Editions

Many times I have had teachers tell me and my fellow students that they better not see the first draft of our essays or papers. They much prefer a third or fourth edition.

I am presently rereading the book North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. The copy of it that I have has the title of chapter 24 being "The Meeting." Then it has a footnote noting that that title was probably a typo in the first edition and it should have read "The Mutiny." This would be a much more fitting title because that is the main subject of the entire chapter. So the question is why did the editor of my book find it necessary to keep the mistake just so that it would be consistent with the first edition. The author herself probably made the change. I find it more rude to ignore the author's intent then go back to the "original." 

I am in the process of editing my own book right now, and I certainly edit it for a reason, and want people to read the most recent copy. 

First Editions are overrated, that's what I'm saying.