Jan 87 #1 The birthday festivities were, as usual, both hectic and enjoyable, with pre-weekend publicity starting on Jan. 4 with a long piece by Anthony Burgess in the N.Y. Times Book Review, followed by an Associated Press dispatch in the N.Y. Times and the Washington Post, a brief mention in USA Today, and other items as yet unseen. The BSI bid an unfond farewell to the Regency Hotel (and its $6 drinks), and moved to the ballroom at 24 Fifth Avenue, where Edith Meiser was *The* Woman, honored at the BSI pre-dinner cocktail party and by *The* Women at dinner at the National Arts Club. The BSI observed the usual traditions (highlighted by Albert M. Rosenblatt managing to rhyme POSSLQ in his poetic toast to Mrs. Hudson) and welcomed foreign guests Ake Runnquist from Sweden and Kiyoshi Tanaka from Japan, and Thomas L. Stix, Jr., formally introduced the BSI's other officers, John Bennett Shaw (Simpson) and Robert E. Thomalen (Cartwright). James C. Cleary presented a polished and well-illustrated slide show on Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockians, Norman M. Davis fervently defended The Chicago Four (those much-maligned Canonical Chicagoans), Steven Rothman reported on the history of the BSI necktie and his discovery of Helen Hare Cain (the Betsy Ross of the BSI), William D. Jenkins discussed pastiches and parodies, and Chris Steinbrunner reminisced about long-past and more recent annual dinners. Irregular Shillings were awarded to Ray Betzner (The Agony Column), Robert C. Burr (The Rascally Lascar), T. Michael Kaylor (*Practical Handbook of Bee Culture*), George R. Skornickel, Jr. (Heidegger), Kiyoshi Tanaka (The Japanese Cabinet), Edward J. Vatza (A Typical American Advertisement), and Richard S. Warner (High Tor). Two-Shilling Awards were given to Walter Klinefelter and Ezra Wolff. And there were other Friday gatherings: The Martha Hudson Breakfast at the Algonquin, The William Gillette Memorial Luncheon at the Old Homestead, Otto Penzler's open house at The Mysterious Bookshop, the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes' dinner at the Club 1407, and impromptu festivities in the sixth-floor wein-celler at the Dumont Plaza. At the ASH dinner, Patricia Guy reported on Canonical wines, Marina Stajic and Eileen Katz reenacted an interview between Mary Morstan and her gynecologist, and The Friends of Bogie's presented their newest inventions. Saturday's events featured the cocktail party honoring Julian and Eleanor Wolff. The brief formal agenda featured Ezra Wolff's poetic report on the annual dinner, a presentation to Julian Wolff by George Fletcher, an award of a gilded Queen Victoria Medal to Eleanor Wolff in recognition of her long service as the BSI's most devoted camp-follower, and Isaac Asimov's new Sherlockian song (this year to the tunes of "Yankee Doodle" and "Der Tannenbaum"). Many Sherlockians then dined at Bogie's, whence some de- parted for their hotels and homes in time to view the CBS television movie "The Return of Sherlock Holmes". And on Sunday south-bound travelers dined in Philadelphia with The Master's Class at the Franklin Inn Club. I have updated my listing of Investitured Irregulars, Two-Shilling Awards, and *The* Women. $1.00 postpaid for a print-out. Jan 87 #2 THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (Ware: Omega Books, 1986; 1,116 p., L20.00) has all 60 stories, 58 reprinted in facsimile from the Strand (with all the illos); "Stud" and "Sign" are unfortunately not reprinted in facsimile from their first appearances in print, and one can only hope that an enterprising publisher will eventually offer THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SHERLOCK HOLMES. Too late for last month's mailing: "The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson" premiered on KMTF-TV (Fresno) on Jan. 4, 1987. This is a PBS ten-episode half-hour children's series using puppets to portray "the 30-inch-high detective and his canine companion" who help their human friends in a variety of escapades; it's not a networked show, so check with your local PBS station to see if or when it might be broadcast. "Young Sherlock Holmes" was possibly perceived to have done better in Britain than in the U.S. At least Disney were willing to title their film "Basil, the Great Mouse Detective" when it opened in Britain in Oct. 1986 (to favorable notice in the press). The "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Townhouse" at 2151 Sacramento Street in San Francisco, advertised at $1.3 million (Oct. 85 #2), has finally been sold, "for just under a million," according to Herb Caen's column in the San Francisco Chronicle (Dec. 19, 1986). John D. MacDonald died recently. Interviewed by Ed Hirshberg (in the 1979 Writer's Yearbook), MacDonald was asked if Travis McGee might be a better detective if he were "more committed--like Sherlock Holmes, for example, who never thinks of anything else but just concentrates completely on his job." "I think a total commitment of the hero--*really* total commitment --equals boredom," MacDonald replied. "Sherlock Holmes is too much of a smartass anyway--too many peculiarities, too much cerebration." The Greek Interpreters of East Lansing celebrated their 40th anniversary in 1985 by publishing a history of the scion; THE GREEK INTERPRETERS includes their scion reports and a joint pastiche, all reprinted from the BSJ, and is available for $5.00 postpaid from Howard Brody, 2726 Fontaine Trail, Holt, MI 48842. ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON, by Graham Nown (Topsfield: Salem House, 1986; 143 p., $19.95); an illustrated celebration of the centenary, concentrating on the Canon and ACD's S'ian career, and the criminals and detectives to be found in the Victorian underworld. Sterling E. Lanier's giant-rat pastiche "A Father's Tale" (D5042b) is reprinted in THE CURIOUS QUESTS OF BRIGADIER FFELLOWES (West Kingston: Donald M. Grant, 1986; 254 p., signed by author and artist, $30.00); a fine collections of Lanier's stories, illustrated by Ned Dameron (available from the publisher, West Kingston, RI 02892). Check the discount tables for 33 BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, edited by Gibson and Green, offered at $7.98 in a new catalog from Publishers Central Bureau (One Champion Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001); it's a reissue of the 1984 Doubleday edition of UNCOLLECTED STORIES. Jan 87 #3 ACD's poem "The Athabasca Trail" was written during his Canad- ian tour in 1914, and published widely in newspapers before its appearance in the Apr. 1915 issue of Cornhill Magazine. Chris Redmond (125 Lincoln Road #1101, Waterloo, Ont. N2J 2N9, Canada) would appreciate hear- ing from anyone who knows of early appearances of the poem. THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES, edited by Clifton Fadiman (Boston: Little Brown 1985), includes anecdotes (non-S'ian) about Joseph Bell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Paul Gore-Booth, Ronald Knox, Christopher Morley, and Rex Stout. During his days in the Foreign Office, Gore-Booth once received an urgent cable from the Middle East: "Ruler has died suddenly. Please advise." Gore-Booth replied: "Hesitate to dogmatize, but suggest burial." Reported by Bob Burr (Plugs & Dottles, Jan. 1987): Baskerville Holmes, former Memphis State starter, pleaded innocent to a charge he roughed up a former girlfriend on his wedding day. Copies of THE SHSF FANTHOLOGY 2 (D1929a) and THE SHSF FANTHOLOGY 3 (D1930a) are still available from Ruth Berman (2809 Drew Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55416); postpaid prices are $1.50 for D1929a, $2.00 for D1930a, and $3.00 for both. Ruth also reports that her S'ian story "Professor and Colonel" will be in MATH IS STRANGE, an anthology edited by Rudy Rucker and due from Arbor House in May. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (New York: Bantam Books, 1985; 266 p., $2.50) has the 13 stories dramatized by Granada in the first two series, an interesting Introduction by Jacques Barzun, and striking modern graphics on the cover. THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (New York: Penguin Books, 1987; 181 p., $3.50) has the 7 stories in the third Granada series, and is the authorized tie-in to the series (with the poster art-work on the cover). Discovered by Ev Herzog: THE CURSE OF BATTERSLEA HALL, written by Richard Brightfield and illustrated by Ted Enik (New York: Bantam Books, 1984; 118 p., $1.95); a "choose your own adventure" children's book with a friendly hound named Baskerville and a deerstalkered (though non-S'ian) protagonist. THE MUMMY (Loughborough: Ladybird Books, 1985; 51 p., $2.13); ACD's "Lot No. 249" retold for children by Raymond Sibley and illustrated by Angus McBride. MONSTERS YOU NEVER HEARD OF, by Daniel Cohen (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1986; 101 p., $2.50); with passing mention of the Hound of the Baskervilles in the chapter on "Demon Dogs". For completists: the 2nd printing of Lloyd Biggle's pastiche THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE (May 86 #2 and Oct 86 #1) is a true variant, containing proper acknowledgement to Dame Jean for permission to use the Sherlock Holmes characters. The press run was also much smaller than for the 1st printing. Andy Jaysnovitch (6 Dana Estates Drive, Parlin, NJ 08859) now offers six videocassettes, each with four of the 1954 Ronald Howard TV program (and three more cassettes are in the works); write to Andy for details. For miniaturists seeking a bear-skin rug, a golden pince-nez, a Persian slipper, or a dried snake-skin: a flier at hand from Shirley (9269 Mission Gorge Road #113, Santee, CA 92071). Jan 87 #4 Mike Ashley (4 Thistlebank, Walderslade, Chatham, Kent ME5 8AD, England) is working on a biography and bibliography of Algernon Blackwood, and wonders if anyone has noticed the Canonical echoes in Black- wood's stories "The Nemesis of Fire" and "The Camp of the Dog". There is no De Waal citation for Blackwood, and one item cited by Green/Gibson; if you know of any other connections with SH or ACD, please let Mike know. Reported by Lenny Picker: Rolland Smith (co-host of the new CBS-TV "Morning Program") has named his son Conan, after ACD. Marvel's MUPPET BABIES #13 features "The Casebook of Kermlock Holmes" with Kermit as Holmes, Fozzie as Watson, and Miss Piggy as the Client. Academy Chicago will publish the unedited version of Basil Copper's THE DOSSIER OF SOLAR PONS in March (Copper says that Pinnacle took great liberties with their 1979 edition). And Medallion Books will publish Frank Thomas' SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MISSING MASTERPIECES (this summer, according to Medallion). REFLECTIONS ON A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, illustrated by Jeff Decker, with an Introduction by Jack Tracy (New York: Magico Magazine, 1986; 98 p., $20.00); a good anthology, with reprints of the story and essays by Christ, Jones, and Montgomery, and new material by Green, Johnson, Kean, Keefauver, MacDonald, and Shreffler. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY, by Richard L. Kellogg, with an Introduction by John Bennett Shaw (New York: Magico Magazine, 1986; 90 p., $15.95); a collection of older articles and new essays. THE EXPLOITS OF BILLY THE PAGE, by Willoughby Lane (New York: Magico Magazine, 1986; 57 p., $15.95); a collection of short pastiches, in each of which a celebrated Baker Street detective is moderately involved (the detective is unnamed, but can hardly be confused with Sexton Blake). And the first issue of Magico Magazine has also appeared, edited by Kelvin I. Jones and with articles by Hardwick, Johnson, Hunt, Kean, and Healy; $3.50 (Magico's address is Box 156, New York, NY 10002). Richard Lancelyn Green, in his essay on the manuscript in REFLECTIONS ON A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, reports a solution to the mystery of the second "rest- ing hand" used by Conan Doyle on seven pages of the ms. The second hand has been identified by Adrian Conan Doyle as that of Conan Doyle's sister. For Sherlockian philatelists: I have a small supply of coil pairs of the new re-engraved version of the 1-cent "omnibus" stamp, and the precancelled version of the 4.9-cent "buckboard" stamp, and an even smaller supply of the unprecancelled version of the 4.9-cent "buckboard" stamp. If you need these items, let me know and I'll enclose them with the next mailing. THE ULTIMATE ALPHABET AND WORKBOOK, by Mike Wilks (New York: Henry Holt, 1986; $22.45), is an interesting concept: 26 detailed paintings, showing 7,777 objects beginning with the relevant letters; the workbook lists 12,000 possible objects (the person correctly identifying the most objects will win $15,000). The workbook lists "deer-stalker" and "detective" (the deerstalker is not particularly well-drawn, and the detective not found. "Inside and Outside Sherlock Holmes: A Rhapsody" by Kim Herzinger, in Shenandoah (The Washington and Lee University Review), 1986, v. 36. n. 3, is an enthusiastic investigation of the importance of Sherlock Holmes and the Canon. Box 722, Lexington, VA 24450; $3.50. Jan 87 #5 Caedmon (1995 Broadway, New York, NY 10023) offers SHERLOCK HOLMES ADVENTURES (Blue, SixN, and Blan) performed by John Wood on a two-cassette set ($14.95). Their catalog also lists THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES performed by Nicol Williamson ($14.95 on cassettes, $19.98 on records), Walter Brooks' FREDDY THE DETECTIVE performed by Pat Carroll on one cassette ($8.95), the four S'ian recordings by Basil Rathbone, and a number of T. S. Eliot's S'ian items. Reported by Dana Richards: "Alphamagic Squares" by Lee C. F. Sallows, in Abacus (fall 1986), refers to (and shows the first page of) THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP, a privately printed 19th-century work of scholarship devoted to a study of Druidical practices and the spread of the yew cult among Celtic and Germanic peoples in pre-Christian Europe; the book was privately published in 1887, and apparently misplaced in 1888, but a copy (presumed unique) was recently discovered during a reorganization of bookshelves at the British Library. Dana also reports that Milton Bradley's VCR game CHUTES AND LADDERS has a scenario with Sherwood Holmes and Dottie Watson (not in Canonical costume). And that there is a Canonical reference in Arthur C. Clarke's THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH (Del Ray, 1986, p. 189). THE SHERLOCK HOLMES LETTERS, edited by Richard Lancelyn Green (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press; 266 p., $19.95); a spectacular collection, be- ginning with the 1887 reviews of A STUDY IN SCARLET and continuing with a fine selection of letters, articles, and comment published in newspapers and magazines, and with the usual perceptive commentary by Green. Their special offer is $15.95 plus $1.50 shipping if your order is received by Mar. 15, and the press' address is Iowa City, IA 52242. "Sherlock Holmes and Cleveland, Ohio" will be sponsored by Mrs. Hudson's Lodgers on Nov. 7 (details available from The Stetaks, 15529 Diagonal Road, La Grange, OH 44050). An illustrated flier at hand from Tahtsa Ventures Inc. (Box 931, Burns Lake, B.C. V0J 1E0, Canada), offering a Sherlock Holmes Commemorative Tobacco Humidor in a limited edition of 500, at $195.00 postpaid. There was a bit of post-birthday publicity from New York: on Jan. 10 the National Public Radio series "Weekend Edition" ran a six-minute report taped at the Algonquin on Friday morning (with interviews with Lellenberg, Byerly, Peck, Herzog, Stix, Davis, and Shaw), and Herbert Mitgang's article (also based on Friday-morning interviews) ran in the N.Y. Times on Jan. 17. Reported by Tyke Niver: THE ROYAL NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS (a history of the regiment), by Basil Peacock; $15.00 plus $1.25 shipping, from Owen D. Kubik, 3474 Clar-Von Drive, Dayton, OH 45430. COLLECTING: THE PASSIONATE PASTIME, by Susanna Johnston and Tim Beddow (Harper & Row, 1986); with a well-illustrated chapter on the SH room created by Richard Lancelyn Green. And a bisque porcelain miniature of Mickey in S'ian costume, $9.95 plus $1.50 shipping from The Disney Miniature Collectors Club (The Disney Collection, Box 1797, Sherman Turnpike, Danbury, CT 06816), *if* you're a member of the club and sign up for their monthly shipments. Jan 87 #6 On Jan. 23 the "CBS News Nightwatch" program included a 17- minute segment on Sherlock Holmes, with Lem Tucker interviewing Robert Parker, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, and Nicholas Meyer; the three authors took the subject seriously, but Tucker didn't. For those who have never heard of the program, it's the one you watch if you can't get to sleep and can't stand any of the late-late-night movies. I have an off- the-air cassette, and copies will be available, eventually. "For the Love of Holmes" by Derek Nelson, in MD, Jan. 1987, is a long article about Sherlockian doctors, from Gray Chandler Briggs on, with a group photograph taken at a meeting of The Master's Class in Philadelphia (in which Drs. Hill, Smith, and Kean are featured). Haffmans Verlag AG (Hubenstrasse 19, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland) are continuing with their translations of the Canon, the latest being DAS TAL DER ANGST (DM 28.00), with explanatory notes by Hans Wolf. