UK vs. US editions of fiction

Question

I am reading a novel the copy of which was bought and published in the US, but the novel was written and copyrighted by a British author and first published in the UK.*

Apart from the apparent changes in orthography (candour->candor), a couple of lines in the book left me wondering how heavy the editing process actually was. On reflection, it may have been nil, but it did plant the doubt.

My question is whether there is a typical, default approach to the situation (another publishing house, but without translation into another language), and, consequently, a rule of thumb for me of what to expect when meeting such a text.

I will add that this is just a point of curiosity. I have no reason to expect one edition to be "better" or "more original" than another.

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* The book is John Le Carré, The Night Manager, copyrighted in 1993 by David Cornwell, published by Ballantine Books, imprint of Random House (originally published in the US in 1993).

Answer 1

I know this was asked out of simple curiosity, but there are deeper implications to your question than might be initially apparent. The difference between these manuscripts are meant to reflect the differences in the cultures they are being marketed to. The same rough draft is sent through a review process by two different editors, a UK editor, and a US editor. While the changes shouldn't be that extensive, future sociologists could look back on those differences, and examine the slight (or even significant) differences between the US culture of this era, and the UK culture of this era. Imagine what a UK version of Uncle Tom's Cabin would be like if it were prepared today for publication in the UK, and how different that version would be from a version prepared at the time the book was originally published, and you'll have an idea of the kinds of differences I mean.