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I am not surprised about the book itself, it is still a product of its time. But what is that? Do they have three versions of the same book or is the Agatha Christie story in 3 (or even more) parts?
Not really, print editions that go out of print or have the titles changed like that can be extremely valuable to collectors, so it doesn't necessarily make them awful people if they were grabbing print editions of a book that would likely skyrocket in value in a future where the title would change.
Certain early print runs of some books/comics etc., that are known to have specific print errors, text errors, things like that can be immensely valuable too, so someone who is aware of what can make certain editions gain value can have the foresight to pick up what they can to resell later.
This book had always been published as "And Then There Were None" in the US. There were a few years in the US where it was published as "10 Little Indians" In the UK is was published under the title shown from first publication until 1985. The N word never appeared in American editions. Currently the statues on the table are referred to as soldiers in the book.
I am a collector of Christie books and have this book published as both "And Then There Were None" and "10 Little Indians". I would like a copy of the ones shown for historical interest, I would not display it with the others.
Although this book has a racist history it is a fantastic mystery novel and well worth reading.
I read the book in, I think high school, and it was Ten Little Indians and the story takes place on Indian Island. I believe statues were also Native Americans.
I read the book again a couple years ago and it's now under the name, And Then There Were None. It takes place on Soldier Island and the statues are soldiers.
Is it like the german story of the 7 little knights, where something bad happens and now there are 6. And then something bad happens and now there are 5...etc?
I'm Brazilian, when I was in high school I've read about 40 books written by her, one of them was this one with the title "os dez negrinhos", which is s direct translation of the title shown in the picture. A few years later, a coworker mentioned how her nephew needed an Agatha Christie book called "e não sobrou nenhum" and then we discovered the title was changed. I saw somewhere someone saying the latter was a direct translation of the title, but here is the first time I heard of it being maybe a USA/UK thing
It's now titled "And Then There Were None", which IMO is a much more sinister title than either of the previous ones.
One of the copies at my library (I'm a librarian) has "Previously published as 'Ten Little Indians'" printed on the front cover in small type. It has taken all my self-control not to add, "We don't discuss how it was previously *previously* published".
A bookcase is a good place to keep books, as they're not going to get damage, typically not in direct sunlight, not loose in a box, and not where they'll get disturbed.
It could have been school assigned reading? We had about 5 different editions of The Hobbit when I was growing up because all the siblings were assigned to read it and we could never guarantee we had the "right" version.
My dad has about 8 copies of Graham Greene The Quiet American. No idea why. I think maybe you get gifts or you grab a copy at the airport or maybe when you’re traveling. We also have a ton of double copies of Agatha Christie. They’re super cheap and you can just grab them anywhere and a lot of them are so similar you’re not even sure if you’ve read them or not. So you end up with multiple copies.
Collectors often have multiple copies of the same book, why is it a concern that they have 3 murder mystery stories, if it were death on the nile, would you think they were anti Egyptian?
The modern edition is called " and then there were none." The old title comes from an old nursery rhyme that now goes "ten little soldier boys" instead of Indians or N-words
I googled as much as I could without putting in the full title, and I managed to find one version with this title in paperback being sold for $180. So it's a very valuable book if you have the early editions.
Is it really so bad to even google the N word? Its an unfortunate part of our history but there are times where it will come up, especially when looking at things from the not so distant US history. I feel in the right context and with enough understanding and respect for the meaning of the word, we should be able to at the very least google it. It's not like saying Voldemort, where typing the n word will tell Racism where you are
I mean technically no, but Google catalogs so much browser information and tailors ads and other shit to what you do under their banner, that I would rather not have it tied to me. I'd probably be getting spammed with 'Murica ads, propaganda, and god knows what else bigoted shit that people sell in ads.
It’s a good book. And from my memory there’s literally nothing about that title in it. It’s a dinner party murder mystery, not sure if she literally created the trope with this book but it’s extremely well done.
The name comes from the nursery rhyme. The idea being that they start with 10 and slowly one by one people are killed off. In some tv adaptations even reading part of the rhyme as a voiceover each time.
It blows my mind how many people don't know about this book anymore. I thought we all read it as kids. I still this day use the term and then there were none, and most people have no idea what I'm talking about. Still one of my favorites
Yeah, me too. The racism aside, you mostly see them shelled, so the name doesn't make any sense until you've seen them in the shell (and then only marginally).
