Ireland to Move 12,000 Banned Books to National Archives
Ireland plans to move its entire banned books collection, about 12,000 volumes, to the National Archives as part of the repeal of the country's censorship laws, The Guardian reported.
The books were kept in a room in the Department of Justice building on St Stephen's Green in Dublin. The room was not open to the public. Each volume had been deemed indecent or obscene, and the collection covers the years 1926 to 1996.
The titles included some of the best-known novels of the twentieth century. Authors whose books were held in the room included Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence, J.D. Salinger, John Updike, Iris Murdoch and F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as Harold Robbins, Ian Fleming, Edna O'Brien and Brendan Behan. Among the specific titles were The Picture of Dorian Gray, Borstal Boy, Lady Chatterley's Lover and The Country Girls.
Alongside the books, the notes, minutes and ledgers of the Censorship of Publications Board, the body that decided which publications were banned, are to be made publicly available for the first time at the National Archives. The records set out why each book was banned. Orlaith McBride is director of the National Archives.
