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!!

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!

To Watson, Mary Morstan may have been "the woman"

But, it turns out there were quite a few "the woman"s over time...

and across the globe.

Do we toast each of Watson's "the woman" ?

We don't have that much brandy!

So let us turn to one that does not risk multitudes of toasts.

To the King of Bohemia she was "the well-known adventuress".

To Sherlock Holmes "she is always the woman".

That woman was the "late Irene Adler".

"With a face that a man might die for"

As Sherlock taught us, “When a woman thinks that her house is on fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values most. A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box."

And as Sherlockians we would of course grab for our drinks. Let us do so, and toast.... "The Woman" !!

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'. 

I was recently reminded of the fairies when reviewing ACD's memoir of his Australian spiritualist tour titled 'Wanderings of a Spiritualist'. That trip to Australia began in September 1920. Before departure Doyle had submitted his article revealing the photographs to the world. He took slides of the Cottingley fairies with him to Australia too: "I have the famous fairy photos also, which will appear in England in the Christmas number of the Strand. I feel as if it were a delay-action mine which I had left behind me. I can imagine the cry of "Fake!" which will arise. But they will stand investigation." 

They did stand investigation. 

The photographs were taken in the village of Cottingley in Yorkshire were cousins Elsie Wright (1901–1988) and Frances Griffiths (1907–1986). Quite remarkably, the two young girls who took the five photographs in 1917 and 1920 using cardboard cutout fairies (and a goblin) maintained that the photographs were genuine from the time they were taken until 1983. 

The photographs brought an incredible amount of attention on the young cousins. As Doyle relates on his return leg to the UK from Australia in 1921: "At Colombo I was interested to receive a Westminster Gazette, which contained an article by their special commissioner upon the Yorkshire fairies. Some correspondent has given the full name of the people concerned, with their address, which means that their little village will be crammed with chars-à-banc, and the peace of their life ruined."

Of course, the story is complex, but the girls had taken the first two photos to convince their parents they'd seen fairies. It was meant to end there, but later the photos were shown to a local group of theosophists, and news spread. Conan Doyle latched onto the news and worked with others to provide a camera for the girls to reunite and take more photos, which they did (the girls never met Conan Doyle). Sworn to secrecy, the two girls did not admit the trick, and were soon not in control of circumstances.

This attention followed the two women as the Cottingley fairies were occasionally re-visited by the media - first newspapers, and then television into the 1970s. In the early 1980s a few events intersected: a photographic expert showed that the original photos had been manipulated to improve their quality (probably by Edward Gardner) ; the younger cousin Frances began to write a memoir that included revealing the secret truth about the photos ; and in doing so Frances corresponded with a Professor of Sociology named Joe Cooper. Cooper jumped the gun and published his own article blowing open the news that the girls had faked the photos in 1982, and how they had done this. 

This TV pieces provides a nice summary of Cottingley fairies, how they were faked, and includes interviews with both Elsie and Frances:

 

When Cooper published his article, Frances abandoned her memoirs, and died shortly afterwards in 1986. The manuscript stayed with the family, and Frances' daughter Christine Lynch coordinated the publication of Frances' account in 2009. 

The book itself is composed of two main sections, along with an excellent series of photographs. 

The first section of approximately 72 pages is a memoir-style narrative written by Frances. Aside from the Cottingley incident, or perhaps it is better to say preceding it, Frances provides a wonderful description of the uncertainty of life as a young girl in England (transplanted from South Africa) living in a village during the First World War. Frances' father was on the Western Front, and she and her mother lived with Elsie's family in one small house. There are some incredibly poignant moments, such as the friendship Frances made with a young man home from the war who she'd visit each afternoon, till he finally succumbed to TB. Frances relates how she was in trouble for playing in the beck (a type of stream) and getting wet, and explained to the adults that she went to play with the fairies. The parents joked about this, and so her cousin Elsie created a fake set of fairies for Frances to pose with - the joke was meant to end there. In the next few years as they gained attention of theosophists, spiritualists, and Conan Doyle, Frances relates the strain of media attention, being followed by reporters, and the feeling of simply being used to serve the end goals of others. The section ends abruptly as Frances describes renewed media attention in the 1970s (when she decided to stop writing after her story was leaked). The narrative is one of a lie told, a promise kept, and a situation totally out of the control of two young girls.

Perhaps the most remarkable point to make is that while the girls both freely admitted in the 1980s that they had faked the photos, Frances explains in her memoirs that she really did see 'little people' in the beck. They were mainly seen out of the corner of the eye (not directly), and largely were made up of small people in regimental file. Given the strain of her father at war, one wonders at the psychological circumstances at play in a very lonely child's mind.

The second section of about 42 pages is a series of recollections of Frances and the fairies related by Frances' daughter Christine (who arranged for the book to be published). Christine describes how the story and events cropped up in her mother's life from time to time - a very unwelcome and stressful event. This section includes sections of letters including from people in Conan Doyle's circle of friends. This section is highly illuminating, shares anecdotes her mother related, reinforced that her mother saw fairies (not the ones that were faked), and her frustration at her cousin Elsie for enjoying the attention that the Cottingley fairies brought.

Arthur Conan Doyle receives mention in the book. Christine states that "Frances constantly expressed amazement that the creator of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes did nothing to encourage the girls to find out more, other than look for more photographs. Doyle never knew that it was Frances and Frances alone who saw fairies. This is because it was Polly Wright (Elsie's mother) who had made the photographs known. Most correspondence was conducted through her and her husband (Frances' aunt and uncle), so it was thought that Ms Elsie, as Doyle called her, saw fairies too, and Elsie did nothing to enlighten them!"

