The 
hairpins added in one of the later proofreadings of FE (→GE) should be, according to us, interpreted as diminuendo (in pair with the 
sign in the previous bar). However, it must be said that FE also reproduces a few unequivocal long accents in a similar way. This is exactly how the sign was understood in EE and, moreover, in EE3 (→EE4) a similar accent was arbitrarily added in analogous place in bar 26.
Ap has in both bars, while in bar 25 the sign is put clearly earlier than in FE.
Compare the passage in the sources »
category imprint: Differences between sources
issues: Authentic corrections of FE
notation: Articulation, Accents, Hairpins