" OBSCENITY " AND THE LAW
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIRS I hope that I shall not appear ungracious if I point out that Mr. John Sparrow, in his able and generous review of my book The Banned Books of England, uses a false analogy when he suggests that some law rmht exist with regard to obscene books for the same reasons as a law dealing with indecent exposure of the person is necessary.
The gravamen of the offence of indecent exposure is that it is an unexpected and unwelcome affront to the beholder. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, however, the purchaser of an " obscene " book knows very well what to expect when he reads it, and he is under no compulsion to read it if he does not want to. Consequently he has no more reason to complain if his susceptibilities are upset than I have if after reading a luridly covered " Mystery of the Blood-stained Putty Knife," I spend a sleepless night. If there is any. substance at all in this analogy it constitutes no more than an argument for insisting that the innocent abroad who cannot bring an adult intelligence to bear on his reading should be duly warned by the title or cover of any book likely to upset
him.—Yours faithfully, ALEC CRAIG.
33 Ulysses Road, London, N.W. 6.
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