I was pleased to receive the latest issue of the Passenger's Log, the journal of the Sydney Passengers. It contains my second article on the people ACD met in Australia, the first being on Victor Cromer (https://221bcooee.blogspot.com/2023/08/plans-for-articles-on-wanderings-of.html).
221B Cooee
A place to reflect on all things Sherlockian, Holmesian, Doyleian, Mycroftian, Watsonian, and more. There will probably be an emphasis on books!
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Thomas P Bellchambers - new article in the Passenger's Log
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Curtis Armstrong's B-list villains - Red Circle March 2024
At the March 2024 luncheon of the Red Circle scion (www.redcircledc.org) at Alfio's La Trattoria in Chevy Chase, we were privileged to have Curtis Armstrong BSI as our presenter. Curtis has appeared in numerous stage, television and film productions including Risky Business, Revenge of the Nerds, Supernatural and Ray. Curtis has written extensively on Sherlock Holmes, P.G. Wodehouse and Washington Irving.
Curtis delivered a speech at the 2024 Baker Street Irregulars annual dinner in New York. The presentations at the BSI dinner are not recorded. Thankfully, Curtis travelled to DC to reprise the presentation. In fact, it wasn't just a reprise for the Red Circle, as Curtis added to his BSI speech.
Curtis examined the Canon's "lesser" villains, and provided a detailed and irreverent overview of the "The B List" villains who didn't quite reach the top (or is it the bottom?) of the ignoble heap. Every Sherlockian is familiar with The Great Detective's most notorious opponents: Moriarty, Moran, Milverton (his collection of "M"s is a fine one!) and the venomous Baron Gruner. But what of the lesser lights? What of all those run-of-the-Canon miscreants?
This wasn't a speech, it was a performance! It was hilarious, Sherlockian, and true to the canon. It is a masterpiece. I recorded Curtis' presentation, and my close mate Kyle Brimacombe produced the video. With Curtis' permission - it is posted on the Red Circle Youtube channel and is now available to watch, right here. Enjoy!!
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
My first toast - Watson's Tin Box meeting for April 2024
The Watson's Tin Box of Ellicott City, Maryland met on Monday night, April 15 2024. The story up for discussion at the meeting was The Adventure of the Yellow Face.
Each Tin Box meeting includes a presentation by a member. The highlight of the evening was a wonderful presentation by Olivia Millunzi who gave a stunning and detailed presentation identifying the times and places of events in The Yellow Face, and even identified which yellow fever epidemic was responsible for killing John Hebron! To do all this Olivia used her knowledge of American records, newspapers and genealogy records to systematically nail down the details of the Georgia backstory. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Olivia write this up for publication.... somewhere! I think it should be in BSJ - it was the best Sherlockian research presentation I've seen in a while.
The other item I wanted to post was my toast to "The Woman". This is the first time I've written an original toast (I've given one or two others at meetings, but used a simple "To The Woman", or used a toast (with credit) from the excellent Sherlock Toast Database run by Ross Davies (http://www.rossdavies.org/toasts). But this is my first toast, and I've submitted it to the database!
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies by Frances Griffiths
I have always been intrigued by the Cottingley Fairies and the beautifully composed photos. What I didn't know until I entered the Doylean world is the role that Arthur Conan Doyle played in bringing these photos to the world through articles in the Strand Magazine, and ultimately his book titled 'The Coming of the Faeries'.
They did stand investigation.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
New book - this world of storytelling
A new Arthur Conan Doyle manuscript has been published in facsimile form, which I received in the mail this week. 'This work of storytelling' is not a facsimile of a Doylean story, but non-fiction: the manuscript of a speech that ACD delivered to the Authors' Club in London on June 29, 1896. The book was prepared and edited by Cathy and Glen Miranker, who own the manuscript in question (you see Glen's wonderful talk to the Red Circle scion on why he collects books here: 221bcooee.blogspot.com/2023/05/why-does-glen-miranker-collect-books.html ).
The book is published by Wessex Press and can be ordered here: www.wessexpress.com/html/Miranker2.html . The book is nothing short of beautiful, containing 62 pages of highest quality glossy paper (I'm sure Sherlock could examine the watermark and tell us more), casebound (i.e. hardcover) with a white dust jacket, and color illustrations (including of the manuscript pages) throughout. The publication quality is magnificent.
Along with the manuscript images and facsimile, the book includes a wonderful set of essays:
"Clubbable Friends: Arthur Conan Doyle and Douglas Sladen" by Peggy Macfarlane Purdue and Cathy Miranker
"Arthur Conan Doyle at the Author’s Club" by Andrew Lycett
"Better Things: Conan Doyle in 1896" by Daniel Stashower
"The Adventure of the Misplaced Inscription" by Michael A. Meer
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow of the Wolf
I recently received some booklets from an exceptionally kind person who will remain nameless, and I try to ensure I pay that bookish kindness forward.
