The
Indexlibrorumexpurgatorum
(“Index of Expurgated Books”) was designed to allow
books that were only partially objectionable to be
circulated as soon as corrections by an
ecclesiastical censor had been entered. Such indexes
listed the specific passages of books that required
censorship in the expectation that all copies would
be brought forward to the censor for physical
correction. This correction usually took one of
three forms: deletion of the text by applying ink
over the printed passage, deletion of the text by
gluing blank paper over the printed passage, or
removal of the text by cutting the leaves containing
the passage out of the book. In rare cases, the
correct words were substituted in place of incorrect
ones. Typically, the censor would sign and date the
book to certify that it had been expurgated
correctly. Not all expurgated books were considered
heretical. Many books of mainstream Catholic
orthodoxy were expurgated simply because they
contained errors.