My fascination with Calabash Press

So here's an interesting little goal I've been working towards. I adore the Calabash Press titles, and decided to "catch 'em all", to use a Pokemonian phrase. I also recognized that my NUMBER GOAL of collecting all books published by the Baker Street Irregulars Press was a little naive and may not ever be achievable (more on how that is going in a future post).

The first Calabash books that really caught my attention were the 'Case Files of Sherlock Holmes' series - four of which were published, each with a collection of essays on a Sherlock story. I am also an avid follower of David Stuart Davies' work, and after reading 'The Tangled Skein' I made the connection that these wonderful books were being published by the same place (though am embarrassed to say I'm not into vampire stories).

As I looked into other Calabash titles, I found it difficult to find more information. Based on the books published, Calabash published from around 1996-2004, were "Publishers of fine books on matters related to Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle", and it was run by Christopher & Barbara Roden. I worked through library catalogs such as Toronto and Minnesota to build a list of all published titles, and expanded that (though not shown here) to attempt to identify which were published in hardcover, which in softcover, and which in both.

Sourcing the books in the list has of course not been straightforward. Some could be purchased immediately, but at great cost, but I've been searching patiently for reasonable prices, and am close to having a complete set. I did buy one book at a high price (well, for me it was high!) - believing I'd never see it again - and of course the lesson was that someone else was selling a much cheaper copy a week later.

I should add that my collection is not complete! There are still two titles that I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting to purchase when an addordable copy is available, and being the completist that I am doomed to be, there are publications where I do not yet have both the HC and SC copies. But I'm certainly almost there!

(I'll edit/replace this photo as the other books are added in. One or two I are shelved elsewhere. It breaks my mind that the 'Canadian Holmes' volume does not have the cursive 'Calabash Press' logo at the bottom of the spine.)

Below is a list of titles I've identified, and I'd appreciate any suggestions relating to errors. I've divided the list for convenience into Sherlockian titles, and Pastiche titles. I have to confess to having little patience for pastiches (though there are a few exceptions to that rule), but nevertheless I'm gathering all of them.

Calabash Press - the Sherlockian titles

The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Musgrave Ritual, Roden, Christopher & Barbara, 1996

The Great Shadow: Arthur Conan Doyle, Brigadier Gerard, and Napoleon, Clifford S. Goldfarb, 1997 

Canonical quizzes from the bootbox : twenty-five years of puzzles from the Bootmakers of Toronto, Gibson, Brian Neil. ; Roden, Barbara. ; Sanders, David. ; Wrigglesworth, Doug., 1997 

The Baker Street File, Cox, Michael, 1997 (and a 2002 reprint)

The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Speckled Band, Roden, Christopher & Barbara, 1997

Sidelights on Holmes, Hall, John, 1998 Sidelights on Holmes, Hall, John, 1998 

The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Dying Detective, Roden, Christopher & Barbara, 1998

The Canonical Compendium, Clarkson, Stephen, 1999

The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes: The Blue Carbuncle, Roden, Christopher & Barbara, 1999

Hot on the scent : a visitor's guide to the London of Sherlock Holmes, Alexander, Arthur M., 1999 

The Transcendent Holmes, Montgomery, John Warwick., 2000

Out of the shadows : the untold story of Arthur Conan Doyle's first family, Doyle, Georgina, 2004Out of the shadows : the untold story of Arthur Conan Doyle's first family, Doyle, Georgina, 2004

Violets & Vitriol: Essays About Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle, S. E. Dahlinger, 2004 Violets & Vitriol: Essays About Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle, S. E. Dahlinger, 2004 

'I am inclined to think...' : musings on Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle, Roden, Barbara., 2004

Calabash Press - the Pastiche titles

Absolute discretion, Eustace, Grant, 1997

Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes, Smith, Denis O., 1997

Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes - Volume 2, Smith, Denis O., 1998

The scroll of the dead : a Sherlock Holmes adventure, David Stuart Davies, 1998 

The tangled skein, David Stuart Davies, 1998 

The abominable wife and other unrecorded cases of Mr. Sherlock Holmes,  Hall, John, 1998 

As it might have been : a collection of Sherlockian parodies from unlikely sources, Adey, Robert., 1998 

The shadow of the rat : a Sherlock Holmes adventure, David Stuart Davies, 1999 

Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes - Volume three, 1999

A notable interlude, Capes, Bernard, 1999

Sherlock Holmes-- the last act!, David Stuart Davies, 1999

Knight errant : the singular adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Rubino, Jane, 2000 

The irregular casebook of Sherlock Holmes, Weighell, Ron., 2000 

A Julian Symons Sherlockian duet, Symons, Julian, 2000 

Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes - Volume four, Smith, Denis O., 2002

The questionable parentage of Basil Grant, Broster, D. K, 2004

Some books from London - Aug 2023

On my trip to England recently (Aug 2023) I kept an eye out for books, and did manage to purchase some ACD publications. I am definitely not in a position to buy expensive editions, or books with perfect dustjackets, and sometimes I like how a book looks so don't care that the binding isn't great. I just look out for books that are pleasing to the eye.

I've already posted about the copy of the 'White Company' that I purchased - a cheap copy with a beautiful historical connection: https://221bcooee.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-book-is-more-than-just-book-gisela.html 

Anyway, here are the four books I purchased - they are as much souvenirs as anything. 

This is a copy of 'A Study In Scarlet' published by Ward Lock & Co. There is not publication date in the book, but there is a date written in the front: 16th Jan 1953. The ACD Encyclopedia suggests this is the 1954 edition - and while mine is hand-dated a year earlier it is certainly the same cover art  (https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Ward,_Lock_%26_Co.) .

This is a copy of 'The Complete Sherlock Holmes Long Stories' published by John Murray. The publication details indicate this copy was published in 1966, the twelfth impression. As Nick Utechin points out in his SHSL publication 'From Abbey to Wiles' on cover illustrators, this dust jacket design was created by Charles Keeping (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Keeping).

Well this copy of 'The Tragedy of Korosko' published by Hodder & Stoughton is in pretty poor shape. It doesn't have a publication date either. But what this book does have is an autograph in pencil by ACD. While it is probably the cheapest signed copy ever, the nice man at the rare book sellers spent time working through other examples (that he himself had used to be certain it was legitimate). It was quite funny as I said "look if it's signed it's automatically way out of my range" and he pulled this from behind other books and said "this one probably isn't". He may have taken pity. It's definitely an unusual one, but I really like it and it'll be special is the first (only?) ACD autograph I ever have.

This copy of 'The Last Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' was published by George Newnes in 1901, and is called a 'Souvenir Edition' (it is not the first edition - I believe that was 1897).

But here's an interesting thing about this book. Inside was a piece of notepaper with writing in ballpoint pen. The writer/owner is on a bit of a code kick, and appears to be running some numerology analysis of "The Final Problem", and specifically the paragraph about arriving in Meiringen. Any insights greatly appreciated.

Anyway - these are my souvenirs of the trip!!