DIY History | Transcribe | Hevelin Fanzines | Fanomena, March 1948

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Fanomena, March 1948

Page 14

with other similar books like Boccacio's DECAMERON and the Bible."
At that the minister arose and in a silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire, left the house.
"I am sorry he misunderstood me," said Jones. "All the ministry would object to having certain things said about the greatest book in the world and then, too, that word, immoral, is capable of so many shades of meaning. Well, to go on with my story. The next thing was the illustrations. These had to be purchased. They had to be artistic, of a size to fit the book, and above all to accurately illustrate the text. They were hard to find, and when found, could not be sent to me by mail. I was too poor to go to Paris and Vienna and hunt for them, so many, in fact most of them were purchased by mail. This frequently was the cause of much duplication and constant dissatisfaction, and it also made it all very expensive." He paused, seemingly waiting for comment. No one spoke, so he continued.
"Slowly the illustrating fo the two volumes progressed to completion. Six months ago it was finished. I say finished, though of course changes will be made from time to time in the illustrations as I find pictures more suitable to the text than those I have. To all purposes, however the work is completed-- begun twenty years ago."
The lawyer slowly arose from his chair, saying equally slowly, "I have lived in this village all my life and while I have observed such things in the degenerate and feebleminded this is the first time such a thing has developed in an apparently normal citizen who has always been outwardly respectable," and turning on his heel he left us.
The others, somewhat awkwardly, with distinct confusion, left at once, leaving Jones still standing before the fire. I sat still have buried in one of his luxuriant leather wing chairs. Jones frowned. "There is something in this that I cannot understand. I thought they would be very interested in my story; to me it is interesting on account of the revolt from the bondage of modern culture, the effort to attain independence. Evidently they did not approve of the tale."
"Evidently not," I echoed. "They have families, social position. They hold offices of trust--in the Rotary--in the Church. To approve of such a book would jeopardize their future social standing."
After some more discussion along these lines I left him, still standing before the fireplace. I confess to some curiosity--even a desire to ask him to permit me to look over the books in question. He did not suggest it and naturally it was an impossibility to propose and inspection under the circumstances. So I left.
It was a few days before rumor did its work in our small town, but when once started, no time was lost in taking appropriate action. The church led, and a committee of elders headed by the pastor called on Jones. No one knows definitely what took place--that is no one except those present and they were rather loath to give details but it seems that Jones was given the choice between burning the books or leaving the church and he promptly handed his resignation to the pastor.
After that a bridge club ceased to invite him. He was a fair card player and always paid his losses but the women refused to meet him socially, and were equallydetermined that their husbands should not. In fact, the Woman's Club considered the passing of resolutions asking for his resignation from the School Board. Their idea was that a man who not only owned but created such vicious books could not be trusted with the morals of the young. Some of this acrimonious discussion crept into the local newspaper and immediately was copied in the yellow press of the great cities. Double paged illustratednarticles appeared in the Sunday supplements. These articles contained about 5% fact and the rest simply reportorial fancy. The picture of the District Attorney appeared as the champion of purity. Not knowing just what illustrations where were in the book, different papers reproduced examples of pornographic art so their readers could in the future identify such pictures and avoid them.
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with other similar books like Boccacio's DECAMERON and the Bible." At that the minister arose and in a silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire, left the house. "I am sorry he misunderstood me," said Jones. "All the ministry would object to having certain things said about the greatest book in the world and then, too, that word, immoral, is capable of so many shades of meaning. Well, to go on with my story. The next thing was the illustrations. These had to be purchased. They had to be artistic, of a size to fit the book, and above all to accurately illustrate the text. They were hard to find, and when found, could not be sent to me by mail. I was too poor to go to Paris and Vienna and hunt for them, so many, in fact most of them were purchased by mail. This frequently was the cause of much duplication and constant dissatisfaction, and it also made it all very expensive." He paused, seemingly waiting for comment. No one spoke, so he continued. "Slowly the illustrating fo the two volumes progressed to completion. Six months ago it was finished. I say finished, though of course changes will be made from time to time in the illustrations as I find pictures more suitable to the text than those I have. To all purposes, however the work is completed-- begun twenty years ago." The lawyer slowly arose from his chair, saying equally slowly, "I have lived in this village all my life and while I have observed such things in the degenerate and feebleminded this is the first time such a thing has developed in an apparently normal citizen who has always been outwardly respectable," and turning on his heel he left us. The others, somewhat awkwardly, with distinct confusion, left at once, leaving Jones still standing before the fire. I sat still have buried in one of his luxuriant leather wing chairs. Jones frowned. "There is something in this that I cannot understand. I thought they would be very interested in my story; to me it is interesting on account of the revolt from the bondage of modern culture, the effort to attain independence. Evidently they did not approve of the tale." "Evidently not," I echoed. "They have families, social position. They hold offices of trust--in the Rotary--in the Church. To approve of such a book would jeopardize their future social standing." After some more discussion along these lines I left him, still standing before the fireplace. I confess to some curiosity--even a desire to ask him to permit me to look over the books in question. He did not suggest it and naturally it was an impossibility to propose and inspection under the circumstances. So I left. It was a few days before rumor did its work in our small town, but when once started, no time was lost in taking appropriate action. The church led, and a committee of elders headed by the pastor called on Jones. No one knows definitely what took place--that is no one except those present and they were rather loath to give details but it seems that Jones was given the choice between burning the books or leaving the church and he promptly handed his resignation to the pastor. After that a bridge club ceased to invite him. He was a fair card player and always paid his losses but the women refused to meet him socially, and were equallydetermined that their husbands should not. In fact, the Woman's Club considered the passing of resolutions asking for his resignation from the School Board. Their idea was that a man who not only owned but created such vicious books could not be trusted with the morals of the young. Some of this acrimonious discussion crept into the local newspaper and immediately was copied in the yellow press of the great cities. Double paged illustratednarticles appeared in the Sunday supplements. These articles contained about 5% fact and the rest simply reportorial fancy. The picture of the District Attorney appeared as the champion of purity. Not knowing just what illustrations where were in the book, different papers reproduced examples of pornographic art so their readers could in the future identify such pictures and avoid them. 14