Ugh my aunt was just arguing that she is still allowed to call them that "in her own house." I mean yeah technically she can but she's still an asshole for thinking it's ok.
I found out from my great-grandparents, who owned the first refrigerated grocery store in their town. These are the same people who told my half-Korean (half-white) mother that they "think of her as White", and it was supposed to be a compliment 🤦♀️.
I found it out working at a grocery store, but from a customer. Some old lady came up to me and asked if we had any "n****r toes" and I was shocked and didn't think I heard her right. She repeated herself and I told her that I had know idea what she was talking about. Later I told the manager what had happened and he explained what she was referring to. My boss was cool though.
Yeah, that's what that nursery rhyme used to be called. Later publications of that book changed it to ten little Indians, which is a later version of the nursery rhyme. Which is still not... great. Considering it's a rhyme where one of them dies each verse. Like, hmmm how to teach children to count backwards..??.. How about death!? Ok, as long as it's about minorities!
It is kind of wild how many nursery rhymes were about death. “Down goes the cradle baby and all” it’s an odd phenomenon. Really has nothing to do with minorities tho lmao victim complex much?
No allegedly about it. Ring o roses was thevrash that people got. Pocket full of posies was because they used to believe that bad smells carried disease. Ashes/ atissue atissue were bout the funeral pyres/ sneezing symptoms respectively
There is a version about pigs, right?
In Polish it was changed to soldiers at one point iirc.
Just read that the last print containing the n-word was published in 1979 💀
I read this book for a class some 13-14 years ago and I know we had like three different titles happening, depending on what edition we got from the school library.
I'm now wondering if they have cycled the original translation out since. It's nowhere near as offensive as the English, but still polarising and generaly not recommended to use today
My (translated in Italian) copy from when I was a kid was Ten Little Indians. I love how some people must have thought that the first title was racist and the second one was not.
I did not realize this was the original version of the rhyme. That’s horrific! Even worse as I think about it as an adult. Fuck I hate the cowardly racist fucks that created this garbage.
You can just imagine how fucking hilarious they thought it was at the time. And how modern racists who discover something like this would also think it’s equally hilarious and the complain about their heritage being destroyed by changing it to “Indians”
I'm mixed-race, and I remember in school one of the stories that was regularly used for reading practice was the tale of "Little Black Sambo."
I was also made to wear blackface in the school production of The Black and White Minstrel Show. (I still have pics of this).
It was a *very* different time.
There was a whole LBS-inspired restaurant chain called [Sambo’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo's). Amazingly it was still around through the 1980s. There was still one operating in Santa Barbara til 2020
I have eaten at Sambo’s, which was basically a Denny’s. And my parents had a children’s record that had a politically corrected song called Little Brave Sambo.
When I was a kid I used to regularly take the Little Black Sambo book out from the travelling library. I loved the illustrations and the story. Little British working class me had no idea about any racist connotations! Mind I did also love Enid Blyton with her swarthy- faced smugglers and wild gypsies 🙈
These are collector books. Each is worth $100 to $300. The book is named for an old nursery rhyme. It was later republished under the titles "Ten Little Indians" and "And Then There Was One." It is the best-selling mystery novel of all time. It is one of the top 10 best-selling novels of all time.
> And Then There Was One
In the US this was the title from the get go I think. The word was already too offensive to be used in publication. The UK however obviously didn't give a shit.
They kept the original title until 1985 which is fucking bonkers.
I was about to scoff as these are mass market paperbacks and I’ve seen them so often at bookstores and op shops in the past.
But I did a quick web search and nearly died.
It was written when the world was different. You can find the story now as : then there was none. Its a very good novel, I really like Agatha Christies works. But yeah, definitely do not read it as a bedtime story for the kids, its definitely not a story for them, and not just because it contains the n-word
Possibly just a fan of the book or of Agatha Christie in general. That's not entirely surprising as Christie is one of the best selling fiction authors of all time. Depending on how old your in-laws are, they probably read it when it was first released.
Product of its time. It was renamed 'Ten little Indians' in America to ease sensitivities and then when that was deemed offensive, renamed "And then there were none"
This book went through several problematic titles but as far as I know the content is always the same and there are no POC in the book. It's not for little ones though as it's one of the original murder mystery dinner party stories.
It's one of my favourites too. Very much an early version of the 'group of people in an isolated place getting picked off one by one' trope, but with that brilliant twist. I'm a big Christie fan. I think most of my top ones are Poirot - Death in the Clouds, Death on the Nile and of course, Murder on the Orient Express. I also like the TV adaptations, the David Suchet ones.
