ver at the Baker Street Blog (my favourite daily reading), Scott reflects on the growth of this collection, which seems to be an occupational hazard among Sherlockians –myself included, much to the chagrin of my wife– and points to a brief but useful article for beginners over at AbeBooks: Clues on Collecting Sherlock Holmes.

Clues on Collecting Sherlock Holmes
by Phillip Gold, ABAA
221Books, Westlake Village, CA, USA

Phillip Gold, who has selected this issue’s Pick of the Month, shares some elementary tips on how to collect books featuring the famous detective.

Assembling a collection of cornerstone titles will be a challenging, and perhaps a lifelong endeavor. But don’t fail to inject some of your own interests and perspectives into the process. That’s the secret to assembling a unique and significant collection. Books about the world’s first consulting detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, have been a consistently popular collecting genre since the appearance of A Scandal in Bohemia in The Strand Magazine in July 1891.

(Via the Baker Street Journal blog.)

Those wanting to find an online version of the famous “Shaw 100″ can find it within the doors of The Diogenes Club, as well as within the social book-cataloguing club LibaryThing.

F, LIKE ME, you watched Sesame Street in the seventies, you should be quite familiar with a character whose propensity for trifles is even greater than that of Sherlock Holmes, and who too has a faithful sidekick called Watson. See the Muppet Wiki entry for Sherlock Hemlock:

Sherlock Hemlock, a Muppet spoof of Sherlock Holmes, first appeared on Sesame Street in Season 2 (1970), and was last seen in Season 23 (1991).

Sherlock is the self-appointed “World’s Greatest Detective.” He solves mysteries by concentrating on the little clues and overlooking the big ones. When he finds a clue, he shouts, “E-GAD!”

I’ve recently been watching some Sesame Street with my two-year-old, and wondering about this Muppet’s mysterious disappearance. Perhaps there was a Moriarty Muppet too?

Oh well… I guess a “Tickle Me Sherlock” toy wouldn’t have been a very hot Christmas toy.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, masquerading as a flea market tip, from the U.K.’s Sunday Mirror: What to look out for -

OLD MAGAZINES: Beeton’s Christmas Annual from 1887 is considered the most priceless mag in the world, as it features the first-ever appearance of master detective Sherlock Holmes. There are 28 known copies - and they sell for £100,000 each!

So, if you do happen accross a copy of Beeton’s in a pile of discarded People magazines, going for just a few pennies, do pick it up. Just so you know….

AVE PARKER notes in his blog that The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection Richard Lancelyn Green Bequest is allowing the public to view the late author and collector’s vast array of Conan Doyle materials in Portsmouth, England:

Portsmouth has been chosen by the late Richard Lancelyn Green as the home for his extraordinary collection of Conan Doyle-related books, papers, artifacts and assorted memorabilia.

Academics, specialists and the general public, will be able to access Richard’s life’s work, once it has been catalogued and made available.

There will be an introductory exhibition in 2006, and a more substantial display in 2007.

Green wrote extensively about Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, and was the co-author/compiler of the definitive bibliography of ACD’s work, as well as various volumes of uncollected stories, letters to the press, and so forth, so this exhibition should be quite fascinating indeed.

The introductory exhibit started on June 10th and runs to September 24th. For further information, The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection Richard Lancelyn Green Bequest Website has notes about the collection, as well as a PDF newsletter. Thanks, Dave!

UR dear Mr. Holmes hasn’t fared very well in comic books over the years. True, there was a long-running syndicated comic strip in the papers, and the great detective has appeared as a “guest” in numerous comic books and graphic novels over the years, but every effort to spin Holmes into a successful series seems to have run into problems.

The mid-seventies proved a tough time for the comics industry in general. With the great high camp movement of the sixties –bolstered by the incredible success of Adam West as television’s Batman– having faded away, the major companies DC and Marvel were struggling, often relegated to running mostly cheap reprint stock, while a number of smaller companies (such as Dell and Charleston) were sinking fast. In those days before direct order and specialty comics shops –which later resuscitated the industry– the companies were trying anything and everything to stay afloat, dashing to their presses the whole gamut from superhero to romance, sci-fi to war, horror to comedy, and little seemed to catch the public’s attention. Internal struggles and low payscales within the companies worsened the outlook, as many of the greater talents took off for greener pastures and other industries.

