A guide to material relating to
the trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover
held in the Penguin Archive
at the University of Bristol Library Special Collections
Compiled September 2009
1
The Penguin Archive
University of Bristol Library Special Collections
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Collections.
To make an appointment to use Special Collections please phone or email:
Tel: 0117 928 8014
Email: special-collections@bristol.ac.uk
Visiting Special Collections:
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Avenue, BS8 1TJ.
You will need to bring with you your permission from Penguin Books Ltd. together with some ID, such
as your driving licence or university library card.
Because of the unique nature of much of the material held in Special Collections, no food or drink may
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For further information visit the Penguin Archive website:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/library/collections/specialcollections/archives/penguin/
2
INTRODUCTION
In 1960, to mark the 30th anniversary of D.H. Lawrence’s death, Penguin Books decided to publish
seven of D.H. Lawrence’s titles. Included in this list was the unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley’s
Lover. For having published this book Penguin Books was prosecuted under the new Obscene
Publications Act of 1959. Penguin Books was represented at the six-day trial by Michael Rubinstein,
“the book trade’s lawyer”. On the 2 November 1960, the jury passed a “Not Guilty” verdict.
The Penguin Archive held in the University of Bristol Library Special Collections includes archival
material relating to Penguin’s publication of the unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and to
the subsequent trial. It also includes published editions of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
3
BOOKS & ARTICLES
Examples of some of Penguin’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover book covers:
1960.
1961. Introduction by
Richard Hoggart.
Pirated “Second Version”
published in India using
the 1977 Penguin reprint.
1980. Introduction by
Richard Hoggart.
1981. Introduction by
Richard Hoggart.
1990. Penguin 20th
Century Classics.
Introduction by John
Lyon.
1999. Penguin 20th
Century Classics. Edited
and Introduction by
Michael Squires.
2000. Penguin Classics.
Introduction by Michael
Squires.
2006. Penguin Classics.
Edited by Micahel
SquiresIntroduction by
Doris Lessing.
4
Books about Lady Chatterley’s Lover:
DM1294/19
D.H. Lawrence: An Appreciation by Richard Aldington (Penguin Books
Ltd., London, 1950)
1950
Booklet issued free to purchasers of the complete set of D.H.
Lawrence’s works.
DM2097/1 &
DM2129/1/1/
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence.
1960
Proof copy printed by Hazell Watson and Viney Ltd., Aylesbury. The
firm withdrew from printing this edition prior to the trial.
DM1843/book
box 1
The Trial of Lady Chatterley. Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd. edited by
C.H. Rolph. Cover drawing and illustrations by Paul Hogarth (Penguin
Special S192, 1961). Printed by Cox & Wyman Ltd.
1961
Copy no.1 of 2000 copies: given by Allen Lane to Eunice Frost.
Another copy (no.1273) held at DM1294/9.
Penguin book
collection
The Trial of Lady Chatterley. Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd. edited by
C.H. Rolph. Cover drawing and illustrations by Paul Hogarth (Penguin
Special S192, 1961). Printed by Cox & Wyman Ltd.
1961
Two copies, one of which one is signed “With regard and admiration to
Sir Allen Lane from C.H. Rolph. 1.3.61.”
DM1843/Books The Production of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by Cox and Wyman Ltd. 1961
2
(Privately printed, 1961)
DM1294/19
The Lady Chatterley’s Lover Trial, edited by H. Montgomery Hyde (The
Bodley Head Ltd., London, 1990).
1990
DM1294/4
Pirated copy of D.H. Lawrence’s The Second Version of Lady
Chatterley’s Lover, using the 1977 Penguin reprint. Written on a
compliments slip from Penguin Overseas Ltd., New Delhi: “Lady
Chatterley’s Lover is banned in India – vide a decision of the Supreme
Court. Therefore the “Second Version” piracy. Note jacket design
1977
5
using Penguin colophon and Phoenix logo.”
DM2168/2
The Times, 11 February 2009.
With free copy of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Penguin
Classics on Film series.
2009
Articles about Lady Chatterley’s Lover:
DM1294/19
PCS
‘The production of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by Cox and Wyman Ltd:
introduction’, Penguin Collectors’ Society Newsletter, vol. 2, 4
December 1976.
1976
DM1294/19
‘D.H. Lawrence: The Penguin Connection’ by Brian Platt, Penguin
Collectors’ Society Newsletter, vol. 36, June 1991.
1991
DM1294/19
PCS
‘Lady Chatterley’s travels’, Penguin Collectors’ Society Newsletter, vol.
42, June 1994.
1994
DM1294/19
PCS
‘Lady Chatterley: The Correct Version’ by John Curtis, Penguin
Collectors’ Society Miscellany 10: Twenty-One Years, 1995.
1995
DM1294/19
PCS
‘An Australian Affair of Lady Chatterley’ by Jim Orton, Penguin
Collectors’ Society Newsletter, vol. 51, December 1998.
1998
DM1294/19
PCS
‘Lady Chatterley’s Defendant’ (Sir Allen Lane) by Horatio Morpurgo,
Penguin Collectors’ Society Newsletter, vol. 53, December 1999.
1999
DM1294/19
PCS
‘The Rarity and otherwise of Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ by Steve Hare,
Penguin Collectors’ Society Newsletter, vol. 64, June 2005.
2005
DM1294/4/5/3/3 Photocopy of an article from an India newspaper: Luis S.R. Vas and
Rafique Bagdadi, ‘How Lolita came in … and Lady Chatterley got left
behind’, n.d.
n.d.
6
ARCHIVE MATERIAL
MICHAEL RUBINSTEIN’S CASE NOTES FOR THE LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER TRIAL
DM1679:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial case notes of Michael Rubinstein.
1960
This material was given to the University of Bristol on 13 October 1995 by Michael
Rubinstein, with additional material given in October 2004 by Joy and Hilary Rubinstein.
Includes proofs, witness statements and correspondence with witnesses and
correspondence with potential witnesses; letters of support and congratulations; material
relating to the conduct of the Defence; Counsel’s papers; correspondence concerning the
possibility of legal action in Scotland; reviews of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and of H.
Montogmery Hyde’s The Lady Chatterley’s Lover Trial (1990); material relating to the
definition of obscenity; requests for copies of the trial transcripts; correspondence
concerning Michael Rubinstein’s proposed edition of essays entitled Confounded
Experts; material relating to the Australian copyright of Lady Chatterley’s Lover; and
material relating to the Index on Censorship Auction held at Middle Temple Hall on 6
November 1995.
A full typescript catalogue of this collection is available in Special Collections.
PENGUIN EDITORIAL FILES
DM1107/1484 – Penguin editorial file for Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1484):
Editorial file for Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence:
19601989
Photocopy of a letter from Laurence Pollinger (Laurence Pollinger Ltd.) to H. Summers
(Penguin Books Ltd.), 24 February 1960. Pollinger cannot grant exclusive paperback
rights in the unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover because HeinemannNederland already publish this version and control the world rights, except in the USA,
Canada, Sweden and India. The New American Library have a non-exclusive contract
for the USA and Canada, Jan Prochazka have a contract for Sweden, and Jaico
Publishing House of Bombay have a contract covering the sale in India. He adds that he
has been unable to ascertain what the American copyright position is in the other
Lawrence titles published by Penguin. Attached is a memorandum of agreement made
11 March 1960 between William Heinemann Ltd. and Penguin Books Ltd. to publish the
unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in paperback in the English language
throughout the World, excluding the USA, its dependencies, the Philippine Islands,
Sweden and India. Penguin agrees to pay William Heinemann Ltd. 10% of the published
price of all copies sold, plus £500 on signing this agreement and £500 on publication of
the book.
Copy letter from Patricia Siddall (Penguin Editorial Dept.) to John Newton, 6 January
1961. Siddall asks Newton to return the books and papers borrowed for the trial and in
particular the copy of Richard Aldington’s Pinorman.
Letter from John Newton to Miss Siddall, n.d. [January 1961]. Newton does not think that
7
the copy of Pinorman was amongst the books he sorted out at the end of the evidence in
Mr Rubinstein’s office.
Copy memorandum from P.A.S. [Patricia Siddall] to E.E.F [Eunice Frost], 6 January
1961. Glover’s book has been returned to him, but the copy of Pinorman has not yet
been traced.
Copy letter from Patricia Siddall to John Newton, 9 January 1961. Siddall will ask some
of the barristers to find out what has become of the [Pinorman] book.
Letter from Norris D. McWhirter (editor, Guinness Superlatives Ltd.) to Penguin Books
Ltd., 2 June 1966. McWhirter requests the total sales figures for Lady Chatterley’s Lover
for inclusion in the new edition of The Guinness Book of Records. He says the last figure
they had was 4,250,000 to January 1964.
Copy letter from Michelle Proud (Penguin Books Ltd.) to Norris D. McWhirter, 14 June
1966. Proud informs McWhirter that the total sales up to the present [1966] are
3,500,000. She suggests that Guinness’s previous figure may have included sales of an
American or other edition.
Letter from Norris D. McWhirter to Michelle Proud, 16 June 1966. McWhirter thanks
Proud for the sales figures.
Letter from Linda Oberholtz (General Books, Paul Hamlyn Publishers) to Michelle Proud
(Rights and Permissions Dept., Penguin Books Ltd.), 15 August 1966. Oberholtz thanks
Proud for giving permission to use the photograph of Lady Chatterley’s Lover for use in A
Pictorial History of Love.
Blank copy letter from Valerie Willey (Penguin Books Ltd.) to Elizabeth Anderson (William
Heinemann Ltd.), 27 April 1967.
Draft note of sales figures for Lady Chatterley’s Lover from 1960 to 1968.
