IMMORAL NOVELS

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 316, 1 October 1908, Page 8

IMMORAL NOVELS

SHOULD BOOKSELLERS KNOW? SOME LOCAL OPINIONS. Tho decision of Mr. H. W. Bishop, S.M., of Christehurch, that cortain novels which I have been very largely sold are immoral, and that their salo is an offence against tho law, is a matter which affects this city, since it is admitted that the books in question aro sold as freely in Wellington as elsewhere. One of them, " Anna Lombard," has been most conspicuously displayed in several local windows of late. Where Can the Line be Drawn? "I want to purchase a copy.of 'Anna Lombard,' ' Five Nights,' ' Six Women,' and 'The Yokesaid a Dominion representative to a city bookseller yesterday morning. " A tall order," returned tho salesman with an inscrutable smile. " What are they— poetry or prose? Could you tell me tho publishers' name—wo aro getting so many new books in by every mail." This particular bookseller was too smart, and the reporter then asked the bookseller how he dared —hitherto —to sell such books as those mentioned above and in the Christchurch Magistrate's Court. "What are wo to do—it is all so very incomprehensible? • We've been selling most of the books mentioned for a long time past, and they must be all over the country now, in private and public libraries, and as they sold well further orders' have been given. No inkling has been given that they were considered morally beyond the pale, and in the light of comparison I don't know whether they are."

I A Reviewing Department. "Good gracious! If these books are immoral, what about Rabelais, Balzac, Voltaire? They scream aloud iij comparison with the books Mr. Bishop has condemned. Why, some of Rabelais's stories are positively filthy, but they are considered classical, and that gives them a coat of whitewash. Voltaire, too, was a beauty—the. worst old rascal that Franco ever produced. For tho police to be quite consistent they will have to establish a reviewing department to go into tho morals of every book, new, old. or, middle-aged. Boccaccio's "Decameron is still being sold, but bocauso of prosecutions the spiciest of Zola's books aro not stocked by 'respectable' booksellers. . "As to tho books which have been ostracised by tho decision of the Christchurch magistrate, those holding stocks will pack them back to • the publishers with a copy of tho article which appeared in The Dominion this morning. They must tako them back under tho circumstances." "Ilavo you over sent any back under similar circumstances?" . ; "No, but I was sent some Christmas cards onco by a well-known firm which the police warned me not to sell. I sent them back .with a copy of tho letter from tho police, and I recoived credit for them." No Warning.; "You have had no warning about these books?" "No, that is appoint that I think should be emphasised. If tho police are going to become censors, they should exorcise some discretion in the way of giving warning, as it is quite conceivable that a bookseller cannot read every book he sells." Tho reporter was leaving when the bookman said he had noted on one occasion.Marie Corelli's "Wormwood" in a Sunday School library. Ho may well ask—What are we to do?" ' Another Statoment.

Another leading bookseller stated that ho had no copies of bho books in question, aa they had all been sold out. These were books that were on sale all over the world, and ho could not see why New Zealand dealers should take exception to them. At the samo time, ho did not stock any extra number of thcso novels; those sent out by the London' agent wero sold, and no more were ordered. There had been a very special demand for tho books since notification was made, somo days ago, that; Court proceedings were being taken in Christchurch in regard to them. He dopended on the London agent, and tlia publishers with whom the firm dealt, to see that no really objectionable - books wero sent out. Those objected to in Christchurch wero very mild compared with many that wero published. Opinions differed widely as to the morality of many books, and tho public would resent the exerciso: of a- too arbitrary judgment by the bookseller. Ho admitted that "Anna' Lombard" had been specially displayed in many ' Wellington shops recently, and stated that the other novels complained of were also on general sale. ■ ' ,Tho Public Library. It was ascertained that none of the books in question are in tho Public Library. Tho Acting-Librarian stated that- "Anna Lombard" once found its way on to the shelves, but attention was soon called, to it, and tho book was burned. None of the other novels by the- authoress of "Anna Lombard" are kept, and those of Elinor ■'< Glynn which aro in the library , were very carefully selected. In most- cases where the. morality of a book is specially open to question' its reputation precedes it, the inquirer gathered, and there is not" much risk of purchasing it in ignorance of. its true character. Occasionally, mistakes are made, but. this is usually when an author, whoso work has hitherto been unreproachable, wanders off, in a new novel, on to debatable ground. Also, in the case of mildly immoral books, it is sometimes. hard to draw the line. A subscriber may complain of a certain novel that it should not be on the- shelves for young girls to read, but other subscribers have always tho retort that a public library is not a Sunday School institution.