After arriving in Wellington during December 1943, Larkin initially took up residence at Alexander House, 40 New Church Road. In a letter written from his lodgings, to his close friend Jim Sutton, the reluctant librarian painted a grim picture of his new occupation, famously describing his working day as consisting of ‘handing out tripey novels to morons’! However, it was certainly not all bad, as Larkin now found himself with plenty of time to work on his writing and was even prepared to concede the post did at least give him ‘the overbalance of pleasure I demand from any semi-permanent situation’.
However, his apparent antipathy towards Wellington’s antiquated Edwardian library was certainly not without foundation either. In 1977, Larkin wrote a memorable account of his early career at the Walker Street establishment, which hardly appeared to have changed since its 1902 foundation; indeed, the original caretaker/librarian who had been appointed when it opened was, incredibly, still in-post when he arrived! Amid dusty shelves piled high with long-withdrawn titles, Larkin found himself single-handedly maintaining not only the library’s inadequate stock but also its faulty boiler and gas lamps, over the course of a working day which ran from 9am until 8.30 in the evening