Dirty Books

Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights Book Store. Aug. 6, 1957.
Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection

Typically, we think of archives as places containing literally, rather than figuratively, dirty books--books with the residue of actual grime from attics or basements in them rather than books deemed to be obscene or offensive. But as I washed my hands from our trip to glean treasurer's ledgers and began to anticipate Banned Books Week, I thought about archives and dirty books in the latter sense. How do archives document the ways in which we speak and write? How are these expressions perceived to be "dirty," and in what historical context?

In honor of Banned Books Week, I'd like to feature two very clean copies of books related to the obscenity trial against San Francisco's own Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was arrested in 1957 for selling Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl at City Lights Bookstore:

Howl of the Censor
Howl on Trial

If you visit the San Francisco History Center and want a sense of location, you can also read the Landmark Designation Case Report for City Lights Bookstore from March 21, 2001. Just ask for our vertical file for "SF Buildings. City Lights Books."

And of course, read Howl itself.

Banned Books Week runs Sept. 26-Oct. 3. Have lunch with the ban(ne)d on Thursday, October 1!