Letter from Peter [Pears?] (Goodman, Derrick & Co.) to Hans Schmoller (Penguin Books
Ltd.), 29 October 1969. Returns the trial transcripts [for Lady Chatterley’s Lover] that
were borrowed for the case of Last Exit to Brooklyn.
Copy letter from Lynne Wilson (assistant to Dieter Pevsner) to Goodman, Derrick and
Co., 4 November 1969. Wilson sends Schmoller’s thanks for returning the transcript of
the trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Blank copy letter from Mrs N.J. Constable (Penguin Books Ltd.) to Elizabeth Anderson
(William Heinemann Ltd.), 4 December 1973.
Blank copy letter from Miss P. Sadler (Penguin Books Ltd.) to Elizabeth Anderson
(William Heinemann Ltd.), 6 September 1974.
Blank copy letter from Miss P. Sadler (Penguin Books Ltd.) to Elizabeth Anderson
(William Heinemann Ltd.), 19 March 1975.
Photocopy of a Penguin memorandum from Jonathan Riley to Sarah Morris, 25 April
1989. Riley has received a request from a schoolgirl who is doing a project on Lawrence
and the trial and asks Morris to send him “the archive from first publication”. He adds that
8
if this is a very large file that he would prefer to see a “slimmed down version”.
DM1952 box 379 – Penguin editorial file for The Trial of Lady Chatterley: Regina v. Penguin
Books Ltd., edited by C.H. Rolph (Penguin Special S192):
Editorial file for The Trial of Lady Chatterley: Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd., edited by
C.H. Rolph (Penguin Special S192):
19601966,
1978
Includes drafts of the text; instructions to the printers; a discussion about whether the
four-letter word should be included in Rolph’s account of the trial; arrangements for Paul
Hogarth to sketch people involved in the trial; agreements to reproduce copies of
cartoons in the book, together with actual copies of the cartoons; photocopy of ‘Lady
Chatterley’ article from American Bar Association Journal, vol.48, January 1962;
proposed challenge to Australian State and Commonwealth censorship by publishing
under licence from Penguin an edition of The Trial of Lady Chatterley, which had been
banned in Australia; the Australian publishing rights in The Trial of Lady Chatterley; sales
report for the Japanese translation of The Trial of Lady Chatterley for the period July to
December 1963; newspaper cutting from ‘The Australian’ reporting the banning of David
Holbrook’s The Quest for Love, together with The Trial of Lady Chatterley and Lady
Chatterley’s Lover; the television rights to The Trial of Lady Chatterley and the reversion
of the rights in the book to the author in 1978.
Correspondents include: Peter G. Agnew (Managing Director, Punch), Eugene de Benko
(Acquisitions Librarian, Michigan State University), H.D. Brass (London Managing Editor,
News Limited of Australia), J.W. Cahill (Acting Director, General Customs Branch, Dept
of Customs and Excise, Canberra, Australia), Chrys (cartoonist, News of the World),
Gabrielle Coxhead, Robert Cross (Collins Publishers), E.M. Forster, Dr Helen Gardner,
M. Griffith-Jones, Eric Grimshaw (Features Editor, Daily Herald), C.R. Hewitt (pseud.
C.H. Rolph), Paul Hogarth, Bruce Hunter (David Higham Associates Ltd.), L.H. Jones
(London Express News and Feature Services), Hope Leresche (Hope Lerseche &
Steele), Robert Lusty, W.A. McCready, Prof. W.H. Nagel (Excerpta Criminologica
Foundation, Amsterdam), John Newton, Dieter Pevsner, Prof. V. de S. Pinto (University
of Nottingham), Ledig Rowohlt, Hans Schmoller, Norman St. John Stevens (The
Economist), David Thomson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, H.F. Paroissien,
Richard Poresky, Jeremy Potter (Manager, New Statesman), Michael Rubinstein
(Rubinstein, Nash & Co.), Col. A.W. Sheppard (Morgan’s Book Shop, Sydney, Australia),
V.K. Sinha (Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom, Bombay), George Sion, A. Tarbard
(Associated Newspapers Ltd.), R.S. Thackeray (Assistant Editor (Features) The Sunday
Telegraph), John Bishop of Woolwich.
Includes letter from C.R. Hewitt (The New Statesman) to Dieter Pevsner (Penguin Books
Ltd.), 5 November 1960. Hewitt asks for a paste-up of the trial transcript onto which he
can write editorial notes. He adds “It is in relation to the four-letter words. It seems to me
that it would be quite fatuous to publish an account of this trial, above all others, in which
those words were expurgated, asterisked, or euphemized. Yet, until we really do get
back to Chaucer (if ever we do), it is going to be unpleasant for a good many readers to
have them reiterated, á-la-Griffith-Jones, all the way through the book – which, let’s
remember, is not Lady Chatterley’s Lover… What I suggest, therefore, is that the fourletter words appear in my book once only, namely in the opening speech by GriffithJones; partly by way of showing that we not afraid of them, partly so that they can be
dropped from the manuscript without a lot of searching if your eventual decision goes
against them, partly so that the book could be easily serialized if you decided, later, in
9
favour of that, and partly so that readers may be spared the more emetic moments of the
Griffith-Jones periods.”
Postcard from E.M. Forster (King’s College, Cambridge) to Dieter Pevsner (Penguin
Books), 10 November 1960. Forster informs Pevsner “I am very glad to have been
helpful to Penguins, and I ask them in return to show their appreciation by not requesting
me to be sketched or photographed. I have had far too much of both in the past year.”
DM 1952 box 682 – Penguin author file for D.H. Lawrence:
Correspondence between A.S.B. Glover (Penguin Books) and Louisa Callender (William
Heinemann Ltd.),16 November-17 December 1945. Concerning the possibility of
Penguin publishing more D.H. Lawrence titles, particularly Kangaroo,’ The Plumed
Servant and England, My England.
Correspondence between Tatyana Kent (Penguin Books) and Yvonne Muller (Pearn,
Pollinger and Higham Ltd.), 9 June-3 July 1947. Concerning the possibility of Penguin’s
Associate Company acquiring the Spanish translation rights of Sea and Sardinia.
19451963,
19681973,
19781979.
Correspondence between A.S.B. Glover, John Overton and H.S. Reader (Penguin
Books), William Heinemann Ltd., Pearn, Pollinger and Higham Ltd., Martin Secker &
Warburg Ltd., Emery Walker Ltd., W.E. Williams (Bureau of Current Affairs), Alister
Kershaw, and Richard Aldington, 19 December 1947-16 October 1950. Concerning
plans to publish a special Penguin series of ten volumes of titles by D.H. Lawrence;
discussion about which Lawrence titles to include in the series; Richard Aldington’s
introductions to the volumes; and Aldington’s pamphlet D.H. Lawrence: An Appreciation.
Correspondence between A.S.B. Glover (Penguin Books) and Messrs. Evans Bros. Ltd.,
3-4 January 1951. Concerning permission for Dr Roger Manvell to quote from The
Rainbow in his book A Seat at the Cinema.
Correspondence between Allen Lane (Penguin Books), Jonas F. Fendell, Pearn,
Pollinger & Higham Ltd., 31 January 1951-21 October 1952. Concerning selling Penguin
editions of D.H. Lawrence titles in the USA.
Correspondence between Allen Lane (Penguin Books) and A. Dwye Evans (William
Heinemann Ltd.), 25 June-3 July 1953. Concerning Penguin’s decision to increase the
published price of The Rainbow to 3s.6d.
Correspondence between A.S.B. Glover (Penguin Books) and A. Dwye Evans (William
Heinemann Ltd.), 6-13 July 1955. Concerning royalty payments payable by Heinemann
for publishing reprints of D.H. Lawrence’s books.
Correspondence between A.S.B. Glover (Penguin Books) and Denys Kilham Roberts
(The Secretary-General, The Society of Authors), 9-14 December 1955. Concerning
copyright licences [in the works of D.H. Lawrence].
Correspondence between Jack Summers (Penguin Books) and H.F. Paroissien (Penguin
Books Inc., USA), 6-13 March 1956. Concerning the rights to sell The Essential T.E.
Lawrence in the USA.
Correspondence between Eunice Frost and A.S.B. Glover (Penguin Books), A. Dwye
10
Evans (William Heinemann Ltd.), Richard Aldington, W.E. Williams (The Arts Council of
Great Britain), and Rosica Colin, 28 February 1956-27 May 1957. Concerning plans to
publish in 1958 a selection of D.H. Lawrence titles; discussion about which titles to
include; Richard Aldington’s introductions to the texts; royalty payments for Lawrence’s
work; whether to publish the unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Correspondence between A.S.B. Glover (Penguin Books), William Heinemann Ltd.,
Laurence Pollinger Ltd., Rowohlt Verlag GMBH, R.C. Gowers (The Publishers
Association), C.R. Hewitt [C.H. Rolph], and Michael Rubinstein (Rubinstein, Nash & Co.),
27 October 1959-29 November 1960. Concerning the 1960 programme, including plans
to publish titles by D.H. Lawrence; discussion about whether to include the unexpurgated
version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover; details of D.H. Lawrence titles on the present list,
those being reprinted in June and December 1960, those published in the past those not
published to date, and those published by ACE Books in April 1960; Richard Aldington’s
introductions to the Penguin editions; royalty payments for Lawrence’s work; Rowohlt
Verlag GMBH’s plans to publish a clothbound new translation of the uncut Lady
Chatterley’s Lover; a list of D.H. Lawrence titles published by Penguin, with the date of
the first Penguin edition, the original printing quantity and the total printing quantity to
August 1960; notice of a meeting of the Obscene Libel Committee on 27 April 1960;
discussions with C.R. Hewitt [C.H. Rolph] about the possible outcome of the Lady
Chatterley’s Lover trial and his agreement to edit the trial proceedings for Penguin Books
Ltd; potential trial witnesses; sales figures for D.H. Lawrence titles published by Penguin
from 1950 to 1960. Includes a note that all the Lady Chatterley correspondence was
extracted from the file and given to H.P.S. [Hans Schmoller] in August 1960.
