The Golden Convolvulus

Second printing; printed after “a three day trial & three hour adjournment, a jury alleged that The Golden Convolvulus was an ‘indecent’ but not ‘obscene’ book” (3 December 1965). Side-stapled limp card wrapps. illustrated by Arthur Moyse. Slight soiling to covers. A very good copy of this infamous small-press anthology published in 1965 by Screeches Publications of Blackburn, Lancashire, edited/compiled by the artist, poet and anarchist Arthur Moyse. The first edition was seized and the publisher, David Cunliffe, was prosecuted under both the Obscene Publications Act and the Post Office Act. It became something of a cause célèbre among the British avant-garde and alternative press, with support from figures including Michael Foot, Alan Sillitoe, George Melly and the poet/artist Dom Sylvester Houédard. It was re-issued after the trial.