THE NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England

22 September 1932

(page 7)

“LAUGHING TORSO.”

BOOK’S PUBLICATION STOPPED.

“INDECENT AND VULGAR.”

INJUNCTION SOUGHT AGAINST PUBLISHERS.

A book which was stated by counsel to be indecent and vulgar was the subject of a motion before Mr. Justice Lawrence, in the Vacation Court, to-day.

Mr. Edward Alexander Crowley, an author, known as Aleister Crowley, asked for an injunction against Messrs. Constable and Co., Ltd. publishers, and Messrs. Charles Whittingham and Griggs, Ltd., printers, to restrain the further publication of a book.

The authoress, Miss Nina Hamnett, was also a defendant.

Mr. C. Gallop, for Mr. Crowley, said he complained of passages upon two pages of the book, which he (counsel) had not the slightest intention of reading in court, unless he was obliged to do so.

“As far as I have been obliged to gather, this is a sort of autobiographical work,” explained counsel, “but it includes what I suppose are intended to be interesting anecdotes about various people, among them Mr. Aleister Crowley.

“There is not a word of truth in what is written. It is indecent and vulgar, and Mr. Crowley has formally sworn an affidavit deposing that only in recent days has his attention been specifically drawn to the passages in the book.

PUBLICATION STOPPED IN TEN MINUTES.

Counsel added that he found it extremely difficult to understand how the book, “Laughing Torso,” ever came to be published at all. The printers and publishers, he felt sure, would deal with the matter in the manner in which one would expect from firms of such repute. What the attitude of the authorities towards this work was he did not know.

“I am instructed that this book had some vogue,” he proceeded. “Apparently people found it interesting, and the whole of the first edition has either been exhausted, or is in the process of exhaustion.”

Mr. Upjohn, on behalf of the publishers and printers, said that, on being served with the notice of motion, they instantly, within 10 minutes, suspended publication, and he was perfectly willing to give an undertaking not to continue publication until further orders.

He very much hoped that the matter would be disposed of without troubling the court further. The printers had printed all the copies it was proposed to print, and he understood that before the writ was issued, they had sent to Messrs. Constable all the copies in their possession.

Mr. Martin O’Connor, for Miss Hamnett, asked that the matter should stand over to enable publication to be looked into. There would be no further publication or selling of the book meanwhile.

An order was made directing the motion to stand over until October.