Jan 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Travelers to Britain will know how colorful the Bank of England's notes are. They also carry copyright notices (on the new L5 note, at least). One would think that the laws against counterfeiting would cover violation of the copyright on bank notes, but perhaps not. Editions Claude Lefrancq is issuing a series of attractive 48-page hard- cover graphic-novel adaptations and pastiches, including SHERLOCK HOLMES: LA SANGSUE ROUGE [The Red Leech], with a story by Andre-Paul Duchƒteau and artwork by Guy Clair. LA BEQUILLE EN ALUMINIUM [The Aluminum Crutch] is scheduled later in the series, and the company's address is 386 chaussee d'Alsemberg, 1180 Bruxelles, Belgium. Videotaper alert: The Movie Channel will show "Duck Soup" (1933) on Feb. 8 and 9. This is a Marx Brothers comedy, with Harpo in Sherlockian costume in one of the early scenes. Reported by Tim O'Connor: the next issue of Argosy (v. 3, n. 3) ($4.00 in most comic-book shops) will have a cover portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Steranko, plus a reprint of Ellery Queen's "A Study in Terror" (D6065a). Also: your bookstore bargain tables should have Charles Viney's SHERLOCK HOLMES IN LONDON ($12.50, discounted from $24.95) and Ken Greenwald's THE LOST ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ($4.98, discounted from $9.98). Reported by Joe Eckrich: lengthy discussion of Universal's Rathbone/Bruce pictures in UNIVERSAL HORRORS: THE STUDIO'S CLASSIC FILMS, 1931-1946, by Michael Brunas, John Brunas, and Tom Weaver (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1990; 616 pp., $45.00). And discount offers in the latest catalog from Edward R. Hamilton (Falls Village, CT 06031): MYSTERY FOR CHRISTMAS, edited by Richard Dalby (New York: Gallery Books, 1990; $5.98), with Ron Weighell's pastiche "The Case of the Fiery Messengers" (first published by Michael O'Mara in London at L14.95); and CRIME AT CHRISTMAS, edited by Jack Adrian (London: Equation, 1988; $7.95), with reprints of the Peter Todd pastiches "Herlock Sholmes's Christmas Case" (D4957b) and "The Secret in the Pudding Bag" (D4965b). An Associated Press report with a Victoria Falls dateline (in the Boston Globe on Dec. 21, 1990) indicates that work is now underway on "Sherlock Holmes and the Incident at Victoria Falls" (with Christopher Lee as Holmes and Patrick Macnee as Watson). "We have brought Holmes to colonial Africa to hobnob with the rich and famous," executive producer Harry Alan Towers said. "We've aged him a little, but otherwise we've taken no liberties." The four-hour television mini-series will be the sequel to "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" (as yet not scheduled for broadcast). The winter-autumn 1990 issue of The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris at hand from Tom Dunn (20-37 120th Street, College Point, NY 11356), with 74 pages of news, comment, correspondence, poetry, fiction, and illustrations about pipes, tobacco, cigars, smoking, and anything else that interests members of Tom's "universal coterie of pipe smokers" (and with more than ten pages of Sherlockiana in this issue). There is no charge for membership or for subscriptions, but Tom welcomes contributions, financial or otherwise. Jan 91 #2 Baskerville Hall (well, at least one of the many candidates) is still on the market. Brook Manor, home of the infamous Richard Cabell, was offered for sale a bit more than a year ago (Nov 89 #2), with an asking price of L600,000 (the present owners, after rewiring the house and adding central heating and new bathrooms, used the house for bed and breakfast on a small scale, and the estate agents have suggested that the ten-bedroom property could be adapted as a guesthouse or small hotel). L600,000 is still the asking price, but the last time Brook Manor was on the market (Oct 86 #4), the price was only L150,000. Bill Barton reports that his new tongue-in-cheek rock 'n' role-playing game "So Ya Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star?" is not Sherlockian, but does include many S'ian names and references. Available for $14.95 postpaid from Bill Barton, Box 26290, Indianapolis, IN 46226. "Mystery!" celebrated its tenth