Correspondence between Anthony Godwin and Hans Schmoller (Penguin Books), 6-7
February 1961. Concerning errors in an advertisement for the Penguin editions of
Lawrence that appeared in ‘The New Statesman and Nation’ and ‘The Spectator’.
Correspondence between Simon Young (Penguin Books), Juta & Company Ltd., and Bo
Cavefors, 9 February-2 July 1962. Concerning a request from Juta & Co. to reproduce
two poems from the Penguin Poets edition of New Clothes by D.H. Lawrence in Wide
Horizons by P.R. Randall; and a query about copyright in D.H. Lawrence’s work in
relation to Studies in Classic American Literature.
Correspondence between Oliver Caldecott (Penguin Books), Richard Rose (Penguin
Books Inc., USA), Jonathan Lovat Dickson (Longman Canada Ltd., Penguin Dept), Dr
Keith Sagar (University of Manchester Extra-Mural Dept), Tony [Inglis] (University of
Sussex), Laurence Pollinger, Ballantine Books Inc., William Heinemann Ltd., Brian
Finney (University of London), and W.E. Williams (National Art Collections Fund), 16
November 1968-8 February 1972. Concerning Penguin’s plans to publish a selection of
essays edited by Anthony Inglis entitled D.H. Lawrence, Selected Essays, and a volume
or volumes of Lawrence’s short stories edited by Keith Sagar; a list of D.H. Lawrence
short stories not published by Penguin; a new Penguin edition of Lawrence’s selected
poems edited by Keith Sagar; US rights in Lawrence’s works; memorandum concerning
the Canadian market for Lawrence titles. Includes Keith Sagar’s draft of the title page,
contents and introduction to D.H. Lawrence, Selected Poems, with his sketch for a cover
design based on a quote from a letter to Lawrence from Lady Ottoline Morrell; Editorial 12 for The Mortal Coil and Other Stories and The Princess and Other Stories.
Correspondence between Judith Burnley (Penguin Books), Oliver Caldecott (Penguin
Books), Robert Sessions (Penguin Books Australia Ltd.), Brian Finney, and Laurence
Pollinger, 8 February 1972-5 November 1973. Concerning a revised text of Lawrence’s
11
Rawdon’s Roof and reissuing Kangaroo.
Correspondence between Penguin Books, the Longman Group Ltd., Cambridge
University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., and Laurence Pollinger, 6 November-7
December 1978. Concerning a proposal for Heinemann, Penguin and Viking Press to
use the setting of the new Cambridge Edition of the Works of D.H. Lawrence; and D.H.
Lawrence’s copyright status in the USA. Includes a photocopy of an article by Michael H.
Black entitled ‘At last, the real D.H. Lawrence’, published in the Times Higher Education
Supplement, 17 November 1978.
PENGUIN HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
DM1294/1/7 - Penguin scrapbook:
Scrapbook containing photographs and newspaper cuttings of articles relating to Allen
Lane and Penguin Books Ltd., May 1952-August 1966.
19521966
Includes articles about the Lady Chatterley's Lover trial in 1960, and Lady Chatterley's
Lover in Australia in 1961.
DM1294/3/4/1 – The Lady Chatterley Verdict research file:
Telegram from W.E. Williams and Hans Schmoller to Sir Allen Lane, n.d. [1960]: “LEGAL
ACTION IMMINET [SIC] STOP ADVISE YOUR IMMEDIATE RETURN = BILL AND
HANS = =”
19601993
Photocopy of a court summons issued on Penguin Books Ltd. for publishing an obscene
book entitled Lady Chatterley’s Lover, 19 August 1960.
Photocopy of an advertisement in The Bookseller on 9 January 1960 announcing
Penguin’s plans to publish in June 1960 seven books by D.H. Lawrence to mark the 30th
anniversary of his death. The list comprised the unexpurgated Lady Chatterley’s Lover,
England, My England, The Ladybird, Selected Poems, The Trespasser, Twilight in Italy
and Women in Love.
Photocopy of the headline of the Daily Sketch, 3 November 1960: ‘Lady Chatterley’s
Jury: A Statement to Parents’, ‘The Guilty Secret of Lady C’.
Revised prelims of Richard Hoggart’s introduction to the Penguin edition of Lady
Chatterley’s Lover, date stamped 13 December 1960.
‘Some Facts About Penguin’, issued by Penguin Books, n.d. [c.1965]. Includes details of
the record breaking sales of over 3,5000,000 copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, over
1,200,000 of E.V. Rieu’s translation of The Odyssey and 1,000,000 copies of Orwell’s
Animal Farm.
John Sparrow, ‘Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd.: An Undisclosed Element in the Case’,
Controversial Essays, 1966.
Malcolm Muggeridge, ‘Malcolm Muggeridge on the Sixties’, The Observer magazine,
12
December 1969.
Photocopy of lot 137 in the Sotheby’s sales catalogue for a copy of Lady Chatterley’s
Lover used by the judge, Mr Justice Byrne, at the 1960 obscenity trial and annotated for
him by his wife, together with copies of four pages of headed stationery of the Central
Criminal Court, Old Bailey, listing relevant passages and page numbers. The auction
took place on 13 December 1993 in the Aeolian Hall, London.
PHOTOGRAPHS
DM1294/2/5/12 – The Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial: Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd., 1960:
DM1294/2/5/12/1 – photographs of people queuing outside the Old Bailey for the Lady
Chatterley’s Lover trial, 20 October1960. Photographer: Topham Picture Library.
[Negatives of some of these photographs can be found in DM1294/2/20/5/3]. (2 x black
and white photograph).
1960
DM1294/2/5/12/2 – photographs taken following the acquittal on 2 November 1960 of
Penguin Books Ltd. on the charge of publishing an obscene article. Includes
photographs of the “Now YOU can read it” publicity; people queuing to purchase copies
of the book; packing and loading copies of the book at Harmondsworth; a lady burning
copies of the book outside an Edinburgh bookshop; cover of the ‘Daily Sketch’ reporting
the verdict; interview with Allen Lane by Desmond Zwar; portrait photograph of D.H.
Lawrence. Photographers: Topham Picture Library and Keystone Press Agency Ltd.
[Negatives of some of these photographs can be found in DM1294/2/20/5/3]. (18 black
and white photographs).
13
DM1294/2/5/12/3 – publicity photographs of Allen Lane at Harmondsworth, following the
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial ‘not guilty’ verdict, 2 November 1960. Photographers: Daily
Express, Bert Hardy, Topham Picture Library and Popperfoto-Paul Popper Ltd. (14 x
black and white photographs).
14
DM1294/2/5/12/4 – Lady Chatterley’s Lover victory party at the Arts Council, 4 St.
James’s Square, November 1960. Photographer: unknown. (1 x black and white
photograph).
15
DM 2065/5/6
Photograph of a student wearing a Lady Chatterley’s Lover t –shirt in Epigram (Bristol
University Student Newspaper), 6 February 2006.
2006
INTERVIEWS
DM1294/6/1/1 - radio interviews with Sir Allen Lane:
Audio tape recording:
1961
Side A – radio interview with Sir Allen Lane by George Scott, Margaret Lane and Walter
Allen concerning the history and development of Penguin Books Ltd. Broadcast on the
‘Frankly Speaking’ programme of the BBC Home Service on 1 February 1961.
1969
Side B – radio interview with Sir Allen Lane by Jack Singleton concerning the history and
development of Penguin Books Ltd. Broadcast on the ‘Home this Afternoon’ programme
on BBC Radio 4 on 6 May 1969.
Off-air recordings. Audio cassette (2 copies).
Copyright: BBC.
[See DM1843/17 for transcripts of these interviews].
DM1294/6/2/33 - TV programme ‘What about a Penguin’:
VHS video recording:
1995
HTV ‘Limited Edition’ programme: ‘What about a Penguin’, broadcast 1995.
Documentary about Sir Allen Lane, written and narrated by A.C.H. Smith, produced and
directed by Derek Clark, 1993.
Includes interviews with Christine Teale, Richard Hoggart, Kaye Webb, and Tanya
Schmoller. Plus excerpts of a radio interview made in 1960 with Allen Lane [audio
recording of interview available at DM1294/6/1/1]. Filmed in September 1992 at the
Penguin Collectors’ Society A.G.M at the University of Bristol Library Special Collections,
and also at Harmondsworth.
Off-air recording. VHS E-30 colour.
Copyright: HTV.
[An article by A.C.H. Smith about making the programme, together with a transcript of his
interview with Richard Hoggart in which he mentions the Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial,
recorded at Bristol University Library in September 1992, are included in the Penguin
Collectors’ Society Newsletter 44, December 1993. Transcripts also available in
DM1843/17].
DM1294/14/1/20 - Transcript of an interview with Jimmy Holmes:
16
Transcript of an interview by Linda Lloyd Jones and “Mrs H” with Jimmy Holmes, July
1984. Jimmy Holmes worked in Penguin’s production department. Holmes mentions
printing Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1960.
1984
DM1944/4 - Tape recording of a radio programme
Tape recording of a radio programme by Tony Russell about the history of Penguin
Books Ltd., 1985.
1985
Includes extracts of interviews with Allen Lane, Hans Schmoller, Kaye Webb, Eunice
Frost, Dieter Pevsner, Tony Godwin and Peter Mayer. Mentions the early days of
Penguin Books, the effects of World War 2, the Puffin Club, the Lady Chatterley’s Lover
trial, Siné, and the Pearson Longman takeover of Penguin.
