BOOKSELLING AND MORALS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22506, 14 September 1938, Page 3

BOOKSELLING AND MORALS

“A TRUST AND DUTY”

DEMAND FOR LITERATURE OF GOOD TYPE

“Should a bookseller put himself in the position of a censor of public morals?” asked Mr A. J. Coveney, manager of Simpson and Williams, Ltd., in an address to the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Libraries Association last evening. He said that booksellers could, and did, help to mould public oninion along the right lines by the sale of good books. “In mentioning this matter, I realise that I may be treading on dangerous ground,” said Mr Coveney. “I woum answer the question with ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ There are a few books of a type that I say should unquestionably be kept out of our stores and libraries. But the whole trend of literature has changed entirely within the last few years, and books which were in the past considered risque are to-day sold openly, and few if any take exception to them. Call it “the new freedom, or wnat you like. “I am pleased, however, to note an increasing demand for books of a good type—books through which the readers store of knowledge will be increased. In this matter the bookseller has, shall I say, a trust and a duty to make available books of an educational value as well as those of a recreational value. Just as in radio, people will gravitate towards what appeals to them.” Mr Coveney expressed pleasure that the association agreed with the Associated Booksellers of New Zealand in their desire to stop the importation of cheap periodicals “devoted entirely to gangsters and sex”—commonly known as “pulp” magazines. “The leading booksellers of New Zealand have never lent themselves to the sale of this pernicious literature,” he said.