WHAT IS hidden amongst the shelves of one of Glasgow’s most famous libraries?

Banned books, publications by rebels, guilty secrets…the Mitchell is setting free some literary intrigue this week as Book Week Scotland gets underway.

The nationwide celebration of books organised by the Scottish Book Trust is based around the theme of rebellion for 2018, and Glasgow has a few exciting treasures to share.

The seventh annual festival runs until November 25, with events and activities all over the city.

The Mitchell Library is unleashing a collection of banned books gathered in its archives over the decades, as part of its successful Mitchell Curious series.

Librarian Sarah Brand explains: “Banned books are immediately fascinating. It’s the idea that there’s something inside you’re not supposed to read. The Rebels in our Stacks Mitchell Curious offers an insight into books which have been banned at various points in history and by various cultures.”

The Mitchell Library was founded in 1877 by philanthropist Stephen Mitchell who stated that “no books were to be excluded on the grounds of contravening present opinions on politics or religion.”

Sarah adds: “The Rebels in our Stacks collection contains works which were at one point banned and therefore couldn’t be published, rather than books that Glasgow Libraries would have banned or made unavailable to the public. It’s a chance to take a look at some pieces from history which were perhaps ahead of their time.”

Items on display at the events on Wednesday and Thursday this week include Burns’ 1799 collection of songs and poetry, The Merry Muses of Caledonia; William Burrough’s The Naked Lunch and DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, alongside other familiar titles such as JD Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye and George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

Sarah explains: “Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a really famous example of a book banned under the obscenity law. It was written in 1928, but due to its sexual content, was deemed obscene and DH Lawrence could only publish it in Italy. It was later published in France and Germany.”

In 1959 the government introduced the Obscene Publications Act which enabled books previously considered obscene to be printed if publishers could prove the work had literary merit. This prompted Penguin books to publish Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1960.

Penguin was prosecuted and during a six-day trial at the Old Bailey in October 1960, the firm produced 35 witnesses, including bishops and leading literary figures, such as Dame Rebecca West, EM Forster and Richard Hoggart who spoke of the book’s merits.

Across the country, many writers, teachers and librarians gave their thoughts on the publishing of the novel, with then Convener of Glasgow Libraries, Councillor Agnes Patrick, telling the press on November 3, 1960: “Our committee will be holding a meeting soon. We will almost certainly discuss whether or not the books should be allowed into our public libraries.”

Sarah says: “At the end of the trial Penguin was found not guilty of obscenity, promptly published the book and within a year had sold two million copies.”

One of the original 1960 Penguin copies of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, donated to the library by Glaswegian poet Edwin Morgan, will be on display as part of the Mitchell Curious lunchtime events, alongside an original copy of the novel published in Germany in 1933, and transcript of the 1960 trial – The Trial of Lady Chatterley.

Also on display will be The Naked Lunch, by cult literary figure William Burroughs, published in 1959 as a Travellers Companion by the Paris Olympia Press, a Parisian publishing house set up in 1953 to publish works other publishers were not prepared to. The father and son operation published a wide range of scandals, erotic and avant-garde fiction and content that was deemed to be ahead of its time.

Sarah says: “The Naked Lunch was written in 1959 and is really experimental fiction. There’s a lot of drug abuse and grotesque horror. It was deemed obscene, and struggled to be published anywhere. The copy we hold in the Mitchell bears the stamp ‘not to be sold in the UK or USA’.”

Alongside these twentieth century banned books are famous works by Scotland’s national Bard, Robert Burns, including The Merry Muses of Caledonia.

Sarah explains “The Merry Muses of Caledonia is essentially a book of very rude songs, and although it was eventually published a few years after Burns’ death, it did struggle to be published which is why it’s in our banned books collection. But in general terms, Robert Burns didn’t conform to the ideals of society – he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and a lot of his ideas and sensibilities were ahead of his time. He was very much a rebel.”

The banned books were curated by Glasgow Libraries Assistant Alexandra Muirhead. Alexandra says: “The Mitchell Curious events offer an opportunity to explore what we have hidden in the Library. The books in the banned collection take you on a fascinating journey of their history, far greater than the stories themselves.”

To find out more about the Rebels in our Stacks #MitchellCurious, or to see what else is on offer in Glasgow Libraries during Book Week Scotland, please visit: www.glasgowlife.org.uk/bws