United Kingdom
The United Kingdom prosecuted authors and publishers for obscenity throughout the 19th and 20th centuries under the Obscene Publications Acts, leading to the banning of works such as Lady Chatterley's Lover and The Well of Loneliness. Since the landmark 1960 Lady Chatterley trial, literary censorship has largely receded, and the UK now has strong press freedom protections. Government bans on books are rare today, though some titles have been restricted at the border.
Banned books
Boy
James Hanley
Government / national · 1934 · lifted
Fanny Hill
John Cleland
Government / national · 1749 · lifted
Inside Linda Lovelace
Linda Lovelace
Government / national · 1976 · lifted
Lady Chatterley's Lover
D.H. Lawrence
Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.
Government / national · 1928 · lifted
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Hubert Selby Jr.
Government / national · 1966 · lifted
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, whom he sexually molests after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for Dolores. The novel was originally written in English and first published in Paris in 1955 by Olympia Press. Lat
Government / national · 1955 · lifted
Lord Horror
David Britton
Government / national · 1991 · lifted
Spycatcher
Peter Wright
Government / national · 1987 · lifted
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy
Government / national · 1891 · lifted
The Adventures of Tintin in the Congo
Hergé
Public library · 2007
The Anarchist Cookbook
William Powell
Government / national · 2007
The Little Red Schoolbook
Søren Hansen & Jesper Jensen
Government / national · 1971 · lifted
The Naked Lunch
William S. Burroughs
Government / national · 1964 · lifted
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde
Government / national · 1890 · lifted
The Rainbow
D.H. Lawrence
Government / national · 1915 · lifted
The Well of Loneliness
Radclyffe Hall
Stephen is an ideal child of aristocratic parentsa fencer, a horse rider and a keen scholar. Stephen grows to be a war hero, a bestselling writer and a loyal, protective lover. But Stephen is a woman, and her lovers are women. As her ambitions drive her, and society confines her, Stephen is forced into desperate actions.
Government / national · 1928 · lifted