"Dealt With In Any Public Print" (RESI)

Although many Sherlock Holmes pastiches are published, very few often have the sparkle of Conan Doyle's writing. This is not a complaint - after all, attempting to document the great detective's further adventures often mean focusing more on the story and less on the style. However, The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Tony Reynolds and available via MX Publishing, is the best of both worlds, containing some well-written stories that reflect the "house style" at its best.

Thankfully, Reynolds does a very admirable job in writing a series of tales that could easily fit into the Canon, but that have an imagination and creativity all of their own. Even the first story - "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" - takes its cue from the Canon, but spins a decidedly distinctive tale. But page after page contains some wonderful, well-written adventures which (thankfully) contain a brief statement within as to why the tale was "omitted" (usually for reasons of either national security or personal embarrassment).

Read more...

"Acquired By Long and Patient Study" [STUD]

Examining the "Science of Deduction and Analysis" is a singular activity - many Holmesian scholars have managed to find interesting nuances when focusing on the Great Detective's skills. With the plethora of Holmes-related media in recent years, it would seem that reconciling Holmes' unique talents to modern-day psychology might be a bit daunting.

Thankfully, we now have Maria Konnikova's Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes (available on Amazon as a hardcover, paperback or Kindle edition) a fascinating book that not only marries Victorian detection to current-day thought, but manages to provide an illuminating, insightful work for both Sherlockians and casual fans alike. Mastermind focuses on how much of what we understand about learning, decision-making, and deductive ability can be derived from Holmesian thought (as expressed in the canon).

Each discussion has an underpinning in the canon, from how "facts" can influence our first impressions (see Mary Morstan) to the proper care and maintenance of the "brain attic", Mastermind takes much of its lead from key stories in the canon. (In fact, towards the end Mastermind cleverly demonstrates how Holmes' cognitive abilities have developed over time, citing both early and later Conan Doyle stories).

Read more...

"Don't Imagine That You Can Bully Me" [CHAS]

It isn't often one gets a ringside seat at a legal-literary battle royal, but it would seem that we're about to bear witness to some activity in that particular area.

Of course, you'll recall that recent legal battles in England have revolved around Undershaw, Conan Doyle's home for about a decade that included when he wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles. We've covered that topic extensively here - click for more background on that topic.

But this is wholly different.

The noted Sherlockian scholar, Baker Street Irregular and prominent attorney Leslie Klinger, editor of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library and The Grand Game: A Celebration of Sherlockian Scholarship, to name a few, has filed a civil lawsuit against the Conan Doyle Estate to determine that the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are in fact in the public domain.

Read more...

"He Had Spent A Part of His Life in America" [VALL]

Trying to "fill in" gaps in the canon can be rather tricky - done well, it can provide insight into the character of Holmes and Watson (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, for example). Done poorly, it can be awkward and feel inauthentic.

Thankfully, Dr. Watson's American Adventure from Airship 27 is a strong example of the former, showing us Watson in a post-Reichenbach adventure, finding his way to America to team up with Theodore Roosevelt. Combining elements of Victorian literature, Westerns, and historical pastiche, Erwin K. Roberts tells a tale that could easily fit between "The Adventure of the Final Problem [FINA]" and "The Adventure of the Empty House [EMPT]". The story moves along at a very brisk pace, and quite honestly, it's a flat-out treat to read. Structured as a reminiscence between Watson and Holmes, it also serves to highlight these characters without necessarily being driven by their interactions. Thankfully, this book serves as a way to highlight Dr. Watson's solo adventures....and hopefully, there will be another coming soon.

(Thankfully, this volume also provides value for the money in that it contains another Victorian-style pastiche featuring a character named "Hound Dog Harker" which is quite entertaining in its own right.)

Much like Airship 27's earlier Holmes book The Baron's Revenge, Dr. Watson's American Adventure is available via Amazon.com. It's an entertaining work that is well worth reading.

Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related. 

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"No Question As To the Authorship" [SIGN]

For many Sherlockians, there is a great curiosity to actually see - and hear - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle discuss the background around the creation of the Great Detective's exploits. It is one thing to read his thoughts; it is another to observe him as he discusses his works.