anniversary last year with a poster that shows the series' most popular characters (including Holmes and Watson), drawn by Edward Gorey. The poster (30"x46") is available for $20.00 plus shipping from Signals, Box 64428, St. Paul, MN 55164 (800-669-5225), and they take plastic. Reported by John Stephenson: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO: THE CLASSIC COMICS, a comic book published by Malibu Graphics, with Costello in S'ian costume on p. 44. The Franklin Mint isn't the only company specializing in lengthy series of collectibles: Mike Kean reports that The Teddy Guild (Thistle Mill, Biggar ML12 6LP, Great Britain) has a subscription series of 36 "Famous Teddies". You get two a month (L10.90), and one of them is dressed as Sherlock Holmes (of course). They take plastic, in case anyone wants to subscribe, hoping that Sherlock Holmes won't be in the last monthly shipment. Studio Gallery Decorative Editions has sent an illustrated flier for their new eight-inch bone-china plate honoring the Sherlock Holmes Public House (that's the pub in London). The price is $50.00 postpaid, and the address is 50 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DP, England. Mark Erdrich reports three S'ian rubber stamps available from Stamptastic, 2461 San Diego Avenue (Old Town), San Diego, CA 92110 (800-833-1252); the magnifying-glass design costs $5.45, and the other two cost $6.95 each. Jan 91 #3 And yes, the birthday festivities in New York were (as usual) crowded, hectic, interesting, and enjoyable. Thursday is still essentially a day for informal events (such as the Annual International New York Christopher Morley Memorial Walk and the annual meeting of The Pawky Humorists), book-hunting, and sight-seeing, for those who arrive in New York early. The official festivities started Friday, with the Mrs. Hudson Breakfast for more than 50 people, welcomed by Tom and Ruthann Stetak in a new and comfortable venue on the second floor of the Algonquin. Susan Rice presided over the William Gillette Luncheon at the Old Homestead (also well attended), and Otto Penzler offered hospitality (and Sherlockian books) at his open house at the Mysterious Book Shop. The Baker Street Irregulars met at 24 Fifth Avenue, where *The* Woman was Joan Wood, who was toasted by Andy Peck during the pre-dinner cocktail party, and then departed to dine at Le Quercy with other ladies who have received that honor. The BSI's annual-dinner agenda included the usual toasts and other traditions, David Musto's account of his visit to the U.S.S.R. and his meeting with a newly-founded scion (The Red-Headed League of Moscow), news of "Aunt Clara" from Bill Rabe (Fred Page and Wayne Swift sang her praises with the original music), papers by Bob Brody (on the future careers of some of the Canonical criminals who escaped justice) and Wayne Swift (on his continuing research on Silver Blaze) and Norman Davis (on Sherlockian handicapping), a presentation by Don Yates of a one-minute version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (followed by his one-second version of the same story), and an award by Philip Shreffler to Don Redmond (honoring his 21 years of indexing of the BSJ). Irregular Shillings and Investitures were awarded to Henry Enberg ("John Garrideb"), Steve Tolins ("John Straker"), Joe Moran ("Augustus Moran, C.B."), Charley Shields ("17 King Edward Street"), Glen Miranker ("*The Origin of Tree Worship*"), and Bill Nadel ("Bartholomew Sholto"), and Ely Liebow received a Two-Shilling Award (for extraordinary devotion to the cause beyond the call of duty). The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes also gathered for dinner on Friday evening, at the Algonquin, where the entertainment included presentations by Ruthann Stetak (on "An American Borgia") and Linda Anderson (offering her suggestion that Sherlock Holmes, during the Great Hiatus, toured with and occasionally substituted for the divine Sarah Bernhardt), and Ann Byerly's rendition of "Aunt Clara" (also to the original music) and "The Contortionist's Daughter" (also written by Bud Willis and his wife, and no more sedate than "Aunt Clara"). On Saturday morning the usual suspects gathered at the Algonquin to buy and sell in the