Upton Sinclair selling a copy of his novel Oil! during censorship hearings, standing next to a police box and wearing a sandwich board reading 'Oil!... fig leaf edition'
Upton Sinclair selling a copy of his novel Oil! during censorship hearings, standing next to a police box and wearing a sandwich board reading 'Oil!... fig leaf edition'
Description:
"Pictured selling 150 promotional copies of a censored 'fig-leaf' version of his book Oil! on Tremont and Boylston Streets in Boston for $2 per copy. Large fig leaves were printed over Sinclair's text relating a sex scene in a motel, which Boston censors found objectionable. Fig-leaf sign the protester is wearing reads "Oil! Guaranteed 100% pure under Boston Law". Two years later, Sinclair would write a letter of support for an anti-censorship rally held in Boston in which he stated, "I would rather be banned in Boston than read anywhere else, because when you are banned in Boston, you are read everywhere else."
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