My Sherlockian interpretation of "The Terror of Blue John Gap"

The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (http://acdsociety.com) has a wonderful initiative underway led by Margie Deck and Nancy Holder, transcribing the original manuscript of the ACD short story 'The Terror of Blue John Gap'. The story can be read at the ACD encyclopedia (https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Terror_of_Blue_John_Gap), and the 'Doings of Doyle' podcast has also discussed the story (https://www.doingsofdoyle.com/2021/05/14-terror-of-blue-john-gap-1910.html).

The project run by Margie and Nancy works with the manuscript, releasing a new page from the manuscript held by Dartmouth College every few months. Each release is accompanied by a transcript for that page, and a set of essays. The project can be found here: http://acdsociety.com/bjg/a/bjga.html . The website layout itself is a little unusual, but an introduction to the series can be read on the left, and essays on the right.

Following the Baker Street Irregulars weekend in New York in January 2023, I was amazed to receive an email from Nancy and Margie with the following proposition:"

"When discussing Hardcastle’s decisions towards solving the mystery, our talk invariably led to the question of “How would Sherlock Holmes approach this case?” We are wondering if you would like to write a short commentary for us as to Holmes’s likely methods when presented with this kind of situation."

I spent a little time re-acquainting myself with this gripping story before responding in the affirmative. My essay can now be found associated with page 4 of the project (http://acdsociety.com/bjg/4/bjg4.html) with a breakout here: http://acdsociety.com/bjg/4/4-hall-continued.html

As I read and re-read the story, I came to the Sherlockian realization that Holmes HAD in fact investigated the circs surrounding the Terror of Blue John Gap. Holmes was retired, probably bored (was he really every capable of retirement?) and I have no doubt his indexed volumes contained similar tales. So I evolved my task from wondering HOW Sherlock would approach the case, to identifying evidence that Sherlock HAD investigated the case.

Have a read of my essay and let me know what you think! And thanks so much to Margie and Nancy for including me in their wonderful project.

Was H. Michael Neiditch was a Sherlockian?

I recently went to the wonderful Second Story Books (Rockville, www.secondstorybooks.com ) to lift my spirits and found this set of books I don’t need but that I thought looked nice. It’s a John Murray set published in varying years, and all appear to be purchased in 1973. 

To be honest it was the weird rooster cover that convinced me to buy it - that rooster always intrigued me. There is an excellent book "From Abbey to Wiles" by Nicholas Utechin investigating the artists who created the illustrations for John Murray (https://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/product/abbey-to-wiles/). Note also that this is a complete set despite missing 'A Study in Scarlet' - as the copyright was owned outright and separately, John Murray were not able to publish Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel.

Looking into this great set of books I'd found together, there were two clues about where this book set came from. First, the books were all purchased around August 1973 but not at same time - each had the date of purchase written in the front. Helpfully, one of the book inscriptions states that it  was purchased at Hatchard's, a book store in London. 

I assume by 1974 the books were in East Hampton NY with their owner, as there is a doctor’s receipt inserted in one of the books, for Michael H Neiditch. He appears to have studied at UPenn then Cambridge (68-71) so the timing is correct for a US to UK move. According to Linkedin worked in DC raising funds for the Weizmann Institute of Science, and passed away in 2021. I assume that this set of books came to Second Story Books as art of the estate.

Was H. Michael Neiditch was a Sherlockian? It appears not based on checking with local scions, but the books were clearly very well cared for almost 50 years by an owner who valued the stories. It's nice to make a personal connection through an incidental receipt slipped inside the book, perhaps as a bookmark.

Why Does Glen Miranker Collect Books?

 At the March 2023 meeting of the Red Circle of Washington DC (a Sherlockian scion), renowned book collector Glen Miranker presented on the topic "Why Does Glen Miranker Collect Books?". I captured video and audio of the talk, and my good friend Kyle helped turn this into a video which is available on the Red Circle Youtube channel and posted as part of this post. 

The presentation highlights features of some truly valuable items in Glen's collection. But it also makes an important point - that no matter how valuable or inexpensive an item you own, there may be some wonderful connections to previous owners in that book (criminal or otherwise!). 

You can read more about Red Circle meetings at the official site (http://www.redcircledc.org) and for each meeting you can see Peter Blau's notes on the meeting.

As you will see in the video, after Glen concluded the presentation and answered questions, there was a surprise. Glen slowly unwrapped and unpacked ACD's original manuscript of "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter". It was incredibly exciting to see an original manuscript, and Glen was exceptionally kind to share the experience with the group.

A close-up of the first page of the handwritten story, with title

Three manuscript pages displayed. 

Glen Miranker the generous presenter, posing with his manuscript, the humble author, and the humble author's daughter who was dragged along but appreciated the experience.

If you are in the DC area - or even if you aren't - make a plan to attend a Red Circle luncheon!

On a light note to end this post, over the past two years Glen's AMAZING exhibition of Sherlockian items titled "Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects" has toured the country. I was lucky enough to visit the first exhibition at the Grolier Club in NY in 2022, and purchase a copy of the exhibition catalog. It is a beautiful book, and I took my copy to the Red Circle meeting to ask Glen to sign it. At the moment of signing, Glen was approached by someone else, and he was horrified to find he'd mis-dedicated the book to "Michael Hall" - no problem! Just add a correction! And so I am the owner of an exceedingly rare copy of the exhibition catalog signed by Glen, and with an extra set of GM initials over a correction to the dedication. Centuries from now, an owner will be presenting a presentation on their book collection and wondering how Matt Hall could be so forgetable :)

The cover of the wonderful exhibition catalog.

The unique and collectable dedication signed by Glen!

Hello!

Hello! This is of course a risk. Will I post? Or will this blog haunt me? We will see. I have several blogs for genealogy-related topics that I post to from time to time. I enjoy Agatha Christie, worship modern detectives like Inspector Morse (the TV series and the novels) the world of PD James, Victorian stories such as those by Meade.

But Sherlock Holmes is my passion, and I have found myself getting deeper and deeper into the wider world of Doyle. I enjoy literary studies and manuscript examinations, and am slowly learning how to play the game. I have great difficulty getting excited by pastiches - and perhaps this is simply because I don't have the imagination or skill to write fiction myself.

Where does "221B Cooee" come from? Well, I'm Australian, and always enjoy those Australian connections in the canon.

What will I do with this blog? 

I have several goals. 

First, I hope to write posts on Sherlockian books, new and old. I'm amazed at small personal connections in book ownership. I get excited to read a new book, or unearth an old one, and want to share that. 

Second, my niche passion is books published by the 'Baker Street Irregulars'. This includes books published by the Press, earlier books published under that name, and the Baker Street Journal. I am often frustrated at small print runs and out of print books, and hope to share what I learn about BSI books and their content. I'll share the journey of bringing together all BSI books - of course it might never happen.

Third, I hope to interview people on niche questions I have. Of course, I've thought about a podcast for Sherlockian conversations, but there I'd have less than 5 listeners, and most of the conversations I want to have are to satisfy my own curiosity!

Fourth, if and when I have any Sherlockian publications or other activities I'll be sure to post them here. This will include reports of Sherlockian meetings I attend.

The BSI book collection so far (of course with lots of other books shown here as well - I really do like the Hound of the Baskervilles!)