The Philip Larkin Society

Larkin at Work: A Study of Larkin's mode of composition as seen in his workbooks
by A.T. Tolley.(Larkin Society Monograph No.1).

£6.00 €9.00 $12.00

Larkin composed almost all of his poems in a series of workbooks, now lodged in The Larkin Archive at the University of Hull and the British Library. These workbooks offer an unusual record of the composition of the poems of a major poet. The texts reproduced in this book are based on transcriptions from the workbooks. Analyses are offered of the drafting of such major poems as Church Going, The Whitsun Weddings and Dockery and Son, as well as that of representative shorter poems. In several cases, the complete drafting is shown, giving the book an important documentary value as the first extensive presentation of drafting from Larkin's workbooks.

A.T. Tolley is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literary Studies at Carleton University, Ottowa, Canada. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and at The Queen's College, Oxford, a few years after Larkin's residence at the University. He is the author of The Poetry of the Thirties, The Poetry of the Forties, and My Proper Ground: A Study of the Work of Philip Larkin and its Development.

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Philip Larkin, The Marvell Press and Me
by Jean Hartley

£9.00 €13.50 $18.00

In 1955 Philip Larkin moved from Belfast to become the University Librarian in Hull. He entrusted the manuscript of his first collection of poems to a novice publisher, The Marvell Press. Jean Hartley was one half of The Marvell Press, which she ran with her husband, George, from a tiny house next door to an off-licence and a fish-and-chip shop. Jean Hartley left school at fifteen, was an unmarried mother at nineteen, but by her early twenties was publishing Philip Larkin's The Less Deceived. This story of her extraordinary life is told with the spirit and humour which so endeared her to Larkin. Their friendship was to last until his death in 1985.

'I must confess that I found the book completely fascinating.'Auberon Waugh

'Unfussy, exact, evocative, Philip Larkin, The Marvel Press and Me is a fine piece of work, essential for the enthusiast of Larkin.' Sean O'Brien, London Magazine

'Jean Hartley's story is a vital piece of evidence for anyone curious about Larkin's life.' Andrew Motion, The Observer.

'This book is an honest, perceptive, unpretentious and funny account of a rich and unusual life.' Patrick Taylor-Martin, The Listener

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Philip Larkin's Hull and East Yorkshire
by Jean Hartley

£6.00 €9.00 $12.00

Fans of Philip Larkin regularly visit Hull and East Yorkshire and want to know and see places and buildings connected with the great poet and writer who lived in the area for thirty years from 1955 until his death on 2nd December 1985. What sort of environment did he live in? What inspired him to write masterpieces such as The Whitsun Weddings and Here? This pamphlet provides the answers, with summary descriptions and explanations of many (but not all) of the most important places, and details of where and how to find them. There are easy-to-use locational maps, and a selection of relevant photographs and drawings. The recommended route can be completed fairly easily in one day or less for those in a hurry, or spread over several days for those with more time to spare.

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Philip Larkin and the Poetics of Resistance
edited by Andrew McKeown and Charles Holdefer

£7.00 €10.50 $14.00

In September 2004 scholars from across Europe gathered in Poitiers, France, for a conference on the suitably Gallic abstraction, 'Resistance' in the work of Philip Larkin. The twelve essays in this volume, by French, Belgian, Hungarian, Dutch, American and English critics, are selected from the proceedings of the conference, and include treatments of Larkin's resistance to sentimental Romanticism, to heterosexual orthodoxy, to the British cultural myth of the second World War, to Modernist fragmentation, to public political discourse, and to translation (this essay introducing a rendering of Larkin's masterpiece 'Ici'). The mix of continental theoretical discourses and Anglo-Saxon empiricism in the volume makes for some thought-provoking juxtapositions.

Contributions by James Booth, Stephen Cooper, Helen Goethals, Adrian Grafe, Adolphe Haberer, Charles Holdefer, Raphaël Ingelbien, Andrew McKeown, Jacques Nassif, Jean-Charles Perquin, István Rácz, Martine Semblat and David Ten Eyck.

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The Philip Larkin 2006 Annual General Meeting Guest Lecture
by Prof. E. A. Dawes

£8.50 €12.75 $17.00

Required Performance: Professor Edwin A. Dawes , Chairman of the Philip Larkin Society and Honorary Vice-President of The Magic Circle (London): June 2006.

A rambling pot-pourri of anecdotes, recollections of Philip Larkin and magical illusions.t.

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Notelets

£2.50 €3.75 $5.00

A set of 5 identical notelets, with envelopes.

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Postcards

£1.50 €2.25 $3.00

A set of 4 postcards featuring images of Philip Larkin.

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Bookmarks

£1.50
€2.25
$3.00

A set of 5 identical bookmarks.

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This Was Mr Bleaney's Bike
by David Pattison

A novel by playwright and poet, David Pattison. Shortly after University lecturer Dr William S Ludgeworth, known to everyone as Billy Sludge, decided to kill his colleague, the odious Peter Pelham, he was arrested for alleged importuning and suspended from his post at the University. Then he found the lock of pubic hair in the dead poet's house. After that, things became complicated.

Waters that are already deep are muddied by the presence of the deadly Mr Barbour, and the attentions of the ruthless and powerful Signer Paolo Brindisi. Both are, for very different reasons, keen to possess the pubic hair. With the help of the mysterious Doc Holliday and assisted throughout by the phantom cold-eyed man, Billy Sludge battles to keep his job and his sanity as pressure on him builds and his grasp on reality begins to slip.

The blackest of black comedies, situated partly in the unreal world of university life and partly in the shadowy world of realpolitik, this story charts a few incredible days in the life of Billy Sludge, one time academic high flyer and now lost soul.

Published by Wotlarx Enterprises in November 2006 copies of This Was Mr Bleaney's Bike can be obtained by sending a cheque made payable to D Pattison for £7.99 (inc p & p) to David Pattison 1007 Anlaby High Road Hull HU4 7PN. Or can be ordered from bookshops anywhere (ISBN 0-9554130-0-1). Enquiries to: dpattison@hotmail.co.uk

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