17 FEBRUARY 1956, Page 14

Sir,—I have every sympathy with the objects of the John

Gordon Society, but is the Society in danger of encouraging the very evil that it hopes to defeat? Sometimes an attack on an undesirable book serves as an advertisement. I know for a fact that booksellers have re- ceived many demands for Vladimir Nabakov's Lolita since Mr. Gordon's original paragraph. This was not Mr. Gordon's intention, and the Society must not fall into the same mistake. Could not Mr. Gordon, Mr. Greene and Mr. Sutro form a Committee to give constructive and kindly advice to novelists before their books are published? Then the novels could appear with—would it be immodest to call it so?—the accolade of the John Gordon Society.—Yours faithfully,

HELEN MONTGOMERY

Renfrew Street, Glasgow