[Poor quality recording]
ALLEN LANE FILING CABINETS
DM1819/10/2 - Letter from Hans Schmoller to Allen Lane:
Letter from Hans Schmoller, West Drayton, to Allen Lane at the Hôtel Boudie, Carennac,
France, 15 July 1960.
1960
Schmoller informs Lane of a rumour that the Public Prosecutor, Sir Theobald Mathew,
intends to prosecute Penguin for publishing Lady Chatterley’s Lover. He suggests they
reconsider the plan to send copies of the book to the Public Prosecutor a week before
publication, as Weidenfeld did with Lolita. Also mentions difficulties surrounding the
printing of Kenneth Clark’s The Nude.
DM1819/13/2 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover - New Zealand edition:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover - New Zealand edition:
1964-1965
Correspondence concerning a proposed joint appeal by Penguin Books Ltd. and William
Heinemann Ltd. against the banning of the unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley’s
Lover in New Zealand. Following permission being granted by the Ministry of Customs
and Justice to the Cabinet to Heinemann for the import and sale of hardcover copies of
the novel in New Zealand, Penguin considered making an appeal to the Indecent
Publications Tribunal to publish in New Zealand a paperback edition of the novel, 7
January 1964-23 April 1965.
Correspondents include Alwyn R.H. Birch (Director, William Heinemann Ltd.), Sir Allen
Lane, K.M. Maben (Hicks Smith & Sons Ltd., Wellington, New Zealand), H.F. Paroissien,
and Roy Parsons (bookseller, Wellington, New Zealand).
DM1819/17 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial file:
17
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial, 1960:
Lady Chatterley’s party at the Arts Council on 9 December 1960: replies.
19591961,
1963,
1966
Correspondence with the lawyer Michael Rubenstein, Penguin, potential witnesses,
Richard Hoggart, and others, September 1959-November 1960.
Correspondence, 13 January 1960-13 March 1961.
Includes permission to grant a Braille edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover; publishing
extracts from C.H. Rolph’s The Trial of Lady Chatterley in the Australian ‘Sunday Mirror’;
request to Charles Clark to write a draft blurb for the new edition of Lady Chatterley’s
Lover; the serialization of C.H. Rolph’s The Trial of Lady Chatterley in the American
Esquire magazine; letter of application from Geoffrey Strachan for a job in the editorial
department of the Pelican Science series. Draft blurb [by Charles Clark?] and draft
introduction by Richard Hoggart for Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Correspondence, 7 September 1960-10 October 1961, 14-22 October 1963.
Concerning the sale of transcripts of the trial to university libraries in the UK and US and
others.
Letters for the defence, 1960.
Annotated copy of the sixth day summing up of the trial, 2 November 1960, with note
from “J.R” to “A.G” [Anthony Godwin] that both The Catcher in the Rye and Lady
Chatterley’s Lover need cover decisions, 24, 28 May 1965.
DM1819/18 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial file:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial, 1960:
1960
Press cuttings, May 1959-November 1960.
Witness statement of Sir Allen Lane, n.d. [1960].
Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd. trial transcripts, 1960:
1. First day, 20 October 1960 (Plea; opening address on behalf of prosecution; Stephen
William Webb, C.B.O; Det. Inspr. Charles Monahan; opening address on behalf of
defence).
2. Second day, 27 October 1960 (Examination of: Graham Goulder Hough; Miss Helen
Louise Gardner; Mrs Joan Bennett; Dame Rebecca West; The Right Reverend John
Arthur Thomas Robinson; Mr Vivian de Sola Pinto, Sir William Emrys Williams; Rev.
Alfred Stephan Hopkinson; Richard Hoggart).
3. Third day, 28 October 1960 (Examination of: Richard Hoggart; Francis Charles Albert
Cammaerts, Sarah Beryl Jones; Cicely Veronica Wedgwood; Edward Francis Williams;
Edward Morgan Forster; Roy Jenkins; Walter Ernest Allen; Anne McDonald Hastings;
Clifford James Hemming).
4. Fourth day, 31 October 1960 (Examination of: Norman St. John Stevas; Sir Allen
Lane; Canon Theodore Richard Milford; Kenneth Muir; Sir Stanley Unwin; Elizabeth Dilys
Russell; Cecil Day Lewis; Stephen Meredith Potter; Janet Buchanan Roberts; Noel Gilroy
Annan; Donald Alexander Tytler; John Connell; Charles Kenneth Young; Hector Alastair
Hetherington; Bernardine Anna-Livia Wall).
5. Fifth day, 1 November 1960 (closing address of Mr Gardiner, closing address of Mr
18
Griffith-Jones, Mr Justice Byrne’s summing).
6. Sixth day, 2 November 1960 (Mr Justice Byrne’s summing up; jury’s verdict).
House of Lords official report, vol.227, no.23, 14 December 1960.
Motion - The “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” case.
Inc. pp.528-573
DM1819/22/3/2/24 - Letter from Sir Allen Lane to Richard Lane:
Copy letter from Sir Allen Lane to Richard Lane, 2 February 1960.
2 February
1960
Allen Lane does not want to get tied up with Angus and Robertson or with Horwitz,
although he believes that finding an ally with the right literary judgment would strengthen
their position in Australia. Believes that the new Obscenity Act is going to make it much
more difficult for a successful prosecution of Lady Chatterley’s Lover to be launched.
DM1819/22/3/2/27 - Letter from Sir Allen Lane to Richard Lane:
Copy letter from Sir Allen Lane to Richard Lane, 26 September 1960.
Allen mentions the successful 25th anniversary party that was held alongside the
refrigerated Penguin pool at Frankfurt zoo. The Lady Chatterley’s Lover trail is due to
take place in October and that they are working on their list of witnesses. Allen offers to
send Richard copies of letters from those who have been approached on the question,
with a selection of press cuttings.
28
September
1960
DM1819/22/3/2/30 - Newspaper report about Sir Allen Lane being searched at Sydney Airport
for copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover:
‘Customs Treatment of Sir A. Lane “invidious”’: typescript of a newspaper report from 23 June
‘The Manchester Guardian’, 23 June 1961. A report from the Sydney ‘Daily Telegraph’ of 1961
the searching of Sir Allen Lane at Sydney Airport for copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover
and The Trial of Lady Chatterley.
DM1819/22/3/2/31 - Newspaper report about Penguin’s plans to publish in Australia the
unexpurgated Lady Chatterley’s Lover:
‘Long-banned Book for UK Publication’: newspaper cutting [from an Australian n.d.
newspaper] of an article about Penguin’s plans to publish in Australia the unexpurgated [1961?]
version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, n.d. [1961?]
DM1819/22/7 - Correspondence concerning the Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial:
‘Early History 1949-70 selected’:
1948-1968
Correspondence and other papers relating to the history of Penguin Books Inc., USA, 12
September 1948-16 September 1968. Includes correspondence relating to the Lady
Chatterley’s Lover trial of 1960.
19
DM1819/23/3/14 - Report to a sales meeting:
Report to a sales meeting, n.d. [1960]:
n.d. [1960]
“It has been an exciting time since the last Sales Meeting in May. We have had the
Crime Push, followed by the 25th Birthday Celebrations, and finally LADY
CHATTERLEY’S LOVER.
I told you last time that we hoped for £150,000 in the Jubilee month and this was at a
time when we were still fairly excited when we reached £100,000. We have not dropped
below the £100,000 since May and we reached £150,000 in October. So we were not
over optimistic in aiming for this figure. But LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER took us
immediately over £200,000 in November. So this becomes our new level at which to
aim.
The enormous volume of books has been handled without difficulty by the warehouse
and at no time have we fallen seriously behind in our dispatches. Our past experience
has shown that whatever sales take a strong upward turn we can keep them thereabouts
by an increase in the effort we put behind them. In other works, we are a long way from
saturation point. This is what we are planning to do now and you will hear about these
plans in the sales promotion session this afternoon.
There is no doubt that the 25th Birthday was a great success, due to three things. The
timing and extent of press publicity, your own efforts in getting the booksellers’ support,
and the displays we achieved with the promotion material. It has been a period of hard
and concentrated work for all of you; and we too have felt some of the strain, not least in
following through the programme of cocktail parties. We hope these have done good.
(You may like to say here that these were your last trade parties). Total sales are at
present 30% up on last years. Even without LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER they would
be over 20% up. Export has had a particularly good year and is 40% up, excluding the
subsidiaries. You will hear more details about the figures when PBH gives his review of
progress this afternoon.
We know that many of you are working near to your limit and we have given a lot of
thought to the next stage of the sales force. You will be discussing this on Friday
afternoon, when you hear our plans.
Most of the time at this Sales Meeting is going to be taken up with Editorial plans for the
first half of next year and AG is going to present these to you. We also have Mr
Waddicor and his team, who have been working very closely with Editorial and Sales on
the promotion plans for next year and they will be discussing these with you this
afternoon.
On the domestic side we have put in hand an extension in the warehouse, and plans are
being worked out for more offices.
For the future, you mentioned at the last Meeting that you were considering handing the
firms affairs over to a Trust. You may like to say that this is now unlikely to happen, and
you at present have no intention of selling or allying Penguins to anyone.”
DM1819/33 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial file:
20
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial, 1960:
1960-1961
Letters supporting and against the publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, 1960-1961.
Correspondence with Julian Symons concerning his proposal to write a special feature
for the Sunday Times on the Lady Chatterley case, September 1960.
Notes made by Hans Schmoller on events in August 1960 [See transcript in Appendix
B].
DM1819/34 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial file:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial, 1960:
1959-1961
Material not needed for lawsuit, including correspondence concerning problems due to
the printers, Hazell Watson and Viney Ltd., not wanting to publish Lady Chatterley, April
1960.