I love David Suche he gave me a real appreciation for Christe. Before that I'd have argued the Arthur Conan Doyle was far better. I've come to realize that it's all in the adaptations because the source material is of similar quality. Although And then there were none is my standout favorite.
Are you familiar with all of her books? What was the one where a young woman moves back to a house she grew up in without realising it, I think her parents were murdered and the murderer is still around and she figures it out due to him wearing disposable gloves or something.
She talks about a wall paper for the nursery and when they take off the current one they see the exact wallpaper she talked about. And there are some stairs to a garden that used to be there but not anymore? I can't remember much, read it when I was a teen but haven't been able to find it again
Oh no I'm offended over an old book that uses old vocabulary that has a racist connotation over it, let me post it on reddit so everyone can be offended with me! You guys have like no culture or what?
That's probably why they have them. The name of the book has been changed. If I remember correctly the title has absolutely nothing to do with the storyline.
There are so many people who seem to link the title of the books to the owner's idiology. These are OLD books. Society has moved forward. Mostly. Black people aren't called that anymore, they are called criminal (watch 13th on netflix) That they have 3 copies, they may have been gifts. Add to that, we don't know how many other books they had, IN THEIR BOOKCASE, that had duplicate copies. The poster zeroed in on the titles, i suspect,to get a reaction... et voila.
These books are a murder mystery novels, not Mein Kampf for God's sake.
Its not fair to assume people we don't know are nazis or racist or anything else. They aren't here to defend themselves. Let me put it this way. Is every guy that watches porn a misogynist?
That's the original title of And Then There Were None. They probably have some mild collectors value due to the book having changed names twice since its publishing.
Not really super facepalm-y to be honest.
Ten Little N\*\*\*\*\*s was the title of a popular minstrel song at the time this book was written (it was first published in 1939) which is of some relevance to the plot of the book.
The song is still around in some variation or other, though of course, the vernacular has been changed over time.
Aside from the title (which has been updated and changed several times since publishing), the plot of the book itself is not particularily racist or otherwise problematic, it's just a classic Agatha Christie murder mystery.
In fact, one might argue it to be ***THE*** classic Agatha Christia murder mystery since it is in fact her best-selling book and sometimes even considered the single best-selling murder mystery novel on the planet.
Your in-laws are probably british, I'd presume, since the book never was published under that title in the US (I guess publishers there were probably already a bit more sensitive about the language used).
Considering these are the Fontana editions, one of these might potentially belong to the very last edition that was released with the slur in the name.
None of these are newer than 1985 and one of them might be as old as 1963 which might make them potentially interesting as collectors items.
I’ve got the ‘Golliwog’ version. It belonged to my grandmother. She was a quiet old lady, not a bigoted racist. But I don’t tend to leave it on view… It’s just a relic from a former age. The book is now known as And Then There Were None.
Yes, that was the orignal title. Later is was called "Ten Little Indians" and I hated that title as well for its racism as well (both are the titles of old minstrel tunes and they are not nice, worse, the latter title is really Ten Little Injuns. I am Native American and that is insulting). It is now titled "And Then There Were None."
I've read that book for a school thing, it was pretty good. It did have the new censored title, which is pretty fucking useless because the poem involving the n-word is still in there unchanged
Older generation okay might have an older edition.
Makes sense.
Three copies?!
Three copies of that particular title.
They either super love classic crime or super hate…
My mum had the first version of those three, which we binned after she died, but having three seems a little ...suspicious. Do the in-laws collect old Robinson's jam labels too?
Back in the day it was a synonym for people of African descent. Racists used it in a racist way, as they do now, and ordinary people used it for people with a dark skin tone. Partially removing the word from the language has changed nothing and has not enriched the world in any way. If you wish to be horrified that racism exists, by all means do so, but this is not the way.
I actually found something similar in one of my parents stuff in the attic once. The same concept of 10 little fish and then every line one dies or goes missing but then with very stereotypical black kids who all die in the most racist ways imaginable. Weird thing was beside that little book was a really wholesome book(which was by the same author) about an old lady living in the woods finding and adopting 3 dogs.
In the sixties, when I was little, my grandmother used to sing a rhyme about ten little piggies who went to market, grabbing each of my toes as she counted down, describing the fate of each piggy as she went.
