Lady Chatterly's Lover
When it came to banning erotic books however, few have raised the sheer amount of controversy and litigation as D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover. Lawrence was well familiar with battles over censorship and when he completed Lady Chatterly, he expected difficulty in finding a publisher brave enough to print the work. He was correct.

Eventually, he met with a Florentine bookseller who agreed to print the book using Lawrence's own money. The 1,000 copies of this first edition were sold through Lawrence's friends to avoid trouble from the police. The book sold quickly and by the end of the first year, the first printing was sold out. Lawrence printed subsequent versions on numerous occasions.

The novel was profitable for Lawrence. However since it was not available through an established publisher, pirated versions were rampant and Lawrence was deprived of the full potential revenue from sales of Lady Chatterly. As a clamor of obscenity became common, booksellers were reluctant to sell the title in either its authorized or pirated editions. In 1930, a Massachusetts bookstore manager and his clerk were fined a total of $1000 and sentenced to four months in prison.

Despite the outrage of many in society a small group of people voiced support early on for the book. One anonymous critic in a decimating review wrote that the novel "reeked with obscenity and lewdness..." but continued by stating "Mr. Lawrence is a man of genius. As a psychologist he is in the front rank of living writers; as a stylist he stands supreme".

Around the world as attempts were made to publish uncensored versions of Lady Chatterly's Lover, obscenity cases were brought to trial. In America, between 1944 and 1959, pivotal court cases were held to test the nature of the work as obscenity for both print and film versions. In Japan, in 1952 and 1953, trials resulted in the conviction of a publisher for the translated version. During the Great Cultural Reformation in China, in the late 1960's and 1970's, it was not uncommon for people to be imprisoned for life simply because they possessed a copy of the book. Today, only eminent members of Chinese society are allowed to read the book, and they must first obtain written permission to read it only for academic purposes. Possession of the book without permission can still lead to a prison sentence.

So the next time you have the time and the free device memory, take a moment to HotSync with the Palm organizer editions of these touchstones of literary, judicial and erotic history. As you do, take a moment to be thankful you live in a society where you have the choice to do so.

Great reference works
Well, this is the 90's and the information superhighway is literally overgrown with publicly accessible materials on dating, love, sex, marriage, and every conceivable variation thereof. And should you have the desire to carry some instructional reading in your Palm device, there is a wealth of reference information just for the asking.