May 22, 2012 marks the 153rd birthday of Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, who brought the world such wonders as Professor Challenger, Sir Nigel, Alleyne, Brigadier Girard and of course, Sherlock Holmes. His work spanned decades and included a variety of written work from the medical and scientific to the fantastic and spiritualistic.

But it is not often that one gets to hear the Scottish brogue and strident voice that are behind the considerable visage we know so well. Now available via the Internet Archive, here is a 1927 newsreel in which Arthur Conan Doyle discusses the origins of Sherlock Holmes. The first five minutes of this video focus on Holmes; the remainder cover his exploration of spiritualism. (Both overlap in a surprising way, but please feel free to watch in order to avoid spoiling).

Enjoy!

Read more...

"No More Dangerous Man in Europe" [ILLU]

When considering all the pastiches written involving Sherlock Holmes, it is rare to find one that is purely a sequel - most Sherlockian non-canon lore involves crossovers with other public domain characters, integration of science fiction and/or horror themes, or loose adaptations of the canon.

Gary Lovisi's Sherlock Holmes: The Baron's Revenge, published by Airship 27 Productions, is a rare novel - a straightforward sequel to a past Holmes story that manages to be a crackling good read.

The novel servesas a sequel to "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client" from 1927's The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. Much like of Conan Doyle's later Holmes work, The Baron's Revenge shares a similar hard-boiled, almost pulp-flavored edge as it tells its tale. Thankfully, one does not have to read Conan Doyle's story in order to understand The Baron's Revenge, given various callbacks to the original tale.

It's also a daring book in that it is written (except for one chapter) from Holmes' perspective. Although it would have been easy to fall into cliche and write Holmes as exceptionally omniscient, Lovisi does Holmes a great service by writing the detective at the proper emotional tone. It is easy to "hear" Holmes narrating the story. Rob Davis' illustrations throughout the book provide it with the right sense of pace and atmosphere, almost making it seem like a "lost" edition of The Strand Magazine. (Thankfully, it is a relatively quick read - I finished it within two days while commuting back and forth to downtown Chicago).

Read more...

"A Clear Statement of His Career" [FINA]

One of the highlights of both Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Season Two of the BBC's Sherlock series are their unique takes on "The Adventure of the Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House." However, there is a third entry which simply serves as a powerful dramatization of these two stories....simply by focusing on the simplicity of Conan Doyle's words.

Big Finish is a company out of England that writes and produces audio dramas around a variety of franchises, most notably Doctor Who.  Their kickoff to the second "series" of Sherlock Holmes adventures is a double disc set of The Final Problem/The Empty House. Quite simply, this is simply an excellent dramatization of one of the highlights of the canon, and well worth a listen.

Much of the power of this audio comes not just from drawing from the canon, but also in its staging - beginning with the sound of pen scratching against paper, followed by Watson's (Richard Earl) narration, the story kicks into high gear. It's a moody, atmospheric approach that simply grabs the listener's attention and will not let go. Part of the success is also the way in which Nicholas Briggs plays Holmes - in these stories, rather than play it large, Briggs performs Holmes at almost a whisper pitch, and it is this approach that makes this audio set enthralling, so much so that you will be sorely tempted to order the other audios in the series.

One of the great aspects of the canon is that it can be adapted and molded towards a modern sensibility (witness Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' Sherlock); however, what Nicholas Briggs and Big Finish have done is to make it appealing to a modern ear by focusing on the clarity and simplicity of the original language, making this as much as testament to the skill of Conan Doyle's writing as much as to the appeal of his characters. The fact that his language seems so appropriate to a 21st century medium - and audience - makes this a clear statement of Conan Doyle's career as an author.

If you are looking for a great listen either for traveling or commuting, please head to Big Finish's web site to order - they allow you to purchase either CD or digital download, and you will not be disappointed.

Especially since the audio does something very few adaptations do - draw upon the strength of Conan Doyle's writing style. Eerily atmospheric, this audio is worth adding to your collection.

Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related.


