Poet Larkin's letter sold for more than its weight in gold

HANDWRITTEN PIECE SOLD TO A DOCTOR FOR £870

- By PAUL POTTER

A LETTER written by the poet Philip Larkin to a university colleague just a few weeks before he died sold for more than its weight in gold when it went under the hammer in an auction at the Old School in Messingham.

The handwritten letter was sent to Marie Cooper, the secretary of the Hull University Vice-Chancellor Sir William Taylor, on July 16, 1985, just four weeks after Larkin had undergone an operation for oesophageal cancer.

That operation had revealed that the cancer had spread and was inoperable, although there was no mention of that in the letter.

Larkin thanked Marie, a longtime colleague, for her card and for her congratulations on his being appointed a Companion of Honour.