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Penguin are delighted
the controversial book has sold out across the
country |
1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold
out |
England have
Bookshops all over England have sold out of Penguin's first run of the
controversial novel Lady Chatterley's Lover - a total of 200,000 copies -
on the first day of publication.
DH Lawrence's sexually explicit novel was published in Italy in 1928
and in Paris the following year. It has been banned in the UK - until now.
Last month, after a dramatic and much-publicised trial, Penguin won the
right to publish the book in its entirety.
For those who can manage to find a copy, it is available in paperback
for just 3s 6d.
London's largest bookstore, W&G Foyle Ltd, said its 300 copies had
gone in just 15 minutes and it had taken orders for 3,000 more copies.
When the shop opened this morning there were 400 people - mostly men -
waiting to buy the unexpurgated version of the book.
Hatchards in Piccadilly sold out in 40 minutes and also had hundreds of
orders pending.
Selfridges sold 250 copies in minutes. A spokesman told the Times
newspaper, "It's bedlam here.
We could have sold 10,000 copies if we had had them."
Lady C, as it has become known, has also become a bestseller in the
Midlands and the North where demand has been described as "terrific".
The book tells of Lady Chatterley's passionate affair with Mellors, the
family gamekeeper, and details their erotic meetings.
Last year the government introduced the Obscene Publications Act that
said that any book considered obscene by some but that could be shown to
have "redeeming social merit" might still published.
This prompted Penguin to print off and store 200,000 copies with the
aim of completing a set of works by DH Lawrence to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of his death this year.
Penguin sent 12 copies to the Director of Public Prosecutions
challenging him to prosecute, which he duly did.
The six-day trial at the Old Bailey began on 27 October and gripped the
nation.
The defence produced 35 witnesses, including bishops and leading
literary figures, such as Dame Rebecca West, EM Forster and Richard
Hoggart.
The prosecution was unable to make a substantial case against the novel
and at one point prosecution counsel Mervyn Griffith-Jones shocked the
jury by asking: "Is it a book you would wish your wife or servants to
read?"