Ruled Obscene by Detroit Police
The Devil Rides Outside
Publication: Ft. Worth, Texas: Smiths, Inc., 1952. First Edition.
Notes: A signed first printing of the first book by the author of Black Like Me.
This novel about temptation takes place inside a monastery. The author, blinded for many years from injuries suffered during the Second World War, eventually regained sight. This novel was dictated into a tape recorder. It received very good reviews when it was published and was selected by Clifton Fadiman for the Book of the Month Club. Fadiman's review appears on the back cover.
In 1954, Alfred E. Butler, the district sales representative of Pocket Books, which had put out a paperback edition, sold a copy of the book to the Detroit police department's official censor. Hundreds of books were banned in Detroit at the time. Police arrested Butler and he was convicted of selling an "obscene, immoral, lewd, and lascivious" book and fined $100.
The Supreme Court struck down the Michigan law as overbroad, its effect was "to burn the house to roast the pig." The same court a few months later upheld the federal obscenity law.
See The Flint Journal, July 14, 1954.
[9], 597 pages. This was the publisher's first book, and they made the rookie mistake of giving the right-hand side pages even numbers.
Edition + Condition: First edition (stated). A very good copy in black cloth stamped in white on the spine. There is a bit of spotting to the top edge. The jacket is very good or better with light shelfwear. Griffin signed it on the front free endpaper.
Item No: #71521
Price: $150