This was going to be a relatively short post, just to 'make a point'.
Fergus Hume's "Mystery of a Hansom Cab" was a massively successful murder-mystery novel, both in Australia and the UK.
In doing some research on the story recently, I noticed a persistent statement: that Mystery of a Hansom Cab inspired Conan Doyle's creation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Here are some examples of where that is stated:
The story certainly pre-dates the publication of 'A Study in Scarlet', but did Doyle see the story before he'd written his first Sherlock novel?
The first mentions of Fergus Hume's book in Australia newspapers.
'Mystery of a Hansom Cab' is believed to have been written towards the end of 1885 or early 1886. The first mentions of the book are unsurprisingly in Melbourne papers, the first on 21 Oct 1886, followed by two in November.
Melbourne Punch - Thu 21 Oct 1886
Of all the sensational novels I have ever read in my lfe nothing has ever impressed me so much as "The Mysteries of a Hansom Cab." It is all about a murder that has been committed in a hansom on the St. Kilda-road, and as all the incidents and places are local, one becomes intensely interested; besides which, the plot is capital, and the characters drawn with such life-like reality that, having once begun to read it, it is quite impossible to lay it down unfinished. It is a sensational, cleverly written, and entertaining novel by Mr. Fergus Hume, of Melbourne, who, as a writer, is well-known to the readers of many English and Colonial magazines.
The Australasian - Sat 6 Nov 1886
A MELBOURNE NOVEL.*
* The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. By Fergus W. Hume, Melbourne; Kemp and Boyce.
Inasmuch as there is a run on sensational stories of the kind which the late " Hugh Conway " helped to bring into vogue, there is no reason why the demand for the article should not be supplied, in part at least, from local sources. And Mr. Hume's Mystery of a Hansom Cab is quite as good as the average of such productions, and better than a good many. The central incident of the novel is a murder committed between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning, by means of chloroform, in a hansom cab, somewhere near the Church of England Grammar School on the St. Kilda-road. The writer ingeniously directs suspicion to two persons, each of whom eventually proves to be innocent, while both have private reasons for wishing to screen the real culprit from detection and punishment, and the mystery is skilfully maintained throughout. Indeed, Mr. Hume proves himself to have been an apt pupil of Mr. Wilkie Collins's methods of constructing a story, while his portrait of the lodging-housekeeper suggests that he has also been a diligent reader of Dickens. Indeed, Mrs. Sampson and Mother Guttersnipe are both of them Dickensish characters, with a dash of Mrs. Brown in the former. But we think the old woman, who is described as having "crackled" whenever she moved, so as to cause you to fear that one of her limbs would snap short, like the branch of a dead tree, is a freak ot the fancy, and by no means a portrait from life. We need not dwell, however, upon the blemishes of a story in which there is quite enough ability exhibited to justify the expectation of something still better from the writer's pen. Mr. Hume is a resident in Dunedin, we believe, and therefore has probably had no opportunity of correcting the proofs. Should his novel reach a second edition, as it probably will, he should remove such errors as "De mortius," " a number of people, some of which," "perepatetics," "which every one considers themselves bound to tell," " a malestrom," &c.
The Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian - Sat 13 Nov 1886
PUBLICATION RECEIVED. - We have receive from Mr Thomas Marvin, the well-known book seller and news-agent of Chapel-street, Windsor, a sensational Melbourne novel entitled "The mystery of a Hansom Cab." The book is well written by Fergus W. Hume, a local author of some repute, who has made the story particularly sensational and interesting by treating with a realistic study of Melbourne social life, the tale being founded on an incident fresh in the memory of every one. It is a crown 8vo. of 245 pages, well printed, and is got up in a cheap form, the price being one shilling. The book is well worth reading and no doubt Mr Marvin will meet with a strong demand for this very interesting work.
The book is not mentioned in any newspapers in Dec 1886. In 1887 the story received only fifty mentions in newspapers (many advertisements of the book being for sale), and was published in a serialized form that year in a regional NSW paper called the 'Macleay Argus'.
