BEAT POETRY HOWL OBSCENE TRIAL LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI SEXUAL Rare NEGATIVES 1957 For Sale

SIX VINTAGE ORIGINAL 1957 NEGATIVES MEASURING 4X5 INCHES FEATURING BEAT POET LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI IN THE HOWL OBSCENE TRIAL."Howl" contains many references to illicit drugs and sexual practices, both heterosexual and homosexual. Claiming that the book was obscene, customs officials seized 520 copies of the poem on 25 March 1957, being imported from England.
On June 3 Shig Murao, the bookstore manager, was arrested and jailed for selling Howl and Other Poems to an undercover San Francisco police officer. City Lights publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti was subsequently arrested for publishing the book. At the obscenity trial, nine literary experts testified on the poem's behalf; Ferlinghetti, a published poet himself, is credited (by David Skover and Ronald K. L. Collins) with breathing "publishing life" into Ginsberg's poetic career.Supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Ferlinghetti won the case when California State Superior Court Judge Clayton Horn decided that the poem was of "redeeming social importance".
The case was widely publicized. (Articles appeared in both Time and Life magazines.) An account of the trial was published by Ferlinghetti's lead defense attorney Jake Ehrlich in a book called Howl of the Censor. The 2010 film Howl depicts the events of the trial. James Franco stars as the young Allen Ginsberg and Andrew Rogers portrays Ferlinghetti.

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