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune (Nov. 14, 1986), cited by John Stephenson, "The Great Mouse Detective" has been banned in Norway as unsuitable for children under 12 (it was approved for all audiences in neighboring Finland, Sweden, and Denmark). Disney plans to issue a subtitled videocassette for Norwegians. 1001 MIDNIGHTS: THE AFICIONADO'S GUIDE TO MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE FICTION, by Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller (New York: Arbor House, 1986; 879 p., $39.95), is a splendid reference work, offering essay-reviews of the best, most important, and most interesting titles in the genre; the Canon is carefully considered (by Edward D. Hoch), and the authors of pastiches and parodies are not neglected, but the real value of the book is in its broad coverage of the field. An auction at Sotheby's in London in July 1986 included two letters from Conan Doyle, dated Dec. 29, 1892, and Jan. 6, 1893, to Mr. Cargill, apparently a graphologist, thanking him for providing ACD with ideas for an episode in a Sherlock Holmes story, and expressing some trepidation at writing to him "for fear you should discern imbecility in the dots of my i's, or incipient brain softening in my capitals." The story? "I would like now to give Holmes *a torn slip of a document*, and see how far he could reconstruct both it and the writers of it." "Sleight of Hand" is a new mystery thriller scheduled to open at the Cort Theatre in New York, with three weeks of previews beginning Apr. 6. The author is John Pielmeier ("Agnes of God") and the stars are Harry Groener ("Cats") and Jeffrey DeMunn ("K2"), and the premise involves both magic and mystery ("an amateur magician performs a new trick with fatal consequences bought one day in advance, cost $15 the 1st week, $20 the 2nd week, and $25 the 3rd week. The first issue of The Sherlock Holmes Review (edited by Steven T. Doyle, quarterly at $8.00 a year, 3209 East 10th Street #8C, Bloomington, IN 47401) has 28 p., and contributions from Harry How (reprint), Spencer W. Kennedy (on the ms. of "RedC"), Stafford G. Davis (on the literary influence of ACD), Robert F. Fleissner (on Holmes and Frankenstein). Feb 87 #1 More on Lee C. F. Sallows' article on "Alphamagic Squares" (Jan 87 #5) in Abacus (fall 1986 and winter 1987): it's a two-part article (with a color photograph in the first part showing the first page of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP), and there will be a letter to the editor and a reply by Sallows in the next issue, expanding on the Sherlockian significance of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP as the foundation-stone in the development of the alphamagic formulas. Abacus: The Magazine for Computer Professionals is published quarterly ($26.00 a year, or $6.50 each for single issues) by Springer-Verlag (175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010). All subscribers should now have a copy of my seasonal souvenir for the birthday festivities, received during the New York weekend, or with the January or February info sheets; if you've been neglected, let me know. The commemorative honoring the 150th anniversary of Michigan statehood (Dec 86 #4) was issued on Jan. 26. David Hammer reports "Elementary, My Dear Gillette", a one-page article by Susan Corbett in Country Life (Jan. 8, 1987); mainly contemporary reviews of Gillette's play. Reported by Paul Merz: Baker Street Bar & Grill, a restaurant in Fresno, Calif., with a thoroughly S'ian menu. And by Mel Ruiz: "Topper Returns" (1940) on videocassette from Video Classics, Box 10069, Burbank, CA 91505 (box shows Topper with deerstalker and calabash in his role as ghost detective); and "The CM-37 Mystery" (a filmstrip set with "Spec", "Bosc", "Scan", and "Copp") from Society for Visual Education, 1345 West Diversey Parkway, Chicago, IL 60614. Announced by KeyRod Literary Enterprises (3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385): THE APHORISMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Jack D. Key and Alvin E. Rodin (52 p., $8.95 postpaid); 200 aphorisms containing the epitome and essence of Holmes' wit and wisdom. SONTEX (Apartado 35435, Barcelona, Spain) offers "2 Stories of Sherlock Holmes" (an audio cassette with "Dyin" and "Chas" read in simplified English, accompanied by a booklet with the text) at $8.50 (they take American checks and plastic). We're still trying to find a few long-unheard-from members of the BSI -- please let me know if you have any clues to the whereabouts of Alvin E. Blomquist (1955), William Passen (1955), Peter A. Ruber (1964), and Bernth Lindfors (1968). STARRETT VS. MACHEN: A RECORD OF DISCOVERY AND CORRESPONDENCE, published by Michael Murphy at his Autolycus Press in 1977, was not widely distributed. Vincent Starrett was Arthur Machen's earliest supporter in the U.S., but in 1924 Starrett and Covici-McGee were accused of pirating two of Machen's books; Starrett refuted the charge, and his correspondence with Machen is presented here along with Starrett's writings on the subject. Non-S'ian (except for Machen's thanks for a copy of THE UNIQUE HAMLET); copies are available from Pepper & Stern (Box 2711, Santa Barbara, CA 93120) at $20.00 (or $30.00 for the deluxe issue with hand-marbled edges). Feb 87 #2 Discovered by Ev Herzog: Stephen DiLauro's article about Paul Davis (who did the poster and tie-in paperback covers for the Granada series) in the Jan. 1987 issue of American Artist (1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036; $2.25). And a rock group called "They Might Be Giants" (samples of their non-S'ian music can be heard on their dial-a-song number, 718-387-6992). And KEATON COMEDIES: A TOBY BRADLEY ADVENTURE, by Harold D. Sill, Jr. (Reading: Addison Wesley, 1977); a children's book in which Toby is time-transported to 1924, and helps Buster Keaton film "Sherlock Jr." The February issue of Smithsonian has four letters to the editor, with compliments, complaints, and explication occasion by Fred Strebeigh's December 1986 article on SH and S'ians. Signe Landon (14985 256th Avenue SE, Issaquah, WA 98027) has announced THE HOLMESIAN FEDERATION #7 (with five S'ian stories) for this month, at $4.00 postpaid. Back issues are also available. Ladbrokes Sherlock Holmes Hotel (Baker Street, London W1M 1LB) is selling figurines of Holmes (6" head and shoulders) and Watson (10") at L35.00 each; no photo or other info available. Reported: THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., in a three-in- one volume from the Detective Book Club (Roslyn, NY 11576) -- I don't know if the DBC sells single volumes, but they're seen at all the charity sales. Forecast: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DETECTIVE STORY, by LeRoy L. Panek, with discussion of ACD, in May from the Popular Press (Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403). SON OF HOLMES, by John T. Lescroart, in March from Leisure Books (240 p., $3.25). In the supermarkets: THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (#12555) and THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE: BASIL'S GREAT ESCAPES (#12556); Golden Look-Look Books (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1986; $1.50 each). More on 33 BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (Jan 87 #2), the reissue of the 1984 Doubleday edition of UNCOLLECTED STORIES, edited by Gibson and Green: it's published by Avenel Books and distributed by Outlet Books. George Locke, proprietor of Ferret Fantasy, has written (as Ayresome Johns) a mystery novel called PATTERN OF TERROR, in which one of the characters is a fanatical Holmes collector, seeking a rare, important, and possibly unique Sherlock Holmes book (a proof copy of first British edition of THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, with "Card" included). No publisher has been found yet, but hard-bound photocopies of the 82,000-word typescript can be purchased for $60.00 plus shipping (27 Beechcroft Road, Upper Tooting, London SW17 7BX, England). Reported by Jack Kerr: six of the Granada programs ("Spec", "Scan", "Soli", "Blue", "Nava", "Danc") on VHS cassettes ($39.95 each) from Signals, Box 70870, Saint Paul, MN 55170 (800-424-9424); these are the Paramount/Simon and Schuster cassettes, presumably also available at your local videostore. A special section on SH (and a S'ian cover) in the Feb.-Mar. 1987 issue of British Heritage (Box 8200, Harrisburg, PA 17105; $3.50). Feb 87 #3 Marjorie Weinman Sharmat is continuing her "Nate the Great" series (children's books with Nate generally in S'ian costume in the illos by Marc Simont); NATE THE GREAT AND THE MISSING KEY, NATE THE GREAT AND THE SNOWY TRAIL, and NATE THE GREAT AND THE STICKY CASE (49 p. each) are announced for March from G. P. Putnam's Sons at $10.95 each. Gar Donnelson continues his explorations of Sherlock Holmes's world with 'YOUR BEER SHOULD BE EXCELLENT', a new monograph discussing the beer, breweries, and public houses mentioned in the Canon. The well-illustrated pamphlet (22 pp., $3.50 postpaid) is available from its author, at 430 Steinway Road, Lincoln, NE 68505. Dell is continuing its paperback reissues of Alfred Hitchcock collections ($2.95, each with one of August Derleth's Solar Pons pastiches): BOYS AND GHOULS TOGETHER (D4749b), GAMES KILLERS PLAY (D5613a), and SKULL SESSION (D5663a). Reported by Andy Peck: a "Mark of the Hound Holmesian Sweatshirt" (hound footprints and the appropriate Canonical quote); $25.00 plus $2.50 shipping from Murder by the Book, 1574 Pearl Street, Denver, CO 80210. Ann E. Whetstone's "Bloody Collections" in Scott Stamp Monthly, Feb. 1987, discusses mystery stories that involve philately (with mention of August Derleth's "The Adventure of the Penny Magenta") and photographs of the Nicaraguan set honoring Interpol; Box 828, Sidney, OH 45365; $3.00. Reported by John Stephenson: DETECTIVE MICKEY MOUSE (New York: Golden Books 1985); Little Golden Book #100-58. I THINK THAT IT IS WONDERFUL AND OTHER POEMS FROM SESAME STREET (New York: Golden Books); Little Golden Book #109-9, with Sherlock Hemlock in "A Silly Mystery. BIG MAX, by Kin Platt (New York: Harper & Row); a reissue of D6171a. THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE READ-A-LONG BOOK AND TAPE (Disneyland/Vista Records, Burbank, CA 91521); also available with book and record. PSYCHOLOGY, by David G. Myers (New York: Worth Publishers, 1986); a textbook with a one-sentence quote from the Canon (publisher's address is 33 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003). DEADLY ERNEST, by Daniel Lynch (Zebra Books, $3.95), with a fictional medical examiner who is a Sherlock Holmes fan. A S'ian flier from the Bureau of Business Practice, Waterford, CT 06386. A S'ian "Detective Kit" brochure from the American Society of Personnel Administration, 606 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. And "A New Day Dawning: An Interview with Dan Day" [Day is the artist for the Renegade Press S'ian comic book series] in The Comics Journal, Sept. 1986; 4359 Cornell Road, Agoura, CA 91301; $2.95. John also reports THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES [the 1935 Wontner film] and THE "SILENT" MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES ["The Copper Beeches" (1912), "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" (1927), and "The Man with the Twisted Lip" (1922)]; videocassettes, $29.95 each, from Video Yesteryear, Box C, Sandy Hook, CT 06482. Note: Video Specialists International (182 Jackson Street, Dallas, PA 18612) has this material, and more, on two longer cassettes. And that the soundtrack of "Young Sherlock Holmes" was nominated for a Grammy for best instrumental composition. Feb 87 #4 Gary Lovisi's RELICS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a 52-page pamphlet concentrating on relatively recent ephemera, with reproductions of cartoons, advertising artwork, magazine covers, and theater programs, as well as brief comments on newspaper, magazine, and fanzine articles. $3.00 postpaid from Gryphon Books, Box 209, Brooklyn, NY 11228. A minor change in dates for the John Bennett Shaw workshop at Stanford, now Aug. 16-23, 1987. A detailed flier will be available in April from Bruce R. Parker, Stanford University Medical Center S-058, Stanford, CA 94305. Reported by Ron De Waal: "Sherlock Holmes Is Dying" [a dramatization of "Dyin"], by Paul T. Nolan, in Plays: The Drama Magazine for Young People, Nov. 1986 (8 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116). The manuscript of "The Adventure of the Mazarin Diamond" is now available for $75,000 from Mark Hime (Idyllwild, CA 92349); the auction price at Christie's (Dec 86 #4) was $49,500 (including the 10% house commission). Royal Doulton Limited is celebrating the centenary with a new edition of their 1973 "Sleuth" character jug (that's the one with the handle formed by the pipe and magnifying glass); the new edition is 18 cm high, with Holmes in scarlet coat and brown hat, 5,000 copies commissioned by and available only from Lawleys by Post (Swift House, Liverpool Road, Newcastle, Staffs. ST5 9JJ, England). L19.50 plus L1.50 shipping, and they take (and ask that American customers use) credit cards. DARK BANQUET: A FEAST OF TWELVE GREAT GHOST STORIES, edited by Lincoln Child (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985; 255 p., $15.95), includes ACD's "The Horror of the Heights". Reported: WHAT I TELL YOU THREE TIMES IS FALSE, by Samuel Holt, from Tor Books in February ($14.95); "an actor-turned-detective joins a group of actors-portraying-detectives -- Sherlock Holmes, Miss Jane Marple, and Charlie Chan -- as they attempt to protect themselves from, and find the identity of, a killer in their midst." Peter E. Melonas offers a new "Duel at Reichenbach Falls" print (16x20"), $7.50 postpaid from from the Sherlock Holmes Tobacco and Mystery Shop, 1726A Sycamore Square Mall, Memphis, TN 38134; write for a flier. According to the Walt Disney Company's 1986 annual report, "24 artfully crafted books based on Basil of 'The Great Mouse Detective' sold half the intial one-million-volume run soon after release" in France. Different Worlds Magazine, a bimonthly covering the world of adventure games, had Michael Szymanski's discussion of "The Adventures of Solar Pons" in the July-Aug. 1986 issue, and Dave and Frankie Arneson's "Sherlock Holmes & the Baby" (a new case for the game SHERLOCK HOLMES: CONSULTING DETECTIVE) in the Nov.-Dec. 1986 issue. 