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"If the Matter Is Beyond Humanity..." [DEVI]

Very few Sherlockians would make the argument for Holmes as a vehicle to discuss religious or spiritual principles. In fact, quite the opposite - Holmes may be seen as the ultimate in rational thinkers, keeping himself within this world and staying within the realm of sheer intellect.

That would be a mistake, for as Stephen Kendrick suggests in his book Holy Clues, many spiritual lessons can be learned from Holmes' approach. (Recently, I had an opportunity to revisit the book, having read it a few years ago)

Subtitled "The Gospel According to Sherlock Holmes," the book uses Holmes' approach - with a liberal helping of other thinkers - to suggest a way of approaching spirituality through a more skeptical lens. Granted, the book may tactfully avoid the darker aspects of the canon, but Kendrick provides multiple examples of ways in which a Holmesian approach may strengthen one's spiritual convictions.

Thankfully, there is an open approach towards integrating different trains of spiritual thought, with Zen/Buddhist concepts given equal weight with Judeo-Christian ideas. It's a book that provides a great deal of enlightenment, and that may spark a great deal of debate and discussion amongst Holmes aficionados.

Granted, this is an unusual approach to the canon - treating it as a way of determining a spiritual lifestyle. Kendricks, however, manages to perform an impressive feat in Holy Clues, suggesting that matters beyond humanity are not necessarily beyond anyone....including Holmes.

Very highly recommended.

Have you read it? We would be interested in your opinion in the comments below.

Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related.


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"Smith Within My Grasp" [DYIN]

The notion of finding one of Dr. Watson's lost manuscripts has long been something akin to the search for the Holy Grail and something that has fueled more than its fair share of pastiches. [That link goes to a database of Sherlockian pastiches kept by Michael Procter; it is also one of the helpful links on our Resources page, which is at the top of the navigation of the site.]

Now we have something even better: a lost publication of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. This isn't just any publication; this is his very first novel, written in 1883 when he was 23 years old and living in Portsmouth, trying to establish himself as a doctor and a writer. Unfortunately, his manuscript was lost in the mail on the way to the publisher, never to see the light of day.

Click to order

Not to be outdone, Conan Doyle later rewrote The Narrative of John Smith entirely from memory, but his novel was never published in his lifetime. Well, as an ardent believer in spiritualism, Conan Doyle must be among us today, smiling at the prolonged delay of his very first work as a novelist.

The book concerns John Smith, a fifty-year-old man confined to his room by an attack of gout. He explores a range of topics such as literature, science, religion, war, and education in a style that should be familiar to anyone who knows him through his later works - particularly the Sherlock Holmes stories.

We're intrigued with what this early work holds, and we'll look forward to presenting you with some additional views on it next month as I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere welcomes Jon Lellenberg and Daniel Stashower, two of the editors/annotators of the novel, to discuss their findings. You may recall Jon and Dan joining Episode 13 of the show to discuss their other book Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters.

Will you read this new treasure?



Image credit: Boston Public Library (Flickr)


When you make purchases from the links we share, it provides us with a stream of revenue to help keep this site running. Thank you for your generosity.
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"The Signature is Typewritten" [IDEN]

The current state of Unders

[Editor's note: Updated with current photos, courtesy of Catherine Cooke, BSI ("The Book of Life")]

We've previously mentioned the plight of Undershaw in these pages. The home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for a decade - and a decade of very prominent work - is in a terrible state of disrepair and under threat of development rather than preservation.

For a very thorough history on the situation, please take a look at "An Effort to Preserve It" [IDEN] written by Jacquelynn Morris, the U.S. representative for the Undershaw Preservation Trust. It gives a good background of what's happened to date.

We have been regularly active about and supportive of these efforts here. Other posts, in chronological order, include:

• "Possibly You Have Seen Pictures and Read Descriptions of the Old Building" [MUSG]
• "...You've Surely Saved the Lodge" [VALL]
• "Let Us Now See the Letter" [TWIS]
• "I Can Hardly Explain It" [NOBL]
• "Shall I Sign Here?" [BLAC]
• "Sombre Face of the Old House" [VALL]
• "An Effort to Preserve It" [IDEN]

The lead image above and the three images below show the sad current state of the building and the grounds of Undershaw. They were taken in Hindhead on Saturday, September 10, 2011 by Catherine Cooke. Click the images to enlarge.