Among the items was a chapbook entitled 'Sherlock Holmes and The Shadow of the Wolf' by Ron Weighell (1950-2020), which I've been keeping an eye out for as part of my interest publications from the Sherlockian Society called The Northern Musgraves (see 221bcooee.blogspot.com/2024/01/my-musgrave-monograph-monomania-second.html). This small publication contains a pastiche titled 'Sherlock Holmes and The Shadow of the Wolf'. I recently spoke to Chris Roden who informed me that WEIGHELL was pronounced like 'Whale'. Weighell was a writer of the supernatural, fantasy and horror genres, but also produced a series of Sherlockian stories that incorporated supernatural and horror elements.
Weighell published a Sherlockian supernatural story titled The Case of the Fiery Messengers in 1990. In 1992, the Northern Musgraves Society organized ‘Aspects of Holmes’ weekend Sherlockian conference, which took place in Bradford, England. As part of the weekend's events, the organizers commissioned Weighell to produce a story to be read out at the society's annual dinner. That story was 'Shadow of the Wolf', and it was also 'published and presented to members attending the Society's Aspects of Holmes weekend on 28 March 1992'.
The book was edited by David Stuart Davies and Kathryn White, and type-set by Chris Roden. I can find no mention of the publication of this book in Northern Musgraves periodicals, nor does the review of the 'Aspects of Holmes' weekend contain a mention of Weighell. I can also find no advertisement of the publication being for purchase, nor reviews on the story. The description above notes it was 'presented to members', and so the print run is unknown but may be relatively low.
The story was so positively received that Weighell to wrote more Sherlock Holmes stories and these (including both 'Fiery Messengers' and 'Shadow of the Wolf) were collected as The Irregular Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, published by Calabash Press in 2000 (and re-printed in 2018 by Zagava Press).
There is a plot summary available at www.schoolandholmes.com/weighell.html that provides a summary of the plot (SPOILER ALERT): "Holmes is summoned to Yorkshire to investigate an apparent werewolf killing. The victim was found in his bedroom, the house surrounded by unmarked snow. His mother keeps a conservatory of exotic plants, some of which have recently started dying. Also in the house is the boy's invalid artist father who tells Holmes that a werewolf curse has been passed down from his ancestors and that he is responsible, and his sister who believes that her mother is responsible for her brother's death. Holmes sets up a night-time vigil, but is unable to prevent another death. Holmes tells Watson of his visit to Tibet during the hiatus, his attempts to track the yeti at the request of the Dalai Lama, and of a murder that occurred on the hunt, and which he has allowed to distort his judgement in the current case. A cutlery theft finally puts Holmes on the killer's trail."
Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Motets of Lassus
In the Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, Watson writes "I remember that during the whole of that memorable day {Sherlock} lost himself in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus." At the conclusion of the case, Watson says that "As to Holmes, he returned refreshed to his monograph upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus, which has since been printed for private circulation, and is said by experts to be the last word upon the subject."
What is a motet? A motet is an unaccompanied vocal composition that evolved from and used sacred Latin text in some form. Renaissance motets were sung entirely in Latin. There's a great Trifles podcast that discusses the motets of lassus: https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2019/12/episode-182-polyphonic-motets-of-lassus.html
But how did these motets sound?
Well after my visit to Toronto we headed to Ottawa for two days, and visited the National Gallery of Canada. There we found the Rideau Chapel, transported from a nineteenth century convent slated for demolition. The Chapel itself was beautiful, but permeating the entire gallery was a sound sculpture hosted in the Rideau Chapel - a forty part motet. This motet involves forty voices, each recorded as individual tracks and played on forty speakers arrayed around the chapel. It was created by artist Janet Cardiff, adapted from "Spem in Alium" (Latin for 'Hope in any other') composed by Thomas Tallis, 'composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each' (for more information see the Wiki page on the original work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spem_in_alium ). The original motet was composed around the time that Lassus was active.
Through my two videos below, you can hear why Sherlock enjoyed their overpowering majesty, and would have been moved to write a monograph on the topic.
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at the Toronto Public Library
I've previously posted about the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at Toronto Public Library, and the 'Friends' of that Collection (https://221bcooee.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-magic-door-newsletter-and-edinburgh.html).
Well, I'm on a 'spring break' vacation visiting a couple of Canadian cities with the family. 'Spring' is misleading advertising as it's cold and snow. One upside of the trip is that I was lucky enough to visit the Toronto Public Library (on Mon 25th March), and received a tour from Jessie Amaolo (Services Specialist with the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection) and Peggy MacFarlane (who is the Senior Services Specialist, Collections). I met Jessie in January at her first BSI Weekend, and Peggy is well known for her contributions to the ACD Society and her talents include preparing jockeys and steeds for the annual Doylean Honors/Wessex Cup.