2814 19th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110; $3.00 an issue, or $15.00 a year. The Feb. 2, 1987, issue of People had a five-page celebration of the centenary, with a fine assortment of photos of Sherlockian actors. Feb 87 #5 "Fox's 'The Name of the Rose,' if regarded as an art film, did well in sophisticated markets. But since it was a big-budget picture, it has to be considered a flop. It was not a Fox-financed film, but a pick-up in which Fox invested several million dollars plus distribu- tion and marketing costs. The studio may make some money back on ancillar- ies, but it's too bad Fox didn't have the foreign rights: the film is mak- ing a killing in Europe." Anne Thompson, in the San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 15, 1986, spotted by Ted Schulz. "Conan Doyle is probably the world's most ripped-off writer, but none of the copycats has ever replicated the Victorian London that lives these books." Martin Levin, in the San Mateo Times, Dec. 20, 1986, also spotted by Ted. THE CLERIHEWS OF PAUL HORGAN (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1985; 112 p., $15.95 cloth, $8.95 paper) includes one S'ian verse, accompanied by a portrait of Holmes by Joseph Reed. I've had a request for a current source for deerstalkers, which I've seen in a catalog from the Deerskin Trading Post, 119 Foster Street, Peabody, MA 01960 -- are there other sources? Art Ronnie (Columbia Pictures Television, 3300 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91505) has a sales list offering copies of Sherlockian film and television scripts (at $10.00 or $5.00 each), plus some audio tapes and books. Participants at the "Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota" conference in 1984 received some nice collectibles, including two 12-pp. booklets now offered to the public: E. W. McDiarmid's THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES (an examination of Adrian Conan Doyle's campaign promoting his father as the model for Sherlock Holmes) and James P. Shannon's "A FIXED POINT IN A CHANGING WORLD" (a discussion of Philip S. Hench and his collection); $3.50 each postpaid. Also available: Andrew Malec's THE FREDERIC DORR STEELE MEMORIAL COLLECTION (a well-illustrated 20-pp. pamphlet published in 1987 to commemorate the acquisition of the collection by the Univ. of Minnesota ($4.50 postpaid). All three items can be ordered from Special Collections, Univ. Libraries, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Ely M. Liebow, joining Northeastern Illinois University's celebration of its 25th anniversary, will lecture in Chicago on Mar. 19 on "The Birth of Sherlock Holmes--Without Benefit of Anesthesia." Ely also discovered a 1961 LP recording of "King Richard the Second" with cast including Jeremy Brett as Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and Edward Hardwicke as Duke of Surrey, Green, and Second Herald. The cast also included John Gielgud, Leo McKern, and Keith Michell, all of whom have appeared in Sherlockian drama -- Gielgud and Michell as Holmes, and McKern played . . . Bouchercon XVIII will be held on Oct. 9-11 in Minneapolis, with Lawrence Block as guest of honor and Steve Stilwell in charge of the convention; registration is $25 until July 1, then $35, or $10 for supporting members (Box 2747, Loop Station, Minneapolis, MN 55402). The latest publication of The Pleasant Places of Florida is Bill Ward's SONNETS BY THE MAJOR (24 p., $5.00 postpaid from the PPOF, 4408 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, FL 33510. Feb 87 #6 Sir Hugh Carleton Greene died on Feb. 19. He was a journalist in print and radio, and director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969. He wrote the Introduction to the Murray/Cape edition of A STUDY IN SCARLET (D697b), and edited four anthologies in his "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes" series (D4943b-D4946b). The Swiss National Tourist Office (Swiss Centre, New Coventry Street, London W1V 8EE, England) has sent an 18-page detailed announcement of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London's "Pilgrimage to Switzerland" from Apr. 30 to May 9. The cost of the tour is L530, there are still a few places open, and anyone interested should contact the SNTO quickly (their London telephone number 01-734-1921). David Susskind died on Feb. 22. His two-hour syndicated television series "The David Susskind Show" included a program on "Sherlock Holmes Is Alive and Well" in which Susskind attempted to interview Nicholas Meyer, Samuel Rosenberg, Albert M. Rosenblatt, and John Bennett Shaw; the program was taped on Dec. 3, 1974, and apparently first aired on Dec. 27, 1974. I hope that there's a tape preserved somewhere, but I don't know of one; it was a fascinating show, with Susskind's poorly prepared questions occasionally bluntly ignored by his guests. Fred Strebeigh's "The Greatest Detective Who Never Lived" (digested from Smithsonian, Dec. 1986) is in the Mar. 1987 issue of Reader's Digest. Cait Murphy's "The Game Is Still Afoot", a long and perceptive article on S'ian scholarship, is in the Mar. 1987 issue of The Atlantic. The second issue of THE PLUM IN THE PUDDING at hand, handsomely produced and well edited, with contributions by five Baltimore S'ians. $5.00 a year from Stephen J. Cribari, Mercantile Bank Building #612, 2 Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore, MD 21201. There's a color photograph of members of The Master's Class of Philadelphia in Derek Nelson's article "For the Love of Holmes" in MD Magazine, Jan. 1987; 30 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022; $3.75. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: Judith Conway's DETECTIVE TRICKS YOU CAN DO, (Troll Associates, 1986); boy, girl, and dog in S'ian costume throughout. Troll Associates are at 320 Route 17, Mahwah, NJ 07430. John Dickson Carr's PANIC IN BOX C, reissued in paperback (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1987; 273 p., $3.50) is a fine murder mystery featuring Dr. Gideon Fell, and an early (and not irrelevant) mention of Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes". Peter Loffredo, creator of the fine film about William Gillette (Sep 86 #1 and Nov 86 #2), reports a reduction in the price for 16mm color prints, to $395.00. Videocassettes are still $50.00; orders to Connecticut Heritage Productions, 46 Bretton Road, Middletown, CT 06457. John T. Lescroart's Neronian pastiche SON OF HOLMES has been reprinted in paperback (New York: Leisure Books, 1986; 256 p., $3.25). Mar 87 #1 Donald A. Redmond's SHERLOCK HOLMES: A STUDY IN SOURCES is listed in the discount catalog from University Press Books in America (Columbia Univ. Press, 136 South Broadway, Irvington, NY 10533); the book is item XT3919, the price is $14.95 plus $3.00 shipping, and they take plastic. Flier at hand from Gaslight Publications (112 East Second, Bloomington, IN 47401; plastic accepted) announcing ON THE SCENT WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Walter Shepherd (85 p., $14.95 plus $1.00 shipping); a new work, though with the same title as Shepherd's 1978 book. Samuel Holt's WHAT I TELL YOU THREE TIMES IS FALSE (New York: Tor Books, 1987; 249 p., $14.95) is an entertaining murder mystery in which the sleuths (and suspects) include actors noted for portraying Miss Marple, Charlie Chan, and -- Sherlock Holmes. "Nate the Great" is a deerstalkered young detective who stars in a pleasant series of children's books by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, with illos by Marc Simont. There are now nine NATE THE GREAT titles, published by Coward- McCann, and seven of the books are also available in paperback from Dell. A more detailed forecast: THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., in paperback from Penguin in June at $3.95. Some British items, reported by Andrew Jay Peck: A STUDY IN SCARLET, adapted by Michael Hardwick (recording on BBC tape, L5.50); ARTHUR AND THE BELLYBUTTON DIAMOND, by Arthur Coren (recording on Talking Tape TTC/KO5); CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, read by Robert Hardy (Argo); THE SPECKLED BAND, read by Donald Pickering (Pickwick PTB601); YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE PYRAMID OF FEAR (read-along cassette by Rainbow Communications, L1.99); BASIL OF BAKER STREET, by Eve Titus (Knight, L1.50); BASIL AND THE PYGMY CATS, by Eve Titus (Hodder & Stoughton, L2.95); THE MURDER OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by James Anderson (Star paperback, L1.95); THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES AND OTHER PLAYS, by Michael and Mollie Hardwick (John Murray, Ll.75); SHERLOCK HOLMES (Gillette), adapted by Tim Kelly (Hanbury Plays, L2.50); SHERLOCK MEETS THE PHANTOM, by Tim Kelly (Hanbury Plays, L2.30); SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEVIL'S FOOT, edited by Peter Haining (Severn House, L6.95); THE COMIC CROOKS, by Terrance Dicks (Blackie, L6.50). "A Study in Scarlet: The HemoQuant Assay for Occult Fecal Blood" is an article in the Feb. 1987 issue of Communique [Mayo Medical Laboratories] (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905), reporting on a new procedure in which iron is removed from heme, which is non-fluorescing, to yield porphyrins, which do fluoresce in ultraviolet light. The fluorescence is scarlet, thoroughly appropriate for a procedure that meets most of the requirements of the "Sherlock Holmes" test. The Dramatic Publishing Co. (Box 109, Woodstock, IL 60098) offers four S'ian scripts: THE INCREDIBLE MURDER OF CARDINAL TOSCA, by Alden Nowlan and Walter Learning ($3.50); THE VERY GREAT GRANDSON OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Bill Majeski ($3.50); THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY, by Ruth Sergel from Milne's book ($3.50); and THE FAMILY JEWELS, by Andy Gregg ($1.75). THE FAMILY JEWELS is a one-act play about the famous detective Shirley Holmes. Mar 87 #2 "When Edward J. Perkins became a lowly staff assistant in the Foreign Service 15 years ago, he took to rereading all the Sherlock Holmes detective stories that had fascinated him in the past," according to an article by Juan Williams in The Washington Post Magazine (Mar. 1, 1987). "But this time he didn't read just for pleasure. He studied Holmes. In the great detective he saw a character who knew how to use logic and cunning to foil his adversaries. Perkins had his own adversaries to worry about--the Ivy League white males who dominated the State Department." Perkins is now the U.S. ambassador in South Africa. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: DETECTIVE TRICKS YOU CAN DO, written by Judith Conaway and illustrated by Renzo Barto (Mahwah: Troll Associates, 1986; 47 pp.), with the young detectives in Sherlockian costume. Troll is at 100 Corporate Drive, Mahwah, NJ 07430. THE RAINBOW BEARS GIANT STORY COLORING BOOK, by Nancy Lee Fuller, is giant indeed (17x22"); Pepper, one of the five Rainbow Bears, appears in S'ian costume (Stoneway, Box 548, Southeastern, PA 91399; $1.50). Flier at hand for "A Centenary Adventure in England with Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle and Mr. Sherlock Holmes" (BCM, Box Dewey, London WC1N 3XX, England); the conference will be Sept. 12-20, in and around London, with Dr. Alvin E. Rodin as tour leader. Further to the earlier report (Jul 86 #4) of plans for a reissue of the 1954 Ronald Howard television series, the new series will be called the "Sherlock Holmes Trilogies" and will consist of thirteen 90-minute movies, available for television, cable, and home video. Patrick Macnee will be host and narrator, filmed at Edinburgh Studios on a 19th-century set with the assistance of Richard Lancelyn Green. No release date as yet. Reported from Britain by Roger Johnson: Granada's "The Sign of Four" is scheduled for broadcast at Christmas, and there will be a "Sherlock Holmes Centenary Season" at the National Film Theatre in December. M. J. Trow's third pastiche, LESTRADE AND THE HALLOWED HOUSE, was published by Macmillan in Jan. (L8.95). Peter Haining's new collection, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CREEPING MAN, is due from Severn House in Mar. (L8.95). Allen Sharp's third "storytrail" book, SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE DANCING BEES, is due from Cambridge University Press in Apr. (L1.50). Tsukasa Kobayashi's SHERLOCK HOLMES' LONDON has been published by B. A. Seaby (L10.95). John Buxton Hilton's new Inspector Brunt mystery, SLICKENSIDES, features two mysterious characters calling themselves Holmes and Watson, competing with Brunt to investigate a disappearance in a village in Derbyshire in 1911 (Collins, L8.95). ACD's THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER and THE GREAT SHADOW are due from Greenhill in Mar. Edward R. Hamilton (Falls Village, CT 06031) has three items of interest in his 2/20/87 discount-book sales list: CHAPLIN: HIS LIFE AND ART, by David Robinson (#51064), a massive biography with detailed coverage of Chaplin's appearances as Billy ($5.95); ROGER MOORE, by Paul Donovan (#91073), a biography with minor discussion of "Sherlock Holmes in New York" ($3.95); and ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S WORLD OF STRANGE POWERS, by John Fairley and Simon Welfare (#31430), with references to ACD's interest in spiritualism ($7.95). Add $3.00 per order for shipping. Mar 87 #3 Reported by Lenny Picker: unabridged audio cassettes of THE ADVENTURES (read by Patrick Tull) and THE MEMOIRS (read by Alex Spencer) due from Recorded Books (620 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001) in April ($39.95 for each set of seven cassettes); their catalog also lists the four long stories. Robert Goldsborough's second Nero Wolfe pastiche DEATH ON DEADLINE (with a story involving Lon Cohen and the Gazette) due from Bantam in April. Princess Nina Mdivani Conan Doyle Harwood died on Mar. 3 in London. Nina was *The* Woman at the cocktail party before the BSI annual dinner in 1975, and contributed an Introduction to the 1975 reprint of TALES OF TERROR AND MYSTERY (D329b), but she was not (as at least one obituary suggests) the last of the royal Georgian clan of Mdivanis. They were Georgian, but they weren't royal; Alice-Leone Moats, in THE MILLION DOLLAR STUDS (New York: Delacorte Press, 1977), gives considerable attention to Nina's brothers, all of whom married rich Americans, and little to Nina, who married Denis Conan Doyle and then Anthony Harwood. Nina (as Baskervilles Investments Limited) for a time controlled the Conan Doyle literary estate. Further to my note (Oct 86 #2) about non-S'ian books that use the titles of SH stories, Dick Lesh notes that Rathbone's film "Dressed to Kill" (1946) was matched by "Dressed to Kill" (1980). Well, yes, and there's the double bill of "Spider Woman" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman" . . . Dick also reports that Rathbone's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is available on videocassette at $29.95 from Diversions (Box 1834, Newark, NJ 07101). Also the old Murray Hill three-record sets at $7.99 each: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES/THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (film sound- tracks), SHERLOCK HOLMES: TALES FROM BAKER STREET (6 Rathbone radio shows), and MORE SHERLOCK HOLMES ADVENTURES (6 Gielgud radio shows). Add $3.50 shipping per order. The British post office plans to issue at least one stamp booklet honoring SH in 1987 -- the booklet covers will be S'ian, not the stamps (there have been many such thematic booklet covers in recent years) -- and a flier at hand from Henry Murray (Arlington Supplies, P.O. Box 143, London N13 4XN, England) offers the booklet at $2.50 and a first day cover at $6.95, as well as their own commemorative cover (postmarked Jan. 8) honoring ACD as a Mason at $4.65. Add $1.00 shipping per order. Per my query (Feb 87 #5) on sources for deerstalkers, the only current report is a local one: available for $25.00 from Hats in the Belfry, 1237 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC 20007. Andy Warhol died in February. According to Chris Steinbrunner (THE FILMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1978), "as far back as 1972 pop artist Andy Warhol was reported to be teamed with Rex Reed in an 'underground' variant of the Sherlock Holmes saga, with Reed also playing Watson; this has yet to reach the screen." Ron De Waal has tracked down the comic book MUPPET BABIES (387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016; $0.75); issue #13 (May 1987) has Kermlock Holmes in "The Strange Case of the Missing Mermaid Costume". Mar 87 #4 Albert M. Rosenblatt ("known as Albie to friends," according to the N.Y. Times) has been sworn in as New York State's chief administrative judge. He will administer a court system that has an annual budget of $800 million, about 2,000 judges, and 12,000 other employees, and disposed of more than three million cases in 1986 (that's ten times the total dispositions in federal courts in all 50 states). Al intends to continue his S'ian interests, and impressed the N.Y. Times reporter by correctly naming all four of the long stories. Flier at hand from artist Stefanie K. Hawks (Box 50453, Knoxville, TN 37950) offering S'ian prints, postcard, and stationery. The Mystery Writers of America nominees for best motion picture screenplay include "The Great Mouse Detective" and "The Name of the Rose" -- the Edgar winners will be announced on May 8. "The Name of the Rose" is available on videocassette (Embassy Home Entertainment, $79.95). And a bit of trivia: F. Murray Abraham, who won an Oscar for "Amadeus" and then played Bernardo Gui, the inquisitor, in "The Name of the Rose", began his screen career in a S'ian film: "They Might Be Giants", in which he played the Usher. Harlan Ellison was in Toronto for a lecture on Feb. 8, according to an article at hand from Cam Hollyer. Ellison suggested that those