Tomorrow I am going to the official opening of the new Library in Hull2 – it is already open, actually, and I went in it yesterday. Perhaps I can pick up some tips for my opening in Wellington on September 12. Brrrr.
I had a letter from the Saturday Evening Post yesterday, offering a page, but I don’t think I can take advantage of it – a pity, since it penetrates every living room in the United States. […]
Love, Philip
1 Eva responded on 28 May: ‘I expect you would be lonely at Warwick. I remember we did have Jim, Hughes and Kingsley to see us at times. / Daddy of course, made friends with Mr Bilson[,] Mr Champ and the Baker, I forget his name. I think I was too busy to make any friends there, for it was mostly war time and we had no cleaner.’
2 An extension to the Hull Central Library was opened by Alderman Lawrence on 28 May 1962, the Lord Mayor, Alderman George Frear, presiding.
17 June 1962
My very dear old creature,
[…] After a rather horrible lunch. Am furious at the moment as I have discovered a spanner jamming the side-gate into the garden, which can only be the work of those sodding Kellys – I’ll give him what for, obstructing a common right of way. I hope the University kicks them out in November, or whenever it is. Fuss, fuss, fuss all the time. Damned cheek.
What with that and my lunch – and an increase in hayfever – I feel less happy than I did, not I suppose that I did feel very happy.
I will keep in mind the business of writing to the Rector of St Michael’s (was it?) Lichfield:1 after all, I may want to go there myself one day!2 Of course, I think it wd be most appropriate if you were there, if you wish to be, and I don’t think you need pay attention to such fancies such as disturbing those already there! They’ll have enough on their minds already. Or else, as the Bible says, “The living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything.”3 I expect Kitty would visit Lichfield twice as regularly if you were there! (Spiteful creature.)
Being disagreeable has made me feel more cheerful, even charitable, apart from making me want to ride over Kelly at the head of a troop of cavalry. I’m going to the Buildings Officer’s tonight – I’ll see I drop some poison in his ear.
Have you finished the Wodehouse? His autobiography – or, at least, a selection of his letters – called Performing Flea is quite readable, but of course there are plenty of novels left, not, of course, that you’ll want to read them non-stop.
Thanks for finding the pennies – invest them wisely. All the money came out of my pocket when I was changing my trousers – I thought I’d found it all.4
Very best love, Philip
1 The site of the Larkin family graves. See David Gerard, ‘Family Matters: The Fifth Annual PLS Birthday Walk, Lichfield, 11 August 2001’, About Larkin 12 (2001), 30–3.
2 In a letter of 13/14 June Eva had written: ‘I have thought a deal about the matter of Lichfield being my last resting place, and wonder if it is the right thing to do. I mentioned this at the time of our visit, if you remember. Also I rather shrink from writing to the Rector myself, and wonder if you could do it for me (if you think it would be right). Just a tentative letter asking if there would be room, for the churchyard seemed rather full.’
3 Ecclesiastes 9: 5.
4 In her letter of 13 June Eva had told him to check whether he had a hole in his pocket.
22 June 1962
Postcard
Thank you for sending a letter as usual. I can’t say the cricket yesterday was very enjoyable – play seemed dull, seats were uncomfortable, & I had bad hayfever all the p.m., most lowering. Today looks rather dull & grey. I hope to dash up to Austin Reed’s for a fitting before going to Lord’s.
I was glad to hear of the Bunny nonagenarian.1
There are a lot of very old bunnys at Lord’s all wearing M.C.C. ties and taking a keen interest in what goes on. Monica sends kind regards.
Love P.
1 With her letter of 19 June Eva had enclosed a cutting concerning Mrs Edith Beecroft of Bunny village, who had received seventy-four birthday cards, ‘countless gifts of flowers and many presents’.
26 August 1962
My dear old creature,
Rain is falling steadily. This is a pleasant solid hotel in quiet surroundings – on a road above a river opposite a church – and so far very comfortable, though I could do with about five more blankets till the cold weather comes.
I was glad to leave Pearson Park as the Kelly–Wilks fracas blew up again – Wilks had some foul friends to stay on Thursday: his friends always seem to arrive about 12.15 a.m. They kept me awake with talking till about 1.30, when they seemed to settle down, but about 2.20 a.m. there were three tremendous thumps below me, quite deliberate, & I was so furious I pounded on the floor in a frenzy. This produced a written apology (!) from Wilks, who said Kelly had been prodding on the ceiling with a broom to prevent their going to sleep. The spectacle of the three of us banging away is scarcely dignified! Anyway, I proceeded up to Newcastle on Saturday, where I met Monica & we journeyed on by stopping train into the lonely Border country. The trip was enlivened by my finding in a bookshop in Newcastle Anthony Sampson’s Anatomy of Britain, [in] wch in the section summarising the claims to distinction of Britain’s universities Hull is described by “Only 48 public schoolboys. Many Africans. Poet-Librarian Philip Larkin.” Plain to see there isn’t much to be said about the place!
