IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, OCTOBER TERM, 1962, NO. 812: Bradley Reed Smith, Petitioner, v. People of the State of California, Respondent

by De Grazia, Edward; [Burroughs, William S.]

$1,500 · Offered by Biblio

First edition · Signed

(Washington, DC): (Press of Byron S. Adams), 1965. First edition. Very good plus.. Original communication from attorney De Grazia to William S. Burroughs regarding the Boston ban of NAKED LUNCH, written on the cover of the 1962 amici brief filed in the earlier TROPIC OF CANCER obscenity case, which De Grazia won. De Grazia filed this brief before the Supreme Court on behalf of more than 100 authors, editors, and publishers, including Betty and Ian Ballantine, Louise Bogan, John Ciardi, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, James Loughlin, Robert Lowell, Norman Mailer, and many others. His handwritten note refers Burroughs to pages 5-7 in particular, which cite John Dewey and Sigmund Freud to support the argument that "works of 'fiction' and 'art' may contribute as much to the interplay of competing ideas and the development of public information and learning as works conveying 'news,' 'truth' or 'history'." His arguments were successful and in 1964, the Supreme Court overruled the TROPIC OF CANCER ban in a 5-4 decision. De Grazia's note to Burroughs - written in January 1965, the month Grove Press appealed the Massachusetts ban on NAKED LUNCH - comments, "I agree so much with what you say - only you should say it in court!" Despite this early enthusiasm, De Grazia ultimately declined to call Burroughs as a witness due to belatedly remembering that the author had shot his wife to death (Lawlor), and that cross examination on this topic might make for a less than ideal impressio

• Publisher: (Press of Byron S. Adams)
• Year: 1965
• Edition: First Edition
• Binding: unknown

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