Letters of thanks to Allen Lane for sending a specially printed copy of Rolph’s The Trial of
Lady Chatterley, 1961. [Arranged alphabetically by surname]
Names and addresses of individuals [to be sent copies of C.H. Rolph’s The Trial of Lady
Chatterley].
DM1819/35 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial file:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial, 1960:
1959-1967
Correspondence concerning the legal case in USA and Australia, 1960-1961, 1965-1967.
Correspondence with Michael Rubinstein and other lawyers concerning the case,
including legal costs, 2 October 1959-13 June 1961. Includes list of witnesses not
claiming expenses, Lady Chatterley defence fund, list of booksellers who had ordered
copies of Lady Chatterley that were ready for dispatch when distribution was stopped and
not sent.
DM1819/36 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial file:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial, 1960:
1960-1961
General correspondence concerning the trial, including press cuttings/articles and letters
of congratulation and disapproval, and discussion of the overseas market, 1960.
Includes two admission tickets to the trial on 1 November 1960.
DM1819/37 - Lady Chatterley’s Lover in Australia:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover in Australia:
196021
1965
Correspondence and papers concerning arrangements to send out copies of Sir Allen
Lane’s Christmas book, C.H. Rolph’s The Trial of Lady Chatterley, to people in the USA,
Italy, Canada, Europe, 1960-1961.
Letters against the publication, 1960-1961.
Letters and telegrams of congratulations on the result of the trial, 1960.
Correspondence concerning sales of The Trial of Lady Chatterley and Lady Chatterley’s
Lover in Australia, 1965.
Letters of support and disapproval, 1960.
EUNICE FROST PAPERS
DM1843/Box 1 - Eunice Frost requests a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover from Hornsey Public
Library:
Letter from W.B, Stevenson, Borough Librarian, Hornsey Public Libraries, to Eunice
Frost, 11 April 1956. Stevenson encloses the copy of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s
Lover that Frost requested.
1956
DM1843/27 - Publication by Penguin of D.H. Lawrence’s titles, and of a court case in the USA
concerning the publication of an unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover:
File of correspondence and papers concerning the publication by Penguin of D.H.
Lawrence’s titles, and of a court case in the USA concerning the publication of an
unexpurgated version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, 1954-1959.
19541959
Includes:
Copy of a letter from Frieda Lawrence Ravagli to Mr Rosset, 13 April 1954. Frieda
compliment’s Rosset on trying to publish the unexpurgated Lady Chatterley’s Lover and
thinks Alfred Knopf holds the copyright to this version.
Penguin memorandum from “J.S.” to A.S.B. Glover, 23 May 1956. Concerning the
copyright in Lawrence’s published works.
Letter from Richard Aldington to Eunice Frost, 31 May 1957. Aldington sends his proposal
for two volumes of D.H. Lawrence’s short stories and long stories or novelettes and hopes
they are able to add the Mexican pieces now lost in Phoenix.
Penguin memorandum from “P.B.H.” to Eunice Frost, 9 March 1959. Mentions sales of
Lawrence titles and would prefer to put in new titles rather than reprint Lost Girl and White
Peacock. Thinks Lady Chatterley Lover is out of the question because it has just been
published in paperback by Ace Books.
Penguin memorandum from “J.B.” to Eunice Frost, 8 April 1959. Ace Books are publishing
Women in Love in Spring 1959.
22
‘News about Signet, Signet Key, Mentor Books’ from The New American Library of World
Literature, 31 June 1959-10 August 1959. Press releases concerning the publication by
The New American Library of the paperbound Signet edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and
claims made by Grove Press that The New American Library had deceived the public by
claiming that it was a complete reprint of the authorized American edition and that the text
was approved by D.H. Lawrence.
Newspaper cuttings from The New York Times, 22 July 1959 concerning the court ruling on
the United States Post Office’s mail restriction on Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which the court
ruled illegal and void.
Printed leaflet: A statement to the literary community and the trade about Lady Chatterley’s
Lover from the New American Library of World Literature, Inc., publishers of Signet and
Mentor Books, n.d. [August 1959].
Court papers of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in the case of Grove Press,
Inc., plaintiff, against The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., defendant:
Plaintiff’s brief in support of motion for preliminary injunction, n.d. [August 1959].
Plaintiff’s reply affidavit, 4 August 1959.
Press release from Grove Press, Inc., New York, 6 August 1959. Announcing the
reprinting of the unexpurgated Grove Press edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in the
Modern Library series under a royalty agreement with Grove.
Statement by Grove Press, Inc. on Lady Chatterley’s Lover, 6 August 1959.
Memorandum from Barney Rosset, president of Grove Press, Inc., New York, to the literary
and publishing community giving a humourous account of the court case brought against
them by The New American Library, n.d. [August 1959].
Press release: “New American Library Files $500, 000 damage suit against Grove and Dell
in Chatterley Case”, 26 August 1959.
Penguin memorandum from A.S.B. Glover to Eunice Frost, 31 August 1959. Glover sends
Frost his own copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and asks “Please be kind to it!”
Penguin memorandum from “J.B.” to Eunice Frost, 23 September 1959. Women in Love is
published by Ace.
DM1843/Box 53 – Suggestions of people to be asked to appear at the trial:
Draft list of names in Eunice Frost’s handwriting [of suggestions of people to be asked to n.d.
appear in Penguin’s defence at the trial of Lady Chatterley], n.d. [c.1960].
[c.1960]
DM1843/Box 62 - Penguin Books Ltd. daily sales figures, including Lady Chatterley’s Lover:
Penguin Books Ltd. sales:
Penguin Books Ltd. daily sales figures, February 1959-June 1959, January 1960-April
1961. Includes home sales, export sales, number of books invoiced, daily invoices,
19591961
23
consignment stock dispatches to subsidiary companies in Australia and the USA, and final
monthly sales figures. The final monthly sales figures for November 1960, December 1960
and January 1961includes sales figures for Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The figures were
compiled by Miss J. Belcher.
DM1892/4: PENGUIN PUBLICITY MATERIAL
DM1892/4/5 - Penguin 60 Years point-of-sale cardboard cube:
“Penguin 60 Years” point-of-sale cardboard cube, featuring a photograph of Jimi Hendrix
reading Penguin Science Fiction edited by Brian Aldiss.
“Penguin 60 Years” point-of-sale cardboard cube, featuring a photograph of a man wearing
a bowler hat and reading a copy of the Penguin Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence.
Cardboard point-of-sale display for Planet of the Apes.
[Donated by Penguin Books]
[Outsize]
2001
HANS SCHMOLLER GIFT
DM2084/11 - Speech given by Hans Schmoller:
Typescript annotated text of a speech given by Hans Schmoller at a dinner given by the
1975
Directors of Hazell, Watson and Viney for the Directors and Management of Penguin Books
Ltd. to celebrate their 40 years of association. The dinner was held at the Stationers’ Hall
on 11 June 1975.
Transcript of the speech [text in square brackets are handwritten notes in the margin]:
“Our hosts, one and all: [If you have been observant … Lawrence’s tremendous skill to
bring in so many names of the pioneers] in the past few week your ears must have been
burning when my colleagues and I at Harmondsworth applauded your generous and
characteristically friendly idea – to throw this marvelous party in our honour.
[As Laurence has already reminded us, not first time. In 1956, when we came of age,
Elliott’s and Laurence’s father.]
Inevitably, during 40 years, which is a long time in a customer-supplier relationship, there
have been occasional squalls, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we enjoy a
relationship with Hazell, Watson & Viney’s more harmonious than any we have with our
other major printer.
Not even we know exactly how many books Penguin have sold, but we believe it is
somewhere near the 700 million mark. About 200 million must have come from the
Aylesbury factory, where the Hazell swan, when it isn’t hoisting flags in honour of penguins,
has to content with swimming up and down a dead-end branch of the Grand Union Canal.
Research among early Penguins has shown that the first one Hazells printed was Dorothy
Sayer’s Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, no.5 of the first batch of 10 published on the
30th of July 1935. No.1, Ariel, was not printed by them but by the long-forgotten
24
Athenaeum Press. This scarce and valuable Penguin is a curiosity because page 4, the
title verso, contains the very first of an endless and numberless row of Penguin misprints:
the very name of the new publishing house is wrongly spelt: “Published in Penguin Book
1935”. Among the first hundred Penguins only 15 were from Hazell’s, who really came into
their own when Pelicans were launched in May 1937: nearly half the first hundred Pelicans
were theirs. So with 200 titles under our belt, Hazell’s had gained the quantitative lead
which they have held ever since.
[Landmarks: 1000: O.of our S. 2000 N.T. 3000 Ulysses]
In the early years, Penguins were issued once every three months in batches of 10. A
curious phenomenon (which perhaps Ted Young, had he been here could have explained)
was that with each batch of 10 the printer changed: Purnell, Clay, Wyman, Hazell, alternate
with each other. My uncharitable theory is that at the end of each production cycle
Penguin’s credit was exhausted and we had to go elsewhere for the next lot.
The leading part Hazell’s have played in the development of specialized paperback
technology is a matter of history. They installed the first Strachan & Henshaw rubber-plate
rotary press and established precision standards for moulding and plating which today we
take for granted but which 20 years ago were technical achievements of enormous
importance for printing quality.
We at Penguins even have reason to be grateful for Hazell’s refusal, on one occasion, to
go on with the printing of a book they had taken on. One day Elliott Viney arrived at
Harmondsworth hot-foot from a board meeting to inform me they were unable to proceed
with Lady Chatterley, [if I remember rightly,] mainly because of objections raised by
employees in the bindery! (How things have changed, if the giant pin-ups which make a
walk through the factory today such an unsettling experience are anything to do by!)
