Where do we go from here? Can the word list be edited?

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Where do we go from here? Can the word list be edited?

Can the quotations illustrating the words of Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language be traced to their sources and their adjustments by Johnson for use in the dictionary determined?

Editing the Dictionary word list has previously been deemed "too vast."
Has the internet and book digitization changed the game?

The GOAL (where we want to be):

Each Dictionary authority in the word list of the 1st and 4th editions identified (mostly done on this web site)
Each work of each authority identified (partly done on this web site)
A link, or directions, to an electronic version of each source work
Dictionary quotations or citations collected under the work cited in the Dictionary for each author
The definition (sense) that the quotation illustrates for the head word recorded or linked
The text of the quotation, as it appears in the source, recorded
Differences between the 1st and 4th Dictionary editions recorded
Bibliographic information about the source work recorded

Possible Paths Forward
The following Template Format links provide examples of the type of information collection/recording needed.

Neither example provides an entirely satisfactory approach. The images called for in Example 1, while an elegant way of presenting the information, would be challenging to copy or scan and crop in an efficient manner for all quotations in both the 1st and 4th editions. The challenge in first collecting source quotations for each author in Example 2 is the limitations in search tools for the PDF or other file formats to identify all word list entries attributed to a particular authority. (Only 20 Abbot quotations were located with a search on "Abbot" in the 1st edition PDF file compared to the 80+ total from electronic searches of several editions. A better search tool might make this approach feasible).

Perhaps a more promising approach would involve establishing a base-line electronic file of the 1st and 4th editions which could be tagged with links to a source document, and cross-links between the same head-word sense in the 1st and 4th edition. Some attempts have been made to do this in the past, but nothing currently available seems capable of forming the base for systematic collection and display of the information needed to edit the word list by comparing Dictionary entries with the source quotations.

Please tell us your experiences and give us your suggestions and perspectives!

Independent of what the final collection and organization format is (assuming one is feasible) a needed intermediate step is to find, document, and, when possible, link the 2000 source works of the 460 authors on this web site. It would be nice to have information on and links to the source edition that Johnson used, but we will be happy to find electronic files of source editions earlier than the dictionary publication dates.

Please email us with information on electronic files for the works listed on the author pages on this web site.

The purpose of this web site is to collect and organize information that will facilitate scholarly efforts related to the Dictionary sources and Johnson's use of the sources, and related educational endeavors. Please use the information on this web site in your own Johnson studies. There should be adequate information on the site to allow an independent check of facts. Of course, any mention you make of this sjdictionarysources.org web site would be appreciated.