
Very much love,
Philip
P.S. There is a John Bunyan collection at Leicester!
1 Philip had been appointed Assistant Librarian at Leicester University College.
7 July 1946
7, Ladycroft, Wellington
My dear Mop & Pop,
[…] Soon after I had posted my letter I discovered that Bruce had not become a B. Mus. after all – he had merely passed the first of two hurdles!
Leicester have offered and I have accepted the post, and I have resigned my “headship” here as from Aug. 31st. My colleagues & Committee men seem oddly non-committal – “glad to see that swine’s back” or “letting us down properly, that swine is” – but the borrowers are much kinder and seem quite sorry. My key phrase is “I’d have missed it for anything” – my 30 months here, that is! There was an indistinguishable photo of me in the local paper and a garbled account of my stay here.
Faber’s have also offered a formal contract for my book which, though it is rather miserly, I have of course accepted. They are paying £30 in advance, and royalties of 10% on first 2,000, 12½% on next 3,000, and 15% on any copies above that total number. Recourse to the “Author’s handbook” tells me that this is a poor rate – one ought to end up on 20%. – but Watt says that Faber’s are always like that. If it only sells 2,000, about £80 will flow into my coffers – then Watt & the Inland Revenue dept. will sharpen their claws. In contrast to this, I have been reading Arnold Bennett’s Journals (3 vols).1 They are all about money, & how many words he writes, and awful people like Beaverbrook.2 Also I read
Kingsmill’s Frank Harris3 – for sheer incredible behaviour, one would have to go far to equal F. H. Horatio Bottomley sounds like a trusty bank cashier in comparison.4
I was interested in your news & glad that you have “a new woman”. I telegraphed to Kitty from Leicester but she hasn’t said anything. The College people were vague on the subject of lodgings but said they would try. I think bread rationing is a nuisance but I am in favour of anything that hurts the common people – we too exceed our ration. Holidays at Leicester are a minimum of 7 weeks p.a. – all August! There was a big “fête” here yesterday at which Anthony Eden burbled through his famous hat.
With love,
Philip
1 Arnold Bennett (1867–1931), English novelist, best known for his works set in the Potteries.
2 Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook (1879–1964), Canadian-born British newspaper owner, and government minister during World War II.
3 Hugh Kingsmill [Lunn], biographer (1933) of the controversial journalist Frank Harris, whose memoirs had been banned because of their sexually explicit content.
4 Horatio Bottomley (1860–1933), English newspaper editor, rabble-rouser and fraudster.
21 July 1946
7, Ladycroft, Wellington, Salop.
My dear Mop & Pop,
A search through my pockets reveals that I have put your last letter somewhere very carefully, so carefully that it escapes me now, but I recall that it was a nice long one.
This week has been fairly uneventful except that I had a last committee on Tuesday, when people were very polite and generous, and I had to rise to my hind paws and make some sort of reply. It is extraordinary how words and particularly ideas fly before the hour of need. However, I managed to preach some rigmarole and sat down, reflecting that it was in any case the first time I have officially spoken to anybody about anything. And the last, if I’m lucky. Consequent upon this, I have received another official letter thanking me for my services etc. which will serve as a testimonial if I ever need one. It occurs to me – rather belatedly – that I shall probably never do any job so spectacularly well again, and shall certainly not enjoy such responsibility for probably 20 years!1 Looking back, I can’t think which is the most surprising – that I shd have gone there, or that they shd have appointed an unknown quantity of 21!
Also, consequent upon the unguarded reference to The North Ship, there have been many friendly enquiries that make me sweat as if ridden by a nightmare. I have lent the book out to one woman who reports that there are some “very striking similes” in it. They must have crawled in when I wasn’t looking, like Colorado beetles.
As far as I know, I shall be at home all my holiday, but I might stay a weekend with Kingsley or a day or two with Bruce. This however is pure guesswork as I haven’t been asked yet! […]
There’s no news of a successor to your creature: Our advert appeared in the TLS yesterday: if that doesn’t bring ’em in, nothing ever will. Paradoxically, I feel disinclined to hand over the place to someone else. In some respects it is a remarkable collection of books, not to be paralleled in the U.K.! My never to be realised ambition was that I could somehow be borrower as well as librarian – in some fantastic way walk in and find the very library moulded to my own taste …
Very much love to both –
Philip
1 Pencil superscript: ‘9, actually!’ in Larkin’s handwriting. He must have re-read this letter decades later.
20 August 1946
Picture postcard1
Wellington.
A very happy birthday to you, dear – pardon this unusual greeting card but everything connected with birthdays here is inexpressibly horrible. I will search Full Diligentlie for a Pre∫ent for you & Dispatch Itt.
Love – Philip
1 Photograph of Larkin. See Plate 5B. Addressed to Mrs C. E. Hewett, 53 York Rd, Loughborough.
25 August 1946
7, Ladycroft, Wellington, Salop.
My dear Mop & Pop,
Though somewhat uncertainly, the sun is shining; I can hear church bells & the sound of the B.B.C. It is warm. I reflect that this is the last Sunday I shall write to you as Chief Librarian, Wellington, Salop.
Many thanks for your letter & news. Yes, the rations were much appreciated. I am very glad you washed the tie, because it is a subtle shade and dear to my heart.
I have not a great deal of news. Faber’s have passed the revised portions of my book, and it is now in the hands of “the production department”. They now say they want a new title! This will cause me a great deal of trouble if they’re adamant. What they don’t realise is that every detail of the book was studied for months by a finer mind than they can command, and that for them to suggest alterations is impudent & silly. So there!1
I laid hold of my sports coat last Tuesday. In the end it cost 68/6 (I cd have got it for 25/6 if I’d had the courage to be dishonest) and is I think a success. It is not so long as it might be, but it is a good inch longer than my last two. The cloth is very nice (within limits) & it has 6 pockets. Wearing it, I have that odd sensation of being well dressed, that has deserted me since leaving Oxford.
I have so far exposed 3 photographs. One of the Wrekin taken across a cornfield and Ruth; one of “The Raven”, my favourite hostelry; & one of myself, which I’m afraid won’t come off, being an interior time exposure. But there’s been hardly any sun for such activities.
I am very busy these days: I’m afraid Mr. Haynes will not take over the library at its best, but with part time help order & efficiency go largely by the board.
Much love to both,
Philip
Needless to say, no Jills yet.
1 On 26 August Eva replied: ‘We are surprised to hear that Faber’s are not satisfied with the title of your novel. / Daddy says that he sees nothing amiss with it, particularly when one thinks that the novel entitled “If Winter Comes”, sold like hot cakes, and I expect it is from the selling point of view that they select a title.’
7 September 1946
53, York Road, Loughborough, Leics
My dear Mop & Pop,
It’s early on Saturday evening, and as I haven’t anything to do I thought I would write my letter to you in order to make sure you get it on Monday morning.
I have not so far found any lodgings. When I arrived on Thursday I went to the College office and worked on some addresses they gave me, but without success. On Friday I did the same, but the kind of place I found myself visiting made me think that I was not on a good trail. They were certainly not “private” places – mainly living with the family or with other lodgers, for 35/- a week. So on Friday afternoon I threw up the sponge (for the time being) and entered a “small ad.” in the Leicester Mercury, saying exactly what I wanted. There seem plenty of lodgings in Leicester – of a sort – so I am not quite hopeless. The Mercury is a recognised organ for such transactions.
I am enjoying my visit here, and feel very lucky to have such a refuge, but am terrified lest I fail to find anywhere to go & so overstay my welcome.1 Today I didn’t leave the town, but looked round at the Library, bookshops, etc., feeling rather bored. I think the main discomfort of new surroundings is the boredom consequent on new surroundings – one doesn’t know where to go to be amused. […]
I have been receiving a lot of letters, though: one from Bruce was waiting for me at the library. He has been racketing round London with literary folk. […]
Much love to both.
Philip
1 Philip stayed with Kitty and Walter during the first month of his appointment at Leicester, travelling the ten miles to work by bus.
29 September 1946
53, York Road, Loughborough, Leics
My dear Mop and Pop,
Many thanks for the fat envelope duly received on Wednesday. I don’t quite know who to answer first. Thank you, at any rate, for the photographs. I’m sorry they are not all I hoped for. The portrait of Ruth would have been passable if only I’d had a tripod or at l
east a steady base for my camera. I am furious. Why aren’t there any films to be had? It is only by ceaseless practice that one discovers what one can and cannot do.
Thanks to Pop for his advice on the policy. I don’t like the idea of funding my income in my old age:1 – but if you say so it is probably the best way. I haven’t seen the Registrar yet. He is a vociferous man, likely to bully me into taking an annuity. His name is the unusual one of Drewery – there is one obvious rhyme but one wd need a third for a limerick.
I am glad Mop has been enjoying Kangaroo. I am inclined to think that a study of Lawrence should start from that book sooner than almost any other. I have never known anyone give such a complete picture of himself. And doesn’t he get the feel of the beaches and desolate Australian countryside skilfully?
Talking of books, the Fortune Press make renewed promises of JILL for the “middle of October”, and say they expect to send copies “within the next ten days.” I’m afraid that Pop will find it very different from To the Dark Tower.2 There are two ways of learning to write novels. One is to spread your talent as far as possible over as many different characters, aspects, attitudes etc. as you can in your first book, and however thin the result concentrate on filling in during your later ones. That is I think Francis King’s method. The other is to concentrate your talent on one subject within easy range, to do nothing you are not sure of, however limited or elementary. That is mine. Charles Madge3 acknowledged The North Ship and pleased me by saying that they have “an altogether different quality”. But I shall not believe in their value until someone is willing to pay me hard cash for them.
I shall be moving into my new lodgings tomorrow. I dread this for fear they may be irretrievably bad. I don’t mind “roughing it” but to pay 45/- and rough it seems double-roughing it to me. The address is 172, London Road. In case you have not a record. But it will be a relief to be shut of the ’bus-journies.
Philip Larkin Page 20
