Summer stories...

Despite children and adults alike swanning off to far flung places in search of a bit of relaxation, the literary world took no such break. Here are just a few of the headlines from the last couple of months...

• Raymond Scott, the flamboyant antiques dealer accused of stealing a rare couple of Shakespeare's 'First Folio', has been cleared
• Science fiction author Ray Bradbury has reached his 90th birthday
• Chris Wormell's 'One Small Fish', a children's book on evolution, has won the Booktrust Early Years Award
• Following in the footsteps of fellow New Labour founder Peter Mandelson, Tony Blair has released his autobiography, 'A Journey', leading to nationwide press coverage and controversy

O villain, thou hast stol'n both mine office and my name...

The man accused of stealing a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, has been cleared. Eccentric antiques books dealer Raymond Scott, had been charged with taking a copy of the 1623 work from Durham University in 1998, before delivering it to Washington's Folger Library a decade later. He has, however, been convicted of handling stolen goods and removing stolen property from the UK. Following a psychiatric report, it is expected that Scott will face a 'substantial custodial sentence'.

All that glitters is not gold...

The Shakespeare folio at the centre of a controversial robbery trial has been display for he first time in a decade. The first edition work, dating back to 1623, was handed into Washington's Folger Library by ostentatious book dealer Raymond Scott under the pretext of him having been leant it by some Cuban associates. Suspicious of the 'damaged, bruised and mutilated' folio, the FBI started a investigation, leading to he belief that Scott had stolen the work from the Cosin Library at Durham University. Reportedly in debt to the tune of £90,000 due to a young Cuban waitress, Scott, wearing tradmark £300 Tiffany glasses and a diamond ring, was today in the dock as the folio was examined. The trial is set to continue for another four weeks.

People never believe you...

A book, banned for advertising itself as the sequel to J.D. Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye', is being allowed to appeal the decision. '60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye', written by Swedish novelist Fredrik Colting, was banned in July last year for too closely mirroring Salinger's 1951 masterpiece, including the use of protagonist 'Mr. C' - an easily identifiable reference to antihero Holden Caulfield. Yet despite permitting the appeals process, the courts appear to believe that Salinger's estate will win out, declaring the case 'readily established in his favour'.

On this day...

Gustave Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary' was published in 1857. The novel had first been serialised in 'La Revue de Paris' the previous winter, sparking obscenity charges and resulting in a trial in January 1857. The plot follows Emma Bovary, as she embarks on numerous adulterous affairs to escape the triviality of life.

As so often occurs with banned literature, the case only increased the interest surrounding the novel, and following ita acquittal in February, the book went on to become a bestseller. Yet despite its success, five years of writing, and a label of one of the most influential novels of all time, the work only made Flaubert about 800 francs. Indeed a 2007 poll of contemporary authors, found 'Madame Bovary' to be the second greatest novel ever written, second only to Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina'.

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock...

A man appeared in court yesterday, on charges of stealing a £3 million Shakespearian 'First Folio'. Published seven years after Shakespeare's death, the folio dates back to 1623 and is the only reliable source for at least 20 of his 38 plays. The world's largest collection of 'First Folios', 79, is located in the Folger Library in Washington D.C., and it was here that the investigation started which led to Raymond Scott's arrest. A man in possession of the book, which he claimed to have found in Cuba, walked into the library to enquire if it was genuine. Experts suspected it was stolen and tipped off the British Embassy and FBI. Scott, an antiques dealer, is accused of stealing the folio from Durham Universiy in 1998, and yesterday pleaded not guilty to all charges.

On this day...

French author Emile Zola was brought to trial over an editorial piece written for the Parisian newspaper 'L'Aurore' in 1898. In an open letter to the French president, then Felix Faure, Zola's article condemned the government for their perceived antisemitic and unjust stance over an issue of military exoneration. Jewish captain Alfred Dreyfus was, at the time of writing, serving a life sentance in an island prison on account of espionage; accusations which had later surfaced to be false.

Yet the army had suppressed the evidence and innocence, and so it was left to Zola in 'J'Accuse', to expose their mistakes. In an affair that deeply divided sections of both the Church and society, Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel and 16 days later was sentanced to one year's imprisonment. Instead he chose to flee to France to England, where he spent an unhappy year until his return in 1899. Dreyfus was not pardoned until 1899, and even then not exonerated until 1906. The issue is still one of some contention.

John Steinbeck to lessen Google wrath...

The Google book controversy rages on. Following the long dispute with the Author's Guild, writers have until January 28th to opt in or out of the scheme, which is currently digitising millions of books world wide. Led by Ursula Le Guin, of 'Earthsea novels' fame, several authors have expressed their digust with the deal, including Nick Harkaway and Kim Stanley Robinson; Le Guin herself called it a 'deal with the devil'. However, the tide has shifted in recent days, as the Steinbeck family has announced their decision to 'opt in'. Gail Steinbeck, the famous author's daughter-in-law, stated that while she was still against Google's 'imperious act of copyright infringement', it was time to evaluate the situation and minimise the losses. Le Guin is still continuing with her petition, to this date signed by almost 300 authors.

Ulysses drinks life to the lees...

This day also saw a infamous court ruling over James Joyce's novel, 'Ulysses' in 1933. The novel, written over a seven year period, had been serialised in the U.S. magazine 'The Little Review' in 1918, but following the publication of a particularly lewd passage for the time, the New York Society for the Supression of Vice took action against it. A trial declared the magazine obscene in 1921, leading to the book being banned in the U.S; mirroring a similar scenario in Britain. However, in 1933, a federal judge ruled against the original verdict; a decision that was confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 1934 and led to the book being reinstated in both countries. Joyce's novel, written using a stream of conciuosness technique, contains approximately 265,000 words from a 30,030 word vocabulary. It is based on Greek mythological hero Odysseus, and is often described as one of the most important works of modernist literature.

Guild v Google...

A US judge has announced the date for the settlement in a major literary legal dispute today. February 18th next year, will see the culmination of the Authors Guild action against Google books in 2005 for a breach of copyright. By scanning texts from the United States and Britain, Google had been creating a digital archive of books, which it hoped to sell on its website; yet the previews for such items included small section of text available for free. The system was admonished by the president of the Authors Guild who stated, 'Authors, not Google, have the exclusive rights to...authorise such reproduction, distribution and display of their works.' But Google fought back, claiming their new project, 'directly benefits authors and publishers by increasing awareness and sales of the books.' A settlement had been agreed last year, with Google agreeing to pay $125 million, to create an independent 'Books Rights Registry' with a proportion of revenue going straight to the author; yet a revised settlement has now been called for, and the case should be resolved next year.

Lady Chatterly's L****?...

This day also boasts the conclusion of one of most infamous scandals in literature; an obscenity case over 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in 1960, ending in the acquittal of Penguin Books. Written by D.H. Lawrence, 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', was first published in Florence in 1928, amid huge controversy. Society's uproar was due to Lawrence's depiction of explicit sex scenes, love across class divisions and his use of previously banned language. Therefore, an edition of the novel was only published in England in 1932, yet it was one which was strongly censored. The legal case in 1960, prosecuted under the 1959 Obscenity Act, was the result of the first uncensored publication of the novel, whose modernity was still ahead of society, even thirty two years after its writing. The next edition of the novel, in 1961, therefore contains a dedication, to 'the twelve jurors, three women and nine men, who returned a verdict of "not guilty" and thus made D.H. Lawrence's last noovel available for the first time to the public in the United Kingdom.'