This reminds me of editions in music. I suppose the biggest difference in music is that at some level editors of music are allowed to add in their own opinions of how the music is supposed to work (Hence why editions by famous musicians - the Elgar Cello Concerto edited by Jacqueline Du Pre for example - can be popular), whereas in literature this is somewhat less sunshine and roses.

Take, for example, a very famous piece of music with many editions - the 6 Cello Suites by J.S. Bach. There's a reason this piece has so many editions - We don't have a version in Bach's own hand. the closest we have are two editions - One by his wife, Anna Magdalena Bach, and another by Johann Kellner. They're Pretty close in terms of dates (the Kellner likely being a few years earlier), but so much is different. Bowings, Rhythms, even notes are different in these two editions.

Because the two closest manuscripts to Bach's own hand are so divergent, a great deal of other editions have been spawned over the years. It's almost given people free reign to interpret.

I wonder if you could view translation outside of native language in the same way? because words can have multiple meanings and subtexts, it almost gives people free reign to interpret and edit because it's impossible to get to the "truth" of what someone meant hundreds of years ago in another language.