Expurgating books
Letter to Daily Telegraph
published 25 February 2023
Anthony Stadlen
SIR – You report (23 February) that a spokesman for Puffin said it was “not unusual for publishers to review and update language”.
Sir Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books (1935) and Puffin Books (1940), was asked in the Chatterley trial (1960): “Why in fact did you take the view that you should not publish an expurgated edition?” He replied: “Because it is against our principle. We would not publish a book in an emasculated form. We would only publish it if we were doing what we stated we were doing, that is selling the book as written by the author.”
Anthony Stadlen
London N22
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