Boingboing points to an interesting series of scans posted by kokogiak, comparing the 1963 and 1991 edition of Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever. The 1991 edition was PC-ized by eliminating dated references to Native Americans, neutralizing gender roles, and replacing out-of-date professions with more culturally relevant ones.

These may be worthy goals, but the execution sometimes leaves something to be desired. Many of Scarry’s animals were fairly gender-neutral to start with, and making a bear construction worker more obviously female by putting a ribbon on its head seems even more sexist than the original picture. Why a judge is any more relevant than a soldier is unclear. And some of the edits, like this dentist’s species change, are just bizarre. (Not to mention badly done: By the 1980s Scarry’s eyesight was deteriorating, and there’s a noticeable difference in detail between his 60s and 80s artwork.)

This brings to mind when I was flipping through a copy of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in a bookstore, and I noticed that some of the illustrations were slightly different than the book I had as a kid (and still have on my bookshelf). Looking closer, I realized that the text and pictures describing the Oompa-Loompas were changed from them having black skin and being from Africa to them having rosy-white skin and being from “Loompaland”. I have mixed feelings about this: I can see why the book was changed, since British books of the time could be quite casually racist; on the other hand, I’m glad I have the book with the original text and illustrations in it.

As for Richard Scarry himself, here is an entertaining profile of his life. (warning—some coarse language!)