"Disgusting and Obscene"
To Beg I am Ashamed.
London: George Routledge & Sons Ltd, 1938.
Price: $1,000.00
About the item
First Edition. With small stamp "Overseas Edition" on the verso of the title. Pp. [4], 283, [1]. 1 vols. Sm. 8vo. "Disgusting and Obscene" Original grey cloth, spine lettered in blue. Extremities rubbed, spine slightly darkened, one inch tear along lower portion of upper joint, corners knocked., internally clean and sound. British Museum Catalogue of the SS Collection, No. 17 (Bloomsbury), Patrick J. Kearney, editor.
Item #36176
RARE. BANNED IN LONDON. When originally published its reception was hostile and it was considered "disgusting and obscene. "The Public Morality Council decided that it should be banned and caused the police to "lean on" the publisher so that the book was withdrawn. It was then published in Paris by Jack Kahane at his Obelisk Press, and many times since. Authorship has been attributed to many, including Graham Greene, Jack Kahane and Cecil Barr, but the British Museum's catalogue entry attributes it to Mathews with the "discreet assistance of Graham Greene." The attribution seems now to be discounted, and the book is not considered part of the canon, but it is still of great interest not only for historic Greene associations, but for the fact that it is an important addition to the great body of controversial literature dealing with prostitution, women's sexual and economic liberation. and official hypocrisy.