    

 
Undershaw Needs Your Help
This historic building faces near destruction if we don't do something now. There are a few simple things you can do to help.

1. Sign the petition to show your support by Friday September 16, 2011.
2. When signing the petition, if you log in with your Facebook account, you can share it as a status update.
3. Share this post with everyone you know and tell them something like this:

If you believe that Undershaw, former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Homes, should be saved from development, please sign this petition! We need as many American Sherlockians as possible to sign this no later than Friday, September 16. Share this with all your U.S. Sherlockian friends! 

The petition now includes the ability for Americans (unlike the one mentioned in "Shall I Sign Here?" [BLAC] that only applied to British citizens and ex-pats. If you would like to help save this historic monument to a particularly creative time in Conan Doyle's life - one that included The Hound of the Baskervilles, please do your part to help get the word out.

We all bear some responsibility in keeping his memory alive.

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"My Great Teacher" [CREE]

Many Sherlockians are aware of how much influence Joseph Bell - one of Conan Doyle's medical teachers - had on the development on Holmes. In fact, it would be quite fascinating to postulate the kind of relationship that Bell & Doyle had, perhaps even as a precursor to the kind of relationship Doyle portrayed between Holmes and Watson....

Thankfully, a series of movies produced by the BBC a decade ago help redress that, and provide an entertaining slant on the Holmes/Watson Relationship.

The series begins with 2000's Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes - Dr. Bell & Mr. Doyle, starring Robin Laing as Conan Doyle and Ian Richardson as Joseph Bell. Focusing on Doyle's experiences as a medical student, this is actually quite a gripping drama. There's a real-life twist in the plot (which is revealed by a caption at the end), but Ian Richardson takes a very strong Holmesian turn as Dr. Bell. (It doesn't hurt that he had portrayed Holmes some twenty years earlier). The script works because we are so familiar with the material (a consulting detective/his comrade in arms/that unique relationship with the police) that the premise seems all too familiar...and the twist that Bell/Doyle are showing their "influence" over Holmes and Watson doesn't seem forced or inevitable.

One year later, Charles Edwards would take over the role of Doyle, and BBC made four Bell/Doyle movies under the umbrella title Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes. These four movies expand their relationship - we see Doyle's early life as a physician, but more importantly, we see a much greater fondness emerge between teacher and former student. Links to Holmes - and Doyle - are much more apparent in these films: "The Patient's Eyes" takes its central image from "The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist"; Doyle's nascent interest in spiritualism is hinted at in "The Photographer's Chair"; "The Kingdom of Bones" seems to contain elements of Doyle's later Professor Challenger work and foreshadows The Valley of Fear; and "The White Knight Strategem" seems to contain a slightly Moriarity-esque figure.

Sadly, although further Bell/Doyle adventures are hinted at, no further productions were made, nor are there plans to continue. However, for those who want a different flavor of Holmesian adventure - or who wish to imagine the influence that Joseph Bell truly had on Doyle's work - these two DVD sets (Dr. Bell & Mr. Doyle is not included in the same set as Murder Rooms) are quite excellent, and are some "hidden gems" that belong on your video shelf.

      

Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related.

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"Strangeness with Mystery" [STUD]

Sorting through the various Holmesian pastiches, parodies, and mashups can be often be a challenge - trying to find that almost perfect application of Conan Doyle's style to a mixture of different characters can be daunting.

Several years ago, Neil Gaiman - whose cross-genre work includes Sandman, American Gods, and Neverwhere, and who is receiving major attention for his script for Doctor Who - wrote a Hugo-winning short story that is a fine mixture of strangeness with mystery, and which is (believe it or not) available for your enjoyment via the Internet.

Originally presented in the Shadows Over Baker Street anthology, "A Study in Emerald" (available for download as a PDF via Mr. Gaiman's site) is more than just a near-copy of "A Study in Scarlet"; it is one of the most clever integrations of Holmesian detection and H.P. Lovecraft's "Cthulhu mythos", bringing strangeness and mystery together in a pretty engaging short story.

