Add MS 88610

Alvarez Papers. Vol. cxxix. Papers relating to obscenity cases; 1954-1959, 1967.

1. Two letters from Grove Press Inc., publishers of New York, to Al and Ursula Alvarez née Barr; 1959. The letter dated 11 September describes at length the negotiations between Grove Press and Frieda Lawrence Ravagli (d. 1956) to publish an unexpurgated text of Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, the impounding of mailed copies by the U.S. Post Office on the grounds of obscenity, the circulation of rival unexpurgated editions, and a proposal about the payment of the royalties. There is also an unsigned draft of an agreement by which Frieda's children, Barbara Barr and Montague Weekley, would authorise the publication on the terms set out in the letter. Articles 2-5 below are documentary evidence supplied by Grove Press in support of its position.

2. Correspondence of Barney Rosset of Grove Press with Frieda Lawrence Ravagli, 1954, Laurence Pollinger, 1954 and 1959, and Curtis Brown Ltd., 1959. Photocopies.

3. Press releases from Grove Press, Inc. relating to Lady Chatterley; 1959. Followed by reprints from The New York Times and Publishers Weekly, and a digest of press opinion on the case of The U.S. Post Office vs. Lady Chatterley's Lover.

4. 'Excerpts from transcript from the hearing . . . to determine whether Grove Press, Inc. . . . may use the facilities of the U.S. Post Office for its complete and authorized edition of LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER . . .'; May 1959. Typewritten.

5. Plaintiff's brief on motion and cross-motion, Plaintiff's reply brief on motion and cross-motion and Opinion of the United States District Judge in the case of Grove Press, Inc. v. the Postmaster of the City of New York; June-July 1959. Printed.

6. Discussion in four parts between Alvarez and Philip Toynbee about Lady Chatterley's Lover; n.d. Typewritten with autograph annotations.

7. Transcript of the evidence given by Alvarez in the prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act of Calder and Boyars Ltd. of London for publishing Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Junior; 1967. Typewritten with autograph annotations. With related newspaper cuttings.