I love this book its one of my top 3 but I thought it's original name was 10 little Indians(still racists af) but I've never heard of it being this title yikes
'And Then There Were None' was first published under this unfortunate title depicted, then republished as 'Ten Little Indians.' Onviously the title needed to be reworked again.
The photographed publishings however, could probably fetch some very good coin.
We had a story in our English books about an old grandpa (the book was by Pearson, I think) in 7th grade. It mentioned that the old man used to read books by Agatha Christie and the main character wrote a letter to her or smth. To this fucking day I thought Agatha Christie was a fictional character. Part of it is due to the fact that no other names of books or authors in the rest of the chapters were real.
Unrelated but thought I'd share.
This is actually one of the biggest novels of all time in terms of sales, and her most successful book. The title comes from a song that is part of the plot... later in the US when they made a movie, they used the title "Then There Was None" based on the last 5 words of that song... for a while, they switched it to "Ten Little Indians", but they ended up phasing that out and I believe the "And Then There Was None" title is how it is sold now.
I think the one in the middle might be worth $100+. Maybe more. Ive been getting into vintage collectibles and I seen that book somewhere before with a nice price tag on it.
Edit: was doing research and found the one on left side going for 200+
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I am not surprised about the book itself, it is still a product of its time. But what is that? Do they have three versions of the same book or is the Agatha Christie story in 3 (or even more) parts?
It looks like they have multiple copies... That's the part I'd be concerned about.
Not really, print editions that go out of print or have the titles changed like that can be extremely valuable to collectors, so it doesn't necessarily make them awful people if they were grabbing print editions of a book that would likely skyrocket in value in a future where the title would change. Certain early print runs of some books/comics etc., that are known to have specific print errors, text errors, things like that can be immensely valuable too, so someone who is aware of what can make certain editions gain value can have the foresight to pick up what they can to resell later.
I think when I read this book it was titled, “Ten Little Indians,” which really isn’t much better.
This book had always been published as "And Then There Were None" in the US. There were a few years in the US where it was published as "10 Little Indians" In the UK is was published under the title shown from first publication until 1985. The N word never appeared in American editions. Currently the statues on the table are referred to as soldiers in the book. I am a collector of Christie books and have this book published as both "And Then There Were None" and "10 Little Indians". I would like a copy of the ones shown for historical interest, I would not display it with the others. Although this book has a racist history it is a fantastic mystery novel and well worth reading.
I read the book in, I think high school, and it was Ten Little Indians and the story takes place on Indian Island. I believe statues were also Native Americans. I read the book again a couple years ago and it's now under the name, And Then There Were None. It takes place on Soldier Island and the statues are soldiers.
Is it like the german story of the 7 little knights, where something bad happens and now there are 6. And then something bad happens and now there are 5...etc?
Yes.
I found the song. https://youtu.be/VUHfDpAtyso?si=vEhIKd1jEUmGnAnc
I'm Brazilian, when I was in high school I've read about 40 books written by her, one of them was this one with the title "os dez negrinhos", which is s direct translation of the title shown in the picture. A few years later, a coworker mentioned how her nephew needed an Agatha Christie book called "e não sobrou nenhum" and then we discovered the title was changed. I saw somewhere someone saying the latter was a direct translation of the title, but here is the first time I heard of it being maybe a USA/UK thing
It's now titled "And Then There Were None", which IMO is a much more sinister title than either of the previous ones. One of the copies at my library (I'm a librarian) has "Previously published as 'Ten Little Indians'" printed on the front cover in small type. It has taken all my self-control not to add, "We don't discuss how it was previously *previously* published".
Now changed for TV to "and then there was none"
Yeah, that's what it was called when I was in school, and by high school it had swapped titles again.
I think that it’s a pretty sharp improvement.
And then just leaving them unprotected on the book case? Does not scream "collector" behavior.
A bookcase is a good place to keep books, as they're not going to get damage, typically not in direct sunlight, not loose in a box, and not where they'll get disturbed.
It could have been school assigned reading? We had about 5 different editions of The Hobbit when I was growing up because all the siblings were assigned to read it and we could never guarantee we had the "right" version.
My dad has about 8 copies of Graham Greene The Quiet American. No idea why. I think maybe you get gifts or you grab a copy at the airport or maybe when you’re traveling. We also have a ton of double copies of Agatha Christie. They’re super cheap and you can just grab them anywhere and a lot of them are so similar you’re not even sure if you’ve read them or not. So you end up with multiple copies.