It was about this time that DC tried to break away from its policy of pushing fifties and sixties reprints and make a few bold moves, creating short-run comics with new characters to see if any spark caught flame. Among such other legendary notables as King Arthur and Beowulf, Mr. Sherlock Holmes appeared in his very own comic for September-October 1975, a double-story issue that contained extremely abbreviated versions of “The Final Problem” and “The Empty House.” The subscription information inside that reads “published bi-monthly” indicates that this wasn’t actually meant as a one-shot, but rather a pilot issue for a series. (According to the last page, the next issue was supposed to be on sale in August.) Unfortunately, the lacklustre sales of this book meant that no more issues were published, and Holmes joined the other great worthies in the cancellation bin.

The art on the cover was an early effort by Walt Simonson, who was later to gain fame for Thor and X-Factor. The story inside was written by Dennis O’Neil, a long-time writer of Batman comics, with art by the Philippine illustrator E.R. Cruz, notable for more adult fare such as in Warren’s Eerie. A short essay by Allan Asherman entitled “The Real Sherlock Holmes” rounded out the issue. Click on the graphics above to see close-ups of the cover and part of the famous scene from The Empty House.

In retrospect, it’s not hard to see why this effort failed. The atmospheric and shadow-laden artwork, consisting mainly of hues of green and grey, would certainly fail to attract the attention of a ten-year-old browsing for a colourful Superman or Spiderman (even though Holmes does use fisticuffs a little more than we’re accustomed). The industry at the time aimed mainly for younger readers, so most teenagers generally dismissed all comic books as “kid stuff” and weren’t likely to pluck the issue off the rack. The short treatment of the stories (both of them fit into a mere 18 pages) meant that there was little room for the myriad touches that an adult mystery lover tends to savour. So who were they aiming for? It’s hard to say….

From time to time, I’ll be featuring other comic books on this site, but for those folks aspiring to collect Holmes-related fare, the Sherlock Holmes Illustrated list, although a few years out of date, is an excellent place to start.

HEAR this is what every fashionable Sherlockian is wearing this year.

ESTERDAY, I outlined the first half of my Sherlockian Top Ten. Now, I’m sure that most of those were certainly no surprise to anyone who’s begun to dive into the depths of Sherlockian studies, but I’m hoping that this list (and my comments) might help guide the occasional poor soul who’s just now beginning to migrate from Sherlock-on-TV, and perhaps looking to part with his or her hard-earned shillings in a meaningful manner.

Herewith, the final five.

6. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, a “biography” by W. S. Baring-Gould. Although many people have attempted biographies of Holmes (and/or Watson), Baring-Gould’s is considered by most to be the classic. Although rife with speculation and educated guesswork, many of the ideas and events put forth in this out-of-print book seem to have become absorbed by scholars and writers to the point where it sometimes becomes difficult to remember what was in the Canon, and what wasn’t. This edges out June Thomson’s Holmes and Watson for my list, which is still an absorbing read, and foregoes speculation to concentrate mainly upon the facts as laid out in the Canon.
7. Sherlock Holmes in America, by Bill Blackbeard. A fairly difficult volume to find, this book is bursting with lush illustrations, advertising, articles, cartoons and more, and is a pride among my Sherlockian “coffee-table” books. Similar books, and almost as prized, include Peter Haining’s Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook, Life & Times of Sherlock Holmes by Peter Weller with Christopher Roden, and the beautiful and over-sized Pictorial History of Sherlock Holmes by Michael Pointer. I’ve seen the latter three many times in bookstore “sidewalk sales”, so I suspect there’s a lot of them about.
8. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, by Vincent Starrett. It seems that reading this book has become the Sherlockian equivalent of puberty, heralding a crossing-over from neophyte fan to serious scholar. Published in 1933, this collection of essays was one of the first major books of Sherlockian scholarship, and remains one of the most critically acclaimed. Highly sought-after by most beginning collectors, it was re-issued a few years ago in paperback form.
9. The Baker Street Journal CD-ROM. Although I’d much rather the dead-tree versions of this long-lasting Sherlockian journal, my ailing bank account prohibits this. Still, $100 for all the journals from 1946 to 2000 is a very nice deal, especially when it’s possible to easily search and cross-reference most of the issues. (I’m in the midst of writing a review of this product for a later post, so check back if you’re interested.) There is also a CD-ROM version of the Sherlock Holmes Journal, but alas, I haven’t yet been able to afford one of these. O! the life of a poor scholar….
10. My weekly obsession. Okay, so I’m cheating a little here, but it’s because every week or so I become so completely engrossed in a book that it becomes indispensible. My livre du jour is The Science of Sherlock Holmes, by E. J. Wagner, a fascinating look at forensic science at the time of Holmes, illuminated throughout with examples from both the Canon and real-life crimes. Before that, it was The Real World of Sherlock Holmes: The True Crimes Investigated by Arthur Conan Doyle by Peter Costello, and before that, there were several books by Harrison and Hardwick. I confess I have no idea what the next one will be, but the wide array of Sherlockian books adorning the shelves is what makes this subject so interesting. Hmmm… perhaps it’s time for a pastiche, or something a little outré, like Rosenberg’s Naked Is the Best Disguise (note: not this one).