As a result of their decision we had to announce postponement of our publication, which
was to have taken place fairly quietly, together with several other books by D.H. Lawrence
to mark the 30th anniversary of his death. A brief announcement in the Bookseller was
picked up by the national press, and everything else followed from there. There might
never have been a sensational trial and a 3 ¼ million bestseller, if Hazell’s had simply
printed the book in the ordinary way.
But this is the only occasion I can remember where Hazell’s said “no” and thereby indirectly
and unwittingly helped us. Much more often, indeed as a rule, you have [helped us by
saying] “yes” when asked to do the difficult or near-impossible. For this and for forty years
of co-operation, and for entertaining us to-night, I warmly thank you on behalf of all your
guests.”
LOOSE ITEMS FOUND IN SIR ALLEN LANE’S PERSONAL COLLECTION OF PENGUIN BOOKS
DM662/12/3 - letter from F.R. Leavis:
LEAVIS, Frank Raymond:
1962
Photocopy of a letter from F.R. Leavis, Downing College, Cambridge, 12 January 1962.
Leavis declines to sign the copy of his The Common Pursuit [Peregrine Y1] on account
that "I do not think that Sir Allen Lane did a service to literature, civilisation or Lawrence in
25
the business of Lady Chatterley's Lover."
DAVID HEDGES FILES
DM1613/5/1 - Admission ticket to the trial:
David Hedges’s admission ticket to the Central Criminal Court [“Back of Court”] on the
afternoon of 31 October 1960 [to attend the Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial of Regina v.
Penguin Books Ltd. at the Old Bailey].
1960
DM1613/5/1 - newspaper cuttings, photographs, flyer:
The Trial of Lady Chatterley:
Printed note from Allen Lane that accompanied copies of a limited edition of 2000, printed
for private circulation, of The Trial of Lady Chatterley sent by Lane to friends, n.d. [1961].
19601992
Newspaper articles:
‘Jury hear witnesses say the novel is not a padding for sex’, ‘Experts defend Lady C’,
‘Crown’s Counsel Reads Purple Passages’, The Evening News and Star, 27 October
1960.
‘Lady Chatterley’s Jury. A statement to parents’, ‘The guilty secret of Lady C’, ‘The 12
who decided’, Daily Sketch, 3 November 1960.
‘Amazing rebuke for Old Bailey Bishop. Archbishop in a storm over Lady C’, with the
serialisation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ adapted by Matt White, Sunday Pictorial, 6
November 1960.
C.H. Rolph, ‘Lessons of the Chatterley case’ and ‘Lady C: What the Press said’, Trade
News, 12 November 1960.
Serialisation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ adapted by Matt White, Sunday Pictorial, 13
November 1960.
Serialisation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ adapted by Matt White, Sunday Pictorial, 20
November 1960.
Russell Ash, ‘The Week that was...’, Midweek, 27 October 1988.
26
Geoffrey Wheatcroft, ‘Last laugh for Lady Chatterley’, The Daily Telegraph, 29 October
1990.
Advertisement for a reading of The Lady Chatterley Trial on Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime,
n.d. [1990].
Geoffrey Wheatcroft, ‘The bastard children of Connie Chatterley’, n.d.
Mary Kenny, ‘The not-so-lovable legacy of Lady Chatterley’, n.d. [?1990s].
Photograph:
Photograph of people queuing to buy copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover following the “not
guilty” verdict, n.d. [1960]. Photographer: Topham Picture Library (1 x black and white
photograph). With a handwritten note by David Hedges saying that the photograph
shows Bill Rapley assisting Mrs Freedman, the mother of the proprietor of the Leicester
Square bookshop, to sell copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover to a queue of people that
formed around Leicester Square after the result was declared at 4pm. At the same time
Hedges was selling copies of the book at Hatchards bookshop in Piccadilly.
Flyer:
Flyer for The Trial of Lady Chatterley performed 10-11 March 1992. Dramatisation by
Edwin Pearce, directed by Irene Hamilton.
27
APPENDIX A
Lady Chatterley’s Lover timeline:
July 1928
Lady Chatterley’s Lover first published in Florence.
1959
Unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover published by Grove Press in
New York.
1959
Obscene Publications Act (“The Jenkins Act”).
9 January 1960
Advertisement for the seven Penguin Lawrence titles appears in The
Bookseller and in Smith’s Trade News.
21 January 1960
Penguin board meeting at which the formal decision to publish the
unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was agreed
2 March 1960
30th anniversary of the death of D.H. Lawrence.
11 April 1960
Mr Elliot Viney informs Penguin that Hazell Watson & Viney cannot proceed
with the printing of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
14 April 1960
Western Printing Services Ltd of Bristol agrees in principle to print Lady
Chatterley’s Lover.
30 July 1960
25th anniversary of Penguin Books Ltd.
16 August 1960
At Northumberland House Hans Schmoller produces 12 copies of Lady
Chatterley’s Lover on behalf of the Board of Directors of Penguin Books Ltd.
and gives them to Detective Inspector C. Monahan of Scotland Yard.
17 August 1960
Telegram to all Penguin reps to ask for the return of all copies of Lady
Chatterley’s Lover.
Penguin receives a report that a bookshop in Nottingham is selling Lady
Chatterley’s Lover like “hot cakes”.
19 August 1960
Summons issued at Bow Street and served at Harmondsworth at 12 noon.
25 August 1960
Intended first publication date for the Penguin edition of Lady Chatterley’s
Lover.
20, 27, 28, 31
October, 1, 2
November 1960
Regina v. Penguin Books Ltd. Trial at the Old Bailey.
2 November 1960: Penguin Books Ltd. found “not guilty”.
10 November 1960
Unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover published by Penguin
(no.1484). Over 2 million copies sold in the 6 weeks up to Christmas and a
further one and a half million sold in 1961.
2 February 1961
Publication of the Penguin Special edition of C.H. Rolph’s The Trial of Lady
Chatterley (S 192).
28
Christmas 1961
Hardback limited edition of 2000 C.H. Rolph’s The Trial of Lady Chatterley
published as Allen Lane’s Christmas book.
29
APPENDIX B
Transcript of Hans Schmoller’s account of events leading up to the Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial [ref.
DM1819/33]:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
13-14.8.60
This is an attempt to summarize the sequence of events from Monday 8.8., when I received my first
phone call in the matter from Michael Rubinstein (M.R. hereafter). To do so fully would have
necessitated making detailed notes at every stage. Pressure of work has made this impossible, so
that I have to rely on my memory and such notes as I made. I may not remember everything.
Sun. 7.8.
As instructed by AL [Allen Lane] informed EEF [Eunice Frost] of his Scotland Yard
(S.Y.) visit on 4.8. and made subsequent arrangements about copies to be made
available, etc. Unable to reach EEF earlier.
Mon. 8.8.
Informed WEW [William Emrys Williams] ditto. Phone call from MR, giving
information contained in his letter of same date. Agreed on desirability of early
meeting at which to discuss choice of junior and leading counsel and list of potential
witnesses. Informed WEW and EEF. Meeting between MR, WEW, and HPS [Hans
Schmoller] arranged for Tuesday, 3 pm.
Tue. 9.8.
Received letter from MR of 8.8. Made copies for other directors. Gave instructions
to postpone sending out of review copies until further notice. Met WEW at Arts
Council, who produced first list of persons whom to approach for an opinion as
suggested in MR’s letter of 8.8. Went to MR with WEW. MR spoke of difficulty at
this time of year in getting hold of counsel. Suggested Richard Du Cann (DC) as
junior and possibly John Streeter as leading, both said to be available. Agreed on
earliest possible conference with DC, namely Fri. 12.8, to be attended by as many
board members as possible. Added several names to list of persons to be asked for
statement. Reaffirmed need to cooperate with SY, short of taking special steps to
speed up making copies available. MR requests information as set out in HPS’s
letter of 10.8.
Wed. 10.8.
WEW out of reach. No definite news yet about meeting with DC on Friday. Wrote
letter to MR with various enclosures he had requested (list of all Lawrence’s
published by us, with dates, initial printing quantities, and totals to date; other
spectacularly large first printings in last ten years; subscription details for Lady C –
orders exceed 200,000, reps. Rationed, 5000 to be held back in reserve, no reprint
planned immediately; Times leader about Lawrence Year on 2.2.60; list of directors;
board meeting minutes of 21.1.60, at which formal decision to publish was taken;
photocopy of long and, to us, very favourable article from Toronto Star Weekly
Magazine of 23.7.60 which happened to have been sent to Summers by Pollinger
that day. Copies of photocopies of everything to WEW and EEF. Several phone
calls from and to EEF. Visit from Tony Rowe (the Printer). Brief resumé to him, and
MR’s request that Rowe should attend Friday’s conference with DC as observer.
Thu. 11.8.
WEW still out of reach. Late in afternoon news from MR that conference to take
place at 4 pm on Friday, expressing renewed wish that all available directors be
present. Informed WEW’s secretary, EEF, and Rowe. Letter to MR with further
material to put at DC’s disposal; Aldington’s 1950 Appreciation (suggested by EEF);
article from Encounter, Feb.60, by Katherine Anne Porter, “A Wreath for the
Gamekeeper”; copy of The Intelligent Heart (the DHL biography we are publishing in
30
December). Ordered copies of Sunday Times articles by J.W. Lambert of a few
weeks ago, and The Dark Sun by Graham Hough, another DHL biography (EEF’s
suggestion) for MR’s and DC’s perusal. Specially asked MR to consult DC on
question of review copies which are still being held back. Also asked him to take
detailed minutes of conference with DC for our file, in case myself unable to attend.
Copies of everything sent to WEW and EEF.