Unlike many other pastiches, Gaiman is able to mimic Conan Doyle's tone almost perfectly, and there are plenty of Sherlockian references within the story to make this appealing to both lifelong and casual fans. "Emerald" deftly integrates the otherworldly dread of Lovecraft with the canon's Victorian atmosphere, creating a tale that is quite an enjoyable read. The PDF download also contains some clever "advertisements" that contain references to other Victorian-era fantastic literature.

(There is also a clever twist within the tale that....well, much like the advertisements, is best enjoyed by reading the tale and not spoiled within a review).

"A Study in Emerald" may not seem like a major work, but it does what the greatest of canon does - for a few moments, it takes us back to a time where it is still 1895 and which - despite Holmes' advice to the contrary - deftly mixes strangeness and mystery.

With the result being an enjoyable read for Sherlockians and fantasy fans alike.

Editor's note: Gordon regularly covers the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the entertainment industry. You can also find him at Blog THIS, Pal! and Comic Related.


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"An Effort to Preserve It" [IDEN]

[Editor's note: Jacquelynn Morris, ASH is an Undershaw Preservation Trust Representative—Maryland, USA. She is also the sparking plug behind A Scintillation of Scions.]

The Undershaw Preservation Trust

It was an old, tumbledown building in a crazy state of disrepair… the grass-grown drive in front of the blotched and weather-stained door…the whole place was depressing.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once wrote these words about Wisteria Lodge, but they have come to be sadly prophetic about a house nearer and dearer to his heart. Not Wisteria Lodge, but Undershaw, the home designed by and lived in by Conan Doyle and his family for over ten years, during which time he wrote some of his most memorable work.

Undershaw came into being after a conversation Conan Doyle had with his friend, novelist Grant Allen, in 1895. Allen suffered from tuberculosis, the illness which left Conan Doyle’s wife, Louise, an invalid for the last 15 years of her life. In this conversation Conan Doyle had with Allen, Allen claimed the healthy air of Hindhead, in Surrey, England, cured him of tuberculosis.

At a time when wealthy tuberculosis sufferers were encouraged to go to the Swiss Alps for a better chance of survival, Conan Doyle himself had taken to moving the family about for Louise’s health from Switzerland to Egypt. Hindhead certainly offered an alternative closer to London.

Immediately after this conversation with Grant Allen, Conan Doyle visited Hindhead, about 40 miles south of London, and decided it was his “English Switzerland.” He purchased a plot of land where he planned to have a house built and drafted the first designs of the house himself before passing them on to architect and friend Joseph Henry Ball to complete.

Read more...

"This Insignificant-Looking Man Inspired Me" [GREE]

[Editor's note: we're pleased to welcome another contributor to our site. "Athenae" shares her own insights and opinions on Sherlock Holmes at Finding Sherlock. If you would like a chance to be considered as a contributor, please see our About page above.]

Sherlock Holmes is a myth, a demi-god; a fictitious, heartless, blindly intelligent, insightful and confident Übermensch. Everything we want and need to be in a rapidly changing technologically-driven world. He could never be real.

Or could he?

When Conan Doyle was attending the University of Edinburgh as a medical student he attended a class with Dr. Joseph Bell. According to Doyle’s 1892 Interview with the Bookman:

[Bell] would sit in the patients’ waiting-room with a face like a Red Indian and diagnose the people as they came in, before even they had opened their mouths. He would tell them their symptoms, he would give them details of their lives and he would hardly ever make a mistake…His great faculty of deduction was at times highly dramatic. ‘Ah!’ he would say to another man, ‘you are a soldier, a non-commissioned officer, and you have served in Bermuda. Now how did I know that, gentlemen? He came into the room without taking his hat off, as he would go into an orderly room. He was a soldier. A slight authoritative air, combined with his age, shows that we was an N.C.O. A slight rash on the forehead tells me he was in Bermuda, and subject to a certain rash known only there.’ So I got the idea for Sherlock Holmes.

