[obiterdictum]

As far as I remember, the distinction between "typesetter" quotation and "logical" quotation appears in computerized typesetting. In traditional paper typesetting, a quote was kerned together with a period (or a comma) into a single character, so that quote is above, not before or after the period.

[imd]

I don't know about that. Neither old books I've seen nor TeX do that.

[obiterdictum]

Disclaimer: I don't have a citation for this, I just remember it mentioned a few times, so I may very well be wrong.