 

Cover page of Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies - Frances Griffiths - In Her Own Words, with additional material by her daughter Christine. Foreword by Patrick Fitzsimons. The cover image is a close-up on a single fairy from the fifth and final photograph taken by the girls, 'The Fairy Bower'.

Title page of Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies - Frances Griffiths - In Her Own Words. The illustration is shows three individuals from Claude Arthur Shepperson's illustrations of dancing girls, from Princess Mary's Gift Book. It was this original illustration that Elsie traced to adapt into the fairies used in the photographs. Through an interesting twist, a story by ACD was included in this book,

Top: Frances' cousin Elsie aged 15 (just prior to the first photograph being taken). Bottom: Illustration from Princess Mary Gift Book that Elsie adapted to create her fairy cut-outs (used in the photo immediately below).

Comparison of two versions of the first Cotingley Fairies photo, with Frances as the subject (well, technically ONE of the subjects along with the fairies).

Frances Griffiths aged 9 in 1917, aroumd the time the first two photos were taken. This photo is a poignant demonstration of just how young Frances was. Her cousin Elsie was around 16 at the time.

It is frustrating that a publication such as this is relatively uncommon. It is certainly ACD-adjacent and an intriguing event for so many reasons. The personal story shared by Frances is wonderful. Her writing is presumably unedited as her draft never went through an editing process in her lifetime. I sincerely hope that a re-print is possible at some stage.

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

Image of the dust jacket front cover.

Image of the dust jacket front cover.

Image of the first pages of the facsimile and transcription of This work of storytelling'. The facsimile is shown and the facing page displays the transcription text.

Image of the first page of Peggy Macfarlane Purdue and Cathy Miranker's essay on Douglas Sladen and his relationship with ACD.

Example illustration displaying Conan Doyle's annotated dinner menu.

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.

Cover of 'Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow of the Wolf' by Ron Weighell. Chapbook with red cover.

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).

Detail of the 'wolf' from the cover of 'Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow of the Wolf' by Ron Weighell. 

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."

Title page of 'Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow of the Wolf' by Ron Weighell. 'This story was specially commissioned by the Northern Musgraves Sherlock Holmes Society and was published and presented to members attending the Society's Aspects of Holmes weekend on 28 March 1992.'

'Ron Weighell has contributed stories to many magazines and anthologies . His much admired tale, The Case of the Fiery Messengers, in which Holmes and Watson encounter the supernatural, appeared in Mystery for Christmas (edited by Richard Dalby: Michael O'Mara Books, 1990). Ron's collection of antiquarian ghost stories, The Empty House, was issued by Rosemary Pardoe's Haunted Library imprint in 1986. His novella, The White Road, will be published by Caermaen Books later this year. Ron lives in Portsmouth, not far from the house where Conan Doyle had his first medical practice. He is now working on a third story in homage to Holmes.'

Finally, the book credits Colin Langeveld for illustrations. I have included two wonderful illustrations below (along with the wolf detail from the cover above). Langeveld provided illustrations for the Northern Musgraves periodicals, and the Shoso-in Bulletin (Japan), among others.

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.

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.

While I can't show ALL these items on a blog post (and I'm not sure anyone wants that anyway), I do want to highlight some of the special things I was shown.

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.

The next item is an absolute beauty - a UK first edition of the Hound of the Baskervilles. The cover design is absolutely beautiful, and while it's my favorite story, I've never held or leafed through a First Edition. If I accidentally found money, this is the book I'd buy. My favorite thing to do is try and trace previous owners of books, and so I want to know: who was Dollie Schiitze who received this book in April 1907. It's a UK print, but the name is solidly German, but Dollie suggests American. I had no luck looking in UK and US censuses. Anyway, the book is beautiful!!

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".

The next unexpected surprise was the autographed manuscript for ACD's short story 'The Parish Magazine'. This is likely the last short story Doyle wrote - it was first published in the Strand in August 1930 (after his death). The handwriting was not dramatically different to that from the 'Angels of Darkness' MS written almost fifty years earlier, and its amazing to think this collection enable these kind of comparisons. This is also a relatively recent acquisition, a gift from the Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection.

A small diversion was made when Peggy held up an item sitting by the fireplace (below) and asked if they knew what it was? They did not. It was demonstrated to them, but still they did not know. It was explained to the girls that it was in fact a set of bellows. Not just any bellows, but bellows that had belonged to ACD, and gifted by a distant family member! They were excited to learn, but also amazed to hold something that ACD himself had held! Bellow is a word used three times in the Canon - for example: "I heard a click of steel and a bellow like an enraged bull".

Next was a truly remarkable item - part ephemera, part book. It was a copy of the Hound of the Baskervilles, with the story enclosed within the toothy grin of the hound head. This item was designed, published and created in limited edition of 20 numbered and signed copies by Jan and Jarmila Sobota.Sobota (1939-2012) was a Czech-Swiss fine bookbinder, known for creating a book from a three-dimensonal work of art. The storage box itself is a work of art.

 

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.

This intrigued me, and presumably a spiritualist comment: (In pencil) "They have made just one mistake - they have mistaken a wayside station for a terminus in the journey of the soul". I cannot find a direct literary quote.

This next item is a remarkable curiosity - a complete set of sixty Sherlock works as what I can only describe as tiny little books. This set of miniature books was created by Barbara Rehab - just look at the scale and detail! There's more information on Rehab's works here: http://www.lorsonbooksandprints.com/raheb.html including a $6500 price tag for a set!

This is awkward, but I'm really as much of a Doylean as anything, so Jessie casually pulled a first edition of The Lost World off the bookshelf to show me. Wow. First time I've seen a copy and I was amazed at how LARGE it was!

What an amazing visit. Peggy invited us to pose at the chair, with one as Sherlock and the other two as Watson and Lestrade. Tessa of course was Sherlock. Many non-serious photos, and one showing just how happy we were.

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.