The Family Shakespeare
19th-century expurgated edition of the plays of William Shakespeare / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Family Shakespeare (at times titled The Family Shakspeare) is a collection of expurgated Shakespeare plays, edited by Thomas Bowdler and his sister Henrietta ("Harriet"), intended to remove any material deemed too racy, blasphemous, or otherwise sensitive for young or female audiences, with the ultimate goal of creating a family-friendly rendition of Shakespeare's plays.[1] The Family Shakespeare is one of the most often cited examples of literary censorship, despite (or perhaps because of) its original family-friendly intentions.[2] The Bowdler name is also the origin of the term "bowdlerise",[1] meaning to omit parts of a work on moral grounds.[2]
The first edition of The Family Shakespeare was published in 1807 in four duodecimo volumes, covering 20 plays.[3] In 1818 a second edition was published, containing all 36 available plays in 10 volumes.[4]