TCDE-Team at 21:33, 17 February 2026

2026-02-17T21:33:54Z

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			\|summary=This article reports on George Vanderburgh's ambitious project to create a comprehensive electronic edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's complete works, detailing the technical process of scanning, OCR, annotation, and copyright considerations. It highlights early digital humanities efforts within the Sherlockian community and calls for collaboration in proof-reading and sourcing rare texts.
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	''The A.C.D. Electronic Omnibus Edition'' is an article written by [[George Vanderburgh ]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 3, 1992).		''The A.C.D. Electronic Omnibus Edition'' is an article written by [[George Vanderburgh ]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 3, 1992).

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Created page with "{{Cargo_Research_Articles |date=1992-01-01 |author=George Vanderburgh |topic=Digitalisation }} ''The A.C.D. Electronic Omnibus Edition'' is an article written by George Vanderburgh published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 3, 1992). This article reports on George Vanderburgh's ambitious project to create a comprehensive electronic edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's complete works, detailing the technical process of scann..."

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{{Cargo_Research_Articles
|date=1992-01-01
|author=George Vanderburgh
|topic=Digitalisation
}}
''The A.C.D. Electronic Omnibus Edition'' is an article written by [[George Vanderburgh ]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 3, 1992).

This article reports on George Vanderburgh's ambitious project to create a comprehensive electronic edition of [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s complete works, detailing the technical process of scanning, OCR, annotation, and copyright considerations. It highlights early digital humanities efforts within the Sherlockian community and calls for collaboration in proof-reading and sourcing rare texts.

== The A.C.D. Electronic Omnibus Edition ==
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1992-vol3-p201-the-acd-electronic-omnibus-edition.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 3, 1992, p. 201)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1992-vol3-p202-the-acd-electronic-omnibus-edition.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 3, 1992, p. 202)]]
[[File:Acd-society-journal-1992-vol3-p203-the-acd-electronic-omnibus-edition.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 3, 1992, p. 203)]]

'''The A.C.D. Electronic Omnibus Edition from The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box'''

On a sunny Sunday afternoon at our cottage at Lake Eugenia (southern Ontario), the grass has been cut, the nine new perennial bushes have been watered, the whirlpool is warming up downstairs and I am exhausted after a week of travel and stressful interviews, in addition to running a busy office. Here in my library I can unwind beside my micro-computer and my books, for it is here that I have my [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]] and [[Sherlock Holmes]] collection.

With that totally unrelated introduction, please indulge me and allow me to tell you what has been occupying some of my free time for the last year. I have been working on an Electronic Edition of all of [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s published literary work, both fiction and non-fiction, including drama, poetry and letters to the press.

In the beginning I acquired ''An Electronic Holmes Companion'' from Psylogic Systems and this was a very useful tool. However, the text was from the Doubleday edition which was not my favourite. I next acquired the [[Sherlock Holmes]] CD which also contained ''The Medical Casebook of Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle'' by Al Rodin and Jack Key and some of [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s other stories.

Then I asked myself what I could do with the computer to enhance what had already been done. Jack Tracy's ''Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana'' was a logical choice to begin with, and I gave Jack a call after talking with Jon Lellenberg and learning that Jack was collaborating with Keith Instone at Bowling Green University on an Apple Computer version of the ''Encyclopaedia''. Keith sent along the rough scanned text in April 1991, and I happily worked with this for the next three months to create a static hypertext version of the ''Encyclopaedia'' which operated to my own satisfaction, but seemed to give other users headaches with installation. I needed, and still need, somebody to write bomb-proof installation instructions!

Following that, I began to contemplate the idea of creating an electronic annotated version of the Canon. The ''Annotated Sherlock Holmes'' seemed a logical place to start for some of the more important annotations. However, using the expository chapters of the ''Annotated'' would certainly be an infringement of copyright and I wanted to proceed cautiously. In any case, some of the chapters would require considerable updating because of the passage of twenty-five years since the original date of publication. I discussed this matter with Jack Tracy and he will be dealing with updating the expository chapters in due course.

Moving on to July 1991, my computer is suffering from growing pains, and I decide to order another. It arrives, accompanied by a mate which computerises the medical practice as well. In September 1991 I added a Hewlett Packard Scanner and the software to cope with Optical Character recognition.

The first project with the new hardware was to scan all five of the [[Professor Challenger]] stories. I acquired the appropriate texts from the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library's [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] Collection, which is not only a marvellous source of material but was also, at the time, managed by Cameron Hollyer who was a wonderful source of knowledge and advice. Although Cameron has since retired, he has been replaced by Victoria Gill, who has taken up where Cameron left off. Since I live some distance from Metropolitan Toronto, she remains a phone call away and an ever-ready helper.

The [[Professor Challenger|Challenger]] stories were not difficult to turn into an electronic text, and I then tried to work with the illustrations and was able to make satisfactory hard copy reproductions from graphic .PCX or .TIF files, but I was unhappy with the screen reproductions of the illustrations. Much work remains to be done to assemble all the Sherlockian images on disk, but Jim Montgomery's ''A Study in Pictures'' is an excellent reference for the canon's illustrations.

In December 1991, during a vacation in England, I met a number of Sherlockians and Doyleans including Stanley McKenzie. Christopher Roden, Catherine Cooke, [[Richard Lancelyn Green]], Philip Weller and Jane Sayle. After many a pleasant discussion over lunch, dinner, by the fireside, and in a touring bus, an idea crystallises that there should be an Electronic version of all of [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Conan Doyle]]'s work. Christopher Roden encouraged me to prepare Electronic versions of the non-fiction propaganda and spiritualist leaflets and, with a list in my hand from Green and Gibson, I consulted the Index at the British Library in London. Access was the first problem, but the problem was overcome with a photograph and proper identification.

The first non-fiction to be worked on was [[The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct|The War in South Africa - Its Cause and Conduct]]. I am learning as I go along. For instance, I try to avoid using first editions for scanning, because the process necessitates bending the spine of the book and placing it flat on the scanner. Two pages at a time can be covered by blocking each page of text from the scanned image that is created. The software creates a WordPerfect document, which must then be proof read against the original text for textual accuracy, including commas, periods, word spacing, quotation marks, etc.

There is still much work to do, and I am still seeking some of the titles. I plan to have another look in the British Library this year when I visit London in an effort to track down the more elusive titles. But I should be pleased to hear from anyone who feels they would like to help say by way of proof-reading.

''Editor's Note:''

Dr Vanderburgh may be contacted at 420 Owen Sound Street. Shelburne. Ontario L0N 1S0. Canada (Telephone: 519-925-3022).

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The A.C.D. Electronic Omnibus Edition - Revision history

TCDE-Team at 21:33, 17 February 2026