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Irwin Weisfeld
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Irwin Weisfeld
Irwin Weisfeld (1932–1968) was an American writer and bookseller who was jailed in 1963 under obscenity laws for selling the 18th century erotic novel Fanny Hill. The case attracted national media attention and was one of the last in a series of First Amendment battles which made an impact throughout American culture.
Weisfeld went on to create a popular line of irreverent pin-on humor-buttons that became an infatuation with college students and an enduring emblem of 1960s American pop-culture.
In the early sixties, Irwin Weisfeld owned The Bookcase, a small retail book store on Lexington Avenue in midtown Manhattan. On September 4, 1963, a 16-year-old girl entered the store and purchased a copy of Fanny Hill, a 1748 erotic novel by John Cleland which had been at the object of censorship disputes over pornography since first publication. A reprint of the book had been newly published by the venerable and respected company G.P. Putnam's Sons. Weisfeld had promoted the fresh release in his store's window with a sign: "is now, in the new era of Publishing and Reader Freedom, at last available.. We feel that with the publication of this book almost all of the barriers are now down, and it is happening in our time."
The mother of the girl who had bought Fanny Hill from Weisfeld's store filed a criminal complaint. Weisfeld, and the clerk who had sold the book, John Downs, were both charged and convicted of violating Section 484-h of the New York State penal code. This incident took place soon after major court rulings which found that such controversial books as William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer were not obscene and could be sold to the public; so the arrest of Weisfeld and Downs occurred at a flashpoint in First Amendment law, coming after other major rulings on controversial literary works and during the era when comedian Lenny Bruce was repeatedly prosecuted for obscenity.
Weisfeld's case (New York v. Bookcase, Inc.) became a media event with ongoing coverage prominently featured in The New York Times, Time, and other mainstream news outlets.
It was soon reported that the purchase of the Fanny Hill from Weisfeld's store and complaint by the girl and her mother were orchestrated by Operation Yorkville, a New York–based interfaith pro-censorship group that was determined to stop distribution of the book, and had considerable influence and alliances with New York Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. (who was seeking to sanitize New York City's image before the 1964–1965 World's Fair), Cardinal Francis Spellman, and Norman Vincent Peale. After being released from jail, Weisfeld fought the charges in court while receiving crucial assistance from Barney Rosset, then owner of Grove Press (which had led a successful legal battle to publish D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, and was American publisher of Miller's Tropic of Cancer) and lawyers from G. P. Putnam's Sons.
New York v. Bookcase, Inc. worked its way through three levels of the New York State judiciary. Meanwhile, at the prompting of Operation Yorkville, district attorneys from New York's five boroughs jointly argued that Fanny Hill was obscene under state law and could not be sold to anyone, minor or adult. For a time, the case against both Weisfeld and the book, Fanny Hill, meandered through the courts.
In 1964, to the outrage of Operation Yorkville and its allies & New York prosecutors, the guilty verdicts for Weisfeld and Downs were overturned; the New York appeals court concluded that NY obscenity laws were too vague, and the New York case against the book was thrown out.
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Irwin Weisfeld
Irwin Weisfeld (1932–1968) was an American writer and bookseller who was jailed in 1963 under obscenity laws for selling the 18th century erotic novel Fanny Hill. The case attracted national media attention and was one of the last in a series of First Amendment battles which made an impact throughout American culture.
Weisfeld went on to create a popular line of irreverent pin-on humor-buttons that became an infatuation with college students and an enduring emblem of 1960s American pop-culture.
In the early sixties, Irwin Weisfeld owned The Bookcase, a small retail book store on Lexington Avenue in midtown Manhattan. On September 4, 1963, a 16-year-old girl entered the store and purchased a copy of Fanny Hill, a 1748 erotic novel by John Cleland which had been at the object of censorship disputes over pornography since first publication. A reprint of the book had been newly published by the venerable and respected company G.P. Putnam's Sons. Weisfeld had promoted the fresh release in his store's window with a sign: "is now, in the new era of Publishing and Reader Freedom, at last available.. We feel that with the publication of this book almost all of the barriers are now down, and it is happening in our time."
The mother of the girl who had bought Fanny Hill from Weisfeld's store filed a criminal complaint. Weisfeld, and the clerk who had sold the book, John Downs, were both charged and convicted of violating Section 484-h of the New York State penal code. This incident took place soon after major court rulings which found that such controversial books as William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer were not obscene and could be sold to the public; so the arrest of Weisfeld and Downs occurred at a flashpoint in First Amendment law, coming after other major rulings on controversial literary works and during the era when comedian Lenny Bruce was repeatedly prosecuted for obscenity.
Weisfeld's case (New York v. Bookcase, Inc.) became a media event with ongoing coverage prominently featured in The New York Times, Time, and other mainstream news outlets.
It was soon reported that the purchase of the Fanny Hill from Weisfeld's store and complaint by the girl and her mother were orchestrated by Operation Yorkville, a New York–based interfaith pro-censorship group that was determined to stop distribution of the book, and had considerable influence and alliances with New York Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. (who was seeking to sanitize New York City's image before the 1964–1965 World's Fair), Cardinal Francis Spellman, and Norman Vincent Peale. After being released from jail, Weisfeld fought the charges in court while receiving crucial assistance from Barney Rosset, then owner of Grove Press (which had led a successful legal battle to publish D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, and was American publisher of Miller's Tropic of Cancer) and lawyers from G. P. Putnam's Sons.
New York v. Bookcase, Inc. worked its way through three levels of the New York State judiciary. Meanwhile, at the prompting of Operation Yorkville, district attorneys from New York's five boroughs jointly argued that Fanny Hill was obscene under state law and could not be sold to anyone, minor or adult. For a time, the case against both Weisfeld and the book, Fanny Hill, meandered through the courts.
In 1964, to the outrage of Operation Yorkville and its allies & New York prosecutors, the guilty verdicts for Weisfeld and Downs were overturned; the New York appeals court concluded that NY obscenity laws were too vague, and the New York case against the book was thrown out.