Journal – Winter 2013

The Sherlock Holmes Journal is published twice a year, usually in June and December. It is the official voice of the Society and contains its Transactions, news and reviews, letters and editorial notes. It is also home to the most erudite scholarship, publishing learned articles from Holmesians world-wide who have something to say on any aspect of Sherlock Holmes and his world. It has been appearing without a break since the first issue in May 1952.

Book reviews

The most recent issue, Winter 2013, contains the following articles, as well as the usual reviews and letters:

EDITORIAL: “YOU CAN FILE IT IN OUR ARCHIVES, WATSON”

Richard Lancelyn Green had done as much as anyone to preserve the Society’s history, so it was appropriate that this year’s Lancelyn Green Memorial Lecture, given at the National Liberal Club on the 18th October, should be “Archive Live! For One Night Only”, presented by our official Historian, Nick Utechin, assisted by Catherine Cooke, Librarian in charge of the Sherlock Holmes Collection, and Bee Smyth, whose archival expertise has been essential in creating order and accessibility.

EDITORIAL NOTES

Thanks to the Deerstalkers of Welshpool for commissioning and publishing Y Cylch Brith (“The Speckled Band”) – the first translation from the canon into the Welsh language.

Sad news from Yorkshire: founded in 1988 as the Northern Musgraves, the Musgraves Sherlock Holmes Society will hold its final meeting in the Summer of 2014.

Becky Simpson has founded the Sherlockian Violin Society – see the website at www.sherlockianviolinsociety.com.

The Hungarian Sherlock Holmes Club has an excellent website (in English) at www.sherlockian-sherlock.com.

The Sherlock Holmes: Past and Present conference, held at London University’s Senate House in June, was an ambitious and exciting event – as was Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis two months later.

We mourn the loss of our good friend Reggie Musgrave, an eminent member of our own Society and of the Poor Folk Upon the Moors, and of Anthony Hinds, producer of the 1959 film The Hound of the Baskervilles and co-writer of the 1984 TV film The Masks of Death.

ZEPPELIN’S PROMISE by Robert J Bousquet

Graf von Zeppelin’s airships were certainly impressive, but how effective were they as weapons?

“I HEAR OF SHERLOCK EVERYWHERE” by Michael Procter

Just how talk of Sherlock Holmes’s activities reach his brother Mycroft’s ears?

HERLOCK SHOLMES IN THE WIPERS TIMES by Charles Press

The Wipers Times was written and printed in harsh conditions by British soldiers at the Western Front, from February 1916 to March 1918. Contributions to its twenty-two issues included three surreal Sherlock Holmes parodies.

VOYNICH AND HOLMES by Jackie Speel

We know that Sherlock Holmes was interested in rare old books. What might he have made of the extraordinary document now known as the Voynich Manuscript – and still undeciphered?

SAVED BY THE BAND: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE AND THE ADELPHI THEATRE IN 1910 by Alistair Duncan

His play about bare-knuckle boxing was a box-office failure, but Conan Doyle turned his fortunes round by writing and staging a new Sherlock Holmes drama.

“IT MAY HAVE BEEN A COMEDY…” reviews by Roger Johnson

Actually it was a comedy, three times over – specifically Sherlock Holmes by The Pantaloons, Broken Holmes (staged during the Sherlock Holmes: Past and Present conference), and Ha Ha Holmes! and the Hound of the Baskervilles.

IN THE NAME OF SHERLOCK HOLMES reviewed by Oscar Ross

A Hungarian children’s film had its UK première in Belfast.

TRANSACTIONS: A CAPITAL RETURN by David Jones, Audrey Jones, Alistair Duncan and Roger Johnson

After the formal business of the AGM, the Society’s thespian branch gave the first performance of Pipe Dream, a new play by Jerome Coopersmith. The following day members visited Brompton Cemetery, resting-place of Charles Augustus Howell, upon whom Conan Doyle modelled “the worst man in London”. A voyage down the Thames on Saturday was followed by lunch at the Trafalgar Tavern and the chance to explore the Cutty Sark. The weekend concluded with a fascinating “ramble through London” conducted by Richard Burnip.

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Zach Dundas

The most ambitious exhibition of its kind opened in Portland, Oregon in October, before touring the United States (and, eventually, other countries).

GRAND OLD MAN – GRAND OLD LIBRARY: THE SOCIETY VISITS GLADSTONE’S LIBRARY by Audrey & David Jones

In October members spent a weekend in Flintshire, at Britain’s finest residential library, founded by William Ewart Gladstone, with excursions to Ruthin Gaol and Llandudno.

SHERLOCK AND BEYOND by Russell Merritt

Some rare and unusual material was featured at the 2009 Pordenone Silent Film Festival, thanks to Jay Weissberg.

“IT SEEMS TO ME…” by Auberon Redfearn

“The Rubaiyat of Holmar Sherlockhayyam” – enough said?

“I AM AN OMNIVOROUS READER”

Book reviews by Nicholas Utechin and Roger Johnson.

WIGMORE STREET POSTBAG

Letters to The Sherlock Holmes Journal.

“THERE CAN BE NO QUESTION AS TO THE AUTHORSHIP”

Contributors to this issue of The Sherlock Holmes Journal.

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