Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:02:01 -0600
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Philip,
You might be interested in my history of the uniform editions -- online at
http://www.twainquotes.com/UniformEds/toc.html
Forrest Morgan was the proofreader hired by Bliss to help put together the
later editions and there is little evidence Clemens took an active interest
in the revisions for the 1899 and later volumes.
Barb
On Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 5:39 PM Philip Trauring <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I’ve been comparing the spelling between the first edition (1869) of The
> Innocents Abroad, and the Author’s National Edition (which is copyright
> 1897 and 1899).
>
> I’m curious if the changes in spelling were approved by Twain, in this
> edition, or other uniform editions (which I have not yet looked at). Has
> there been anything written about the changes between editions and how they
> came about?
>
> Here are some of the changes I’ve noticed so far:
>
> Spelling changes:
>
> amphitheatre amphitheater
> ancle ankle
> centre center
> ecstacy ecstasy
> irruption eruption
> lettred lettered
> lustre luster
> meagre meager
> ploughed plowed
> pretence pretense
> spectre specter
> sceptre scepter
> staid stayed
> theatre theater
> woollen woolen
>
> Words combined:
>
> any thing anything
> any body anybody
> any where anywhere
> every thing everything
> every body everybody
> every where everywhere
>
> While these were not combined:
>
> any one
> every one
> near by
>
> Also, pic-nic was changed to picnic, but to-day, to-morrow, and to-night
> were not changed.
>
> Looking at some of the words in Google Books Ngram Viewer shows when
> certain spellings overtook others, which is kind of neat to see visually.
> In most cases these map pretty well to what was changed. If the spelling
> didn’t switch until after 1899, it wasn’t changed in the Author’s National
> Edition. For example, ‘everywhere' overtook 'every where’ already in the
> 1840s, and it is changed in the uniform edition. However, ‘everyone’ didn’t
> overtake ‘every one’ until the late 1920s, so it isn’t changed in the
> uniform edition.
>
> Any other types of spelling changes I should be looking out for?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Philip
>
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