Huckster's Room, and the BSI's afternoon cocktail party at 24 Fifth Avenue included now-traditional poetic reports by Al Rosenblatt and Susan Rice on the Friday dinners, a presentation of the Commissionaire's Award to George Fletcher in recognition of his 16 years of service to the BSI and the BSJ at the Fordham University Press (George now has a new job, as curator at the Pierpont Morgan Library), a spirited Sherlockian auction that raised $800 for the John H. Watson Fund, and a Canonical fashion show modeled by Cynthia Wein, Joanne Zahorsky, Jean Upton, Ellen Morgenstern, Nancy Klimple, Camille Torrese, Carol Adams, and Maureen Green. Jan 91 #4 Continuing the report on the birthday festivities (and indeed there's more to report) and on Saturday's cocktail party: Tom Stix announced the award of additional Irregular Shillings and Investitures to Edwin V. King ("Captain Arthur Morstan"), Dame Jean Conan Doyle ("A Certain Gracious Lady"), Katherine McMahon ("Lucy Ferrier"), Edith Meiser ("A Fascinating and Beautiful Woman"), Evelyn Herzog ("The Daintiest Thing Under a Bonnet"), Julia Carlson Rosenblatt ("Mrs. Turner"), and Susan Rice ("Beeswing"), and reminded the new Irregulars that all members of the BSI are entitled to attend the BSI's annual dinner. And on Saturday evening some Sherlockians (but not many, since the theater seats only 40) journeyed far off-off-Broadway to the Prometheus Theatre on East 5th Street to see "Sherlock Holmes: The Eclipse Conspiracy" (produced, directed, and written by Fred Fondren, who also played Holmes). Sherlock Holmes foils Moriarty's evil plot to gain control of the crystal cross, a long-lost mystic device that will bring civilization to an end by producing an artificial eclipse. Perhaps the most intriguing item in the Huckster Room during the birthday festivities was a first-of-its-kind $1.00 "Silver Screen" lottery ticket with a portrait of Sherlock Holmes. You scratch the play area to see if you win from $1 to $1,000 or a trip to Hollywood (or nothing, of course). The Western Canada Lottery Corp. runs the show, but guaranteed non-winner tickets are available for $1.00 each postpaid from Benton Wood, Box 740, Ellenton, FL 34222. Ben also offers the latest publication from The Pleasant Places of Florida: the SHERLOCKIAN SING-A-LONG, a 24-page spiral-bound collection of music and words adapted by Charles Michael Carroll and Benton Wood. The collection is billed, and quite accurately, as "a goodly batch of Doylean ditties, Baker Street ballads, and Holmesian hummers especially adapted for scion gatherings and Conanical conclaves," and the booklet costs $6.00 postpaid. Chris Redmond reports his new address: 523 Westfield Drive, Waterloo, Ont. N2T 2E1, Canada (there's no change in his telephone number). Keye Luke died on Jan. 12. His first acting role was in Greta Garbo's film "The Painted Veil" and his last was in Woody Allen's just-released "Alice", but he will be remembered best as Lee Chan, Charlie Chan's "Number One Son" in the long series of Warner Oland films in the 1930s. He can be seen in Sherlockian costume in "Charlie Chan on Broadway" (1937). Reported: THE GREAT DETECTIVE PICTURES, by James Robert Parish and Michael R. Pitts (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1990; 630 pp., $59.50), with coverage of many Sherlockian films. Cricket was one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's favorite sports, and one that was not neglected in his writings (see his fine tribute to W. G. Grace, and his humorous short stories "How the Brigadier Triumphed in England" and "The Story of Spedegue's Dropper"). LORD'S & COMMONS: CRICKET IN NOVELS AND STORIES, edited by John Bright-Holmes (London: Penguin Books, 1990; 352 pp., L7.99), has nothing by Conan Doyle, but offers instead an excerpt from Stanley Shaw's 1985 pastiche SHERLOCK HOLMES AT THE 1902 FIFTH TEST MATCH. Jan 91 #5 Further to the report (Dec 90 #7) that the Langham Hotel will be reopened in March, Mary Ellen Rich notes in the winter 1990 issue of The Serpentine Muse that each of its suites will be named to honor a renowned past visitor (including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), and that room 333 reportedly houses a possibly-Canonical ghost. The