Columbia U. buys papers of 1st Amendment crusader Rosset, who published ‘Tropic of Cancer’

Columbia U. buys 1st Amendment crusader’s papers

NEW YORK — Columbia University has acquired the papers of publisher and First Amendment crusader Barney Rosset.

The New York school announced Monday its Rare Book & Manuscript Library would be home to Rosset’s letters, manuscripts and other documents. It paid an undisclosed price for the collection.

The 88-year-old Rosset fought successfully for the uncensored releases of such racy classics as D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer.”

Authorities who seized a copy of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” mailed from Paris to New York in 1954 charged Rosset with promoting “indecent and lascivious thoughts.” Rosset won the case on appeal.

He was arrested and taken before a grand jury when trying to publish “Tropic of Cancer.” But the jury refused to indict.

Other writers Rosset published include Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.