The history of the ACD Collection is well covered at both the TPL site (https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/books-video-music/specialized-collections/literature-genre-doyle.jsp) and the site for the Friends of the collection (http://www.acdfriends.org). Briefly, this remarkable collection totals over 25,000 items and is growing. It was formed around a library purchase of a few hundred books belonging to Arthur Vincent Baillie (of whom I can find nothing) in 1969 and it has never looked back. The Library receives donations, but also actively purchases items to fill out its collection, and some of the many gems include original Doyle manuscripts, notebooks, a copy of Beeton's Christmas annual, and an illustration by each of Paget and Dorr Steele!
The main room is beautiful (see above) and custom built with a design nod towards the 221B study. The walls are lined with books by Doyle, along with Doylean and Sherlockian publications. Matilda and Tessa joined me for the visit, and I spent some time learning about the collection. It's truly remarkable that the TPL is dedicated to maintaining and building the ACD Collection - one of the finest and largest in the world.
When I arrived, Jessie had pulled some items from the stored items to show me. What they were I did not know, and they were arranged in their storage boxes and packets on the desk.
The first item opened absolutely floored me. Jessie opened a complex document box to lift out and reveal a beautiful copy of the 1887 Beeton's Christmas Annual complete - among other things the world's most expensive magazine. This copy has its original wrappers and advertisements. The cover was so bright and fresh, and 'A Study in Scarlet' can still be seen on the spine. According to Randall Scott, this was the copy used by Edgar W Smith to produce the 1960 BSI facsimile (www.bestofsherlock.com/beetons-christmas-annual.htm#R15). While I was too scared to touch or turn the pages, my hosts were happy to open the copy to the title page and reveal the facing illustration, and point out some of the quaint advertisements.
I was given the opportunity to hold the Beeton's for a photo. I was so amazed (probably evident in my dimpled face), but was too scared to hold the magazine much beyond the horizontal despite encouragement.
The next item was volume 1 of the original manuscript for ACD's Angels of Darkness. This was an early play that is NOT Sherlockian, but features a Dr. Watson and many of the names and Utah events from A Study in Scarlet. The manuscript was beautifully hand-written in an exercise book style notebook. The Baker Street Irregulars Press have published a facsimilie of part of this mansucript (bakerstreetirregulars.com/2001/12/30/angels-of-darkness) in 2001. I'm intrigued by the pages removed from the beginning. The TPL was bequeathed this manuscript by Anna Conan Doyle, Adrian Conan Doyle's widow, and the Library received the manuscript in 1992.
Next is a piece of ephemera that was acquired relatively recently by the library. It is an undated letter from ACD to Sidney Paget on a single sheet of notepaper. The letter was written from Undershaw, Hindhead, Haslemere, and relates to payment for the acquisition of an illustration by Paget. It is presumably related to a Sherlockian illustration but it isn't explicitly stated. While it is undated, ACD lived at Undershaw from 1897-1907.
"My dear Paget. The picture has arrived and is much admired. Our arrangement was 50 guineas, but I was a note from you as to the expense of frame, carriage & incidentals of all sorts. With humblest regards... A Conan Doyle".
I also looked through several of Arthur Conan Doyle's notebooks, including from around 1923 when ACD visiting North America. The contents are highly varied, and include for example a listed set of dates and places visited. I've shown a couple of other pages below that include ideas for stories. It would be interesting to see whether any of these translated into short stories in the last few years of Doyle's life. A fun writing competition might be to ask authors to write short stories around a single ACD idea.
These story ideas are wonderful ; simply a quick concept, that could be evolved into a story idea, including an early idea for a snuff film???, along with a joke he may have been told.
Story of "To think my sister married one of them"
Story of "I am an Irishman and the son of the Parish Priest"
Story of "Room 15"
Story of the man who was to have 2 months good time and then do suicide for a cinema.
A weary Englishman said "I have heard so often that the Pilgrim Fathers landed on the Plymouth Rock that I heartily wish the Plymouth Rock had landed on the Pilgrim Fathers.
So with a collection like this, I asked, is there anything that TPL need to complete the collection? Perhaps a living collection like this is never complete, but Jessie hinted that a manuscript page from Hound of the Baskervilles would be a perfect addition to the collection. So if anyone out there....
Thank you to Peggy and Jessie for an educational and Doylean morning! And don't forget to join the Friends of the ACD Collection: www.acdfriends.org
And with that, a shelfie-to-die-for that I snapped wandering past the shelves on the way out.
Thomas P Bellchambers - new article in the Passenger's Log
I was pleased to receive the latest issue of the Passenger's Log, the journal of the Sydney Passengers. It contains my second article on...
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I've previously posted about the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at Toronto Public Library, and the 'Friends' of that Collection (...
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Don't worry I'm not going to start a podcast !! Sometimes at a scion meeting I'll mention a Sherlockian podcast I listen to, an...