[Rob Lister]

Consider the publishing process...

1. the author writes it.
2. the editor modifies it.
3. the copy-editor corrects it.
4. the typesetter sets it.
5. the presses print it.

Errors occur at each phase of the process. When I transcribe a meat-work into an electronic format, I take on the role of publisher. I'm going to find dozens if not hundreds of errors and inconsistencies; typos, misspellings, incorrect usage, missing words, misplaced punctuation, inconsistent natural hyphenation, end-of-line hyphenation, factual errors, orphaned footnotes, the list goes on and on and will drive you mad if you don't have a philosophy set in stone; at least soap stone if not granite.

Unlike the original publisher, I don't have the luxury of asking the author if he really meant to write that the civil war started in 1816 as opposed to 1861. What do I do with that factual error? Or is it just a typo? Did the typesetter have a liquid lunch?

Some might change it and include a transcription note.

Others might leave it as written and include a note, as if to say "I saw that too!"

A third type will leave it as is without a note, shrugging at those who might later criticize.

A diligent forth might research other editions of the work to see if it is 'corrected' in those editions, and then correct it, with a note, only if so.

I personally fall in the third and forth type category, depending on mood. I have no qualm with those that fall in the second. I have a bit of qualm with those that fall in the first. I did not even mention the zero-type, for that type is unworthy.

...

Now, about that other line that reads, "When the Civil War ended in 18 5"