"Fine work, Finnegan... in the past week you’ve arrested thirty-seven books and sixty-two bottles."
Len Norris, Vancouver Sun
In 1965 the Vancouver police seized a copy of Last Exit to Brooklyn, by Hubert Selby Jr., from the Paperback Cellar. On December 2, the book was ruled obscene. With the support of Grove Press, the Canadian Booksellers Association, the Canadian Library Association, and many individuals, Bill Duthie decided to appeal the judgement, but they lost the appeal, too. In 1966 John Mortimer (of Rumpole fame) defended the book in England and won.
The police came into the store, and they wanted to know who was in charge. We all said, “No one,” very truthfully.
—Carol Dale
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