The Bowdler Shakespeare: In Six Volumes; In which Nothing Is Added to the Original Text; but those Words and Expressions Are Omitted which Cannot with Propriety Be Read Aloud in a Family

William Shakespeare

The Bowdler Shakespeare: In Six Volumes; In which Nothing Is Added to the Original Text; but those Words and Expressions Are Omitted which Cannot with Propriety Be Read Aloud in a Family
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Country
United Kingdom
Published
20 July 2009
Pages
556
ISBN
9781108001090

The Bowdler Shakespeare: In Six Volumes; In which Nothing Is Added to the Original Text; but those Words and Expressions Are Omitted which Cannot with Propriety Be Read Aloud in a Family

William Shakespeare

‘The Family Shakspeare: in which nothing is added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read in a family.’ These words on the title pages of this edition gave rise to the verb ‘to bowdlerise’ - to remove or modify text considered vulgar or objectionable. Although the first edition was in fact created by Henrietta Maria Bowdler (1750-1830) and published in 1807, the many subsequent editions were published under the name of her brother Thomas (1754-1825), whose other enthusiasms were prison reform and chess. The Bowdlers’ work became enormously popular as the scandal-ridden Regency gave way to Victorian respectability. This volume, from the 1853 edition, contains Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, All’s Well that Ends Well, The Taming of the Shrew, The Winter’s Tale and The Comedy of Errors.

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