Bowdler, H. M. (Henrietta Maria), Mrs., 1754-1830

Henrietta Maria [Harriet] Bowdler, English writer and literary editor. She is best known for her Family Shakespeare, a collection of Shakespeare's plays with scenes and references cut out that she found morally offensive. Her brother Thomas was credited with The Family Shakespeare for many years, and it was their surname that inspired the coinage of the verb "bowdlerize.".

From the guide to the H. M. Bowdler manuscript material : 1 item, 1815, (The New York Public Library. Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle.)

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