All in all then, the book didn't exactly take off, and the limited early print run may account for this. In fact the next article covering the
Melbourne Punch - Thu 5 May 1887
I HEAR that the first edition of five thousand of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab" has been cleared out, and a second edition of a similar number is gradually being disposed of. The author ought to do pretty well out of this, but a better slice of luck has befallen him, so I am told, for a firm of London publishers—who have a branch in Melbourne—have taken the book up in order to produce it on the London market. It is a somewhat crude production, but shows great promise, and it may be that it will prove successful at
home. At any rate, the author is to be congratulated on his success.
This article points to the beginning of the path to publication in the UK. And after 50 mentions in 1887, there are about 1,000 mentions in Australian newspapers in 1888 - partly because of the stage play the promptly followed, and partly due to the take-off in sales and readership as more copies became available.
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The first mentions of Fergus Hume's book in the UK newspapers.
And so to the UK, where the book must have been released The first mentions of the book are unsurprisingly in Melbourne papers, the first on 28 Nov 1887, followed by two in November.
Western Morning News - Monday 28 November 1887
BOOK AND PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED
"The Mystery of a Hansom Cab" by F.W. Hume. London: The Hansom Cab Publishing Co. 60 Ludgate-hill.
Croydon Times - Wednesday 30 November 1887
"THE MYSTERY OF A HANSOM CAB" - This is a sensational novel, a startling and realistic study of Melbourne social life. It is printed by The Hansom Cab Publishing Company, Ludgate-hill, London, and the price is 1s.
Chelmsford Chronicle - Friday 02 December 1887
"The Mystery of a Hansom Cab" is the latest contribution to sensational fiction. The work is certainly remarkable one, and seems all the more so when one reflects that the author, Mr. F. W. Hume, a native Australia, not yet 22. The plot is laid in Melbourne. The book has had a most remarkable circulation in Australia, and a company has been formed ("Hansom Cab" Publishing Company, 60 Ludgate-hill, E.C.) for its sale in England. This sensational demand for a highly sensational and realistic tale is not altogether undeserved. The youthful author—although he exhibits a deep acquaintance with the works of Gaboriau, Hugh Conway, Edgar Allan Poe, and other sensation-mongers—is no plagiarist. He tells the story of a crime in vigorous English. As page after page is read, some new development unrolls itself, so that the interest is fully maintained to the last chapter. If we mistake not the book will sell readily in England. It is issued cheap form.
Hampstead & Highgate Express - Saturday 03 December 1887
"THE Mystery of a Hansom Cab." Sensational novel by Fergus W. Hume, Melbourne, Australia. (The Hansom Cab Publishing Company, 60 Ludgate-hill.) The work of fiction with this title emanates from the pen of a young Australian who was fortunate enough to find an appreciator of his story in the person of Mr. F. Trischler, a Melbourne publisher, by whom the story was promptly given to the reading world. So successful did the work prove that a London edition has just been issued. Making allowance for local enthusiasm about the ability of the novel it must be conceded that "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab" embraces a series of incidents of very startling character, held together by a thread of literal narrative which imparts much realistic effect to it. A murder perpetrated under circumstances of peculiar mystery, involving the reputation of a gentleman innocent of the crime, and whose arraignment for it at the bar of justice is detailed with all the hard fidelity of a newspaper report, are features of the earlier portions of the novel. These points of interest, however, only lead up to the strange history of a man, the revelations of whose career, narrated in a document written by his own hand, reveals the motive of the murder. "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab" contains graphic scenes of Melbourne life, in which a degraded woman of the name of Sal Rawlins plays a role at once coarse and disgusting, and the love passages between Fitzgerald and Madge Frettlby are among the more pleasing parts of a story calculated to meet the requirements of readers who have taste for sensational literature.
Sporting Life - Saturday 03 December 1887The last sentence reminds me of a now novel that has been placed on the London market by a new publishing company, who adopt novel features of advertising, is sprung upon us this week with considerable prominence. The novel is called "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.” It is the first effort of the kind of an Australian not yet twenty-two years of age, Mr. Fergus W. Hume. The publishers have adopted the title of the novel as the title of their firm—with slight variation. The novel method of advertising consists, among other trade specialities, the "posting" and “sandwiching’’ our streets of coloured character portraits of the principal personages in the story —admirably designed by Mr. Matt Stretch—the latter system hitherto unknown in this country to the introduction of fiction, though not uncommon among publishers serial literature and the producers of the drama on the stage - the vendors of soaps and salts, condiments and embrocations. Mr. Hume’s novel written about a year ago had unprecedented circulation in Australia. It's sale in this country promises also to be a great success—at least, temporarily. It has already made a favourable start and a good impression. Although the season for shilling novels is practically at an end when shilling annuals of a first-class character appear, The Mystery of a Hansom Cab” will prove a welcome waif from the sea of books most attractive to family circles at Christmastide. The story is of the sensational kind. The plot is of an engrossing character, and the details are admirably worked out in a simple natural way. There are, as may expected, in so young an author signs of literary crudity here and there, but none in the ingenious evolution of a story of exceptional interest to readers of all classes. Mr. Hume has a future full of promise before him. A new novel from his pen is expected to follow at an early date.
From just 20 mentions in the last two months of 1887, to over 3,000 in 1888 ! The popularity of the book was remarkable in England.
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Could Mystery of a Hansom Cab have influenced Doyle?
'Study in Scarlet' first saw the light of day in Beeton's Christmas Annual released around November 1887. In other words, both books appeared on the scene in England around the same time. While Hansom Cub was published a year earlier in Australia, there were few copies published initially.
By the time Doyle finished Study in Scarlet around April 1886 and was submitting it for consideration, Hume was seeking a publisher for Hansom Cab. But while Doyle's story was 'held over' for well over a year after being accepted later in 1886, Hume's story was going to the presses albeit at a limited print run of around 5,000.
Therefore, Doyle's novel could not have been inspired by Hume's novel. They were independently created, on opposite sides of the globe, and both arrived to a UK market that already enjoyed mysteries and detective stories.
Multiple sources state that Hume's novel outsold Study in Scarlet, and that might be reflected in the fact that while Hansom Cab had over 3,000 newspaper mentions in 1888, Study in Scarlet had just 20 !
One can imagine that Doyle may have been disappointed to have his brilliant new detective novel outsold by a colonial mystery novel. Perhaps this partially accounts for Doyle's dismissal of the 'Hansom Cab' story. He wrote to his mother on 1 March 1888, when Hansom Cab was being sold by the thousands:
"What a swindle 'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab' is. One of the weakest tales I have read, and sold by puffing."
The public didn't agree with Doyle, nor did the reviews. Hume wrote a wonderful novel, but Doyle created an enduring character. And Doyle stuck with his character, and created a phenomenon that lasted four decades. Hume's story was sensational, but did not create a character who could be serialized - multiple parties worked to get to the bottom of the scandal and murderer in Hansom Cab - it was not a story built around a detective. In fact Hume never did create a recurring character across over 100 novels.
Doyle and Hume had one more thing in common for their late 1887 mystery stories. Both sold their rights, and missed out on massive royalties in the years ahead !
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There is a very slight but delightful connection in the above articles. The English 'Sporting Life' article in late 1887 mentions that an advertising campaign was undertaken to sell 'Hansom Cab': "the "posting" and “sandwiching’’ our streets of coloured character portraits of the principal personages in the story —admirably designed by Mr. Matt Stretch...."
A set of those advertising posters exist - held by XXXX, and they are magnificent.
The name of the illustrator Matt Stretch might ring a bell - his name appears on the cover of the 1887 Beeton's Christmas Annual:
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