Bell was well known for more than just being the original Sherlock Holmes.  He was also considered to be an expert witness, who often took the stand at some of the more sensational murder trials during the latter half of the century.

For more information on the Bookman and the origins of Holmes, see our recommended reading below. - Ed.

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Available from
Wessex Press

    

"The Remains of the Original Inscription" [GOLD]

Next week there is an event on the calendar that every Sherlockian collector should mark well. It has nothing to do with when a particular story took place or an event of the past that has significance.

No, one week from today is when one of the rarest items of modern fiction - and certainly the rarest of Holmesian works - goes under the hammer at Sotheby's in London. For on July 15, 2010, an inscribed copy of A Study in Scarlet will be up for auction. The expected sale price? £250,000 to £400,000.

This story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print, and this is the only known inscribed copy of the original work. Randall Stock's excellent website The Best of Sherlock has the comprehensive writeup about this particular item (as well as many others). Sotheby's itself has a video preview of the item as well. Please click through to view it.

From Randall's website comes a description of the item:

This copy, the property of a private collector in New England, is bound in three-quarter morocco gilt that was probably done at the same time as Conan Doyle's inscription.  That inscription, "This is the very first independent book of mine which ever was published" appears on an extra leaf bound-in at front and is signed "Arthur Conan Doyle. | Jan 9 / 14."  Following the original cover are 26 pages of front-matter, including advertisements, the title page, table of contents, and frontispiece illustration.  The complete text of the original magazine (pp. [1]-138) then appears along with all the back-matter advertisements (pp. 139-168) and the original back cover.  It is in very fine condition.

We have the distinct pleasure of once having held that very copy in our hands when the collector showed it to us. To say that it made us a little weak in he knees would be an accurate statement. It was a direct connection to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who also once held it in his hands, and it was a marvelous specimen of the near-perfect acquisition.

Below you can take a look at the 5-page section of the Sotheby's catalog relevant to our interest.


Sotheby's Catalog Excerpt - Inscribed edition of A Study in Scarlet

If you're interested in more information, we suggest you use Randall's site as the main point of reference. In addition to everything regarding the provenance of the book (including previous owners and their affiliation with the Baker Street Irregulars) and the proceedings of the auction, he also has a good deal of press clippings about the event. It should be interesting to see how much this item sells for and whether it winds up in the hands of another private collector or in an institution's collections.

Any guesses on the final sale price?

"Recalled Recollections" [STUD]

As you may know, today marks the 151st anniversary of the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. We won't spend too much time on the subject this year (because frankly, we did that last year), but we'll provide you with a few links to honor his memory. Often regarded tongue-in-cheek by the Baker Street Irregulars as the "literary agent" for Dr. John Watson, he is was a man of great talent in a variety of areas, most notably in his writing.

Here are a few sites with more information on Sir Arthur:

• Previous entries on the Baker Street Blog labeled "Conan Doyle." From our other birthday greetings, to biographies, to the issues surrounding his fabled home, you'll find it here.
• A comprehensive page of links, laid out in narrative and list styles from Sherlockian.net.
• The May 22nd entry from This Day in History.
• The Arthur Conan Doyle Society
• Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, Toronto Public Library
• The Conan Doyle Crowborough Establishment
• And what would a list of references be, without the obligatory Wikipedia entry for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?

Do you have any favorite links or sites that you'd like to share? Please add them in as a comment below.

"You'll Feel Bullier" [STUD]

In a recent New York Times article, the question of the rights of the characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories was investigated ("For the Heirs of Holmes, a Tangled Web").

As any news story about the rights to Sherlock Holmes does, this one included the name of Andrea Plunket, the widow of Sheldon Reynolds, who claims to hold some copyrights, despite being denied repeatedly by U.S. federal courts. Of course, Sheldon Reynolds was the producer of the 1950s Sherlock Holmes series starring Ronald Howard. You can find the complete series by clicking here.

