On the dangers of censorship

Yesterday esmerelda_t took some time out from sorting out Glasgow's zombie problem so we could go for a mooch around the second hand bookshops in the West End. I was very restrained and didn't buy any more naval history tomes but I couldn't resist this odd little book published in 1929 in New York which warns of the dangers of censorship. Allow me to present: Mother Goose Rhymes Censored. The book begins with the following dedication:

To THE CENSORS
who have taught us how
to read naughty meanings
into harmless words

Heaven forbid that anyone around here would read naughty meanings into harmless words!

There is also a lovely little rhyme on the back cover which reads:

Now if you would a censor be,
Strike out the word - leave fancy free.

And the book also provides the useful instruction "in reading aloud it is most convenient to pronounce the blanked our words u-m-m-m-h."

( Here's a couple of my favourites. See you don't read any naughty meanings into them now! )

Dr Faustus

One last little gem from Mother Goose Rhymes Censored....



Which of course put me in mind of .....( Mephistopheles himself )