Changing text while on-press...the creation of variants/states

Thomas', Great Books and Book Collectors offers up another gem. Most are aware that "points" that distinguish a first state from a second (or third) often revolve around a caught misspelling or other typographical error. Seldom, however, is it the result of the author's change of heart regarding a substantiative bit of text.

There was an early and interesting example of the later, however, in James Boswell's renowned, "Life of Johnson." Apparently a handful of the first editions contain the following passage, "swiftly suppressed":

Sunday, 10 October 1779. I mentioned to him a dispute between a friend of mine and his lady, concerning conjugal infidelity, which my friend had maintained was by no means so bad in her husband, as in the wife. JOHNSON. 'Your friend was in the right, Sir. . . . Wise married women don't trouble themselves about infidelity in their husbands, they detest a mistress, but don't mind a whore. My wife told me I might lye with as many women as I pleased, provided I loved her alone'

Boswell had second thoughts about the prudence of the passaged while it was on on-press and called for it to be struck. Perhaps his wife read the manuscript and offered a more compelling authority...