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#1
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Is book content being tampered with?
I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text
changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? |
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#2
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Is book content being tampered with?
seeker wrote:
I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? Please post examples. |
#3
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Is book content being tampered with?
"seeker" wrote in message ups.com... I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? That damned Bible. |
#4
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Is book content being tampered with?
On Aug 4, 2:30 pm, seeker wrote:
I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? Expect a visit from the Department of Homeland Content Control. GeekGirl back to lurking, thank you |
#5
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Is book content being tampered with?
I can think of two cases where a new printing was very slightly edited. One
was a children's book called _Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine_. The book was originally published in the early 1960s, and the plot reflected the technology of the time. A boy was using a "mainframe" computer to do his homework for him. This particular book was only one in a series of "Danny Dunn" books by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin (hope I got the names right) that were published throughout the 1960s. Subsequent reprintings of this book, at least, had at least one sentence rewritten that I can think of, and it didn't have anything to do with the computer itself. The main character, Danny, was defending his use of the computer to his teacher and mother and said that "we don't use quill pens to write with anymore, we use fountain pens. A computer is just another kind of tool." In a later edition of the book, "fountain pens" was changed to "ball-point pens." I think that was simply a matter of using a term the next generation of readers would be more familiar with. The book as a whole was written in such a way that upgrading the technology of the homework computer (making it smaller and therefore bringing it into today's world) would have destroyed the plot, so that was left alone. Some books simply belong to a certain time and place and don't transfer well. But it's still a good book. There's another example in another children's book called _Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective_ by Donald J. Sobol. This, too, is one of a series of books using the same characters. The boy's father is the town's chief of police, and he talks about a current case to his family over the dinner table. The chief describes a mysterious tramp who clubbed a man with a piece of pipe, robbed him, and then hopped a passing freight train. "He's probably in Georgia by now," said the chief. I first read this story in the late 1970s in a reading textbook when I was an elementary school student and I distinctly remember the phrase had been replaced with "He's probably in another state by now." When I later read the original Sobol book, reading the word "Georgia" surprised me. You almost never see a story's location specified by state, only by a ficticious town name in some vague region of the country. The author, Donald J. Sobol, actually lived in Florida (and still does, presumably) and said the name of the town was Idaville, without specifying the state; Sobol later wrote another mystery for children called _Secret Agents Four_ and distinctly set that story (with totally different characters) in Miami, Florida. First rule for a writer: "Write what you know." I think that later editions of the original _Encyclopedia Brown_ book were also changed to say "a different state" instead of "Georgia" so as to avoid a specific state of the Union. Matt J. McCullar Arlington, TX |
#6
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Is book content being tampered with?
On Aug 4, 11:30 am, seeker wrote:
I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? Your question is somewhat vague. Of course, many technical books have changes, usually from one edition to another, but no doubt that make smaller changes between printings, where we can assume that the publilsher is not ready with entire new edition, which adds to costs in such areas as cover design. As as printings, well, in the computer age, making "changes in printings" is not as a big a deal as it used to be. As far as changes from hardcover to paperback, the examples I have seen are not related to "censorship" but are obviously the result of wanting to make the paperback lighter or less expensive. I am referrring to non-fiction there. With fiction, most readers these days expect to get the same book in paperback as was issued in hardcover so a publisher who make any significant changes would risk the readers' ire. In the early days of small-sized paperbacks -- especially the perieod from after WW II to the early Fifties, many paperbacks were in fact abridged editions. You still find that with lengthy classics; I have noticed quite a few new, obviously-abridged editions of works such as"Count of Monte Cristo" and "Les Miserables" here and there. But when paperback customers are buying a new Evanovich, Grisham, Clancy, etc., of course they expect the same thing as was put out in the hardcover. [Memo from the upstairs office.] |
#7
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Is book content being tampered with?
seeker wrote:
I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? Yes, this happens. I have two copies of Delia Ephron's "How to Eat Like a Child: And Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-up". The hardcover (ISBN 0-670-38331-7) says: "What to do if the television breaks "Turn the chanel dial once around fast; turn the set off and on; pull the aerial north, south, east, and west; smash the top of the television with your hand; bang the screen, leaving a greasy handprint across it; say '****,' like your dad." The paperback (ISBN 0-451-82181-5) says "... say 'Crap,' like your dad." Andrew Jr. |
#8
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Is book content being tampered with?
On Aug 8, 10:34 pm, nobody wrote:
seeker wrote: I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? Yes, this happens. I have two copies of Delia Ephron's "How to Eat Like a Child: And Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-up". The hardcover (ISBN 0-670-38331-7) says: "What to do if the television breaks "Turn the chanel dial once around fast; turn the set off and on; pull the aerial north, south, east, and west; smash the top of the television with your hand; bang the screen, leaving a greasy handprint across it; say '****,' like your dad." The paperback (ISBN 0-451-82181-5) says "... say 'Crap,' like your dad." What the heck is wrong with time-honored terms like "bowdlerized"? Too many syllables for some of our readers? You are talking about a bowdlerized edition, that's all. No, the publisher is not going to be frank enough to call it that. After all, the word has a negative connotation. If the publishers were honest they would write, "Bowdlerized Edition." That is exactly what it is, so why shilly-shally?. If people prefer to pay for a bowdlerized version, wonderful. But readers should be able to make an informed choice. [Memo from the upstairs office] Andrew Jr. |
#9
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Is book content being tampered with?
On Aug 9, 1:07 am, Tuxedo wrote:
On Aug 8, 10:34 pm, nobody wrote: seeker wrote: I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? Yes, this happens. I have two copies of Delia Ephron's "How to Eat Like a Child: And Other Lessons in Not Being a Grown-up". The hardcover (ISBN 0-670-38331-7) says: "What to do if the television breaks "Turn the chanel dial once around fast; turn the set off and on; pull the aerial north, south, east, and west; smash the top of the television with your hand; bang the screen, leaving a greasy handprint across it; say '****,' like your dad." The paperback (ISBN 0-451-82181-5) says "... say 'Crap,' like your dad." What the heck is wrong with time-honored terms like "bowdlerized"? Too many syllables for some of our readers? You are talking about a bowdlerized edition, that's all. No, the publisher is not going to be frank enough to call it that. After all, the word has a negative connotation. If the publishers were honest they would write, "Bowdlerized Edition." That is exactly what it is, so why shilly-shally?. If people prefer to pay for a bowdlerized version, wonderful. But readers should be able to make an informed choice. [Memo from the upstairs office] Andrew Jr. Different content? This looks like the right forum to tackle my needs. Two books--and I confess that I'm not talking about collecting rare books, but just trying to track down books I'd enjoy seeing again. I have seen Stewart Edward White's _Andy Burnett_ tale in two versions with a major difference. One includes a "pre-tale," so to speak, about Daniel Boone and his rifle. I've read that edition, once, but I've never been able to find it again or identify a copy for sale. How might I identify an edition containing the missing chapter? Second, I swear up and down that at least one edition of Kipling's _Stalky and Company_ similarly contained a chapter, set very early in the tale of the protagonists, that I have not seen since. I'm much vaguer on the details of this than on the SEWhite book. Any suggestions? Doug |
#10
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Is book content being tampered with?
On Aug 4, 1:30 pm, seeker wrote:
I have wondered if anyone has noticed if they have observed text changes between successive printings of the same book? It seems i have encountered some books that had different content when going from hardcover to paperback ,as if the original piece is being edited or censored in subsequent editions. Has anyone noticed this? In otherwords, is the text content of books changed from one printing to the next sometimes for political reasons or to conceal information damaging to the author or a person(s) influencing the author. |
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