Serpentine Muse is published by The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, and costs $6.00 for four issues (Evelyn Herzog, 235 West 15th Street #4-B, New York, NY 10011). CHUCK AMUCK, by Chuck Jones (New York: Avon Books, 1990; $12.95) is a fine autobiography of the man responsible for many of the splendid Warner Bros. cartoons, one of which was "Deduce, You Say!" (1956). The book has many illustrations, including a pencil sketch of Dorlock Holmes and Dr. Watkins (on pages 106-107). Jeremy Brett, very briefly in Washington, reported that the new Granada series will air in Britain in February, and in the United States later in the year, and that he is revising the first act of "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes" and hopes to have the play on tour in the U.S. toward the end of 1991. He was here for Mobil's private dinner party at the State Department to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Masterpiece Theatre" (other guests included Alistair Cooke, Francesca Annis, Steven Fry, John Hurt, Geraldine James, Hugh Laurie, Ian McShane, Jean Marsh, Keith Michell, Ian Richardson, Diana Rigg, and Simon Williams). A sampling of the long series of school-boy-magazine parodies written by Charles Hamilton (as Peter Todd) (see D4956b-D4966b) was published as THE ADVENTURES OF HERLOCK SHOLMES (1976), and all 95 of the stories are now available in THE COMPLETE CASEBOOK OF HERLOCK SHOLMES (London: Hawk Books, 1989; 287 pp., L9.95). The book may still be available from the Mysterious Bookshop (129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019) for $19.95. Also available from the Mysterious Bookshop is A SINGULAR SET OF PEOPLE, edited by Marlene Aig and David Galerstein (New York: Magico Magazine, 1990; 127 pp., $14.95). The book is a fine anthology, presenting (and occasionally reprinting) contributions by an assortment of imaginative Sherlockians who are members of New York scions (or who have attended a meeting of a New York scion, or who may be thinking about doing so). Glen Petrie's THE MONSTROUS REGIMENT: A MYCROFT HOLMES ADVENTURE (London: Bantam Press, 1990; 304 pp., L12.95) is a sequel to THE DORKING GAP AFFAIR (Dec 90 #8), and a good one. Sherlock Holmes has left his university, but again appears only incidentally, and it is Mycroft who frustrates a new scheme devised by the villainous Guttmann and his evil associates. Mark Erdrich reports a remotely-Sherlockian discovery for those who think that the type-face designed by John Baskerville in 1757 is relevant: a ten-inch circular battery-powered wall clock with Baskerville numbering and lettering, offered at $65.00 in a catalog from Williams-Sonoma (Box 7456, San Francisco, CA 94120). And Mark kindly offers photocopies of Bernard Knight's four-page pastiche "Sherlock Holmes Returns to the Case" (New Scientist, Dec. 24, 1988). Send a #10 SASE to Mark W. Erdrich, 49 Kings Lacey Way, Fairport, NY 104450. Jan 91 #6 Viktor Shklovsky's THEORY OF PROSE, written in Russian 1925 but only recently completely translated into English, was published last year in cloth binding ($29.95), and is now available in paper covers (Lisle: Dalkey Archive Press, 1991; 216 pp., $12.95). Shklovsky's book was a highly-regarded (and thoroughly academic) exploration of literary theory, and the literature considered includes mystery stories in general, and the Sherlock Holmes stories in particular (both from the Canon and from early pastiches). The publisher's address is 5700 College Road, Lisle, IL 60532. Videotaper alert: Reginald Owen's "A Study in Scarlet" (1933) will air on Arts & Entertainment cable on Feb. 17. No explanation has been offered for the strange disappearance of "The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes" last month. For those who weren't able to find the discounted one-volume edition of William S. Baring-Gould's THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (now out of print and with no reprint scheduled), Tim O'Connor reports that it is offered (item 623415) by Edward R. Hamilton, Falls Village, CT 06031, at $29.95 (plus $3.00 shipping per order). A flier at hand with news of the tenth annual Sherlock Holmes/Conan Doyle Symposium at Wright State University in Dayton on