Conversation so far:
What was interesting in this article?
It is little known, but there was an uncompleted, lost 1911 version of The Birth of a Nation, titled The Clansman.
What is wrong with the later releases?
Many home media releases of Birth of a Nation consisted of poor quality DVDs with different edits, scores, running speeds and usually in definitely unoriginal black and white.

Question: What year did Griffith do this?
Self-contained rewrite: What year did D. W. Griffith purchase The Clansmen?