Last night we had “casserole of grouse” & a bottle of claret. It seems colder up here, and the chance of any summer weather very distant. I hope you fare better down on the south coast1 – I expect you will. The grouse was all right though not much of it. […]
Well, I must close & take another look at the weather, & perhaps write to Wilks, or he will think I am ignoring his apology. But what to say I don’t know.
Much love, dear old creature, also to A. Nellie, Philip
1 Eva and Nellie were in a hotel in Bournemouth from 2 to 9 September.
16 September 1962
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My dear old creature,
For once I am sitting in my bedroom in the sun, in the chair I bought for doing so, though it spends most of its time holding clothes I am too lazy to put away. It looks a fine day, but so did yesterday, and that collapsed in torrential rain about 3 o’clock.
Well, my visit to Wellington was really quite successful.1 You will recall I was staying with Mr Buttrey who was chairman of the Library Committee in those days (and still is) – the first mystery was that I couldn’t identify his wife – I am sure he must have remarried. The Mrs B. I remember was a much older person. Anyway, they gave me tea, & then we sat until it was time to go down to the Library. Actually the opening was fixed for 8, to allow members of the Council to finish a meeting. I was surprised by the splendour of the new extension – they have hollowed out the old building, and added a new one to it, entirely glass-fronted (and backed). There were a great many local government worthies there – Lady Jacqueta Williams (a great Shropshire figure), the Deputy Clerk of the County Council, the Chairman of the Urban District Council, & so on. The strain of keeping a smile on my face and not swearing for about 3 hours was considerable!
My “speech” seemed a bit long and dull to me, but I got through it without any great nerves. The atmosphere was so friendly that I could almost have sung a comic song. I don’t think there’ll be any tablet inscribed to me! They didn’t even present me with anything, wch I thought they might have done. Still.
Since coming back I have been appalled by the amount of work there is here of all kinds, and should by rights go off my head with worry, but shall try not to.2 […]
Much love to you, dear old creature. Philip
1 Larkin had been invited to open the refurbished public library in Wellington.
2 Not to be outdon
e Eva replied (17 September): ‘Like you, I am appalled by all the jobs, which ought to have been done much earlier in the year and hope I shall get some of them done before Christmas.’
7 October 1962
My dear old creature,
Tomorrow is John Cowper Powys’s 90th birthday! Just think of it! He certainly has learnt “the art of growing old”, hasn’t he – I believe he eats little and takes plenty of exercise, like me ogh ogh ogh.1 It is marvellous, isn’t it, considering how ill he used to be with ulcers. I believe what counts is the will to live, the basic psychic energy that you have & I haven’t.
I have ordered all his books for the Library that we haven’t got already. […]
There is a poem by me in The Spectator this week, about advertisements2 – not a very good one. […]
Much love, dear old creature – how are your roses? Philip
1 See Philip’s postcard of 27 May 1960.
2 ‘Essential Beauty’.
11 November 1962
Leicester
My very dear old creature,
How quickly these Remembrance Days come round! I wonder if you have been listening to the service on the wireless. I don’t think there is any broadcast during the year that makes a stronger impression on me. Do your thoughts go back to 1918, and call up what you were doing then?1 It must have been much more dramatic when there was no wireless and very few telephones, and news was published in special editions of papers and passed by word of mouth. You notice I never think of this day in terms of 1945! That date holds no romance for me: merely when a particularly dreary and depressing period in our history began.
Anyway, I don’t feel unduly bright this morning – I find it awfully hard to get a good night’s sleep out of my own bed, & it seems cold here: I must look after myself well in Hull! Add to this that I feel generally irritable. […]
Betty keeps me supplied with apples and pears – rather sour some of the apples are too! Discomfort me with apples, I say.2 I must have been on this raw-food diet for about a year now. Her father says it takes about two years to get a proper hold of your system, & that when it does I shan’t have hayfever or anything! Certainly my health hasn’t been too bad these 12 months – touch wood – not my deputy Wood – touch him with a policeman’s truncheon – However, I can’t say it makes me any stronger – I had to move some books unexpectedly on Friday & it nearly corpsed me – my back felt broken –
I was glad to hear that vase in the front room was broken. It was extremely ugly. Also that you have got a cleaner again. It’s cheering that one of your “old” women wanted to come back. You can’t be so horrible after all! […]
My dearest love, old creature – WRAP UP. Philip
1 On 13 November Eva replied: ‘I agree with your remarks upon the two wars, although the first world war was more horrible in that a wholesale slaughter of our young men took place. I always remember Kitchener’s cry, “More men, more men.” I went to church however, and this reminds me to say that we have left the Parish Church and now go to Emmanuel. As you may know – Mrs Dexter does not like the alterations that the Rector intends making at All Saints.’ Mrs Dexter was a fellow member of the Circle of Silent Ministry. See notes to the letters of 5 March 1964 and 11 July 1965.
