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Originally Posted by Jellby
Note that the "original" doesn't always mean what the author wrote, but has a good deal of what the editor, publisher and printer thought was correct. It was not unusual (I don't know if it is nowadays) for an author to pay little attention to spelling and punctuation, that was the editor's work after all.
It also could happen that some American authors or editors in the 1900's wanted to use what we call today British spelling. At least, it looks possible to me.
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This is all true. Even more so back in the days when typesetting was a skilled job, and the typesetters might well 'correct' things as they went along.
There's a bit in the Hobbit introduction, when Tolkien mentions how in the first proofs the typesetter had helpfully corrected all instances of 'dwarves' to 'dwarfs'.
Sometimes a subsequent printing might be closer to the author's intentions. But there you need to do research into correspondence between the author and the publishers, and if you're really lucky, find corrected proofs.
Probably a bit much for a free edition. Best left to professionals doing 'definitive' editions.