Mar. 9-10. The speakers will include Martin Arbagi, Jim Booth, Bob Fleissner, Mary Frost-Pierson, Paul Herbert, Jack Key, Roy Pilot, Jim Ravin, Ruthann and Tom Stetak, and John Zamonski, and additional information is available from Al Rodin, 3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385. Late-breaking news on the grand gourmet dinner at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park on May 4: wine and hors d'oeuvres at 6:30, dinner at 7:30, dress is black tie, the cost is $80.00 a person (with a maximum of four persons per reservation), names and addresses requested for all those covered by each reservation, checks should be sent (and made payable) to Albert M. Rosenblatt (Box 221-B, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569), first-come first-served (and you are advised to make your reservations quickly), and a self-addressed postal card is requested if you want postive confirmation. The Radisson Hotel in Poughkeepsie (914-485-5300) offers a special rate of $75.00 a room for those who identify themselves as Sherlockians. According to my records, my 1991 seasonal souvenir ("LIGHT A CIGAR AND LET ME EXPOUND...") should be in the hands of all subscribers, received during the birthday festivities in New York, or since, or with this mailing. If I missed someone, please let me know. The new postage rates will require modest increases in prices. Renewals and new subscriptions to the *Scuttlebutt* now cost $8.50 a year (somewhat higher for subscribers outside the United States). The up-to-date 11-page list of Investitured Irregulars, Two-Shilling Awards, and *The* Women costs $1.10 postpaid. The 57-page list of 532 Sherlockian societies, with names and addresses for the 315 active societies, costs $3.55 postpaid. And the run of address labels for 277 individual contacts (recommended for those who wish to avoid making duplicate mailings to people who are contacts for more than one society) costs $10.25 postpaid. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Feb 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Ronald Pearsall's SHERLOCK HOLMES INVESTIGATES THE MURDER IN EUSTON SQUARE (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1989; 186 pp., L9.95) is less of a pastiche than an example of how authors use Sherlock Holmes as a hook on which to hang their own work: Pearsall starts with a murder in London in 1877 (the body was not found until 1879), and presents his own solution (a rather complicated one, involving depravity, insanity, and the Royal family) in a ten-years-later investigation by Sherlock Holmes. Reported but not seen: L. B. Greenwood's SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE THISTLE OF SCOTLAND was the Detective Book Club selection for Oct. 1989. This variant is probably identifiable only from the dust jacket. A videotaper alert: Richard Wein reports that Arts & Entertainment has not given up on "The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes" (1935), which is now scheduled for one two-hour showing at 9:00 am on Mar. 16. Spotted by Jim Vogelsang in Kool-Aid's "Having Kids Times": Walt Disney's "The Great Mouse Detective" will be coming your way this season (but with nothing to indicate just which season). An article by Enid Rhodes Peschel and Richard E. Peschel ("Sherlock Holmes Foiled by an Opera Star") in the autumn 1990 issue of Opera Quarterly (at hand from Pat Ward) suggests that the contralto Giulia Ravogli might have contributed to the inspiration for the character of Irene Adler. Ravogli made her debut at Covent Garden in Oct. 1890, appearing in male costume as Urbain in "Les Huguenots" and as Orfeo in "Orfeo ed Euridice", and received rave reviews (George Bernard Shaw said that he was "infatuated" with her). Last year Great Britain issued a set of commemoratives that show the nation's important medals, including the Victoria Cross. The Canonical connection is "Emsworth, the Crimean V.C." in "The Blanched Soldier". Sherry Rose-Bond reports an advertisement by Home Vision offering six of the MPI Home Video cassettes of Granada's Jeremy Brett series at $24.95 each (discounted from the regular price of $29.98). Home Vision, Box 800, Concord, MA 01742 (800-262-8600). The London Library was founded on May 3, 1841, in two rooms in Pall Mall, with 3,000 books. It has close to a million books today, and is still a private library (a year's subscription costs L80). This year's celebration of its 150th anniversary will include publication of RUDE WORDS, a history of the library by John Wells. It remains to be seen whether the book will mention Dr. Watson's visit to the library to consult with his friend Lomax, the sublibrarian, as recorded in "The Illustrious Client". Further to the report (Jan 91 #1) on MYSTERY FOR CHRISTMAS, the anthology edited by Richard Dalby (New York: Gallery Books, 1990; $5.98), with Ron Weighell's pastiche ("The Case of the Fiery Messengers"), the book also has "The Soldier", a non-S'ian story by Roger Johnson, the British Holmesian. Feb 91 #2 Sherlockian games are now being developed for home television sets, and at least one of them will be available this spring. According to an article in the Washington Post (Feb. 6), Nintendo (which has 80 percent of the U.S. market for cartridge games) and Sony have agreed to a joint venture that will put video games on compact discs, using the massive storage capacity available on compact discs to offer better sound and image quality, and some digitized video. The Nintendo-Sony machine is expected to be marketed in Japan in 1992 and in the U.S. in 1993, but a similar machine is already available here: the NEC TurboGrafx-16, which is a cartridge machine ($160 suggested retail) with an add-on machine ($400 suggested retail) that will play compact discs. And Commodore is ready to market its own CDTV compact-disc machine, which will contain an Amiga 500 computer; the CDTV will be released in late March or early April, and will sell for $999 suggested retail; the CDTV will run audio discs, game discs, and text discs (the Grolier Encyclopedia and others now being developed for the CDTV). All three of the systems connect to home stereo and television sets rather than to computers. And ICOM Simulations has developed "Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective" (a compact-disc game based on Sleuth Publications' boxed game). The ICOM compact disc has three adventures ("The Mummy's Curse", "The Case of the Mystified Murderess", and "The Case of the Tin Soldier"), presented with text, graphics, and some video. 120 scenes were taped for the video, with 35 actors, and production costs have totaled $1 million, including $300,000 for the video shoot. ICOM has already engineered the game in Japanese for Fujitsu, and in Japanese and English for NEC, and ICOM is now engineering a version for Commodore. The NEC version of the game is scheduled for launch in March ($62 suggested retail). And Jon Lellenberg reports that Commodore is working with a British company that is developing a different game based on the Webb & Bower "dossier" edition of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Meetings of The Hansom Wheels of Columbia, S.C., often feature the dramatic efforts of the scion's members, and scripts for five original one-act plays written by Lloyd W. Brown, Jr., in radio format, with broad humor and many fine puns, have now been published as THE UNKNOWN SHERLOCK HOLMES (63 pp., $15.00 postpaid from the author, 103 Snow Court, Lexington, SC 29073). Reported by Jack Kerr: volume 10 of the Simon & Schuster Audioworks series of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is in the shops, with "In Flanders Fields" and "The Eyes of Mr. Leyton" from the Rathbone/Bruce radio series. And Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's NATE THE GREAT AND THE HALLOWEEN HUNT has been published as a Dell Young Yearling paperback ($2.95). Reported on audio cassettes: LAST LAUGHS: THE MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA ANTHOLOGY, edited by Gregory Mcdonald (Dove Books on Tape); nine stories, including Edward D. Hoch's "The Most Dangerous Man" (D4992b) read by John Standing. PARTNERS IN CRIME: THREE VOLUMES (Listen for Pleasure); Agatha Christie's stories (including D5857a) read by James Warwick. If you do much airmailing to overseas addresses, you can save some money by making note of the new rates: 50 cents for the first half-ounce, 45 cents for the second half-ounce, and 39 cents for additional half-ounces. I've not seen this mentioned in any of the press reports on the new rates. Feb 91 #3 Henry Lauritzen ("The Royal Family of Scandinavia") died on Jan. 30. Henry was devoted to Sherlock Holmes, horse racing, cigars, and brandy, and he was the sparking-plug of the Sherlockians in Denmark for many years. His long series of Christmas annuals reflected his wide-ranging interests and his wonderful sense of humor, and he was one of the truly great Sherlockian artists (his portrait of John Bennett Shaw can be seen on the title page of the Dec. 1990 issue of the BSJ). He received his Irregular Investiture in 1961, the Two-Shilling Award in 1985, and the Commissionaire's Award in 1990. Reported: THE YEAR'S BEST MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE STORIES, edited by Edward D. Hoch (New York: Walker, 1990; $18.95), has Elizabeth Peters' "The Locked Tomb Mystery" (set in ancient Egypt, with a mystery solved with careful Sherlockian deduction by the sage and scholar Amenhotep Sa Hapu, with the assistance of his friend Wadjsen). Peters' story was first published in SISTERS IN CRIME (Jul 89 #5). Additional comment on our new postal rates, which seem high only until one notes what other countries pay: the domestic rate in Canada is 40 cents (US 35 cents) for 30 grams (1.05 ounces). The rate for international airmail from Canada is 80 cents (US 69 cents) for 20 grams (0.7 ounces). A new Sherlockian statue ("beautiful," according to John Bennett Shaw) has been sculpted by midwestern artist Tom Beard and cast in bronze (9 inches high, on a walnut base) in an edition of 250 copies. $415 (plus $10 shipping) from the Tom Beard Art Studio, 8312 East 104th Terrace, Kansas City, MO 64134). The Sherlock Holmes Wireless Society has commissioned a one-inch lapel pin that will sell for $12.00, and the deadline for orders is Mar. 20. Write to Ron Fish (Box 3382, New Haven, CT 06515) for an illustrated flier. Mary Ann and Ed Rochette (Sherlock, Stock & Barrel, Box 8261, Colorado Springs, CO 80933) have issued a second sales list of Sherlockian honey, statues, T-shirts, and other collectibles. Anna Conan Doyle died in December in Switzerland. She married Adrian Conan Doyle in 1938, joined him in his travels and on some of his expeditions (he described their hunt for Indian Ocean sharks, in a ship they renamed the *Gloria Scott*, in his 1953 book HEAVEN HAS CLAWS), and after his death in 1970 she was for a time manager of the Conan Doyle Foundation in Geneva. If your local fast-food shops include Taco Bell, you might see if they have "Taco Man's Mystery House" carry-out bags and small "activity books" that show a deerstalkered Taco Man. Joanne Zahorsky (5190-3 King's Highway, Saugerties, NY 12477) offers a ten- inch cross-stitched Sherlockian clock ($35.00), and teddy bears dressed as Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, or Irene Adler ($35.00), and happily accepts commissions for other teddy bears. Write to Joanne for details. Feb 91 #4 The winter 1991 issue of Anglofile reports that "Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang" is now available on videocassette from Playhouse Video at $19.95 (the 1977 six-part story featured Tom Baker in Sherlockian costume, battling giant rats). "Summer's Lease" will air on "Masterpiece Theatre" beginning May 12 (the 1989 BBC television series has Sherlockian allusions). And a new adventure/comedy film called "Sherlock Holmes' Arcane Adventure" is scheduled to begin filming in Estonia in April (this may be Loren D. Estleman's "Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula"). Anglofile (six issues) costs $12.00 a year (Box 33515, Decatur, GA 30033), and offers massive coverage of British television, films, books, and records. Current poster prices (from Cinemonde, 1932 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109): $5,500 for a lobby card for "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1939); $7,000 for a French poster (63x94") for "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" 1939); $750 for a one-sheet (27x41"), and $950 for a three-sheet (41x81") for "The Pearl of Death" (1944); and $125 for a lobby still for "Dressed to Kill" (1945). None of John Bennett Shaw's