The Two-Volume Novel

A police lieutenant in a large northeastern city paid a man $5 for the two volumes of a novel. The man was charged under a state law that made it a crime to sell any book containing obscene, indecent or impure language, or language manifestly tending to corrupt the morals of youth. The prosecution pointed the jury to specific passages it complained of. The judge told jurors they were trying only those parts of the book. The seller asked for a directed verdict of not guilty and argued that the book had to be judged as a whole, including its theme and its tragic ending, before anyone could say it tended to corrupt readers.