The British government has used its powers to preserve the nation's cultural treasures to halt the export of a tattered paperback copy of "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

The copy of the once-scandalous book was used by the judge in the U.K. obscenity trial of Penguin Books, prosecuted in 1960 for publishing D.H. Lawrence's novel about an affair between a wealthy woman and her husband's gamekeeper.

A prosecution lawyer infamously asked in court whether it was "a book that you would ... wish your wife or your servants to read?"

The book was sold to an anonymous overseas bidder at a Sotheby's auction in October for 56,250 pounds ($73,000).

The government's decision Monday halts the export for several months to see whether a buyer can be found to keep it in Britain.