That said, looking over the list you gave, *Innocents* (1869) clearly
preserves a lot of authorial spellings. Clemens's preferences as found in
the MSS are:

ancle
centre
irruption
lustre
ploughed
pretence
spectre
sceptre
staid
theatre

Clemens was a 99% excellent speller but some diosyncratic spellings of his,
which sometimes survived into print but more often were "ancled" by the
printer, include "recal" (for recall), "envelop" (for envelope), and
"rhind." He never mastered the exceptions to "i before e", and invariably
wrote "wierd" and "sieze." So in some respects the printers were doing
valuable work.





On Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 6:34 PM Benjamin Griffin <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> What Barb said!
>
> I'll add that the forthcoming Mark Twain Project edition of *Pudd'nhead
> Wilson* (April 30, 2024) contains detailed discussion of publishers' and
> printers' changes to Clemens's spelling. But the executive summary is:
> printers were generally expected to impose house style and "correct" and
> regularize spelling. So, even for the first printings -- and even for the
> books Clemens published himself (as Charles L. Webster and Co.) -- the
> spelling (and punctuation, and paragraphing) can't be assumed to be his.
>
> When Clemens read proofs, he aimed to undo editorial/compositorial
> changes. And he wrote very colorful letters to the publishers on the
> subject, making it very clear that he had been a professional printer
> himself, and he wanted the details of his inscription respected! But, with
> limited time and energy, he settled for what he could live with; or less.
> Sometimes (e.g. *Pudd'nhead* and* Following the Equator*) he didn't even
> get to read proof and comment on the publishers' orthography.
>
> Ben Griffin
> Mark Twain Project
>
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 12, 2024 at 4:02 PM Barbara Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> 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
>> >
>>
>