Bowdler

Bowdler is an English surname. The name is most closely associated with Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), an English physician and philanthropist. In 1807 he published The Family Shakespeare, an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's plays intended for family reading. The work reworded or omitted material considered indecent, profane, or blasphemous, in an effort to remove content deemed unsuitable for children. The publication popularized the practice of censoring literary works to suit moral sensibilities and gave rise to the verb bowdlerize, meaning to remove or sanitize objectionable material from a text. The approach reflects early 19th-century attitudes toward morality and literature and has been the subject of ongoing debate regarding authorial intent, textual integrity, and the ethics of censorship. In later years, scholars and readers have often criticized bowdlerized editions for altering or erasing aspects of the original works, while others view such revisions as making classics accessible to broader audiences. The term bowdlerize remains in use primarily in discussions of editorial censorship, adaptation, and the boundaries of propriety in publishing.