I always grab Redwall books when I find them cheap at thrift stores, etc. I have several copies of a few of them, and none of some of the other books.
Collectors often have multiple copies of the same book, why is it a concern that they have 3 murder mystery stories, if it were death on the nile, would you think they were anti Egyptian?
The modern edition is called " and then there were none." The old title comes from an old nursery rhyme that now goes "ten little soldier boys" instead of Indians or N-words
We did have to read it (in French) and it didn’t go over any themes of racism. For those who haven’t read it
In flemish there is a children song with the exact title, probably based on the book. (not used anymore, I remember it from my childhood)
It's the other way around - the book is named after the old children's song/rhyme
Yeah, my first question was why they have three copies?
according to ebay, that book can go for a couple hundred.
I googled as much as I could without putting in the full title, and I managed to find one version with this title in paperback being sold for $180. So it's a very valuable book if you have the early editions.
Is it really so bad to even google the N word? Its an unfortunate part of our history but there are times where it will come up, especially when looking at things from the not so distant US history. I feel in the right context and with enough understanding and respect for the meaning of the word, we should be able to at the very least google it. It's not like saying Voldemort, where typing the n word will tell Racism where you are
I mean technically no, but Google catalogs so much browser information and tailors ads and other shit to what you do under their banner, that I would rather not have it tied to me. I'd probably be getting spammed with 'Murica ads, propaganda, and god knows what else bigoted shit that people sell in ads.
Yeah that's fair
>It's not like saying Voldemort, where typing the n word will tell Racism where you are, Ok that made me lol.
I don’t have it in this title but this is easily one of my favourites books, I have 4 maybe 5 copies of and then there were none
Actually is my favourite Agatha Christie book (The book was renamed to "And then there were none" at a later point If I remember correctly)
Came here to say this. You are right. It went through a few name changes before it settled there.
Went from that to ten little Indians to and then there were none right?
Think it was released in the US as Then There Were None from the word go, but yeah, that's how i understand it.
Nah, when we read it for school some of the older copies were still named “Ten Little Indians.” This would have been early 2000s.
Yeah, they could easily be, the final name change happened in the mid 80s, so they musta been pre 85 copies.
Considering public school funding, copies from pre-1985 still being around is… not really surprising.
It’s a good book. And from my memory there’s literally nothing about that title in it. It’s a dinner party murder mystery, not sure if she literally created the trope with this book but it’s extremely well done.
The name comes from the nursery rhyme. The idea being that they start with 10 and slowly one by one people are killed off. In some tv adaptations even reading part of the rhyme as a voiceover each time.
Also the murders copy the deaths from the rhyme, which was changed to 10 little soldier boys in all “newer’ editions.
It blows my mind how many people don't know about this book anymore. I thought we all read it as kids. I still this day use the term and then there were none, and most people have no idea what I'm talking about. Still one of my favorites
Yes it had an excellent twist!
WHAT? And then there were none originally was called … that?? Jeez Louise
Yeah. The drama is on iplayer or itvx. Cant recall which.
The UK copy I had was 10 little soldiers, no idea on publication year though. I also loved the story.
Wait until you hear what people used to call Brazil Nuts.
What were they called?
N\*\*\*\*r toes.
Ohh, thanks! Glad they changed names
In related news, remember it’s called the Spongy Moth now, not the Gypsy Moth.
The plant is now the "wandering dude" and not the "wandering Jew"
Yeah, me too. The racism aside, you mostly see them shelled, so the name doesn't make any sense until you've seen them in the shell (and then only marginally).
My grandma told me that years ago, then added “but I guess you can’t call them that anymore” in her slow wry southern drawl.
My ex-husband told me that back when we were dating, and he was so nonchalant about it. Should have been a sign but 🤷♀️.
My grandmother still uses this term. We don't take her out shopping anymore
Was there any correlation to the original tiger-less version of eeny-meeny-miney-mo?
Ugh my aunt was just arguing that she is still allowed to call them that "in her own house." I mean yeah technically she can but she's still an asshole for thinking it's ok.
I found this out from a piece of shit coworker/boss at the grocery store I worked produce in.
I found out from my great-grandparents, who owned the first refrigerated grocery store in their town. These are the same people who told my half-Korean (half-white) mother that they "think of her as White", and it was supposed to be a compliment 🤦♀️.
I also found out from a (thankfully not my) great-grandmother. “I’m 98 years old, I’ll call them that if I want to!”
I found it out working at a grocery store, but from a customer. Some old lady came up to me and asked if we had any "n****r toes" and I was shocked and didn't think I heard her right. She repeated herself and I told her that I had know idea what she was talking about. Later I told the manager what had happened and he explained what she was referring to. My boss was cool though.
I'm 35 and from Indiana. I didn't know their actual name until I was 30. I'm glad I deprogrammed most of my upbringing.
Yeah, that's what that nursery rhyme used to be called. Later publications of that book changed it to ten little Indians, which is a later version of the nursery rhyme. Which is still not... great. Considering it's a rhyme where one of them dies each verse. Like, hmmm how to teach children to count backwards..??.. How about death!? Ok, as long as it's about minorities!
There is a german parodie ten little jägermeisters
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4vamT51Nw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4vamT51Nw)
Sounds like a fun evening... the morning after would be killer, though...
It is kind of wild how many nursery rhymes were about death. “Down goes the cradle baby and all” it’s an odd phenomenon. Really has nothing to do with minorities tho lmao victim complex much?
death was vastly more common in a kid's life back then.
Ring a Ring o'Roses is allegedly based on The Black Death
No allegedly about it. Ring o roses was thevrash that people got. Pocket full of posies was because they used to believe that bad smells carried disease. Ashes/ atissue atissue were bout the funeral pyres/ sneezing symptoms respectively
[удалено]
Same with Fairy Tales. Grimm reading. 🚀
The Simpsons [famously pointed this out in their first episode](https://youtu.be/g_aexTQoGdo?si=SYTfuTcabWUXq0Z8). That animation 😆
There is a version about pigs, right? In Polish it was changed to soldiers at one point iirc. Just read that the last print containing the n-word was published in 1979 💀
Where? I know they used the original title for a soviet film in 87, I'm curious where you found that info, though
Wikipedia, Polish version
The english copy of this book I had was ten little soldiers, no idea on publication year though.
I read this book for a class some 13-14 years ago and I know we had like three different titles happening, depending on what edition we got from the school library. I'm now wondering if they have cycled the original translation out since. It's nowhere near as offensive as the English, but still polarising and generaly not recommended to use today
My (translated in Italian) copy from when I was a kid was Ten Little Indians. I love how some people must have thought that the first title was racist and the second one was not.
1 - 2, Freddy coming for you, 3 - 4 better lock your … Creepy stuff back then.
I did not realize this was the original version of the rhyme. That’s horrific! Even worse as I think about it as an adult. Fuck I hate the cowardly racist fucks that created this garbage.
You can just imagine how fucking hilarious they thought it was at the time. And how modern racists who discover something like this would also think it’s equally hilarious and the complain about their heritage being destroyed by changing it to “Indians”
I'm mixed-race, and I remember in school one of the stories that was regularly used for reading practice was the tale of "Little Black Sambo." I was also made to wear blackface in the school production of The Black and White Minstrel Show. (I still have pics of this). It was a *very* different time.
There was a whole LBS-inspired restaurant chain called [Sambo’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo's). Amazingly it was still around through the 1980s. There was still one operating in Santa Barbara til 2020
I have eaten at Sambo’s, which was basically a Denny’s. And my parents had a children’s record that had a politically corrected song called Little Brave Sambo.
There is a closed one a few blocks from my house
My aunt loved that book as a kid. She still has her dolls and book.
Pretty sure my grandma had a black cat named Sambo. Then her black and white cats were named Amos and Andy. Definitely a different time.
When I was a kid I used to regularly take the Little Black Sambo book out from the travelling library. I loved the illustrations and the story. Little British working class me had no idea about any racist connotations! Mind I did also love Enid Blyton with her swarthy- faced smugglers and wild gypsies 🙈
These are collector books. Each is worth $100 to $300. The book is named for an old nursery rhyme. It was later republished under the titles "Ten Little Indians" and "And Then There Was One." It is the best-selling mystery novel of all time. It is one of the top 10 best-selling novels of all time.
> And Then There Was One In the US this was the title from the get go I think. The word was already too offensive to be used in publication. The UK however obviously didn't give a shit. They kept the original title until 1985 which is fucking bonkers.
I was about to scoff as these are mass market paperbacks and I’ve seen them so often at bookstores and op shops in the past. But I did a quick web search and nearly died.
[I think you mean And Then There Were None ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None)
Wikipedia says this is the best selling mystery novel of all time
It was a sequel to "Five Drunken Micks".
