Artistic merit is the artistic quality or value of any given work of art, music, film, literature, sculpture or painting.
The works of English playwright William Shakespeare are considered by many to be among the highest achievements in Western art.
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin obscēnus, obscaenus, "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymol
Cover of an undated American edition of Fanny Hill, c. 1910