A censor has been given the task of reading a banned book seized this week, to see if it can be cleared for sale.

The title, Bloody Mama, was seized by government officials from a Wellington book store.

If it fails to pass the censor's approval it will be destroyed.

But, if Bloody Mama is approved for Kiwi readers then book shop owner Don Hollander will frame the contentious copy and hang it in his Newtown shop Book Haven.

Bloody Mama is based on a true story about Kate "Ma" Barker who encouraged her sons to become criminals in Oklahoma during the 1920s and 30s.

The book, which possibly suggests an incestuous relationship between Barker and her sons, was banned in 1971 by the now-defunct Indecent Publications Tribunal due to its "indecency".

It remained on the list of forbidden books for 40 years as no one applied for it to be reclassified.

An Internal Affairs Department official took the second-hand paperback from Mr Hollander on Wednesday after a tip off from a mystery informant.

The Office of Film and Literature Classification confirmed yesterday an application had been made for reclassification of Bloody Mama.

The book would be read by a censor and a decision was likely in two months, adviser Michelle Baker said.
Instead of cataloguing banned books in a forbidden library, the classification office destroys them.

Mr Hollander was horrified at the thought of any book being destroyed.

He received the book in February and was selling it for $8.50.

"It probably came in a box lot from an auction house or somebody just brought in a bagful of books."

He was unaware it was one of one of 1304 books banned in New Zealand and didn't realise he could be fined up to $200,000 or jailed for up to 10 years for peddling an outlawed novel.

"I'm not worried, because this is New Zealand, but there is still that concern. Let's hope not."

- The Dominion Post

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