Books Tell You Why, Inc.

A Fine first Printing of the First Edition.

The late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were a time of great change in England and America. As literacy rates increased and new forms of mass communication spread, people began to demand more and more books. In response, publishers began to remove offensive language and other objectionable content from books in order to make them more palatable to a wider audience. This process, known as “expurgation,” was first done in England by Dr. John Bowdler (1754-1825) and later exported to America. Dr. Bowdler’s Legacy is a history of expurgated books, from their inception in England to their popularity in America. It tells the story of how these books became a symbol of the changing attitudes towards sex, violence, and censorship in late eighteenth and nineteenth century England and America.; B&W Illustrations; 8vo; 323 pages.