Bessie Cotter
SMITH, Wallace
London: William Heinemann. 1935.
Description:
The first UK edition. 183x122mm. pp. viii, 272. Publisher's pale blue cloth, slightly rubbed at the corners. Original illustrated dustjacket. Corners of jacket chipped and spine a little rubbed and with a few very small closed tears to top edge and a repaired closed tear to the foot of the spine. Lower cover of jacket has a red mark (c50mm long). Internally very good and overall an excellent copy
Set in a Chicago brothel, the novel is a frank, unprurient account of the day to day life of the eponymous prostitute. Much praised for its realism and lack of sentimentality, it was well received in America when first published 1934. It appeared in this Heinemann edition the following year. Despite (or perhaps, because of) good early sales in England, it was banned on the grounds of indecency. The book had to be withdrawn from sale and Heinemann was fined 100 guineas. Unsurprisingly, it is rare in commerce, only one copy (in a less good dustjacket) appearing in the auction records.
The Attorney General, in his opening remarks in the indecency hearing said of the book that it "deals with what everybody will recognize as an unsavoury subject - gratification of a sexual appetite". The following year, the book was published in Paris by The Obelisk Press (see next item). Not for the first time, the English were forced to travel to France in order to have their appetites gratified.
Description:
The first UK edition. 183x122mm. pp. viii, 272. Publisher's pale blue cloth, slightly rubbed at the corners. Original illustrated dustjacket. Corners of jacket chipped and spine a little rubbed and with a few very small closed tears to top edge and a repaired closed tear to the foot of the spine. Lower cover of jacket has a red mark (c50mm long). Internally very good and overall an excellent copy
Set in a Chicago brothel, the novel is a frank, unprurient account of the day to day life of the eponymous prostitute. Much praised for its realism and lack of sentimentality, it was well received in America when first published 1934. It appeared in this Heinemann edition the following year. Despite (or perhaps, because of) good early sales in England, it was banned on the grounds of indecency. The book had to be withdrawn from sale and Heinemann was fined 100 guineas. Unsurprisingly, it is rare in commerce, only one copy (in a less good dustjacket) appearing in the auction records.
The Attorney General, in his opening remarks in the indecency hearing said of the book that it "deals with what everybody will recognize as an unsavoury subject - gratification of a sexual appetite". The following year, the book was published in Paris by The Obelisk Press (see next item). Not for the first time, the English were forced to travel to France in order to have their appetites gratified.