(more…)

HEN I hear tales of entire houses or condominiums chock-a-brick full with Sherlockian tomes, I feel positively ashamed by the meagre offerings afforded by my few hundred books. A glance at the Shaw 100 (the wishlist of every aspiring Sherlockian) reveals that I have about a third of these essential volumes. Mind you, very few of them are still in print, and some are so rare that you’d be extremely lucky to find a copy for less than a hundred dollars.

Still, in keeping with my reductionist lifestyle of late, I’ve begun to think about which books I consider absolutely essential to my Sherlockian addicti… er, hobby. Herewith, the first part of my top ten. (The final five will appear tomorrow.)

1. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (short stories and novels), edited and with notes by Leslie Klinger. No surprise here. I have at least a dozen copies of the Canon by now, but this finally displaces my well-thumbed Annotated Sherlock Holmes edited by W. S. Baring-Gould. The cornerstone of every modern Sherlockian as far as I’m concerned, this hefty three-volume set is a little pricey, but worth at least two years of rolling pennies. I don’t yet have Kinger’s Sherlock Holmes Reference Library or the Oxford annotated Canon, but I do covet them greatly.
2. Sherlock Holmes, the Published Apocrypha, edited by Jack Tracy. “Extensions” to the Canon from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J.M Barrie, William Gillette and Arthur Whitaker, with commentary by Tracy. Also out of print, but slightly easier to find and with many of the same works, is Peter Haining’s The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. (Many of these works are also available online over at the much-appreciated Diogenes Club library.)
3. The Encyclopedia Sherlockiana (a.k.a, The Ultimate Sherlock Holmes Encyclopedia), by Jack Tracy. Out of print, but fairly easy to find online. The essential reference for Canonical characters, places and things. Not to be confused with the Encyclopedia Sherlockiana: An A-To-Z Guide to the World of the Great Detective by Matthew Bunson, which is still a fine book, but equally concerned with non-Canonical things like films and pastiches.
4. The Sherlock Holmes Handbook, by Christopher Redmond. I am amazed by how much fascinating –if not valuable– information Mr. Redmond packs on every page: it covers the Canon, the characters, the times, Sir Arthur, print, modern media, Sherlockian societies, and so much more. If I have five minutes to spare, this is the book I pick up. Out of print, but I do believe the writer still has a few copies to sell (and of course, you may find him at his ubiquitous site Sherlockian.net).
5. Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle, by Daniel Stashower. In my opinion, this Edgar Award-winning book edges out Pierre Nordon’s Conan Doyle: A Biography, John Dickson Carr’s The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and even Sir Arthur’s hard-to-find autobiography Memories and Adventures. Vivid story-telling, a balanced perspective on ACD’s Spiritualism, a general survey of his whole body of work, and a very human portrayal of the “good giant” make this a favourite in my collection.

Tomorrow, the last five, and some tips on where to find the more elusive tomes.

LTHOUGH I figure many readers of A Study in Sherlock already know about this, I thought I should be sure to mention it for those newcomers to Holmes who may have missed the original announcement. (This is not to mention, I’ve had a few dozen kindly people send me email about it in the past couple of weeks.)

Stanford University is now publishing paper and PDF facsimiles of the original stories of Sherlock Holmes exactly as they appeared in the Strand Magazine, over a century ago, complete with the wonderful illustrations of Sidney Paget. The downloads are free, but if you have a U.S. mailing address (alas! I’m a Canadian!), you can subscribe to this most excellent service and have each one mailed to you as they are printed, free of charge. Once the program ends on April 14th, they will be shipping to international addresses.

Over 12 weeks from January through April 2006, Stanford will be republishing, free of charge, two early Holmes stories, “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Speckled Band”; the nine-part novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles; and the famous “last” encounter between Holmes and Moriarty, “The Final Problem.” If you would like to receive paper facsimiles of the original magazine releases, you may sign up on our website. If you would prefer to download the facsimile as a pdf from the website, each installment will be available on successive Fridays.

Discovering Sherlock Holmes - A Community Reading Project From Stanford University

To date, they’ve published A Scandal in Bohemia [SCAN], The Speckled Band [SPEC], and the first eleven chapters of The Hound of the Baskervilles [HOUN], all excellent choices for those who have never read an original Holmes story. I eagerly await April 14th, but in the meantime still become possessed with an insane jealousy whenever I hear of my American friends receiving one of these collectors items….