Seized Books! An online exhibition.
I am delighted to recommend the Seized Books online exhibition, even if it may seem a shameless opportunity to promote my own institution, Senate House Library.
Senate House Library was bequeathed the collection of Jonathan Cutbill (1937-2019), one of the founder members of Gays the Word bookshop in Bloomsbury. His collection, known as the Haud Nominandum Collection, is thought to be one of the largest print collections of LGTBQ+ material in the country. The collection is comprised of approximately 30,000 English language books covering LGBTQ+ literature, social science, and history, alongside numerous pamphlets, newspapers, and cuttings. As the executor of Edward Carpenter’s estate, Cutbill also owned an archive of material related to Carpenter.
This exhibition specifically focusses on Operation Tiger. On 10 April 1984, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise raided Gays the Word bookshop. Operation Tiger saw officers seize over 140 titles, worth thousands of pounds. Bookshop staff and directors were charged with conspiracy to import so-called ‘indecent or obscene’ material. The exhibition tells the story of the fightback to defend Gays the Word and the people accused, and touches on the story of queer bookselling since 1984. You can browse images from some of the 140 books seized in the raid. The cover of each book is shown alongside full bibliographic metadata and a short caption which provides contextual information.
The exhibition has already inspired a musical and we look forward to the upcoming publication of a zine related to the exhibition.
If this has piqued your interest, you can listen to some lectures on the collection via the Senate House Library YouTube.
Lucy Evans, Member of Council
Photo credit: Gay’s the Word Defendants with Seized Books, 1984. Copyright and credit: Photo by Robert Workman. Robert Workman Archive, Bishopsgate Institute.