I… do sure find it annoying that the letter S is for reason a weird ſ, which doesn’t seem like the sort of thing it was that important to preserve at the expense of clarity on the new site, but that part isn’t Turntrout’s fault (I’d be interested if there’s a more compelling reason than “that’s just how Byrne did it at the time and we’re faithfully recreating it)
Nope, that’s the reason. Nicholas Rougeaux explains:
The long s (ſ and ſ italicized) was common in older publications and is used throughout the original book. It can be mistaken for the lowercase f but should be read as s whenever seen. The usage of the long s has fallen out of style but in an effort to faithfully reproduce this book, it was used as well.
Nope, that’s the reason. Nicholas Rougeaux explains: