A short post for a little bit of fun. I've been spending time exploring the digitized Australian newspapers for references to Sherlock pre-1901, as I'm contemplating the idea of a book of references to Sherlock and ACD in Australia.
As I dug around I found a brief 'correction' that made me laugh:
Fri 23 Jun 1893
Brilliant. And sure enough, a week earlier in Adelaide's 'The Advertiser' we find the offending sentence as part of a review of the latest issue of the Strand Magazine to arrive in the antipodes (the May 1893 issue).
Sat 17 Jun 1893
"....Conan Doyle continues his series of defective stories under the title of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," and all the special features of the magazine, with several new ones, are present to delight the subscriber."
What really got my attention though were the many examples of the Sherlock stories being run in the Australian newspapers. As I looked through, I found these three Sherlock stories that were published with alternative titles. In each case, the story is printed as originally written, but with a brand new title. The stories ran with these titles in multiple publications, and only one example is given.
- The Avenger (A Study in Scarlet) in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, Tue 24 Feb 1891
- The Derelict Ears (Carboard Box) in Upper Murray and Mitta Herald, Thursday 30 March 1893
- A Detective and a Goose (Blue Carbuncle) in Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843 - 1893)Tuesday 5 December 1893 -
I'd dearly love to hear from anyone who can offer theories for this re-titling phenomenon.
There are always people who think they know better than the author.
ReplyDeleteBlue Carbuncle does sound more like a romance than a detective story at first glance.
That's such an interesting take! I hadn't thought about it from the point of view of "improving the title". It reminds me of when Rue Morgue Press re-published the two novels published by Maureen Sarsfield. They re-titled them (!!!) with the most bland titles:
ReplyDeleteGreen December Fills the Graveyard {original: Murder at Shots Hall} (1945)
Murder at Beechlands {original: Dinner for None} (1948)
I like "Green December Fills the Graveyard" because it's so weird! What the heck does that mean, even?
ReplyDelete"Dinner for None" is better though.
"Green December Fills the Graveyard" comes from a real saying in England - '‘A green January makes a full churchyard’ - warm and damp winter leads to sicknesses and more deaths,
ReplyDeleteI had no idea! Now I'm spooked.
ReplyDelete