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27.
CAIN'S BOOK.
John Calder, 1963. First UK edition. Red boards, with gold spine lettering. Dustwrapper reproduces a photograph of one of Trocchi's sculptures, or 'futiques' as he called them ("what will be prized as an antique tomorrow"; years later Timothy Leary used the term for the name of one of his software companies, Futiques, Inc.).
This edition of "Cain's Book" was seized by the police at bookshop in Sheffield and went to trial for obscenity in April 1964. The court's judgement was the first in Britain to condemn a book for obscenity not for its sexual content but for "the lifestyle it advocated." Trocchi responded by holding a public burning of the book, with fireworks.
Very Good plus in slightly rubbed and lightly edge-worn dw. (not price-clipped).
