Just to update you on our
Great News from English PEN!
The judge's annotated copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence from the landmark obscenity trial of 1960 has been acquired by the University of Bristol, thanks to English PEN's GoFundMe campaign. Read more here: https://www.englishpen.org/campaigns/pens-gofundme-campaign-helps-university-of-bristol-acquire-significantly-important-copy-of-lady-chatterleys-lover/
Philippe Sands QC, President of English PEN, said: 'We are thrilled that our crowdfunding campaign for this historic work by DH Lawrence, an active member of English PEN and a central figure in the annals of English literary history, has been a success. The trial involving Lady Chatterley’s Lover was a seminal moment in the continuing struggle for freedom of expression, and the judge’s copy belongs here in the UK, a singular reminder of the road travelled and remaining.'
‘So much that is good begins with the Lady Chatterley Trial’
Sometimes it’s easy to think we’re all alone in Eastwood and the East Midlands in campaigning to preserve DH Lawrence’s heritage. But we’re not – organisations and individuals all over the world support our cause!
English Pen’s crowdfunding campaign to keep a copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover in the UK has reached over a third of its target. The copy, referred to by the presiding judge, the Hon. Sir Laurence Byrne in the landmark 1960 trial and annotated by his wife, Lady Dorothy Byrne with character lists, underlinings and page numbers of significant passages – ‘love-making’ ‘coarse’ etc. was recently bought by a foreign investor. The UK government has placed a temporary bar preventing it going abroad if a UK bidder can match its price. The crowdfunding campaign which has already been supported by many organisations and individuals has had a boost from Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer who have supported the cause by donating five annotated copies of Lady Chatterley’s Lover as well as a pair of tickets to any show on Amanda’s tour ‘There will be no intermission’ to be auctioned on Ebay. Their view: ‘So much that is good begins with the Lady Chatterley Trial.’ We couldn't agree more!
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