It’s Banned Books Week this week (September 22 to September 28). We’ve recently unearthed this wonderful list of books banned by Leeds (Public) Libraries in 1975 – or, if not quite banned entirely, at least only available with Librarian approval. While we definitely don’t operate in this way anymore, we thought it would be interesting (and slightly amusing!) to show you the list. How many of these titles do you recognise? How many can you find on our library catalogue today?
You can also read a previous article on the Secret Library Leeds taking a more detailed look at a few banned titles.
The article is taken from the Leeds Other Paper – copyright remains with the publishers of that newspaper.

Lady Chatterley’s lover!!
What is the date of the Leeds Other Paper article, please? I was particularly interested to see Lady Chatterley’s Lover on there. The court case was 1963, when I was at school and our English teacher – being asked about it – recommended us 15 year olds to read it as a comparison because “it’s not one of his best”!
Hello
Sadly we don’t know the exact date of the article – other than that it was sometime in 1975. Pleased you enjoyed the piece though and thank you for your own memories!
Thanks
Antony
Leeds Libraries
Thank you Antony.