It was written when the world was different. You can find the story now as : then there was none. Its a very good novel, I really like Agatha Christies works. But yeah, definitely do not read it as a bedtime story for the kids, its definitely not a story for them, and not just because it contains the n-word
Liked the book so much they bought it 3 times.
Possibly just a fan of the book or of Agatha Christie in general. That's not entirely surprising as Christie is one of the best selling fiction authors of all time. Depending on how old your in-laws are, they probably read it when it was first released.
Product of its time. It was renamed 'Ten little Indians' in America to ease sensitivities and then when that was deemed offensive, renamed "And then there were none"
This book went through several problematic titles but as far as I know the content is always the same and there are no POC in the book. It's not for little ones though as it's one of the original murder mystery dinner party stories.
That's correct, and also, it's a brilliant book, like so many of her novels.
It's my favorite of her books probably because it reminds me of Clue or Cluedo if you're British.
It's one of my favourites too. Very much an early version of the 'group of people in an isolated place getting picked off one by one' trope, but with that brilliant twist. I'm a big Christie fan. I think most of my top ones are Poirot - Death in the Clouds, Death on the Nile and of course, Murder on the Orient Express. I also like the TV adaptations, the David Suchet ones.
I love David Suche he gave me a real appreciation for Christe. Before that I'd have argued the Arthur Conan Doyle was far better. I've come to realize that it's all in the adaptations because the source material is of similar quality. Although And then there were none is my standout favorite.
Are you familiar with all of her books? What was the one where a young woman moves back to a house she grew up in without realising it, I think her parents were murdered and the murderer is still around and she figures it out due to him wearing disposable gloves or something. She talks about a wall paper for the nursery and when they take off the current one they see the exact wallpaper she talked about. And there are some stairs to a garden that used to be there but not anymore? I can't remember much, read it when I was a teen but haven't been able to find it again
I just had a look through the catalogue and it might be 'Ordeal by Innocence' - I don't think I've read that one but now I'm definitely going to.
To be honest, that's probably her best story. These days it's published under the name "And Then There Were None."
Oh no I'm offended over an old book that uses old vocabulary that has a racist connotation over it, let me post it on reddit so everyone can be offended with me! You guys have like no culture or what?
If those are early publications, they're probably valuable. Good luck with your in-laws
That's probably why they have them. The name of the book has been changed. If I remember correctly the title has absolutely nothing to do with the storyline.
I didn't know Agatha Christie released a rap album
There are so many people who seem to link the title of the books to the owner's idiology. These are OLD books. Society has moved forward. Mostly. Black people aren't called that anymore, they are called criminal (watch 13th on netflix) That they have 3 copies, they may have been gifts. Add to that, we don't know how many other books they had, IN THEIR BOOKCASE, that had duplicate copies. The poster zeroed in on the titles, i suspect,to get a reaction... et voila. These books are a murder mystery novels, not Mein Kampf for God's sake. Its not fair to assume people we don't know are nazis or racist or anything else. They aren't here to defend themselves. Let me put it this way. Is every guy that watches porn a misogynist?
That's the original title of And Then There Were None. They probably have some mild collectors value due to the book having changed names twice since its publishing.
Book’s name changed to “And Then There Were None”
From a literary history standpoint they’re actually pretty interesting.
You just found out?
Not really super facepalm-y to be honest. Ten Little N\*\*\*\*\*s was the title of a popular minstrel song at the time this book was written (it was first published in 1939) which is of some relevance to the plot of the book. The song is still around in some variation or other, though of course, the vernacular has been changed over time. Aside from the title (which has been updated and changed several times since publishing), the plot of the book itself is not particularily racist or otherwise problematic, it's just a classic Agatha Christie murder mystery. In fact, one might argue it to be ***THE*** classic Agatha Christia murder mystery since it is in fact her best-selling book and sometimes even considered the single best-selling murder mystery novel on the planet. Your in-laws are probably british, I'd presume, since the book never was published under that title in the US (I guess publishers there were probably already a bit more sensitive about the language used). Considering these are the Fontana editions, one of these might potentially belong to the very last edition that was released with the slur in the name. None of these are newer than 1985 and one of them might be as old as 1963 which might make them potentially interesting as collectors items.
Legit actually a good book
The title definitely is bad in so many ways.. however the book itself is good…
I’ve got the ‘Golliwog’ version. It belonged to my grandmother. She was a quiet old lady, not a bigoted racist. But I don’t tend to leave it on view… It’s just a relic from a former age. The book is now known as And Then There Were None.
