Posted on September 26, 2018 at 8:26 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

A set of famous annotations could be yours, for as little as $13,000.

The Guardian reports that the copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover used by the judge who presided over the novel’s 1960 obscenity trial is headed to auction on October 30.

Presiding judge Sir Lawrence Byrne’s wife, Lady Dorothy Byrne, not only made notes where the paperback began describing “love-making,” but she also sewed a damask bag for it — presumably, according to auctioneer Sotheby’s, so that the judge would never be photographed carrying the book itself.

Penguin Books was prosecuted for printing the complete text of D.H. Lawrence’s novel in 1960, as a test case for Britain’s Obscene Publications Act. The publisher was found not guilty.

Judge Byrne’s copy was most recently sold in 1993 for £4,370 ($5,750 in today’s U.S. currency), at that point the most a paperback had ever been sold at auction.

Sotheby’s expects this round of bidding to begin in the range of £10,000 to £15,000 ($13,000 to $19,700).

Read more about the Lady Chatterley trial and this famous edition of it on The Guardian.

Categories: Today in Books

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