And as Plunket goes, so goes Lellenberg: Jon Lellenberg, BSI ("Rodger Prescott") manages the literary estate of the Conan Doyle family here in the U.S. and he's more than familiar with Ms. Plunket's claims. However, it would seem that he's not familiar with a use of Sherlock Holmes in some recent advertising - something that he said "definitely should" be licensed:

Asked about a recent Red Bull television commercial that features a cartoon Holmes and Watson, Mr. Lellenberg said he had not seen it. “Very interesting,” he said. “News to me.”

Here, for your consideration (and for Jon's as well) is that Red Bull ad.




And speaking of advertising, you might pick up a copy of the 2009 Baker Street Journal Christmas Annual, "Did You Notice Nothing Curious About That Advertisement?" In it, Peggy Perdue takes a look at the various incarnations of Holmes in the marketing and advertising world.

"Sombre Face of the Old House" [VALL]

And now for something completely different - a Baker Street Blog post that's not about the movie.

Alexian Gregory, BSI ("The Grimpen Postmaster") has forwarded along a petition to help save Undershaw, the home that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's designed in 1897 and in which he wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1902. The home is now in danger of falling into the hands of developers, as it has not achieved the appropriate grade for saving as an historic home.

You can click here to view the petition and sign it electronically. If you choose, you can also donate a nominal amount through PayPal. The text of the petition is here:

'Undershaw' the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and spiritualist's greatest ambassador is under threat from the property developers who plan to split the house up and build apartments in the heart of the Surrey countryside in the middle of National Trust land. The organisation Hindhead Together and many local supporters would like to see this historical house restored to it's former glory and opened to the public as a museum and tea rooms welcoming visitors worldwide.

The developers are due to submit their plans to the planning department very shortly. This petition is to object to private residential dwellings and to prevent 'Undershaw' from being split up and to retain public access to the grounds and building.

It is intended to forward this petition to Russell Morris, the Historical Buildings Officer of the local planning office as and when the plan for the housing complex becomes registered.

Mr John Gibson FRICS has set up and registered 'The Undershaw Preservation Trust' with the government as a Museum and Cafeteria. We desperately need your help, please visit the blog to find out how you can help us support this valuable cause.

Please take the time to read up on this important effort and do what you can to help support it.

Related posts:
"I Can Hardly Explain It" [NOBL] - February 7, 2007
"Shall I Sign Here?" [BLAC] - February 21, 2007
"Possibly You Have Seen Pictures and Read Descriptions of the Famous Old Building" [MUSG] - July 6, 2006

"A Sheet of Stamps" [SIGN]

In recent news Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, noted author and creator of Sherlock Holmes - and a Scot, no less! - has been given the honor of his own stamp. The stamp, pictured left, is part of a series from the Royal Mail called "Eminent Britons."

For Sherlockians, the association of philately and the great detective should be nothing new. Holmes and Watson were inveterate users of the communications methods of their day - particularly the post and telegrams. For those who are interested, Hernry Lauritzen, BSI ("The Royal Family of Scandinavia") wrote a landmark piece called The Philatelic Holmes, which is available on Amazon.com (just click the link).

Or for more web-minded folks, you can find a comprehensive site called Detective Fiction on Stamps, on which Holmes has his own section, aptly enough called The Philatelic Sherlock Holmes. There you'll find examples of Sherlock Holmes stamps and Arthur Conan Doyle stamps from Nicaragua, San Marino, Great Britain, Canada, Monaco and many other countries around the world.

I guess you could say that with his creation, Conan Doyle put his own stamp on the world. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

What are those four-letter abbreviations in the headlines?

"We Have, Of Course, Wired" [CARD]

There's a new article out in Wired magazine that takes a look at our little hobby: Scott Brown on Sherlock Holmes, Obsessed Nerds, and Fan Fiction.

He mentions the cult-like approach of other fans - namely invoking Lost and Star Trek as examples of enthusiasts gone wild. But he notes that before any of those came along, there was the cult of Sherlock Holmes, in which these "19th century proto-nerds" sought out parodies and pastiches and obsessed over details and continuity in the 60 tales.

It makes for an interesting read, but I'm not sure if I object more to the "nerd" or the "obsessed" label.