The work might see several editions during the author’s lifetime, and the author would have every right to modify the text on each new set of proofs, and it would move into the “variant text” stage. These modifications can be substantial, and even lead to new partial recompositions or restructurings, for which the author will make use of rough drafts, fair copies, a definitive manuscript, etc, under the same conditions as during the original composition. However important, these modifications (or “variants”) that, from new edition to new edition, can produce perceptibly different versions of the work, do not have exactly the same status as the transformations to be observed in the genetic documents from the original work.