Fri. 12.8.
Letter from MR with list of additional suggestions for persons to be approached for
statement and possibly, evidence, drawn up by him and his father. Copies posted to
WEW and EEF.
Early in the morning urgent phone call from MR, who, after preliminary discussion
with DC, insists that further distribution of Lady C. should stop at once and asks for
details of distribution already made, (55,000 to all areas except Greater London);
number in warehouse (110,000); and total delivered from printer (165,000). DC
thinks authorities in a position to stop publication if that’s what they are after.
Dickson on holiday, Hepburn also, Scherer out.
Hurried conference with Blass and, afterwards Blass and Godwin. Some 200 orders
ready for looking out with several thousand Lady C. on them. Instructed Blass to
hold these back until further notice. He says can do until Wed. 17.8., but would
them have to supply other books on these invoices and adjust invoices or replace by
new ones. All Lady C. cards taken out of trays and further Lady C. invoicing
stopped. Passed all these details on to MR. Phone calls to and from WEW and
EEF, informing them of steps taken. HPS told no need for him to attend meeting
with DC, which would have meant cancelling long-planned visit to Glyndebourne.
Left office at 1 pm.
Sat 13.8.
1. Practically all day long at telephone at home, starting Jack Summers, who, just
before leaving on holiday, reports he had phone inquiry from Leonard Russell (LR)
late Friday afternoon, wanting to know urgently whether any further developments
since last spoke to AL about a fortnight ago. Undertook to contact WEW to agree on
whether to give any reply to this, and what, preferably to be done by WEW himself.
Then, as best I can remember, in this order:
2. HPS to WEW (Haddenham): WEW not there. Lady W. has no idea where he
could be reached. “On safari”.
3. EEF to HPS: Reported on conference with DC, who seems to have taken slightly
gloomy view of distribution of copies so far, etc., but who accepted WEW’s and MR’s
statement that we did not intend to be intimidated by proposed SY action. Letter
from Rubinstein and Nash to Monahan to be drafted by DC and MR on Saturday
morning and, after approval by WEW and HPS, to be delivered by hand on Monday
morning saying that copies will be made available to SY from Monday afternoon
onwards at Northumberland House, to be handed over “by an officer of the
Company”. Main reason for this rather than through bookseller: the strong feeling
that it would be invidious to involve a third party in something for which we alone
take responsibility. This to be emphasized in letter. Printer did not after all attend
conference at DC’s request. No further distribution until further notice. Review
copies to be held back. Position to be reviewed on Wed. 17.8.
4. HPS to MR: Agreed on what HPS to say to LR in case no contact is made with
WEW before 1 pm (when Sunday Times offices close): “No developments affecting
Penguins intention to publish on 25 August.” If further pressed: “Really nothing
31
more to add.”
MR gives full account of conference with DC and reads out DC’s draft letter to
Monahan. Agreed by HPS. Also reads DC’s draft to letter to be sent by R & N to
persons from whom brief statement about Lady C. to be requested. Agreed by HPS.
12 copies of book to be sent to Northumberland House first thing Monday morning.
MR expecting to have call from WEW.
5.(ca.12.45) HPS to LR. Not at office. Given message to private secretary, who
sounds surprised at its contents and says LR (as well as J.W. Lambert) has received
letter from WEW same morning, giving very different picture. This is complete news
to HPS, who does not feel she can be pressed to read out to him what WEW writes.
6. (Ca.1.15 pm) WEW to HPS at last. HPS reports on Russell matter and steps
taken so far. WEW agrees and also says he has had draft letters read to him by MR
and approved them. HPS expresses misgivings about likelihood of things getting
into press. WEW says a leak likely to occur any moment and unavoidable. Feels
we have nothing to reproach ourselves for. Says he is now off until Tuesday and will
phone HPS Tuesday morning. Is willing to hand copies to SY if it were to be
Tuesday. If Monday, suggests HPS should do this. After calling off HPS realizes he
has unfortunately omitted to ask WEW specifically about letter to Russell and
Lambert, but feels reassured by WEW having told him he will be speaking to LE.
Also, at this stage HPS does not know the full details which later will emerge from
call No.9.
7. EEF to HPS, who gives her account of events since previous call.
8. (ca. 3 pm) HPS to Blass at office. Instructed to send 12 copies to Northumberland
House early Monday morning and collect copies of R & N’s letters to Monahan and
authors, etc.
9. RR to HPS (ca.3.30 pm). LR, speaking from country, has had my message which
is in complete contradiction with WEW’s letter, read out to him from London office.
WEW has not phoned him. He says letter speaks of strong likelihood of prosecution,
is roneoed, not marked “Confidential” or “Private”. Says it is clear from letter that it
has been sent to about 20 people who are asked whether they will give a short
opinion on the book, etc.
LR extremely worried by the fact that this letter has gone without request to treat in
confidence. Very anxious to speak to WEW. Says he himself has in Magazine
Section of Sunday Times, 14.8. (at that moment being printed) a long piece about
the Obscene Publications procedure and “borderline books”, Lady C. in particular,
intended to show why legal action is unlikely when we publish it Thursday week.
Says he would look extremely foolish if other Sunday papers were to carry news
about likelihood of proceedings. This, he feels, may well happen now that WEW’s
letter is said to have gone to about 20 people. Says he must protect himself by
putting a piece on front page reporting SY request (which he conjectured by putting
two and two together) and referring readers to his main article. HPS expresses
some dismay. Suggests putting MR in touch with LR, to which LR agrees avidly.
Must happen by 4.30 pm. LR meanwhile to confer with Editor of Sunday Times.
WEW’s letter sent to: J.W. Lambert, Stephen Potter, Daniel George, Compton
Mackenzie, J.B. Priestley, Elizabeth Bowen, ?Storin Jameson, Julian Huxley, F.R.
Leavis, Lord David Cecil, G.W. Rylands, Bromonski, A.J. Ayer, E.M. Forster, T.S.
Eliot, Leonard Russell, Frank Swimmerton, Barbara Wootton, Roy Jenkins, Sir
32
Charles and Lady Snow, Henry Reed, John Braine, A.P. Herbert.
10. (4 pm) HPS to MR, who is out, expected back by 6.30.
11. (4.15) HPS to LR. Reports that MR is out. LR reads out, and HPS takes down
verbatim, suggested front page piece. HPS pleads in every possible way to drop the
idea, without success, but LR agrees to amendment of first sentence which in his
draft is not accurate. LR still keen on talking to MR before front page goes to press
at 8.30 pm., and in any case expects to hear once more from HPS before then.
12. HPS to EEF to give account of latest developments and read out LR’s piece.
13. EEF to HPS, asking whether any further news. Answer is “no”. HPS reports
failure of last attempt to track down WEW, which was agreed upon during call No.12.
14. (7 pm) EEF to HPS, who has still not been able to get any reply from MR’s
phone number. HPS promises to phone EEF after final talk with LR.
15. (7.30) HPS to MR, giving him full account of LR’s calls and reading out LR’s
draft. Agreed on trying to persuade him to use re-worded first paragraph leaving out
reference to SY. This to be put to LR by HPS. MR going out to dinner, but willing to
be phoned by LR up to 8.15.
16. (7.45) HPS to LR. Not at number given, but expected any moment and will ring
me at once.
17. (8 pm) LR to HPS. He is now quite implacable. Unwilling to accept first
paragraph as re-worded by MR and HPS. “Not news”. Claims the matter is all
round the Press Club and will be in all the papers on Sunday or Monday. (Is this
bluff? How does he know, having been in the country all day?) Says that what he
means to do is all to the good. Is willing to bet £5 there will be no proceedings.
Claims that Lolita was not prosecuted because of what he did in Sunday Times, etc.,
etc. HPS tries unsuccessfully to make LR phone MR. LR agrees to tell WEW and
AL when next he speaks to them that HPS to the last moment objected to front-page
article and its wording in particular. “Thank you very much for your courtesy”, and
LR rings off.
18. (8.15) HPS to MR, to whom he reports on phone call No.17. Agreed to phone
one another on Sunday morning after seeing as many Sunday papers as possible.
MR thinks a meeting first thing Monday may be necessary to amend letter to
Monahan in the light of what may by then have appeared in the press.
19. (8.30) HPS to EEF, to give account of calls No.15 to 18.
Between calls No.9 and 11 TK goes to West Drayton Post Office to get HPS’s
Penguin mail awaiting delivery at office on Monday, in the hope of finding among it a
copy of the letters sent out by WEW, but nothing there.
Sunday
14.8
Sunday Times contains front page article and Magazine Section article as expected.
Bought all other nine Sunday papers. Cannot find anything in any of them.
MR to HPS, saying that unless Monday papers (which both have ordered) have
anything, there is no need for HPS to come up to London first thing.
33
THE TIMES to HPS. (Phone number supplied by JBC whom they tried first). HPS
tells them he has nothing to add to the statement in Sunday Times. On being asked
whether it is Penguins intention to publish the book on 25 August, says “Yes”.
HPS to JBC, asking him not to give HPS’s number to any other callers. JBC reports
that Daily Express is continually phoning. Advise him to let his wife answer phone
and say he is out. If pressure became too great and he were afraid they might come
out to his place, he should say in perfect honesty he has absolutely no knowledge of
the background to the Sunday Times articles and no reason to believe that it is not
Penguins intention to publish the book.
HPS to SILVERBECK. Mrs Rackley has also been phoned by Daily Express. “Sir
Allen is away, and I have no idea where he is.” They won’t get any change out of
her!