2 ‘Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.’ Song of Solomon 2: 5, King James Version.
9 December 1962
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My dear old creature,
[…] Yesterday a copy of the U.S. edition of A Girl in Winter turned up: it has just been published over there, at $4.50, jolly dear – about 32/-. There are a lot of complimentary remarks about me on the jacket – perhaps I will bring it home at Christmas. On Wednesday I am due to record two poems in London for a poetry record: I am not greatly looking forward to this. The poems are Mr Bleaney and An Arundel Tomb.1
Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, the wireless has just said (The Epilogue). Ay, ah thowt it wor going to be required this mornin’, an’ all, let alone toneet.
Good night, dear old creature.
Philip
1 The Jupiter Anthology of Twentieth Century English Poetry, part III, released in November 1963. Bloomfield, Bibliography, F2.
1963
20 January 1963
My very dear old creature,
[…] I did go to hear Duke Ellington though the journey was pretty fierce – 2½ hours each way, 6–8.30, and 11.30–2.00 a.m.!1 The bus was warm enough and not impossibly uncomfortable, but of course it was wearisome – and back to a cold bed! Awwghgh! The concert was in the main very good – to my surprise the Hartleys were there too. The City Hall at Sheffield is a huge place. […]
Now do take care in walking, dear old creature – don’t fling your feet about & lose balance – all best love
Philip
1 On 11 January Philip had written ‘On Tuesday evening I am supposed to be going with a party of students by coach to Sheffield (2 hours both ways) to see Duke Ellington, or hear him & his band rather. […] He probably won’t come again – he’s 64 this year. Quite a chicken by your standards, of course!’
27 January 1963
My very dear old creature,
[…] I can’t say I have very much in the way of news: the days go by with nothing especially colourful or alarming to mark them Perhaps this isn’t a thing to be lamented! I thought I had lost my “credit card” at Austin Reed’s, & had visions of some unknown being able to clothe himself at my expense, but luckily I found it again. Betty & I went to look at an “offset litho” machine that might be very useful in the office, and wd certainly cost £475. Maeve is irritated by a Mrs Tanner on the staff who calls her “Mauve”. This is inexplicable as “Maeve” is quite a well known name. Actually I have come to prefer Mauve. I think it’s a rather distinguished name, like Coral I suppose, and after all there could be many Maeves but I’m sure there’s only one Mauve. Maeve doesn’t quite see this. […]
Much love,
Philip
3 February 1963
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My very dear old creature,
[…] I can’t think that much has happened this week. I just slog in & out, & eat raw cabbage. Some of the things I’ve done wd need too much explaining to make clear, as they are tied up with business. Perhaps I should explain why Kelly hit Wilks! It seems that last Sunday Mrs K. asked the W.’s if they wd mind being extra quiet as K. was ill, & the W.’s agreed. On the Tuesday evening Mrs K. rang again & called up the stairs to the effect that they seemed to have been noisier than ever since she spoke. W. replied in no very conciliatory style: K. then appeared, rushing up the stairs in his pyjamas in demented fashion and, in reaching the top, striking W. a light blow on the shoulder. W. rang up the police to find out how to charge people with assault! Luckily he didn’t ring the fire brigade too. Next day he reported it to the Registrar, who passed it on to the V.C. There it rests for the present. Will keep you informed. […]
Love
Philip
10 February 1963
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My very dear old creature,
[…] There isn’t a lot of news from the Library – now there is some talk of the next stage of the Library being done by Sir Leslie Martin, the Festival Hall architect, at least “to sketch-plan stage”. We have two additional typists starting tomorrow: our advertisement for two additional cataloguers, wch closes tomorrow, has so far produced two Indians & a chap who was a trainee here last year & can’t come till July! Of course there may be a rush of applications tomorrow, I don’t
think. I shan’t have the Indians.
Mr Wood still omits to win a football pool or fall down and break his neck – another 10 years to go! Oh God! I shall be 50, 51! Oh god!! The prospect is too ghastly for words. […]
&n
bsp; All best love Philip
10 March 1963
My dear old creature,
It is rather a crushed creature that writes today, in that I have had a rather hard few days of it, here & in London & then yesterday in Leeds. This is a dim time of year, even though the cold has gone, and the sense of life being a bit too much for me is constantly at my elbow. Travelling about is not enjoyable, in that I find sleeping difficult & can’t eat meals properly as it is hard to get water, and after a bit appetite goes. Today will be a thin day anyway, as I hadn’t time to do much shopping yesterday. It must be nice to be like you, nothing to do but
shop, cook & eat!
Of course, I still have a few teeth, which is better than you, but I am sorry to hear from your Tuesday letter that your new ones are still giving trouble. I do hope they will come right in the end.
Philip Larkin Page 43
