How one small bookshop in Bloomsbury took on the establishment.
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Seized Books! An online exhibition
LGBTQ+ books and censorship in 1980s Britain.
On 10 April 1984, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise raided Gay’s the Word bookshop in London’s Bloomsbury.
'Operation Tiger' saw officers seize over 140 titles, worth thousands of pounds.
Bookshop staff and directors were charged with conspiracy to import so-called ‘indecent or obscene’ material.
But Gay’s the Word and their supporters fought back...
‘Operation Tiger’ and the books that Customs tried to censor
Find out more about the books seized in the ‘Operation Tiger’ raids -- from gay erotic fiction to lesbian history, politics to poetry, medical literature on the emerging AIDS crisis to young adult novels.
List of books
A selection of the seized books
R.R. Knudson, 'You Are the Rain' (New York: Dell, 1974)
Gordon Merrick, 'The Quirk' (New York: Avon Books, 1978)
N.A. Diaman, 'Ed Dean is Queer' (San Francisco: Persona Press, 1978)
Sandra Scoppettone, 'Happy Endings are All Alike' (New York: Dell, 1980)
Luis Zapata, 'Adonis García: A Picaresque Novel, translated by E.A. Lacey' (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1981)
Larry Mitchell, 'The Terminal Bar: A Novel' (New York: Calamus Books, 1982)
Michael J. Smith (editor), 'Black Men/White Men: A Gay Anthology' (San Francisco: Gay Sunshine Press, 1983)
'Common Lives/Lesbian Lives: A Lesbian Quarterly, No. 8, Summer 1983' (Iowa City, 1983)
Alan Bowne, 'Forty-deuce: A Play' (New York: Sea Horse Press, 1983)
B.A. Ecker, 'Independence Day' (New York: Avon Books, 1983)
Phil Andros, 'Roman Conquests' (San Francisco: Perineum Press, 1983)
Barbara Macdonald and Cynthia Rich, 'Look Me in the Eye: Old Women, Aging, and Ageism' (London: Women’s Press, 1985)
Exhibition acknowledgements
Curators: Sarah Pyke and Leila Kassir
Web and gallery design: Chris Baker, James Moore, Ollie Nelmes, Chantell Russell
Seized Books! Project Team: Kaspar Beelen, Gabby Bodard, Michael Donnay, Katrina Heiser, Mark Johnson, Leila Kassir, Sarah Pyke, Hester Swift
Our thanks to Jim MacSweeney and Graham McKerrow for their invaluable support
Our grateful acknowledgements to the many people who have been involved in the preparation, planning, and creation of this exhibition site: Salvador Alcántara Peláez, Alea Baker, Steve Baker, Michael Bronski, Suzanne Canally, Stefan Dickers, Sandy Dutczak, Richard Espley, Lucy Evans, Christos Fotelis, Natalie Freilich, Jane Hagan, Charles Harrowell, Chiara Hopkins, Dave Jackson, Prem Siri Kaur, Robert Kelly, Uli Lennart, Tom Miles, Lisa Miller, Lucy Rumble, Ceri Thompson, Richard Warren, Pete Williams
We are indebted to the nine Gay’s the Word staff members and directors who tirelessly and bravely defended their rights: Charles Brown, Jonathan Cutbill, Peter Dorey, John Duncan, Paud Hegarty, Lesley Jones, Glenn McKee, Amanda Russell, Gerard Walsh.
Black and white photographs of Gay's the Word bookshop and defendants by Robert Workman. Robert Workman Archive, Bishopsgate Institute. Black and white photographs of Jonathan Cutbill by Steve Keay. Other photographs as individually credited.