LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN

First UK edition, first printing. Original grey paper-covered boards with gilt titles to the spine, in dustwrapper. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth bright and fresh. The contents, with a couple of spots to the front pastedown and to the top edge of the text block, are otherwise clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. Light (barely noticeable) abrasion and nicking to the inner upper edges of a number of pages, apparently a minor glitch in the paper stock. Complete with the dustwrapper lightly rubbed to spine tips and extremities and creased, with a small puncture on the rear panel near the spine fold. Not price-clipped (30s on the front flap).

'Last Exit to Brooklyn' and its harsh, unflinching depiction of violence and sexual assault was the subject of an obscenity trial in the UK after it was published by Calder and Boyars in 1966. A complaint was initially made to the Director of Public Prosecutions by Basil Blackwell, the son of Benjamin Henry Blackwell, the founder of Blackwell's bookshop, who took offence at the book's violent content, but no action was taken. Conservative MP Cyril Black then initiated a private prosecution for obscenity in the Magistrate's court, eventually resulting in a nine day trial by jury which found the publishers guilty of circulating obscene material. Two years later this decision was overturned by the Appeal Court, which was viewed as a turning point in UK censorship law. The controversial novel formed the basis of the 1989 film of the same name directed by Uli Edel and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh.