IAN Fleming’s James Bond novels have been reworded to remove racial references.
Each 007 book will be reissued this spring to mark the 70th anniversary of the spy’s appearance.
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But an awakened disclaimer will read, “This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes that might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace.
“A number of updates have been made in this edition, keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set.”
The changes will result in some images of black people being reworked or removed.
But dated references to other ethnicities, including Bond’s racial terms for Asian people stay.
His comments about “blistering women” and homosexuality being of a “persistent disability” are also retained.
Ian Fleming Publications, the company that owns the literary rights to the author’s work, commissioned a review by sensitive readers of the classic texts under his control.
The N-word, which Fleming used to refer to black people in the 1950s and 1960s, has been almost completely dropped, the Telegraph reports.
Ian Fleming Publications said: “We encourage people to read the books for themselves when the new paperbacks are published.”
It comes out after passages Roald Dahl’s books have been cleaned up by children’s publisher Puffin.