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?

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.

"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.

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

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

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.]

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.

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.

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

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.