Poetry workbooks

Scope and Content

Workbook no.1 was deposited in the British Library (Add. Ms. 52619) by Philip Larkin in 1963 whilst he was serving on the National Manuscripts Collection of Contemporary Poets Committee. A microfilm copy of this workbook is held at DPL/1/1.

Loose inserts in workbooks nos. 2 to 8 have been listed at the end of each workbook, with their original place noted. Many pages feature caricatures and doodles around the margins.

Where a poem has been published in Philip Larkin, 'Collected poems' (Faber & Faber, 1988), the page reference is given in square brackets, e.g. [CP298].

Access Information

Access will be granted to any accredited reader