Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Abe
This is expurgation by any other name, and what rights does a publisher have to edit the works of an author, now deceased?
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In the case of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, they can do so because these were "house works", written pseudonymously for the publisher as works for hire (there was never any such person as "Franklin W. Dixon" or "Carolyn Keene"). The copyright is owned by the publisher and they can change the books as the years go by to maintain their marketability. In the case of Enid Blyton, the books are edited with the permission of her literary estate, because they'd be pretty much unsellable as children's books today in their original form.
These are commercial products.