New editions of Ian Fleming’s classic James Bond series will be released with racial words removed and other “very small” changes to mark the 70th anniversary of Casino Royale.
Key points:
- The new editions will include changes made in the US version of Live and Let Die in 1955
- Ian Fleming’s family says racial words likely to cause offence have been removed
- It is the first time the books will be published under Ian Fleming Publications Ltd
It is the first time the books will be published under Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, which is the family company that owns the literacy copyright to the British author’s books.
Mr Fleming’s family said in a statement the decision to release new editions raised questions around what responsibility they had to review the text and how any changes should be decided.
When Live and Let Die was first released in the United States in 1955, Mr Fleming’s family said, the publisher “deleted or changed passages or words” they felt were “racially troubling” and would be considered “deeply offensive” today.
This made the book different to the original edition released in Britain.
The family said they had used this approach as a starting point for the new editions as they said “it seems Fleming preferred the amended US version”.
The family said it made the decision to apply the “sensibilities” in the US version of Live and Let Die consistently across all books.
“Some racial words likely to cause great offence now, and detract from a reader’s enjoyment, have been altered, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period,” the family said in a statement.
“The changes are very small in number. Indeed some books, including Casino Royale, remain completely unaltered.
“His books deserve to be enjoyed as much now as when they were written. We believe the new Bond editions will extend their pleasure to new audiences. We are certain that is something Ian Fleming would have wanted.”
Released in 1953, Casino Royale was the first of 12 books in Mr Fleming’s Bond series, which become international best-sellers and were made into movies.
The English writer died in 1964 aged 56.
The Telegraph reports the changes include Bond’s assessment that would-be African criminals in the gold and diamond trades were “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought, except when they’ve drunk too much” becomes – “pretty law-abiding chaps I should have thought”.
This move follows changes made to Roald Dahl’s books, including changing the reference to Augustus Gloop from “enormously fat” to “enormous”.
Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie said it was “absurd censorship” while others saw the changes as preserving the viability of Dahl’s books going forward.
The new paperbacks of Fleming’s books will be published in April.