In A the mark looks like a typical long accent, yet due to the graphic context, it can also be interpreted as a 
hairpin encompassing almost the entire bar. This bar is exceptionally narrow in A, since Chopin wanted to fit it on the same page so that it does not open a new one. A comparison with analogous bar 154 is an argument for diminuendo, and this is the interpretation that we suggest in the main text. The FE version may be an attempt at finding a compromise interpretation of the A notation (by the copyist or by the engraver), while in GE the mark was overlooked (along with the slur and ten.).
Compare the passage in the sources»
category imprint: Graphic ambiguousness; Differences between sources
issues: Long accents, Scope of dynamic hairpins, Errors in GE
notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins