LARKIN, IDEOLOGY AND CRITICAL VIOLENCE A Case of Wrongful Conviction.

First edition, first printing. From the library of Professor Edwin A. Dawes, with his illustrated bookplate to the verso of the front cover. Inscribed presentation copy. Original illustrated paper covered boards, the front panel showing a photograph of Philip Larkin with umbrella from the University of Hull archives. Issued without dustwrapper. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. Bumped to the upper spine, and with a small (c. 1 cm) scratch to the fore edge of the front panel.

Inscribed by John Osborne in black ink to the title page, "To Eddie, / A late harvest from our / shared golden days in the green / pastures of Larkin scholarship. / With love & best wishes, / John O." The recipient, Edwin Dawes (1925-2023) was Reckitt Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Hull, later serving as the University's Pro Vice Chancellor, Dean of Science, and later as Chair of the Library Committee. Dawes initially knew Larkin in the latter's capacity as chief librarian at the university, but they soon became good friends, as attested to by the unusual warmth of the poet's inscriptions to him. Dawes was later co-founder and chairman of the (posthumous) Philip Larkin Society. He was also an award-winning magician and historian of magic, which explains his Ex Libris bookplate showing an alchemist presiding over a steaming concoction with, at his left hand, a copy of Giovanni Battista Della Porta's 1558 'Natural Magick' (the figure bears an uncanny resemblance to Sigmund Freud). The design, he later explained, married his two passions of science and magic. The other founder of the Larkin Society, and its first secretary, was the author of this book. John Osborne, Director of American Studies at the University of Hull [not finished]