I was looking at Twain’s letters in 1869, while he was correcting the proofs for The Innocents Abroad, and found an interesting paragraph about spelling in the book. In a letter to the publisher, Elisha Bliss, Jr. on April 20, 1869, he wrote:
I wish you would have my revises revised again & look over them yourself & see that my marks have been corrected. A proof-reader who persists in making two words ‸(& sometimes even compound words)‸ of “anywhere” and “everything;” & who spells [ <https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00286.xml;query=;searchAll=;sectionType1=;sectionType2=;sectionType3=;sectionType4=;sectionType5=;style=letter;brand=mtp#>villainy ] <https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00286.xml;query=;searchAll=;sectionType1=;sectionType2=;sectionType3=;sectionType4=;sectionType5=;style=letter;brand=mtp#> “villiany” & “[ <https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00286.xml;query=;searchAll=;sectionType1=;sectionType2=;sectionType3=;sectionType4=;sectionType5=;style=letter;brand=mtp#>liquifies ] <https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00286.xml;query=;searchAll=;sectionType1=;sectionType2=;sectionType3=;sectionType4=;sectionType5=;style=letter;brand=mtp#>” &c, &c, is not three removes from an [ <https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00286.xml;query=;searchAll=;sectionType1=;sectionType2=;sectionType3=;sectionType4=;sectionType5=;style=letter;brand=mtp#>idiot.— ] <https://www.marktwainproject.org/xtf/view?docId=letters/UCCL00286.xml;query=;searchAll=;sectionType1=;sectionType2=;sectionType3=;sectionType4=;sectionType5=;style=letter;brand=mtp#> ‸infernally unreliable—‸ & so I don’t like to trust your man. He never yet has acceded to a request of mine made in the margin, in the matter of spelling & punctuation, as I know of. He shows spite—don’t trust him, but revise my revises yourself. I have long ago given up trying to get him to spell those first-mentioned words properly. He is an idiot—& like all idiots, is self-conceited.
So it seems Twain actually wanted those words combined, but it didn’t happen until 30 years later. Villainy was also corrected in two places where it had been misspelled. As far as I can tell liquifies was changed in the original.
In the same letter he decided on the title of the book. In an earlier letter he had been also been thinking about Crusade of the Innocents and The Exodus of the Innocents.
Philip
> On Feb 12, 2024, at 6:39 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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