Postcard from Philip Larkin to Charles Monteith, 21 October 1978

MS letter from Philip Larkin to Charles Monteith. On commercial postcard stamped with the name ‘North Humberside, Hull’ and the date. Refers to Larkin’s hope of staying for two nights at All Soul’s College, Oxford. Mentions having invited John Wain (1925-1994, poet) to dinner at All Soul’s, and hoping “to hear all Election gossip”. The “Election” probably is for the post of Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford, since 1978 was the last year of Wain’s professorship. Closes with a joke, metaphorically portraying the image - of a grouse and a predatory fox, on the reverse - as a “picture of British author & HM Insp of Taxes”. Addressed using Monteith’s residence [?] at 10 Wellington Road, London, rather than the office of Faber & Faber. On the reverse, reproduction of a photographic image showing a fox stalking a grouse on a hillside.

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