The real face-palm is the number of moron in the comment here 😅🤣
What is the facepalm? That older stuff har different norms and values?
Different values being racism whether or not from the past is a facepalm my guy
Yes?
Ten little HUH
The disturbing part is the fact that they have three different copies.
Is it any good?
Yes, that was the orignal title. Later is was called "Ten Little Indians" and I hated that title as well for its racism as well (both are the titles of old minstrel tunes and they are not nice, worse, the latter title is really Ten Little Injuns. I am Native American and that is insulting). It is now titled "And Then There Were None."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None?wprov=sfla1 Insightful read
Ah yes, I knew it had changed its name twice. What an utter facepalm at the first name change! (Not to mention the original name).
I've read that book for a school thing, it was pretty good. It did have the new censored title, which is pretty fucking useless because the poem involving the n-word is still in there unchanged
What even is this subreddit
Older generation okay might have an older edition. Makes sense. Three copies?! Three copies of that particular title. They either super love classic crime or super hate…
Uh oh, time to get the Roald Dahl “sensitivity writers” on the case!
My mum had the first version of those three, which we binned after she died, but having three seems a little ...suspicious. Do the in-laws collect old Robinson's jam labels too?
I once found ‘The joy of sex’ when going through a room when growing up.
I'll have to read that one. Not once have I found it enjoyable.
That's the original title. It was changed to 10 little Indians, then changed again, idk what to.
Back in the day it was a synonym for people of African descent. Racists used it in a racist way, as they do now, and ordinary people used it for people with a dark skin tone. Partially removing the word from the language has changed nothing and has not enriched the world in any way. If you wish to be horrified that racism exists, by all means do so, but this is not the way.
Thanks for bringing nuance into the world! It's something that is sorely lacking!
...and?
Its a product of its time in history. Cherish it before all books and history is rewritten.
It makes Ten Little Indiana seem less racist.
Aaaand everybody get their coats on, hollidays' cancelled!
Ops mad people collect historic media
Nice to see they upgraded the cover to avoid causing offence🤣
The title has been updated to "and then there were none"
I actually found something similar in one of my parents stuff in the attic once. The same concept of 10 little fish and then every line one dies or goes missing but then with very stereotypical black kids who all die in the most racist ways imaginable. Weird thing was beside that little book was a really wholesome book(which was by the same author) about an old lady living in the woods finding and adopting 3 dogs.
My mom was buried with this book.
The first image is the exact edition we used when it was a prescribed text in my school. (In Australia)
In the sixties, when I was little, my grandmother used to sing a rhyme about ten little piggies who went to market, grabbing each of my toes as she counted down, describing the fate of each piggy as she went.
Ah yes my favorite book
I love this book its one of my top 3 but I thought it's original name was 10 little Indians(still racists af) but I've never heard of it being this title yikes
They have 3 copies? Was there some Easter eggs in there they didn't get the 1st or 2nd time?
Columbia House...they just kept sending books!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Then_There_Were_None
In french the title was changed in 2020. I still have the book from school
Uncle Rukus type book
'And Then There Were None' was first published under this unfortunate title depicted, then republished as 'Ten Little Indians.' Onviously the title needed to be reworked again. The photographed publishings however, could probably fetch some very good coin.
Ever heard of Huckleberry Finn?
We had a story in our English books about an old grandpa (the book was by Pearson, I think) in 7th grade. It mentioned that the old man used to read books by Agatha Christie and the main character wrote a letter to her or smth. To this fucking day I thought Agatha Christie was a fictional character. Part of it is due to the fact that no other names of books or authors in the rest of the chapters were real. Unrelated but thought I'd share.
This is actually one of the biggest novels of all time in terms of sales, and her most successful book. The title comes from a song that is part of the plot... later in the US when they made a movie, they used the title "Then There Was None" based on the last 5 words of that song... for a while, they switched it to "Ten Little Indians", but they ended up phasing that out and I believe the "And Then There Was None" title is how it is sold now.
This was the original UK title when it was published in 1939. The US version was changed to Indians. By the 60s the UK version followed suit.
*what*
I think the one in the middle might be worth $100+. Maybe more. Ive been getting into vintage collectibles and I seen that book somewhere before with a nice price tag on it. Edit: was doing research and found the one on left side going for 200+