in search of success must read and re-read only one essential book: the collected Sherlock Holmes stories. "They teach you deductive logic. They teach you observation. They teach you to see what is going on around you. The more you see, the more you understand. And the quicker and cleverer you are at spotting and reading people and things, the less you can be manipulated." Videotaper alert: "Young Sherlock Holmes" will be on The Movie Channel on Apr. 10, 12, and 15. If your PBS station was pledge-driving on Mar. 12, you may not have seen the Vincent Price end-of-the-program piece if the station substituted a plea for donations (unless you also watched the repeat daytime broadcast); Price commented on the interesting increase in Holmes' fee, and announced that in the next program Holmes will be involved with the Mafia. Forecast (for November, from Villard Books): THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND, by Michael Hardwick, with illos by Steranko. Villard hopes that the book will be "the first in a series of Sherlock Holmes novels, in the same vein as John Gardner's extremely successful series of 007 novels," according to Villard's editorial director Peter Gethers, quoted in Publishers Weekly. THE ADVENTURE OF BLUE PETER, by John Ruyle, is the first episode in the long-anticipated Memoirs of Turlock Loams; a welcome addition to the Turlockian Canon, and finely printed, as usual, at The Pequod Press. $28.50 (cloth) or $13.50 (paper), from John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707. Reported from London: a new pub sign at The Sherlock Holmes (the real pub sign, not a souvenir), with a new Holmes resembling Peter Cushing. No mention of when the new sign was installed, or how many S'ians have visited the pub without observing the change. Mar 87 #5 Found by Mel Ruiz: "Buster Keaton Scrapbook" on videocassette from Prestige Home Theatre, with two 30-minute TV shows: "This Is Your Life" and "The Detective" (from a short-lived series starring Keaton, broadcast in the early 50s; in this episode "Buster is a sleuth, the likes of which Sherlock Holmes never saw"). Mel reports that the detective is Sam Spade, but Keaton does use a magnifying glass, and has a bloodhound named Watson. I have no idea what series this is from, but it might be "Life with Buster Keaton", a series syndicated in 1951 or 1952; according to the TV reference books, the series consisted primarily of reedited Keaton shorts from the 1930s and 1940s, plus comedy vignettes in which he played "a man struggling to cope with life's endless problems." Dick Rutter, now resident in Germany, reports a source for two items: the nutcracker (30 cm high, at left, about $45.00) and a "Rauchermann" in which one can burn incense (25 cm high, at right, about $25.00); shipping extra, VISA accepted, and you can order from Walter H. Hirschmann, Am Stadtwald 8, 8489 Eschenbach/Opf, West Germany. A new sales list received from Ilene Fauer at US 2 (563 Clinton Road, Paramus, NJ 07652); the new items include centennial note pads and magnets. There's a series called "Mad Movies with the L.A. Connection" on cable (Nickelodeon); they do parodies of old movies, and two of the programs are based on Rathbone's "Secret Weapon" and "Dressed to Kill". Please let me know if you tape these or any other S'ian programs in the series. Copies of the S'ian multi-color 14x24" poster for Sherlockon II, held this month in Torrance, are available for $3.00 postpaid from Sherlock in L.A. Press, 2712 Scott Road, Burbank, CA 91504. "It is true that Holmes sometimes confused induction with deduction, and that he came to the incredible conclusion that there is as much wisdom in Hafiz as there is in Horace. And to speak plainly, he did on a few occa- sions express an unhealthy interest in continental philosophy. But he made no other mistakes, and what is the very last importance, he defeated a man whose treatise on the binomial theorem has had a European vogue." Marvin Levich, in "Bookmarks: the Return of Metaphysics, and of Sherlock Holmes" in the spring 1987 issue of Reed: The Quarterly of Reed College (3203 S.E. Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, OR 97202); forwarded by Jerry Margolin. Mar 87 #6 The Mysterious Bookshop's spring catalog at hand, with a S'iana section. Also the spring issue of Mysterious News, with a short article by Len Deighton and news about Mysterious Press books (100 planned for 1987); the address for both is 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. The press is also co-sponsoring a day-long mystery-fiction con- ference on May 16; details available from Jerry Weiss, Dept. of English, Jersey City State College, 2039 Kennedy Bouevard, Jersey City, NY 17305. Reported by Andy Peck: a "Sherlock Holmes Centennial Collection" of audio tapes of 12 Rathbone/Bruce radio shows, $26.90 from The Source, Box 795232, Dallas, TX 75379. Reported by Roger Johnson: filming of Granada's "Sign" is almost complete. In Sept. they will start on the fourth (and final) series (according to Michael Cox, the new shows "almost certainly" will be "Devi", "Bruc", "Silv", "Wist", and a two-part "Houn"). "The Adventure at the Crossroads" is a Sherlockian mystery weekend set for Apr. 10-12 at the Vintners Inn (4350 Barnes Road, Santa Rose, CA 95401). "The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes" (the one-hour television special with Christopher Lee as host), broadcast here and there in 1986, is reported available on videocassette at $79.95 (sorry, company not known). Reported from England: a S'ian commemorative plate from Caverswall China Ltd., Berry Hill Road, Stoke-on-Trent, England. In case your PBS television station didn't broadcast "The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson" (Jan 87 #2), here's a sample: Apr 87 #1 Reported by Brian R. MacDonald: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S CELEBRATED CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (see Nov 86 #3), with 18 stories and 12 new color plates by Graham Ward (London: Octopus Books, 1986; 318 p., $9.98 at B. Dalton). RUNNING AND BEING: THE TOTAL EXPERIENCE, by Dr. George Sheehan (Warner paperback, $6.95); the chapter on "Racing" has S'ian artwork. BIALOSKY AND THE BIG PARADE MYSTERY, by Justine Koman with illos by Tom Cooke (Big Little Golden Book #10262; $1.19); with a deerstalkered teddy bear. THE CLASSIC ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (Stamford: Longmeadow Press, 1987; 636 p., $7.95) is on the discount tables at Waldenbooks. The book is a new issue of THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (D270b) and THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES published by Castle Books in 1976 and 1980, with all the stories illustrated by Sidney Paget, in facsimile from The Strand Magazine, with a new color jacket illustration by Eric Kincaid. Reported by Paul Merz: a 12-page article by Frank D. McConnell on ACD and SH and "Detecting Order Amid Disorder" in the Wilson Quarterly, spring 1987 (600 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024; $5.00). "What Arthur Conan Doyle did 100 years ago was not simply to invent one of the imperishable figures in the history of English literature but also to provide a form of storytelling, a way of thinking, that has been of inestimable value throughout this troubled century. Only the entrenched snobs of academic criticism should be able, at this date, to ignore the importance of the form and its creator. To most readers, recognition of that importance is, as the Master himself was fond of saying, elementary." Paul also reports Michael Ffinch's G. K. CHESTERTON (Harper & Row, $18.95); a new biography blurbed as drawing upon recently discovered material (let- ters, poems, and a Sherlock Holmes story) to give a very different picture of a major literary figure. The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair (Apr. 2-4) featured sales and exhibitions celebrating the centenary and (according to the ad spotted by Tom Stix), an informal talk by Gahan Wilson on "The Enduring Influence of Sherlock Holmes. Also from Tom is Enid Nemy's column in the N.Y. Times (Mar. 27, 1987) about Sherlock Holmes' search for Dr. Watson. Frank Langella's search, that is. Langella has everything needed for his $1 million production of Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" except a Watson. The play, described as "an exploration of ego and envy, as well as a thriller," is scheduled in Washington (June 19-July 25) before opening on Broadway. At hand from Alan R. Kaplan is the Oregon State Bar Bulletin (Aug.-Sept. 1986), with Rathbone and Bruce on the cover and as frontispiece to Teresa Carp's article on "Hiring a Legal Investigator". 1776 S.W. Madison Street, Portland, OR 97205; $2.00. The Franklin Library (Franklin Center, PA 19091) is launching the "Franklin Library of Mystery Masterpieces" with 50 monthly titles at $14.50 each plus shipping; one of the titles, according to a recent advertisement, will be GREAT CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Apr 87 #2 "To say that MI5, the British Secret Service, was and remains the mastermind behind the Piltdown hoax is to provoke outrage by readers of decent sensibilities," Charles J. Blinderman suggested in an article in the Journal of Irreproducible Results (Feb.-Mar. 1986). But he also concluded that "only the British Government could have had a motive sufficient for the initiation of this hoax and the resources to carry it out so comprehensively." Blinderman has now addressed the matter more seriously, in his new book THE PILTDOWN INQUEST (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1986; 261 p., $22.95); his work is carefully researched, and his book is written with style and humor. His chapter on Conan Doyle (hardly a serious candidate as culprit, according to Blinderman) is, unfortunately, written as a S'ian pastiche, and Blinderman is not an accomplished pasticheur. The Journal of Irreproducible Results, I should add, has been described (accurately) as "the funniest thing to happen to science since Archimedes ran naked through the streets of Syracuse." Box 234, Chicago Heights, IL 60411; $5.90 for five issues. The latest mail-order catalog (749M) from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011) offers THE CONAN DOYLE STORIES (76 tales in a reissue from the 1929 John Murray edition) at $6.95, and videocassettes of six of the Granada programs (Scan, Blue, Spec, Danc, Nava, Soli) at $29.95 each. Bantam's two-volume paperback edition of SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE NOVELS AND STORIES is finally in the bookstores ($4.95 each volume), with an Introduction by Loren D. Estleman, who fervently defends Dr. Watson against his detractors. LESTRADE AND THE HALLOWED HOUSE (Macmillan, L8.95), the third novel in M. J. Trow's series about Lestrade, received an approving review in Punch. Michael Hardwick's SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE AND CRIMES (BSJ Jun 85) has been issued as a trade paperback (New York: Henry Holt, 1986; 208 p., $7.95). Hardwick's THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SHERLOCK HOLMES (BSJ Mar 87) has been published in an American edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986; 255 p., $16.95). Reported by Dana Richards: SEVEN CLUES TO THE ORIGIN OF LIFE: A SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE STORY (BSJ Mar 87) has been reissued in wrappers (Cambridge Univ. Press). THE ANNOTATED INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN, by G. K. Chesterton, annotated by Martin Gardner, has a lengthy comparison of Father Brown and Sherlock Holmes (Oxford Univ. Press, 1987; an American edition due soon). SLICKENSIDES, by John Buxton Hilton (London: William Collins, 1987; 164 p., L8.95), is an interesting murder mystery set in Derbyshire in 1911; the detective, Inspector Brunt, sorts through the local suspects as well as two London outsiders who appear to be (but aren't) Holmes and Watson. THE CRIMSON CIRCLE is the 24-page newsletter of The Edgar Wallace Society (write to John A. Hogan, 7 Devonshire Close, Amersham, Bucks. HP6 5JG, England; membership including subscription is L6.00). And the newsletter often has S'ian material; the Feb. 1987 issue reprints Wallace's "Sherlock Holmes on the Cambridge" (D5224b). Apr 87 #3 I have completed work on the computer file of Sherlockian societies (407 societies, including 181 active societies). The numbers will change, of course, as the file is revised. A print-out (37 pages) with names of all societies, and contact names and addresses for all active societies, is available for $2.50 postpaid. Labels are available for mailings to active societies, at $10.00 a run. Sound Track Album Retailers has a new address (Box 487, New Holland, PA 17557), and their latest catalog relists the record of "Young Sherlock Holmes" (MCA 6159) at $9.95; shipping extra, and they take plastic. The Occupants of the Empty House have just published the 100th issue of The Camden House Journal, their monthly newsletter (and there are only a few other scions with that fine a track record). At the end of 1986 they also published BEEMAN'S CHRISTMAS ANNUAL, a 28-page pamphlet with articles and artwork by members; copies are still available for $3.00 postpaid from William R. Cochran, 517 North Vine Street, DuQuoin, IL 62832. The "Sherlock Holmes Centennial Collection" (Mar 87 #6) has six cassettes with twelve of the Rathbone/Bruce radio shows, from "The Bruce-Partington Plans" (1939) to "The Night Before Christmas" (1945), on high-quality recordings; $31.90 postpaid from The Source, Box 795232, Dallas, TX 75379. Kiyoshi Tanaka brought a few copies of his 1987 Sherlockian calendar to the birthday festivities in New York, and it is a handsome production, with an attractive full-page illustration by Kiyoshi for each month. Copies are still available from Kiyoshi Tanaka, 8-7 Babacho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa 235, Japan, for $10.00 postpaid; please send currency, not checks (Japanese banks charge even more for foreign checks than British banks do.) Dr. N. Joel Ehrenkranz discussed "A. Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and Murder by Tropical Infection" in a 4-page article in Reviews of Infectious Diseases, Jan.-Feb. 1987; reprints may still be available from the author (1295 N.W. 14th Street, suite M, Miami, FL 33125. Chris Caswell (Sherlock's Home, 4137 East Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90804) reports that he stocks deerstalkers, as well as bowlers for Watson and genuine helmets for your local bobby; write for details. The Easton Press (47 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06857) is planning a deluxe three-volume COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES 100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION at $37.50 postpaid per volume; this will be a reissue of the Heritage Press edition, bound in leather, with full-color Steele frontispieces. At hand from Charles Shields: "Adventures of a Young Balzac", an article by Michael Murphy on Vincent Starrett's newspaper career in Chicago, in the spring 1987 issue of Inland: The Magazine of the Middle West (Inland Steel Co., 30 West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603). THE HOLMESIAN FEDERATION #7 (Feb 87 #2) at hand, with Tina Rhea's "Pax de Deux" (Sherlock and Irene post-Reichenbach), four other pastiches, and some fine illos by Stefanie Hawks; 91 p., $4.00 postpaid from Signe Landon (14985 256th Avenue SE, Issaquah, WA 98027). Apr 87 #4 1988 will be the centenary of Jack the Ripper's bloody visits to Whitechapel, and Alexander Kelly has revised and expanded his JACK THE RIPPER: A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE (D2251b); it's an expert review of who's written what about Saucy Jack, and available for L7.95 from the Association of Assistant Librarians, 55a Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, London SE22 8EP, England. The Renegade Press comic CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES #6 (Mar. 1987) has "The Resident Patient" with more of Dan Day's artwork. Six issues may indeed be the longest recorded run of a S'ian comic book. Flier at hand for "Fiddling Around with Sherlock Holmes" (also known as the "Centennial Weekend with John Bennett Shaw") at the College of William and Mary on July 24-26, 1987; write to Ray Betzner (2906 Richard Pace South, Williamsburg, VA 23185). MERCENARIES, SPIES & PRIVATE EYES is a boxed-set role-playing game from Sleuth Publications (689 Florida Street, San Francisco, CA 94110), with a 124-page rulebook, 32-page adventure, character sheets, and dice; $20.00. The game is much like Dungeons & Dragons, requiring a game-master to run (and invent) the scenario, which might be Victorian London, with Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty as three of the many possible characters. Erratum (Mar 87 #3): Princess Nina Mdivani Conan Doyle Harwood died on Feb. 18 in London, I am informed by a reliable reader. The Quality Paperback Club (Camp Hill, PA 17011-9968) has again offered its members its Sherlock Holmes sweatshirt (with the caricature by Gerry Gersten), at $16.00. I'm not sure that it's available to non-members, however. If you'd like to join the club (right now you get three books for $1.00, with no further purchase obligation), Andrew Jay Peck (24 Fifth Avenue #829, New York, NY 10011) will be happy to supply details. GREAT CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a "Best Loved Audiobooks" two-cassette package from Random House/Reader's Digest ($14.95), with four cases (Twis, RedH, Spec, Blue) capably read by Robert Lindsay; the text of the stories follows the 1966 Reader's Digest Association book (D687a). Scholastic Voice (Mar. 23, 1987) has much S'ian, including "The Speckled Band" adapted for radio by the Hardwicks, "The Last of Sherlock Holmes" by Tim Kelly, and an interview with Tim Kelly. 