zlacker

Yes, but the new copyright only applies to the creative aspects of the changes. And that's an extremely thin copyright. So once the originals enter the public domain, the only thing they would be able to sue over is "you bowdlerized the book in exactly the same way I did".

>>kmeist+(OP)
I suspect that, upon the expiration of the original copyright, there will be new bowdlerized versions made, but that those will bear little resemblance to the versions now being released, except that some of the same things will have been changed, though not changed in the same way.