(Posted to A.L at 3.30 pm, Sunday)
JBC to HPS (some time in the evening). Reports that Daily Express reporter turned
up on his doorstep, waving the Sunday Times front page article in his face and
asking what he could say about it. JBC told him that beyond having read it, he knew
nothing about it. Reporter then asked whether Miss Frost lived at Cheam. JBC: “I
have no idea where she lives.” – “Very well, I suppose I shall have to see what I can
get from the Yard”, and went off. (Nothing appeared in Monday’s Daily Express.)
Monday,
15.8
Press after us from morning to night. Advice from MR, EEF and WEW to be as
helpful as possible without giving away undesirable details. In this order:
Guardian
South African Argus (mainly re. S.A. censorship)
Daily Express
Spectator (Karl Miller)
BBC (Peter Duval Smith)
BBC (Illingworth, News Dept.)
Yorkshire Post
Daily Mail (2x) (already know about WEW’s letter to about 30 people)
Thompson Newspapers
Daily Mirror
Scottish Daily Mail
Frequent calls from and to WEW, EEF, MR. Arranged for WEW and myself to be at
Northumberland House on Tuesday for “seizure” of L.C.L by Scotland Yard, which
means that Monahan has accepted MR’s suggestion.
Tuesday
16.8
DP in charge of inquiries at office as I have to be out all day long.
Met WEW at Northumberland House at 11.15 am. Monahan and colleague arrive at
11.30. Then:
On 16 August 1960 at Northumberland House, in the presence of Sir William Emrys
Williams and Detective S. Sayers, Hans Schmoller produced 12 copies of Lady
Chatterley’s Lover on behalf of the Board of Directors of Penguin Books Ltd., and
gave them to Detective Inspector C. Monahan of Scotland Yard.
Inspector Monahan stated that a copy would now be submitted to the Director of
Public Prosecutions. WEW and HPS stated that these copies were identical with
those that it was intended to publish on 25 August 1960. Inspector Monahan stated
34
that the serving of process was likely to take place before that date.
Later he confirmed to Michael Rubinstein that the summons would be served on
Friday, 19 August at 12 noon at Northumberland House. On Wednesday, we were
informed that, the summons will have to be served at our Registered Offices,
Harmondsworth, to an “officer of the Company”. Rubinstein is finding out that it will
be ok for Mr Blass as Distribution Manager to receive it. Whoever receives it must at
once notify Mr Rubinstein who will tell him what is to be done with it.
After Monahan has left, discussion with WEW and decision that at this juncture it
would be correct to postpone publication and take all steps this involves (recall of
copies, no review copies to go out, etc.).
Phone calls to EEF and MR, who concur.
Telegram to AL (12 noon) “Legal action imminent stop advise your immediate return.
Bill and Hans”
Further telegram to AL (3 pm) “Please try to phone West Drayton 3328 or office
tomorrow morning. Hans”
Met Lusty at club (quite by chance). Gave him most guarded news. He immediately
says he would like to write letters to The Times in protest.
3 pm. Meeting with WEW and MR at Arts Council to discuss list of persons to whom
to write as potential expert witnesses and various other items arising out of
morning’s events. Lusty phones WEW and reads letter he has written to MR and
WEW. Both approve it. (It did not appear in Wednesday’s issue).
From Arts Council with MR to Seagrave who has lost statement we sent him some
weeks ago and now wants it urgently. MR has brought a copy of it.
Then to MR’s office for further discussion of details. At this stage Monahan phones
MR to say that the “process” (= summons) is to be issued and served on us at 12
noon on Friday, 19/8. He also confirms (to my relief) that there is no reason for my
not going abroad on 23/8. Summons to be served under Section 2 of the Act, which
means we can elect trial by jury.
Still at MR, phone calls Times and Telegraph, Guardian with brief authoritative
statement, considered important by MR because of likelihood of distorted news
items in other Wed. morning papers. (Sorry that Times brought in my name: I
specially asked them not to!). Rosselli of Guardian most intelligent, and not only
brings the best report but also a very useful leader.
Home at 7.30 pm and phoned EEF and WEW, bringing them up to date and getting
their approval for action taken. Told them that, now the general situation was much
more clear-cut, I would draft a statement for release through Press Association on
Wednesday and would call a meeting at office first thing Wed. morning, to inform the
depleted senior staff of position as at present, and steps to be taken, etc. Agreed by
EEF and WEW.
Wednesday, Drafted statement to press. Read over phone to WEW, EEF, MR. Approved with
17.8
minor alterations.
This statement approved by Rubinstein & Nash was given to Press Association and
35
to a number of weekly reviews, as well as The Observer and Sunday Times, on
Wednesday, 17 August 1960.
Penguin Books Ltd regrets to announce that as they must anticipate legal action
against them in the immediate future under the Obscene Publications Act 1959,
publication of the unexpurgated edition of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover,
which was planned for Thursday, 25 August, has had to be postponed until further
notice. It is their intention to defend any action that may be taken against them and
to call evidence in support of their claim that the book is neither pornographic nor
obscene, but a work of art of serious intent with an important place in English
literature. Penguin Books Ltd are advised that from the moment the process has
been served on them the matter is sub judice.
(We felt it was imperative to put out such a statement, because since the
appearance of the item in the Sunday Times we were beleaguered by the press and
it was felt to be bad public relations to say “no comment” to all their questions,
though this is what we did with most questions.
The above statement having gone out in the morning, the floodgates opened wider
than ever, and it became clear that many papers were under the impression that we
were postponing publication in order to avoid prosecution. Many of them thought
that there could be no prosecution unless the book had been on sale.
We therefore, with Rubinstein’s approval, issued a further short statement to the
Press Association, reading:
“Technically the book is deemed under the Act to have been published by having
been handed to the police, even though it has nowhere been offered for sale.”
Our reason for phoning the editors of the weekly reviews individually was that we
wanted to draw their attention to the fact that their issues going to press today was
likely to give them their last opportunity of making editorial comment before the
matter becomes sub judice. Most of them took this point, and I shall be interested to
see what they make of the matter.)
9.45: meeting with AG, DP, DLD, RB, PJS, JBC, JAH, RAD, Ivor Shaw, Mrs Riches.
(The agenda I drew up for this is a bit messy, done in a hurry. Shall show it to you if
you like.)
Main decisions:
Telegrams to all Reps, to be followed up by letter.
Letter to all accounts, to include, after a statement identical with press release.
In view of this, it is necessary that we ask you to return to us as soon as possible
any copies you may already have received. We realise that in some cases – e.g.
with wholesalers – this may be a difficult and complicated operation, but we must,
nevertheless, insist on full returns, both because we ourselves will probably be
called upon to account for the full edition, and because any bookseller distributing
copies for sale or otherwise will be laying himself open to prosecution.
All such returns should be made, of course, entirely at our expense; credit notes will
be issued in the usual way.
Also arranged for photo-copies of Guardian articles to be enclosed with letters to
Reps, as this is best summing-up of situation.
Telegram to PBH (on holiday), asking him to phone me, so I can put him in the
36
picture. (He did so at lunch time.)
Meeting agreed to inform the following by telephone:
Bookseller (Seagrave) – HPS
Smith’s Trade News – JBC
New Statesman (Kingsley Martin) – HPS (2x)
Spectator (Inglis, Editor) – HPS
(Later Bernard Levin phoned back for further discussion)
Economist (Assist. Editor) – HPS
Time & Tide (/) – HPS
T.L.S (Arthur Crook) – JBC
Pollinger – AG
Top people at Smiths, Boots, Wyman, etc. – PJS
BBC (Peter Duval Smith) – not reached
Observer (Astor or Gosling, neither was in) – HPS
Western Printing Services (Rowe) – HPS
Sunday Times (L. Russell) – HPS
Nothing done yet about informing HEP or Bessie.
After end of meeting the press after us in full cry. Incoming calls shared by JBC, DP
and HPS. Wherever possible we said: Sorry, nothing to add to Press Association
Statement. But many ask reasonable questions which we try to answer within the
narrow limits of what we are prepared to say. Many of the important dailies:
Guardian, Yorkshire Post, Telegraph, etc.
By lunch time reports begin to come in that at at least one bookshop in Nottingham
the book is being sold “like hot cakes.” PJS tries to stop this via the wholesaler.
Eventually the press and even the BBC get hold of this report.
TK and JB working on list of expert witnesses, trying to get together as many
addresses as possible, as Rubinstein pressing to have it by the evening.
[11 pm. Must stop at this point.]
19.8
Summons issued at Bow Street & served at H’worth about noon. Preliminary
hearing August 25th – to be adjourned to Sept. 6th. Extraordinary atmosphere of false
bonhomie. Press reported & photographed arrival & departure of police, but AL
made no further statement.
Statement issued to AP.
Suggested to Sunday Times that they publish A Propos of Lady Chatterley’s Lover,
but they decide this would be dangerous.
21.8
DP meeting with MR to discuss organisation.
22.8
Conference with Sir David Scott Cairns. Present AL, WEW, HPS, MR, DP. Brief
survey of issues & witnesses. Counsel suggested keeping witnesses down to about
twenty. Decided AL & WEW only to give evidence for directors.
Afterwards decided DP should organise secretarial labour for collecting witnesses to
be at MR’s disposal.
Individuals mentioned in Schmoller’s account:
AG – Anthony Godwin
AL – Allen Lane
37
AP – ?
DC – Richard Du Cann
DLD – David Duguid
DP – Dieter Pevsner
EEF – Eunice Frost
HEP – Harry Paroissien
HPS – Hans Schmoller
JAH – [Jimmy Holmes?]
JBC – John Curtis
LR – Leonard Russell
MR – Michael Rubinstein
PJS – P.J. Scherer (Home Sales Manager)
RAD RB – Ron Blass
TK – Tanya Kent
WEW – William Emrys Williams
Mrs Rackley [housekeeper, Silverbeck]
Mrs Riches
Tony Rowe (the Printer)
Ivor Shaw
38