730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003; $2.25 for the Teachers' Edition. The Feb. 1987 issue of Tourist in London Magazine (a courtesy hotel and in-flight magazine) has Michael Mahoney's two-page article on "Sherlock Holmes' London" and a S'ian color cover; Lee Publications, 98 Plashet Road, London E13 0RQ, England. Richard D. Lesh (2631 Flintridge Place, Fort Collins, CO 80521) has found a few copies of the handsome medal issued by The Maiwand Jezails in 1980 to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Maiwand. The medal (BSJ Sep 1982, photo on p. 191) is silver-plate over bronze, green ribbon, $30.00 postpaid and insured. Apr 87 #5 Has anyone done any research on M. Oscar Meunier of Grenoble? Donald A. Redmond (SHERLOCK HOLMES: A STUDY IN SOURCES, 1982, p. 111) notes a Belgian engraver named Jean-Baptiste Meunier, born in 1821, and the firm of Henri Meunier & Co., artists' colourmen, in the Earl's Court Road. But there was also the Belgian sculptor Constantin Meunier, who exhibited in several Salons des Beaux-Arts in Paris, including one in 1893; he was favored by Siegfried Bing (the inventor of "art nouveau"). Another of Bing's artists was James Ensor, a Belgian who was a member of the XX Group in 1902; it is in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" that Holmes "was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters." THE BEST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a four-cassette package presenting careful readings of four cases (RedH, Iden, Musg, Twis); $15.99 from the Great American Gift Co., 33 Portman Road, New Rochelle, NY 10801. Some British news, via Roger Johnson: the Folio Society (202 Great Suffolk Street, London, SE.1, England) will publish their new edition of "Houn" (with illos by Edward Bawden) in August. Tyburn Productions plans to start production "within the next few months" on "The Abbot's Cry" (with Peter Cushing and John Mills). That's Entertainment records will issue an album of Patrick Gowers' music from the Granada series. Here's another one of those "name an actor" questions: name a professional actor who has played both Billy and Watson. The answer is on the next page, so don't wait to think about it. We've had Sherlock Holmes musicals, and a Sherlock Holmes ballet. Now John Bennett Shaw reports "The Hound of the Baskervilles" presented in dance, mime, and music by the National Tap Dance Company in Toronto on Mar. 29. Also from John is a newspaper report: "For the past two years, a Tokyo sleuth calling himself Doctor Yu has headed a firm named Sherlock Holmes Japan, which will locate your lost love for you, very discreetly, and give you the details you want." The cost is $120 in Tokyo, $140 in the rest of Japan, plus a $45 bonus if the search is successful (they claim a 99% success rate), and the company is taking in about $1,350,000 a year. Flier at hand for Bouchercon XVIII (Murder in the North Country) at the Ritz Hotel in Minneapolis, Oct. 9-11. Lawrence Block will be guest of honor, and there will be a full day of alternate S'ian programming, with John Bennett Shaw, to celebrate the centenary. The address is Box 2747, Loop Station, Minneapolis, MN 55402; registration is $25.00 until July 1, $35.00 thereafter, and $10.00 for supporting membership. In the course of my research for the list of Sherlockian societies, I have found 12 inactive societies for which we have no information on who the founder or contact was. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows anything about: The Boulevard Assassins of Paris, The Boulevard Assassins of Suburban Detroit, The Cascade Canoneers, The Deal-Top Monographers, The Lion's Mane of Grand Rapids, The Puzzled Squires of Downey, The Resident Patients of Montana State University, The Retired Colourmen of Essex, The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Canonical Criminals, The Sons of Sherlock Holmes, The Students in Terror, or The West of Tokyo Interpreters. Apr 87 #6 COLLECTING: THE PASSIONATE PASTIME, by Susanna Johnston and Tim Beddow (New York: Harper & Row, 1986; 136 p., $24.95), is a fascinating book, based on interviews with British collectors and fully illustrated with color photographs. One of the collectors is Richard Lancelyn Green, who has created a Sherlock Holmes room at Poulton Hall. Reported by Tom Stix: Xavier Roberts Collectors Dispatch, winter 1987, with an illustrated story "The Case of the Black Feather" featuring Cabbage Patch doll Otis Lee in S'ian costume. The magazine is published by the BabyLand General Hospital, 19 Underwood Street, P.O. Box 714, Cleveland, GA 30528; $3.00. "Sherlock Holmes and the Poirot Connexion" is a new pastiche by Julian Symons, in the Apr. 1987 issue of The Illustrated London News; the color cover by Paul Slater is better than the pastiche. Chris Redmond's WELCOME TO AMERICA, MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES (his report on ACD's 1894 visit) is now announced for publication this spring. Additional information available from Simon and Pierre, P.O. Box 80, Adelaide Street Postal Station, Toronto, Ont. M5C 2J4, Canada. The professional actor who has played both Billy and Watson is Christian Slater, who played Billy (with Frank Langella as Holmes) in the 1981 HBO television version of William Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes", and Adso of Melk (with Sean Connery as William of Baskerville) in the 1986 film "The Name of the Rose". THE COPPERFIELD CHECKLIST OF MYSTERY AUTHORS, edited by Pamela Granovetter and Karen Thomas, follows the format of A SHOPPING LIST OF MYSTERY CLASSICS (BSJ Mar 87); ACD is one of the 100 authors, with 25 titles listed. The 128-page book is available for $7.00 postpaid from The Copperfield Press, 306 West 11th Street, New York, NY 10014. The British stamp booklet (Mar 87 #3) honoring "Stud" was issued on Apr. 14, and will be followed by three more (dates not set) honoring "Houn", "Spec", and "Fina". Our circulation department, noting that every mailing this year has been six pages, calculates that the cost of printing and mailing requires an increase in the subscription price, to $8.00 a year. Editorial departments never argue with circulation departments, of course, so future renewals will be at the new price. May 87 #1 "The Jewel in the Crown" is back on PBS-TV, starting May 24. Ronald Merrick is played by Tim Pigott-Smith, who played Dr. Watson in the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of "Sherlock Holmes". And there are minor references to Sherlock Holmes in episodes 12 ("The Moghul Room") and 13 ("Pandora's Box"). There will be more Sherlockian stamps issued this year than I predicted. A pane of 50 different stamps showing North American wildlife will be issued on June 13. The animals include a bighorn sheep and a bison, to name only two specifically American animals found in the Canon. And there are many more candidates, if you're willing to stretch a bit (the badger and the rabbit in "Sign" probably weren't American, nor the foxes in "Houn", and there are others). The pane might make an interesting visual quiz. And a commemorative honoring New Jersey statehood will be issued on July 15. I trust you all know who was born in New Jersey . . . And a postal card honoring the 150th anniversary of John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow will be issued on May 22. Howard Garrideb advertised "steam and hand plows" but may not have meant anything that old. David G. Kirby (Rupert Books, 59 Stonefield, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB3 8TE, England) has issued a colorful centenary catalog ("A Century of Scarlet") with book offers, color photographs, and eight color illustrations for the story by David Cory; the catalog costs $4.00 postpaid by airmail. Question #1: What was the name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle? Laboromnia (15 Wallingford Avenue, London W10 6QA, England) has a color flier showing items in their centenary collection (busts in bronze or ceramic, plates, a mug, and a thimble); their American agent is Robert C. Hess (559 Potter Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718). Pedro J. Saavedra's short S'ian poem "Detectiverse: Wiggins" is in the May 1987 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Richard D. Lesh (2631 Flintridge Place, Fort Collins, CO 80521) offers high-quality stereo audio cassettes made from his high-fidelity Austrian phonograph record of "The Polyphonic Motets of Roland de Lassus" (Mons 1532, Les Larmes de St. Pierre, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Choir, Cambridge University, 45 minutes); $10.00 postpaid. Dick also reports that Publisher's Central Bureau (One Champion Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07131) offers a new videocassette: "100 Years of Sherlock Holmes" (60 minutes, black-and-white, $19.95). According to the catalog, "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous sleuth is the focus of this compilation covering the filmed history of Holmes and Watson. Holmes has thrilled fans for one hundred years and this memorable collector's piece will satisfy anyone's interest." No other information available as yet. And Dick reports that on May 2 the syndicated TV series "Entertainment Tonight" included a 10-minute segment on the centenary, with film of ACD and an interview with Sherlock Holmes' secretary Sue Brown. May 87 #2 The latest issue of the August Derleth Society Newsletter (winter-spring 1987) has a fine article by Michael Harrison on "Derleth: My Fellow Duke" (both were dukes of the Caribbean kingdom of Redonda, and surely are still regarded as such by those who deny Great Britain's subsequent claim of sovereignty over the island). The newsletter is published quarterly by the August Derleth Society and edited by Richard H. Fawcett, 61 Teecomwas Drive, Uncasville, CT 06382; $5.00 a year. In a letter to the editor of Stamps (May 2, 1987), Robert Boos reports a new production error in two recent episodes of the Granada series: mail inspected or received by Holmes bears a Penny Black stamp, unlikely to be used in the late nineteenth century. I think that "unlikely" is the key word here: the penny black (1840) was superceded by a penny red (1864), and there were new one-penny stamps issued in 1880 and 1881 with a new design. Question #2: What was the name of the second novel written by Conan Doyle? THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., is now out in paperback (New York: Penguin Books, 1987; 278 pp., $3.95); it's one of the better pastiches (BSJ Dec 86). The Woods-Runner (the official meeting place and magazine of Unicorn Hunters International) generally reflects many if not most of the varied interests of its soon-to-retire (but never retiring) general manager Bill Rabe. It's published quarterly at $3 a year by Lake Superior State College (Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783); the next issue (#59) will include "Letters about Sherlock" (excerpts from The Agony Column). The two-record album with two of the Rathbone/Bruce radio broadcasts from "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (Oct 86 #1) is a fine production, with high-quality recordings of "The Unfortunate Tobacconist" (30 Apr 45) and "The Paradol Chamber" (21 May 45), interesting commentary by Ben Wright (who played Holmes in a later series), an informative booklet on "Sherlock Holmes on American Radio", and handsome album decorations. The scripts were written by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher, and the album is a limited edition (3,000 copies), available for $27.50 postpaid from 221 "A" Baker Street Associates, Box 351453, Los Angeles, CA 90035-998. Peter Melonas reports that the first issue of Pipefinder portrays Sherlock Holmes searching for the perfect pipe; available free from Pipefinder, Box 721288, Houston, TX 77272. Colin Blakely died on May 7. He was a fine Watson in Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes", and one of his last appearances was in the British television series "Paradise Postponed". Peter Haining's THE TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES (London: W. H. Allen, 1986; 224 pp., L14.95) is now available at B. Dalton stores for $24.95; it's the third printing, indicating that the book has been successful, and with reason: half of the book is a discussion of Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockian television pre-Granada, and half of the book is devoted to the Granada series. Both sections are profusely illustrated, with much color, and the book is up-to-date through the first twenty Granada programs. Recommended. May 87 #3 A brief report on the sale of John Michael Gibson's collection on Apr. 24-25 at the California Book Auction Galleries: it was great fun, according to the auction staff and to people who were there. The sale total for the 2,007 lots was about $94,000 (including the 10% buyer's premium), and all lots were sold (there were no reserves). There were about 175 bidders (about half of them by mail, with a few people bidding by telephone), and the collectors apparently did better than the dealers: almost all of the "high spots" (such as the sets of first editions and the long runs of The Strand Magazine) went to collectors. Rudy Rucker has edited MATHENAUTS: TALES OF MATHEMATICAL WONDER (New York: Arbor House, 1987; 300 pp., $18.95 cloth, $9.95 paper); the book includes Ruth Berman's "Professor and Colonel", a pleasant speculation about a meeting between two of the Moriarty brothers. Reported by Helen Heinrich: Daniel Pinkwater's THE SNARKOUT BOYS & THE AVODCADO OF DEATH (BSJ Mar 84) and THE SNARKOUT BOYS & THE BACONBURG HORROR (BSJ Jun 85) are now available as Signet Vista paperbacks (160 pp., $2.25 and $2.50). Also a new expanded edition of the Signet Classic paperback THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERIES (BSJ Mar 85) now with 22 stories ($3.50). The Washington Post reports from the Cannes Film Festival that "Night of the Comet" director Thom Eberhardt will be behind the cameras for "The Impostor of Baker Street", a $10 million comedy-adventure with the intriguing premise that the bumbling Dr. Watson was actually the brains behind Sherlock Holmes. One reference book summarizes "Night of the Comet" as "world comes to an end, leaving only a couple of California valley girls behind!" Question #3: What was the name of the third novel written by Conan Doyle? Reported from Britain: Hesketh Pearson's CONAN DOYLE (D3956a) has been reissued in paper covers by Unwin Hyman at L6.95. Reported by Jack Kerr: M. J. Trow's THE SUPREME ADVENTURE OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE (BSJ Mar 86) in paperback (Stein and Day, $13.95). Monsignor Thomas A. Whelan ("The Vatican Cameos") died on Apr. 21. One of the early members of The Six Napoleons, he was born in Baltimore and had ten generations of ancestors in Maryland. I don't know of any S'ian references in books by Elizabeth Linington (aka Lesley Egan, Anne Blaisdell, Egan O'Neill, and Dell Shannon), but there is a newsletter for her fans; sample copy available from Rinehart S. Potts, 1223 Glen Terrace, Glassboro, NJ 08028. John T. Lescroart's RASPUTIN'S REVENGE (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1987; 285 pp., $17.95) is his second novel about Auguste Lupa, who was first seen in last year's SON OF HOLMES, a Neronian pastiche that was only inferentially Sherlockian. In RASPUTIN'S REVENGE we find Auguste Lupa (whose passport is in the name of John Hamish Adler Holmes) in St. Petersburg in 1916, trying to solve a complicated series of murders, accused of espionage, rescued by his father, and eventually successful in solving the mystery. May 87 #4 Fanny Butcher died on May 14 in Chicago at the age of 99. She worked at the Chicago Tribune for 50 years, including 40 years as literary editor, and of course she knew Vincent Starrett well, and found occasion to write about him (as well as about Sherlock Holmes) in her own Sunday column "The Literary Spotlight" -- in which, on Jan. 16, 1955, she reported that "the story that Doyle called his hero Holmes after Oliver Wendell Holmes was his own invention, Starrett now admits." In case you weren't paying attention, the three questions are: What was the name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the second novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the third novel written by Conan Doyle? The answers will be given next month, when I will also recognize those who submit correct answers on their first attempts. Terry Carr died on Apr. 7. There were S'ian stories in two collections he edited: THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR NO. 1 (D4825b) and UNIVERSE 5 (D5244b). Chris Redmond reports another non-Sherlockian book with a Sherlockian title: Lauri Lewin's NAKED IS THE BEST DISGUISE: MY LIFE AS A STRIPPER (London: Pandora, 1984). On May 7 the syndicated TV series "PM Magazine" (and "Evening Magazine") included a 6-minute segment from London on the centenary, with clips from some of the Rathbone films, views of the exterior of The Sherlock Holmes, and interviews with Stanley MacKenzie and Sue Brown. A brief report, from Andrew Jay Peck, on a few of the awards by the Mystery Writers of America at their annual dinner on May 9 in New York. Michael Gilbert (D691b, D1825b) won this year's Grand Master Award. The Edgar for best motion picture went to "Something Wild" (the nominees included "The Great Mouse Detective" and "The Name of the Rose"). The Fourth Irregular Quinquennial Holmesian Dinner was a splendid affair, with some 160 people gathered hungrily at the Culinary Institute of America on May 16. The centenary of the publication of "A Study in Scarlet" was celebrated with Afghan hors d'oeuvres, followed by an international buffet that ranged from London to Cleveland. The festivities included wining and dining and toasting at the CIA, post-prandial conversation at the Beekman Arms, and The Norwegian Named Sigerson Commemorative Syttende Mai Pancake Breakfast at the Rhinebeck Fire House. CIA master chef Fritz Sonnenschmidt received the BSI's Two-Shilling Award for his continuing services to the cause, and Al and Julie Rosenblatt were awarded a joint Queen Victoria Medal for their imaginative celebration of the centenary of the publication of the first Sherlock Holmes story. It was pleasantly coincidental that the spring 1987 issue of the county magazine Dutchess included a major article on Judge Albert Rosenblatt "at work and at play" (Al is learning to play the clarinet, and Julie thinks "it's wonderful that he's learning to play after all these years . . . as long as you don't have to hear him"). Plan ahead: the Fifth Irregular Quinquennial Holmesian Dinner has been announced for May 4, 1991, by way of honoring the centenary of the fateful meeting at the Reichenbach. May 87 #5 The American Booksellers Association gathered in Washington on May 23-26, and it was an impressive gathering: more than 1,000 exhibitors, more than 20,000 people registered, and god knows how many books, current and planned. Some plans were of particular interest: Mysterious Press: THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, leather-bound, with 12 color plates and more than 50 line drawings by Frederic Dorr Steele, and an introduction by Andrew Malec (Nov., 320 pp., $25.00); an American edition of Julian Symons' 1979 biography CONAN DOYLE: PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST (Nov., 160 pp., $15.95). Carroll & Graf: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: ORIGINAL STORIES BY EMINENT MYSTERY WRITERS, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh (Oct., 324 pp., $18.95); HOUND DUNIT, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh, with "Silver Blaze" and Rex Stout's "A Dog in the Daytime" (Sept., 256 pp., $15.95); a reprint of John Dickson Carr's 1949 biography THE LIFE OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (Oct., 310 pp., $8.95 paper); H. R. F. Keating's CRIME & MYSTERY: THE 100 BEST BOOKS, a survey that includes "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (Nov., 220 pp., $15.95). St. Martin's Press: THE SPECKLED BAND, illustrated by Paul Morrissey, in a new "Night Lights" children's series with glow-in-the-dark clues (Oct., 32 pp., $6.95); an American edition of John Buxton Hilton's SLICKENSIDES (Mar 87 #2) (Oct., 176 pp., $13.95). International Polygonics: a reprint of Herbert Brean's WILDERS WALK AWAY (Oct., 250 pp., $4.50 paper). Their fall 1987 trade catalog has a nice S'ian color cover by Roger Roth, and they gave me their extras (not enough for everyone, unfortunately); if you would like one, send me $1.00 to cover mailing costs. Iron Crown Enterprises (distributed by the Berkley Publishing Group): a series of "Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries" similar to Allen Sharp's choose- your-own-plot "Storytrails" series for Cambridge University Press. There are 8 titles planned, starting with Gerald Lientz's MURDER AT THE DIOGENES CLUB (Sept., 160 pp., $2.95 paper). Academy Chicago: THE DOSSIER OF SOLAR PONS, by Basil Copper, is at the printer now, to be followed by THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SOLAR PONS (Aug., 208 pp., $15.95 cloth, $5.95 paper); these are revised editions of the paperback collections originally published by Pinnacle, and the series will eventually include some new stories. Donald I. Fine: according to an unofficial report, John T. Lescroart is considering (but has not yet written) a third novel, which may be even more Sherlockian (and less Neronian) than this year's RASPUTIN'S REVENGE. Sleuth Publications: ADVENTURES BY GASLIGHT (June, $15.00), the newest supplement to their game SHERLOCK HOLMES: CONSULTING DETECTIVE. Their supplements are now free-standing (you don't need the original game), and their catalog includes older supplements, a chess set, and other S'ian books; 689 Florida Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. May 87 #6 I can't remember who it was who wanted a current address for Ward, Lock and Company; it's now Ward Lock Limited, 8 Clifford Street, London, W1X 1RB, England (but they have no copies left of Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887, or any records from the old days). "The Year of the Reader" is being celebrated in various ways, including a handsome color poster with quotations and illustrations (by John Hyatt) from famous books, including "The Blue Carbuncle". The poster (30x22 in.) costs $5.50 postpaid from: Year of the Reader, 870 Market Street #919, San Francisco, CA 94102. Listen for Pleasure (One Colomba Drive, Niagara Falls, NY 14305) still has the three two-cassette packages with readings of "Houn" (D4671b, read by Hugh Burden) and "Stud" and "Sign" (each read by Tony Britton), as well as "The Lost World" (read by James Mason); $14.95 each. All four titles are now also available in "read-along" packages that include the cassettes, a transcript book in easy-to-read type, and a teacher's guide; $29.95 each. An interesting phenomenon observed at the ABA convention was the growth of the "graphic novel" (book-length, with expert full-color artwork and often adult themes). One of the more intriguing, and amusing, graphic novels is GREENBERG THE VAMPIRE, by J. M. DeMatteis and Mark Badger (New York: Marvel Comics Group, 1986; 70 pp., $6.95); a non-S'ian story "about the undead, the living dead, sin, redemption, the magic of love... and the healing power of chicken soup." In a more serious vein (sorry about that), there is DRACULA: A SYMPHONY IN MOONLIGHT AND NIGHTMARES, by Jon J. Muth (also Marvel, 1986, $6.95), with a striking and sensuous extension of the Bram Stoker novel. Getting back to S'iana, Sherlock Hemlock and his dog Watson appear in A BIRD'S BEST FRIEND, a Sesame Street "book 'n' tape" set (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1987). G. K. Chesterton admired Sherlock Holmes, but he disapproved of the Higher Criticism. "The real inference is that Sherlock Holmes really existed and that Conan Doyle never existed," he wrote in 1935. "If posterity only reads these latter books, it will certainly suppose them to be serious. It will imagine that Sherlock Holmes was a man. But he was not; he was only a god." Best known today for his detective stories, Chesterton was far more than an author of fiction; G. K. CHESTERTON, a new biography by Michael Ffinch (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986; 369 pp., $18.95), concentrates on his personality and personal life, rather than on his writings. But the book contains a pleasant surprise for S'ians: the first page, reproduced in facsimile, of "The Case of the Vanishing Car", written by Chesterton for a young neighbor and friend who had run her father's car off the road. The Apr. 27 issue of AB Bookman's Weekly was their annual "special crime, law, and mystery issue" with a S'ian cover and four articles, including one on "Sherlockians Commemorate the Centenary of 'The Master'" by Gretchen Falk, a member of the staff of the California Book Auction Galleries. Copies of the issue are available for $10.00 from AB Bookman's Weekly, Box AB, Clifton, NJ 07015. Jun 87 #1 The three questions were: What was the name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the second novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the third novel written by Conan Doyle? And the answers are: The name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle was THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH (written in 1883 and lost in the post on its first journey to a publisher), the second was THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE (written in 1884-85 and published in 1890), and the third was A STUDY IN SCARLET (written in 1886 and published in 1887). THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH is mentioned by Hesketh Pearson (CONAN DOYLE: HIS LIFE AND ART, 1943, p. 74-75). There was only one (and incorrect) response to the query. A BIRD'S BEST FRIEND (May 87 #6) is also available as a Golden Press Book (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1986); a Sesame Street story by Trish Sommers about Sherlock Hemlock and his dog Watson. A possible answer to my bibliographic query (Oct 86 #4) on the two variants of the first printing of Dorothy L. Sayers' THE OMNIBUS OF CRIME (New York: Payson and Clarke, 1929): the trade variant has the list of other books by Sayers on page [2] and the copyright statement on page [4] positioned toward the bottom of the pages, and the dust jacket has an overprinted statement "Read em and Creep! Christopher Morley" in white ink and in Morley's hardwriting. The Book-of-the-Month Club variant has the list of other books by Sayers and the copyright statement positioned toward the top of the pages, and the dust jacket does not have the overprinted statement. Reports from the European press, and from participants, indicate that the SHSOL tour to Switzerland was a great success. "Each stop along the trek elicited a stirring welcome by the local town band, a march through the streets to the city hall, a speech by the mayor, and an obligatory glass of wine," according to Dick and Joanne Rutter. "Our days in Switzerland are remembered as being either one-, two-, or three-mayor days." Dick also reports another source for the S'ian nutcracker and "Rauchermann" (Mar 87 #5): Music Box Plaza, Bahnhofstrasse 23-A, CH-3800 Interlaken, Switzerland (Cindy Egger, the manager, is from San Diego). Reported: THE ANNOTATED INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN, edited by Martin Gardner (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987; 274 pp., $18.95); Gardner's theory is that Sherlock Holmes, according to the Canon, performed vital secret tasks for the Vatican, and there must have been a go-between . . . Reported by Don Pollock: mention of SH, and a short quiz, in the Apr. 1987 issue of Previews (a video-store hand-out). In 1977 there was a massive advertising campaign for the Dodge Diplomat, using SH in print and TV promotion, and Dodge dealers displayed life-size cardboard figures of SH, one of which is now offered for $150 (shipping extra) by Jean G. Weidner, 113 Holly Hill Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. According to Pravda, quoted in an Agence France-Presse report in the San Francisco Examiner (Apr. 29), at hand from Al Rodin: Vitaly Solomin, who has played Watson in a SH series on Soviet television, is now director of a Moscow theater called Detective. The theater will specialize in detective plays, by authors such as Poe, Conan Doyle, Christie, and Simenon. Jun 87 #2 PRISONERS OF THE NIGHT, edited by Alayne Gelfand, is "an adult anthology of erotica, intrigue, fright, allure, and vampirism," with 156 pp. of prose and poetry. Holmes and Watson make brief appearances in Tina Rhea's stories "Alteration" and "Darkness". Available for $15.00 from MKASHEF Enterprises, Box 368, Poway, CA 92064-0005. Compliments to Cleveland. The only press report seen so far on the CIA dinner was in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on May 23, by Gus Dallas, who worked for the Plain Dealer as a police reporter some 30 years ago. The article concentrates on the Cleveland connection, of course, and includes a large photograph of Stafford Davis and Mike Kean, who do not appear to be connected to anything other than the buffet line. THE OXFORD SOLUTION, at hand from Herb Tinning, uses S'ian artwork in a pamphlet explaining why one should participate in the Oxford Health Plans (23 Old Kings Highway South, Darien, CT 06820). A few items of interest in the new catalog from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011-5666), and presumably on discount tables at other stores: NEVER TO BE TAKEN ALIVE: A BIOGRAPHY OF GENERAL GORDON, by Roy MacGregor-Hastie (195 pp., $5.98); THE ANGLO-BOER WARS: THE BRITISH AND THE AFRIKANERS, 1812-1902, by Micheal Barthorp (176 pp., $16.95); CHAPLIN: HIS LIFE AND ART, by David Robinson (792 pp., $6.95), with details on his performances as Billy in the Gillette plays. Reported by John Stephenson: "They Might Be Giants" (D5165a) now available on video cassette (MCA Home Video) at $59.95. A "Sherlock Holmes Mystery Journey" to England, Oct. 14-27 (flier available from Book Sleuth Mystery Books, 2501 West Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80904). Hound of the Baskervilles bookends from Signals (Box 70870, St. Paul, MN 55170). BIALOSKY AND THE BIG PARADE MYSTERY, by Justine Korman, illustrated by Tom Cooke (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1986); a Big Little Golden Book, with Bialosky the bear in S'ian costume again. Brig. John Doyle, the son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's younger brother Innes, died in May, at the age of 73. He joined the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1933, and served in India, Burma, and Malaya, and with the Allied Landing Forces in Europe, and received the OBE for his long and distinguished military career. THE GREAT COVER-UP: THE MYSTERY OF THE NON-HEALING WOUND is a promotional pamphlet (for Squibb's DuoDerm dressing) with a S'ian pastiche. ConvaTec (attn: Nina Rossi), Box 4000, Princeton, NJ 08543-4000. Betty Pierce reports that Peter Haining reports that his THE TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES (May 87 #4) will be revised and expanded for a new edition due in 1988. The first issue (May-June 1987) of Pipe Finder at hand, with a S'ian logo. It's intended as an "advertiser for the pipe collector" and the first issue has advertisements but no articles. Box 721288, Houston, TX 77272; $10.00 a year for six issues. Jun 87 #3 Reported by Dana Richards: the spring 1987 issue of Abacus, with comment on Lee Sallows' earlier article on Alphamagic Squares (Jan 87 #5 and Feb 87 #1). A letter from one Duncan Ross (Popes Court, Fleet Street, London) discusses some of the identifications of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP made by S'ian scholars in the past, and suggests that the photograph published with Sallows' article is "a calculated, if colourful, counterfeit." Sallows replies at length, describing the "popular conviction that Mr. Sherlock Holmes is to be construed as a fictional creation of the writer A. C. Doyle" as a belief whose "obstinate persistence in these days when every kind of pseudoscientific rigmarole finds eager embrace is only a sad reflection of the misguided cynicism of our times," and suggesting that the author of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORKSHIP was actually a mathematician well known to readers of the Canon. THE BAKER STREET DOZEN: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S THIRTEEN FAVORITE SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES, EACH ACCOMPANIED BY AN ESSAY BY A PROMINENT SHERLOCKIAN, ALONG WITH VARIOUS INTERLUDES, CURIOSITIES & MISCELLANEA, edited by Pj Doyle and E. W. McDiarmid (Chicago: Congdon & Weed, 1987; 352 pp., $15.95), has been announced for October, and the publisher has a mail-order flier (180 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601). Dick Lesh reports that a videocassete of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1959, with Peter Cushing) is available for $29.95 (plus $3.50 per order for shipping) from Publishers Central Bureau (One Champion Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07131). I assume that this is the CBS/Fox Video cassette (first issued at $69.95), and that it is also now available at the lower price at your local video shops. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: DELIGHTFUL MURDER: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE CRIME STORY, by Ernest Mandel (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984) (printed London: Pluto Press, 1984); with many references to Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. SABERHAGEN: MY BEST, by Fred Saberhagn (New York: Baen Books/Pocket Books, 1987); with his 1980 pastiche "The Adventure of the Metal Murderer". Philip A. Shreffler (11333 Big Bend Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63122) would like to hear (quickly) from people who have photographs taken at the CIA dinner, for possible use in the BSJ. "The Other Victorians and Victorian Others" will be the theme of the next conference of the Northeast Victorian Studies Association, on Apr. 15-17, 1988, at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa. Additional details available from Earl E. Stevens (Dept. of English, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI 02864), and papers may be submitted to Michael Brooks (Dept. of English, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383). Herman Herst, Jr. (Box 1583, Boca Raton, FL 33429-0494) is one of the best of the philatelic writers; there are no S'ian stories in his MORE STORIES TO COLLECT STAMPS BY and THE COMPEAT PHILATELIST, but they're fun to read. $8.75 each postpaid, or $16.00 the pair, autographed. And his FORENSIC PHILATELY is a fine account of one of the most famous philatelic trials in history (with several 1890s stamp dealers convicted at the Old Bailey and sentenced to hard labor); $9.50 postpaid. Jun 87 #4 Tina Rhea (3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770) has employed Fontastic Plus to devise a new Ridling Thorpe font for the Macintosh computer, in case you own a Mac and want to write letters using the dancing men cipher. The cipher is complete, in the version displayed by Schenck (BSJ, Apr. 1955), with the flagged (end-of-the-word) letters obtained using the shift key. The font is available in 18-point (1822 bytes) for Macwrite and Macpaint, and 36-point (5494 bytes) for Macpaint. Tina will supply both fonts, and a note on how to use them, free of charge, in return for an initialized Mac diskette (single-sided or double-sided) and return postage; if you do not have Font/DA Mover, put a System file on the diskette and she will insert the fonts. The new owners will maintain "the very special atmosphere that has made the Algonquin all that it is today," according to Ben Bodne, who denied four months ago that the hotel was about to be sold. The new owners are Caesar Park Hotels International Inc., a Brazilian subsidiary of the Aoki Corp. of Tokyo, and the sale price was $29 million for the 200-room hotel. Bodne noted that "throughout its 85-year history, the Algonquin has maintained a civilized atmosphere, reminiscent of a fine English inn." The new owners will operate the hotel much as it has been, according to one report "with an eye toward the exclusive end of the market." We will now pause to con- sider whether ordering in Portuguese or Japanese will be of assistance in persuading waiters to bring breakfast at future meetings in honor of Sra. Hudson. Al and Julie Rosenblatt's 20-page souvenir menu for "An Evening in Scarlet" at the Culinary Institute of America on May 16 was handsomely devised, designed, and produced, with illustrations, annotations and explanations, and copies are available for those who wish to see what they missed. The cost is $15.00 postpaid, and checks may be sent to: Peter E. Blau, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830. The autumn 1986 issue of The Gazette: The Journal of the Wolfe Pack (just published) has Marvin Kaye's article "From Zeck to Moriarty to Wild" in which Kaye traces both Zeck and Moriarty back to Jonathan Wild (mentioned in "Vall"). Kaye notes that Henry Fielding's novel about Wild was the basis for Edwin Justus Mayer's black comedy "Children of Darkness", staged many years ago at the Circle in the Square in New York with George C. Scott in the title role. And that gives Scott a thoroughly remote claim to have played both Holmes and Moriarty. Which leads to the question: Orson Welles played both Holmes and Moriarty on radio; who played both roles on stage? The Hawkshaw Press, a "freshly grown tentacle of the Pequod octopus," has announced "UNCLE WALT" & SHERLOCK HOLMES, reprinting for the first time two S'ian "prose rhymes" by Walt Mason, whom George Ade once called "the high priest of horse sense." Orders may be sent to: John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707; $27.50 cloth or $12.50 paper. "The Baker Street Ir-rag-ulars" are a series of original soft sculptures created by Patricia Nead Elrod (4800 Kilpatrick Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76107), including a number of imaginative Canonical characters (ranging from Sherlock Holmes to a giant rat), and special-request commissions are welcome. Send a #10 SASE (39c) for a copy of her catalog. Jun 87 #5 "Sherlock Holmes at 100: A Special Program Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Master Detective of Baker Street" will be held at UCLA on July 11, with Arthur M. Axelrad as moderator and a program featuring Jon Breen, John Ball, Karen A. Krone, Audrey Peterson, Robert G. Steele, William Barry, Sean Wright, Ira Fistel, Leslie Klinger, Barbara Cooper, Ronnie James, and Bob Shayne. Flier available from Box 24901, Dept. K, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Reported by Paul Merz: Edward Wellen's story "Voiceover" (originally in SHERLOCK HOLMES THROUGH TIME AND SPACE) (BSJ Mar 85 and Dec 86) is now in TIN STARS, edited Asimov/Greenberg/Waugh (Signet, $3.95); an anthology of robot/law enforcement stories. Reported by Ron De Waal: THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (London: Octopus Books, 1987; 195 pp., $3.98 at B. Dalton). "Communicator Oversees Sherlock Holmes Affairs" (on Sue Brown, with a cover photo taken at the Sherlock Holmes Museum at the Holiday Inn on Union Square), in Communication World, May 1987; Communication World/ABC, 870 Market Street #940, San Francisco, CA 94102. The Apr. 1987 issue of Magazine litteraire contains a 50-page section on "Sherlock Holmes: Le dossier de Conan Doyle" with a handsome color cover and contributions (all in French) by Robert Louit, Francis Lacassin, Simone Arous, Graham Greene, Guillermo Carrera Infante, Rene Reouven, Christine Jordis, Umberto Eco, Jean-Baptiste Baronian, Arthur Conan Doyle, Basil Rathbone, Jacques Baudou, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Francois Landon, Anthony Burgess, and Jacques Meunier; a few are reprints-in-translation, but most are new. The cover price is 24.00 F, and the address of the magazine is 40 rue des Saints-Peres, 75007 Paris, France. Daedalus Books (2260 25th Place NE, Washington, DC 20018) is a remainder house, and their spring 1987 catalog includes Conan Doyle's THE EDINBURGH STORIES (Salem House; 86 pp., $3.98 plus $3.00 shipping per order). This was first published by Polygon Books in Edinburgh in 1981, and contains "The Field Bazaar" and four other items with Edinburgh connections, as well as an Introduction by Owen Dudley Edwards. Recently seen but not new: LORD DARCY, by Randall Garrett (Garden City: Nelson Doubleday, n.d.; 600 pp.); a Science Fiction Book Club three-in-one edition, with TOO MANY MAGICIANS (D4934b), "The Napoli Express" (with passing mention of Michael Kurland's THE INFERNAL DEVICE), and "A Case of Identity" (S'ian only by title). "Analmentary, my dear Watson!" is the theme of the newest S'ian porno video "Who Came in the Back Door", produced by Paradise Visuals and starring John Leslie (with calabash in the advertisement), Gail Force, Shana McCullough, and Joey Silvera; 83 minutes, $54.95 from Video Specialists International, 182 Jackson Street, Dallas, PA 18612. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh (May 87 #5), due from Carroll & Graf in October, will be a major item, with 25,000 copies in the first printing; it's a collection of new stories by mystery writers such as John Gardner, Dorothy B. Hughes, Stuart Kaminsky, Jon Breen, Joyce Harrington, and Peter Lovesey. Jun 87 #6 "The Edison Twins" is a 70-minute videocassette now available from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. In Sept. 1985 it was aired as a three-part Disney Channel miniseries, featuring "a mysterious stranger who has a deerstalker hat, and Inverness cape, and an uncanny ability to solve mysteries." He's Joseph Bell (played by Gillie Fennic), the son of Dr. Joe Bell, the model for Sherlock Holmes. "Sherlock Holmes on Broadway" is a Theatre Collection exhibition at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, though Aug. 11, celebrating the centenary with a display of theater programs, photographs, and memorabilia. Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" began previews at the Kennedy Center in Washington on June 23, opening on July 1 and closing on Aug. 1, with Frank Langella (Holmes) and Donal Donnelly (Watson). The publicists ask, "If Holmes is the victim...*who* will solve the crime?" Langella is also co-producer (the budget is now $1.2 million and rising, according to a recent interview). "Something happens to Holmes in this play that has never happened to him before," Langella hints, "and as a result we see all the familiar characters in an entirely new light." Reported by Jack Kerr: minor S'ian references in MURDER ON CAPITOL HILL, by Margaret Truman (Warner paperback, $3.50). Reported by Richard Wein: the Renegade Press comic book CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES has been extended to at least 12 issues (issue #7 is in the stores). LONDON BY GASLIGHT 1861-1911, by Michael Harrison (Dubuque: Gasogene Press, 1987; 197 pp., $25.95 postpaid), revised and expanded from the long-out-of- print 1963 edition, is a delightful exploration of an age in which S'ians have long found refuge. Michael Harrison, as always, has many tales to tell, and tells them splendidly. Available from the publisher (Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52001-1041). Kelvin I. Jones (18 Ross Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 2DF, England) has an- nounced A SHERLOCK HOLMES DICTIONARY for publication this fall in a signed and limited edition. It will be "a complete etymological guide to the less familiar words and phrases" in the Canon, with word derivations, Canonical references, and literary parallels, and you can reserve a copy by writing to Kelvin. Flier at hand from the Quinlan Press (131 Beverly Street, Boston, MA 02114) promoting THE OFFICIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES TRIVIA BOOK, by Richard T. Ryan (200 pp., $7.95). THE QUEST FOR SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: THIRTEEN BIOGRAPHERS IN SEARCH OF A LIFE, edited by Jon L. Lellenberg, has been announced by Southern Illinois University Press for Nov. (232 pp., $19.95); the book presents critiques of the autobiographies and biographies. "Centenary, my Dear Watson" (the 26-page pamphlet with the itinerary of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London tour) is available (along with some colorful tourist brochures) from Meiringen-Haslital, 3860 Meiringen, Berner Oberland, Switzerland. Jul 87 #1 A Canadian brewery, impressed by the Granada series, plans to open a chain of pubs, each called "Sherlock Holmes" and each being based on a different story, according to a report in the Derbyshire Times (May 22). Havenplan's Architectural Emporium, supplier of fittings for the Granada sets, will furnish the pubs. The deluxe three-volume COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES 100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Apr 87 #3) has been published, and it's handsomely done. The publisher reports that it will not be in print much longer (they've had good response from their mailings to collectors of leather-bound books as well as to Sherlockians), so if you're considering a puchase it might be well not to wait much longer. It's $37.50 postpaid per volume, and they take plastic; The Easton Press (47 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06857). Forecast: SKULLDUGGERY, by Peter Marks, in Aug. from Carroll & Graf, $17.95; a mystery novel dealing with the Piltdown hoax. "Although parts of his plot might seem outlandish (a scene between Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde takes place in a homosexual brothel), Marks gracefully achieves the reader's willing suspension of disbelief," Publishers Weekly reports. Corrigendum: the report (Jun 87 #1) that there was only one (and incorrect) response to the query about the first three novels written by Conan Doyle neglected the pre-publication experiment: Jon L. Lellenberg did know the correct answer. He has not, however, admitted knowing where the missing novel might be. Arnold Korotkin (12 Glenwood Road, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043-1941) has announced SHERLOCKIAN TIDBITS, an "irregular newsletter containing cartoons, ads, graphics, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, book reviews, general resources, and curios." Frequency irregular, cost $2.00 postpaid per issue. The first issue at hand, with 11 photocopied pages. The July 1987 issue of Changing Times covers S'ian events in some detail in its section "Your Questions Answered" (with some nice artwork by Joe Gast). There were, of course, many articles in the European press about the tour to Switzerland by The Sherlock Holmes Society of London (there are some photographs in the summer 1987 issue of the Sherlock Holmes Journal). One of the press reports noted that Victor Hamilton, of Belfast, participated as "Wilson, the Notorious Canary Trainer." At the turn of the century the word "canary" had various unsavoury meanings, according to the article, and Hamilton carried a piece of cuttlefish and a spray of millet to make it quite clear that his canaries were of the feathered variety. A "canary" was a harlot in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, according to a dictionary of slang consulted by Jon Lellenberg. And a "canary" was a female thief by the end of the 19th century, according to Michael Harrison. No wonder Wilson was notorious. Reported (and recommended) by John Bennett Shaw: "The Sherlock Holmes Centenary Brasses" (a collection of ceramic-centered commemorative horse brasses depicting Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, and Lestrade); L6.50 for each brass, or L22.00 for the four-brass martingale. A flier is available from British Brassware, 24 Mill Lane, Camelford, Cornwall, England. Jul 87 #2 "Sherlock's Last Case" is great fun, thoroughly untraditional in its approach, well acted, and staged with great imagination. Frank Langella does a fine job in the title role, and I hope that the play will still be running on Broadway during the birthday festivities (it opens in New York on or about Aug. 13). Charles Marowitz is the author, and the acting script is available from Dramatists Play Service (440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016) for $3.35 (plus $0.95 shipping); the play has some interesting twists and surprises, and you are urged to avoid reading the script before seeing the play. A "Sherlock Holmes Seminar in Rogers Park" will be held in Chicago on Oct. 28 and 31, featuring speakers from the Chicago scions. Contact Norman M. Davis, 1263 West Pratt Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60626. Paperback Speller is a new software package for the IBM PC and compatibles (with more than 60,000 words in the spelling-checker dictionary); the box portrays Holmes and Watson ("Amazing...it detects and corrects spelling errors. It's elementary, my dear Watson"). $39.95 from Paperback Software (2830 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710) or your local software shop. Forecast: THE BERENSTAIN BEARS AND THE MISSING HONEY, by Stan and Jan Berenstain, in November from Random House at $1.95 (or $5.99 in library binding); the bears are in S'ian costume. "The Second Hundred Years: A Sherlock Holmes Centennial Weekend" is the eighth annual program presented by The Six Napoleons and The Carlton Club at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore on Nov. 14 (10:00 to 4:00) and Nov. 15 (2:00-4:00). Details available from Robert S. Katz, 1190 West Northern Parkway #924, Baltimore, MD 21210. Reported by Dick Lesh: Vincent Starrett's BOOKS ALIVE (D2220a), the 1969 Books for Libraries Press edition ($5.95), and M. J. Trow's THE SUPREME ADVENTURE OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE ($3.95), in the latest catalog from Edward J. Hamilton, Falls Village, NY 06031 (add $3.00 shipping per order). Reported by Dave Galerstein: A BOOK OF DAYS FOR THE LITERARY YEAR, edited by Neal T. Jones (Thames & Hudson, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017); the dates include the births of Holmes and Watson, and the birth and death of Conan Doyle. Reported by Bill Nadel: Comics Revue #21 (in the comic shops in August) will reprint the entire 1985 Steve Canyon "Baker Street Adventure" (with an introduction by Bill); I don't know the cover price, but if you can't find the magazine, their address is Box 1762, Wayne, NJ 07470. Also from Bill: the Aug. 1987 issue of London Calling (published by the BBC World Service) has SH on the cover, Steve Weinman's article "A Study in Devotion", and reports on two "Sherlock Holmes" broadcasts by Gillian Gray on Aug. 2 and Aug. 9, a repeat (from 1986) two-part dramatization of "The Valley of Fear" (with Tim Pigott-Smith and Andrew Hilton) on Aug. 9 and Aug. 16, a repeat (from 1974) of "A Study in Scarlet" (with Robert Powell and Dinsdale Landen) on Aug. 23, and a two-part dramatization of Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" on Aug. 31 and Sept. 7; the magazine's address is P.O. Box 76, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, England. Jul 87 #3 Paul Herbert reports that his dust-jacket copy of THE OMNIBUS OF CRIME (Jun 87 #1) has the trade-variant book and an dust jacket without the Morley overprint; his copy was bought at a flea-market sale, suggesting that it was not a dealer's "made-up" copy. But: my copy of the BOMC edition, with the BOMC pamphlet laid in, was also bought at a charity sale. Paul also mentions having seen the book in a boxed edition, which I'd not heard of before. Walter Klinefelter ("The British Barque *Sophy Anderson*") died on July 4. He was a true bibliophile and a fine writer, on S'ian and other subjects, and one of the few who submitted correct solutions to the Morley crossword puzzle in The Saturday Review in 1934. Kyle Richeson notes that Nicholas Rowe's Sherlock Holmes is left-handed in "Young Sherlock Holmes" and wonders which other actors played a left-handed Sherlock Holmes. Video Specialists International (182 Jackson Street, Dallas, PA 18612) offers a videocasette with two programs ("The Luckless Gambler" and "The Body in the Case") from the 1981 series starring Geoffrey Whitehead and Donald Pickering; $21.00 postpaid. "The Molly Maguires" (1970), with Sean Connery (Jack Kehoe), Richard Harris (James McParlan), Frank Finlay (Police Captain Davies), and Samantha Eggar (Mary), will be shown by The Movie Channel on Aug. 17. The Grosvenor Hotel (formerly the Dutch Americana) in Orlando (near Disney World) has been purchased by Don Werby (proprietor of S. Holmes Esq. in San Francisco); the 630-room hotel is being renovated and redecorated, and will reopen soon with S'ian bars and restaurant, and a S'ian museum. Charles Pogue's new S'ian play "The Ebony Ape" will be performed at The Opera House in Lexington, Ky., on Sept. 10-13 and 17-20. Pogue is not a new-comer to the S'ian world: he wrote the screenplays for the 1983 TV films of "Houn" and "Sign" (with Ian Richardson as Holmes). Ben Wood has announced the latest round-robin pastiche by members of The Pleasant Places of Florida. MYSTERY OF THE PALE-ONTOLOGIST OF MELTDOWN costs $2.50 postpaid from Baker Street Designs, 1397 22nd Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33713. Reported by John Stephenson: Robert Lee Hall's THE KING EDWARD PLOT in a paperback reprint from Critic's Choice ($3.50); this 1980 mystery novel features Frederick Wigmore (form Hall's EXIT SHERLOCK HOLMES) and his own Baker Street Irregulars. Forecast: a new edition of A. A. Milne's THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY (D5083b) from Dell in August ($3.50). Reported by Roger Johnson: SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED NOVELS (Chancellor Press, L5.95). THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, read by Peter Emmens, in a six-hour audiocassette pack (Eloquent Reels, Alhampton, Castle Cary, Somerset BA4 6PZ, England; L12.95). Jul 87 #4 Reported: Gerald Weissmann's article "The Game Is Afoot, or Holmes and Watson at Bellevue" (on the relevance of the Canon to medical training) reprinted (from Discover, Mar. 1986) in his new book THEY ALL LAUGHED AT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: TALES OF MEDICINE AND THE ART OF DISCOVERY (Times Books, $17.95). Flier at hand for "A Sherlockian Seminar with John Bennett Shaw" at Stanford University, Aug. 19-23, presented by The Scowrers and Molly Maguires of San Francisco and The Knights of the Gnomon of Redwood City. The program promises lectures, movies, documentaries, panel discussions, and social events (including a Sherlockian Singalong "and as many informal gatherings as your liver can tolerate"), and details are available from Bruce R. Parker, Stanford Medical Center S-058, Stanford, CA 94305. William A. Barton's CTHULHU BY GASLIGHT (BSJ Mar 87) won the H. G. Wells Award for best role-playing supplement of 1986 at the recent Origins convention. Bill also reports that there will some S'ian material in the Victorian section of Steve Jackson Gaines' GURPS HORROR BOOK, due in game stores soon. Flier at hand for The Silver Blaze at Belmont Park, N.Y., on Sept. 18. Write to Stephen L. Stix, Route 1, Box 452, Markleville, IN 46056. And for "Autumn in Baker Street" at Bear Mountain, N.Y., on Sept. 19-20. Write to Robert E. Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709. Martin Gardner's THE ANNOTATED INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987; 274 pp., $18.95) is a delightful exploration of the first of the collections of G. K. Chesterton's stories about the "little priest" who is regarded by Gardner as the second most famous mystery-solver in English literature. Gardner notes that "Chesterton was as careless with his details as Dr. Watson, and as many curious questions can be asked about the priest as about Holmes." Many of those questions are answered in the annotations, which do not neglect the Sherlockian aspects of the stories. The suggestion, reported in a review in the May 18 issue of Time (Jun 87 #1), that Father Brown was the go-between in Holmes' secret tasks for the Vatican is not Gardner's, but was invented by Time's reviewer. The second British stamp booklet honoring Sherlock Holmes was issued on July 14. Henry Murray (Arlington Supplies Ltd., P.O. Box 143, Palmers Green, London N13 4XN, England) has a new flier offering both booklets, first day covers, other British items, the Turks & Caicos Islands stamps, and non-philatelic material from two recent British plays. Jul 87 #5 Reported by Ron De Waal: SHERLOCKIANA 1987: SHERLOCK HOLMES 1887-1987, edited by Gian Franco Orsi (Milano: Rosa & Nero, 1986; 383 pp.); an anthology with translations of older material and new commentary (the publisher is Edizioni Rosa & Nero, Diapress Srl., Via Madre Cabrini 9, Milano, Italy). MURDER AND MORAL DECAY IN VICTORIAN POPULAR LITERATURE, by Beth Kalikoff (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986; 193 pp., $39.95); the prologue and chapter 9 (p. 157-168) are primarily devoted to crime in Stud, Sign, Five, Fina, and Veil. A BAKER'S STREET DOZEN (San Francisco: Mind's Eye, 1987); a six-cassette package with 12 of the Gielgud radio programs ($24.95 at Waldenbooks). Reported by Ev Herzog: two S'ian items in Marc Bilgrey's THE SCIENCE FICTION CARTOON BOOK (Andrion Press, 128 East 56th Street, New York, NY 10022; $8.25 postpaid). Smithsonian Radio has a 30-minute program on National Public Radio, and on Aug. 16 at 9:00 pm the broadcast will include a segment on Sherlock Holmes. DISGUISES IN THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: AN ILLLUSTRATED ANALYSIS OF THIRTY DISGUISES FROM THE WRITINGS OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, by Alvin E. Rodin and Jack D. Key (Beavercreek: KeyRod Literary Enterprises, 1987; 51 pp., $12.00), is an examination of various impersonations (including the photo of ACD as Challenger). Available from the publisher (3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385) for $13.00 postpaid. Announced by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (440 Forsgate Drive, Cranbury, NJ 08512): DIAGNOSIS AND DETECTION: THE MEDICAL ICONOGRAPHY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Pasquale Accardo (144 pp., $23.50). The author "has determined to rescue Holmes and Watson from the historicism, psychologism, and armchair pseudoanalysis in which they have become entangled." Stanley MacKenzie (64 Bassett Road, London W.10, England) still has copies of his colorful commemorative postcard (Aug 86 #4 and BSJ Dec 86); the postpaid price is $6.00 for ten, $48.00 for 100, and $84.00 for 200. Reported from London: Baskerville's Restaurant, with S'ian fliers, at 2 Allsop Place, NW1 (opposite the Planetarium). James F. Brewer ("Josiah Brown") died in July. Fitz was one of the earliest members of The Six Napoleons, and his professorial humor and scholarship were long a highlight of their meetings. SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED NOVELS (London: Chancellor Press, 1987; 496 pp.) is a companion volume to SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED SHORT STORIES (BSJ Jun 87). The novels, not reprinted in facsimile, nevertheless include most of the fine illustrations by George Hutchinson, F. H. Townsend, Sidney Paget, and Frank Wiles. WHO'S WHO IN SHERLOCK HOLMES: A COMPLETE AND HANDY REFERENCE TO THE GREAT DETECTIVE'S EVERY CASE, by Scott M. Bullard and Michael Leo Collins (New York: Taplinger, 1980; 251 pp., $14.95 cloth, $7.95 paper) is available again. It is also covers the where and what, with entries (keyed to THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES) on people, places, restaurants, and much more. Jul 87 #6 Jack Lescoulie died on July 22. He worked with Dave Garroway on the first "Today" show broadcast by NBC-TV in 1952, and retired from the program in 1967. On May 22, 1963, the program included an interview with Julian Wolff and a reading of a passage from "The Hound of the Baskervilles" with Lescoulie as Watson and Hugh Downs as Holmes. Tyke and Teddie Niver report that July 24 was "Sherlock Holmes Day" in Connecticut, per an official statement from Gov. William A. O'Neill. THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS PEANUT: A BOOK FOR YOU TO COLOR is a six-page pamphlet in which Sherlock, the Peanut Detective, is assigned to find out all about the peanut, and determines that "peanuts are liked by nearly everyone." Copies may be available from Growers' Peanut Food Promotions, Box 1709, Rocky Mount, NC 27801-1709. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Fiddling Around with Sherlock Holmes" at the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg on July 24-26 was a splendid centennial celebration, with more than 200 on hand for the workshop. Ray Betzner and John Lanzalotti and the rest of The Cremona Fiddlers were thoroughly efficient in handling the details, both usual and unusual, and John Bennett Shaw proclaimed the gathering to have been the best of his 18 workshops. The formal sessions ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime (but will be listed in the order in which they were actually presented): "The Sherlock Holmes Cult at 100" (John Bennett Shaw); "Saxe-Coburg Square: The Definitive Identification" (John Lanzalotti); "Sherlock Holmes and the First Cocaine Epidemic" (David Musto); "The Adventure of the Detected Detective: Sherlockian Allusions in James Joyce's *Finnegans Wake*" (William Jenkins); "Hell Must Look Something Like That: The Vermissa Valley, Then and Now" (Edward Vatza); "A Sherlock-ian Poetry Reading" (Philip Brogdon); a panel discussion on Holmesian art, book collecting, and starting a scion society (S. Kate Hawks, Peter Blau, and Ray Betzner); "Let a Woman in Your Life: The Women in Conan Doyle's Life and Works" (Ely Liebow); "Why Netley" (Robert Katz); and "O To Be in England: A Tour of Sherlockian Haunts" (Charles Henry). John Bennett Shaw's quizzes were as ingenious (or malicious) as always, the winning entries for the literary contest were pleasantly imaginative, and the Saturday evening banquet featured a new performance by The Friends of Bogie's, Sherlockian toasts, and Sherlockian filk songs. The huckster rooms were full of hucksters hawking, and there were some new items of interest. Carole Logan (Latimer's, 5 Raglan Avenue, Toronto, Ont. M6C 2K5, Canada) has a new catalog of S'ian sweatshirts, mugs, postcards, and other material. Robert J. Stek (Box 315, Tolland, CT 06084) has a flier giving details on his plans to offer "The Computerized Canon" at the end of the year in standard ASCII format (readable by IBM, Macintosh, or computers) on 15 floppy disks for about $50.00. And Gael Stahl of the Tennessee Municipal League announced that Gov. Ned McWherter had issued an official proclamation that the "people of Tennessee commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of Sherlock Holmes' first appearance in print. Aug 87 #1 THE BEST OF TREK #11, edited by Walter Irwin and G. B. Love (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1986; 204 pp., $2.95), is collection of material from Trek: The Magazine for Star Trek Fans; the contents include Patricia Dunn's "A Problem of Identity: Was Holmes a Vulcan?" (she votes "no" in a rebuttal to Paul Schwartz's "A Theory of Relativity" in THE BEST OF TREK #4). THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERIES: 22 STORIES BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, with an Introduction by Frederick Busch (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1987; 533 pp., $3.50), is an "expanded edition" billed as including "all the stories on PBS-TV" (yes, all 20 stories, plus "Bosc" and "Five"); the Introduction is the same as in the 1985 edition that had 16 stories. Reported by Tyke Niver: an article by Thomas L. Drucker on "Sherlock Holmes and Victorian Mathematics" in the May 1987 issue of Dickinson Magazine (Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA 17013-2896). SABERHAGEN: MY BEST, by Fred Saberhagen (New York: Baen Books, 1987; 311 pp., $2.95), includes "The Adventure of the Metal Murderer" (a pastiche first published in the Jan. 1980 issue of Omni). MYSTERY OF THE WINDY MEADOW, written by Ski Michaels and illustrated by Allen Atkinson (Mahwah: Troll Associates, 1986; 48 pp., $1.95), is a children's book featuring Detective Duck in S'ian costume. Guy Averill's article "Did You Remark the Postmarks?" (British Philatelic Bulletin, June 1987) discusses the philatelic aspects of the Canon and shows the first two of the four booklet covers honoring the centenary. British Philatelic Bureau, 20 Brandon Street, Edinburgh EH3 5TT, U.K. THE SCIENCE FICTION CARTOON BOOK, by Marc Bilgrey (New York: Andrion Books, 1986; 104 pp.), contains one (minor) S'ian cartoon. His earlier collec- tions THE SHERLOCK HOLMES CARTOON BOO