This is a carryover from when printing presses used actual plates. The initial edition would carry all numbers from 1 to whatever. When the second edition wou

This is a carryover from when printing presses used actual plates. The initial edition would carry all numbers from 1 to whatever. When the second edition would be printed, the printer would simply erase the last number (the 1) from the plate, indicating that the lowest number was the current printing run. I used to work in a small town press and the local paper would employ the same idea for its editions. The first run, which I would deliver to the stores, was the two-star edition. After the first batch was done, the printer would go to the platen, erase one of the stars, and start the press run for the snail mail edition that would ship later to the customers who received copies by mail. (edit: whoops, failed to read OP...but leaving here for the small press newspaper reference. Printers are interesting cats. You shall know them by their missing digits. No, not the numbers in the editionsm but the missing fingers lost between the rolling plates.)