221B Cooee: Sydney 2025 - Some items of interest

I'm visiting my parents with my family - they haven't been here for seven years (though I had a weekend last year when I had a chance to pass through town).

On June 9, I went to the Concord Hotel (in West Concord) to meet two of my fellow Sydney Passengers for lunch! Bill Barnes, Captain (i.e., President) and Erin O'Neill, Navigator (Journal Editor) and I had a wonderful lunch. We compared notes on the opportunities and challenges of running a society. The Sydney Passengers have mainly met on Zoom since COVID, and getting people together in a city so spread out can be difficult - on the other hand, it means people from all over Australia can easily attend a Sherlockian meeting that is in their time zone.

Another great feature of the Sydney Passengers is their journal, the Passengers' Log. The Log is published two or three times a year, and really is an amazing journal. Anyone from around the world can submit and publish articles, book reviews, and other types of article in the Log. Anyone can join the Sydney Passengers - and everyone should (it's about US$35 and includes the journal) : http://www.sherlock.on.net/Membership.html

That's me on the right.....

-----

On the research side, today (June 14) I visited the State Library of New South Wales for a very special reason. The State Library of New South Wales holds a set of four letters written by Arthur Conan Doyle that I've been studying. I have been working with digital copies I arranged for, but being in Sydney gave me a chance to visit the beautiful Mitchell Library, and the rare books and manuscripts collection:

There, I filled out my request forms, and they delivered the letters, each of the four stored in its own archival envelopes.

I've been studying these letters and their provenance for a while now. I've given a talk to the Six Napoleons based on the major finding from this research - it will be published soon, and be able to write a long blog post on these letters, and their provenance.

It was wonderful to handle these letters, examine the paper, and read the original articles. One of the four letters - the most important one - was incredibly fragile and in pieces. These had to be placed together to allow the letter to be read.

The library hold more Doylean pieces - mostly related to Spiritualism. In time, I'll be accessing the other items. For now, subscribe to the Sherlock Holmes Journal and I think my article on these letters will be out soon.

------

And on to some books and ephemera. Every now and then over the years I've purchased something in Australia and had it delivered to home. I've reasoned that I'll get there eventually, and will pick them up. Looking through the small pile of things - here are a few bits and pieces I've been happy to pick up:

Non-Sherlockian but a common point of interest for many - two booklets on Dracula. The first is a walking tour guide to sites mentioned in the book, that was published in collaboration with the Dracula Society. The second, by Cordelia Stamp, second edition 1988, describes some of the background to Whitby and Stoker's visit there. I really need to re-read Dracula.

Next is a a true 'zine' from the eighties. This 'Jeremy Brett Supplement' (1988) was compiled by Cathy L Goodwin and is mainly a compilation of articles and photographs of Brett's pre-Granada performances, and a compilation of acting credits. It concludes with a couple of newspaper articles on Brett as Sherlock. The publisher Metaluna was run by John Tipper based in Strathfield (a suburb of Sydney), and produced a number of Zine specials including two on Sherlock Holmes:

I previously posted on the 'Philatelic and Numismatic Holmes' by Benton Wood BSI. I've now managed to complement these with a copy of 'The Philatelic Holmes' by Henry Lauritzen BSI. It was published in 1981 - there were very few Sherlock stamps at the time, and the booklet also covers stamps of people, places or things referred to in the Canon. This copy is signed by the author to the previous Australian owner.

'The Date Being?' was a wonderful effort at chronology by Andy Peck, first published in 1970. This copy appears to have updates inserted with the original material around 1973, and is signed by him (twice!). I love the cover - I assume it was all blue and then faded around the edges? I can't find an image of another copy on-line to confirm my suspicion.

Two to go - the first is really an advertisement pamphlet for a 'Sherlock Holmes Tour' for two weeks in October 1978. The tour was hosted by David Hammer (Sherlockian location expert) who conceived the concept, and departed from Chicago. The pamphlet has a wonderful cover design and very detailed itinerary.

Finally, I've been interested in the Longman's Colonial Library. In reading Australian newspapers I've found that this was the publisher of many Doyle stories distributed in Australia, including Sherlock stories. From what I can tell, these were published by the UK published Longmans, Green & Co., printed in the UK, but shipped to 'colonies' for sale - the title page says 'only for sale in India and the British Colonies'. It was certainly sold in Australia, as can be seen from the advertisement below. All covers appeared similar to below, the ship reinforcing the nature of the distribution destination. While a little scuffed, this copy of 'The Stark Munro Letters' is in great condition.