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I'm not too fussed about reading the exact manuscript the author wrote, especially considering that beyond editors the authors themselves can make revisions in subsequent editions. However once a text becomes more or less 'finished' and a long time passes I'd rather read a version closer to the original than altered by modern editors, so long as I can still more or less easily understand the original. I particularly love classics and one of the reasons is because I often feel immersed into that time period. Knowing there are changes by the authors themselves or by their original editors still keeps the text in that time period; knowing there are changes by modern day editors can make me feel like the text is a bit corrupted and I'm being condescended to.
When it comes to more difficult earlier language where more extreme revisions may be needed to become comprehensible, I would either rather battle with the original or read a version that includes both an updated version and the original. This reminds me of No Fear Shakespeare, which I've never read but really like the idea of. If I'm not mistaken, these editions include a complete 'translation' into plain and simple modern English but also include the original side-by-side.
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