many S'ian workshops have been directly honored by the U.S. Postal Service, but a postal card was issued last year showing the Memorial Court in the Quadrangle at Stanford University, where John presided over a workshop in 1981 (and where there was a second workshop in 1987). The first of John's S'ian workshops was held at Notre Dame in 1977, and the Postal Service plans to issue a new postal card on Oct. 13, showing the Administration Building at the University of Notre Dame. The Knights of the Gnomon, organized in 1977 (or 1978), have published "An Introductory Handbook" that includes a history of the scion. The 40-page pamphlet is available for $6.00 postpaid from Richard R. Rutter, 1620 Granada Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010. The locked-room mystery is practically a forgotten genre, in an era when who and why are generally considered to be more important than how, but Jack Adrian and Robert Adey have assembled a fine anthology of the genre. MURDER IMPOSSIBLE (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1990; 306 pp., $18.95) was published in Britain as THE ART OF THE IMPOSSIBLE (Xanadu, L14.95), and includes George Locke's short Morlock Tomes parody "A Nineteenth Century Debacle" (previously available only in a 1979 limited edition). Warren Randall reports that there is one (and only one) S'ian reference in FODOR'S 91 LONDON, appropriately on page 221, where the guidebook discusses The Sherlock Holmes in Northumberland Street. A spring 1991 catalog at hand from Jack Tracy (Gaslight Publications, 626 North College Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47404), offering S'iana and D'iana from Gaslight and other publishers. The Beeman's Christmas Annual (1990), published by The Occupants of the Empty House with 33 pp. of Sherlockian studies, is available from William R. Cochran, 517 North Vine Street, DeQuoin, IL 62832 ($7.00 postpaid). Feb 91 #5 Those who own David L. Hammer's splendid travel books THE GAME IS AFOOT and FOR THE SAKE OF THE GAME will need no additional recommendation of TO PLAY THE GAME than the news that it has been published (Dubuque: Gasogene Press, 1991; 397 pp., $39.95 cloth, $19.95 paper). For newcomers, his third volume deals with the North America of Sherlock Holmes (both the United States and Canada), and with a few more recent Sherlockian sites (such as New Mexico's Moriarty Memorial Manure Pile and Oklahoma's Holmes Peak), and his style is both personal and literate. Recommended, and available from the publisher (Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004); add $2.50 per copy (up to $5.00 per order) to cover shipping costs. A new society lapel-pin is available from Watson's Erroneous Deductions, in brass decorated in black and white. $10.00 postpaid from Dick and Fran Kitts, 35 Van Cortlandt Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301. M. J. Trow's LESTRADE AND THE DEADLY GAME (London: Constable, 1990; 224 pp., L11.95) is the latest in his fine series of novels. This one is set in 1908, and Lestrade is now a Superintendent, investigating a series of murders that threaten to disrupt the Olympic Games. As usual, there is plenty of action and broad humor, as well as some fine puns. A catalog at hand from La Sherlockiana, the Italian mystery-specialist book store (Piazza San Nazaro 3, 20122 Milano, Italy), with a nice assortment of Sherlockiana in Italian (priced in lire, currently about 1,133 lire to the dollar): Alan Arnold's PIRAMIDE DI PAURA (18,000), Isaac Asimov's SHERLOCK HOLMES NEL TEMPO E NELLO SPAZIO (22,000); Edmund Aubrey's SHERLOCK HOLMES A DALLAS (15,000); Henri Cami's LE AVVENTURE DI LUFOCK HOLMES (6,000); Allen Eyles' SHERLOCK HOLMES: ALBUM DEL CENTENARIO (35,000); Laura Grimaldi and Marco Tropea's ELEMENTARE, SIGNOR PRESIDENT (10,000); Michael and Mollie Hardwick's VITA PRIVATA DI SHERLOCK HOLMES (10,000); Alexis Lecaye's MARX E SHERLOCK HOLMES (14,000); Nicholas Meyer's LA SOLUZIONE SETTE PER CENTO (7,000); Rene Reouven's I PASSATEMPI DI SHERLOCK HOLMES (24,000); John R. Watson's 30 DUKE STREET (16,000); and translations of the Canon (16,000 to 60,000) and of Conan Doyle's works, including his autobiography UCCIDERO SHERLOCK HOLMES (20,000). Reported by Ron De Waal: "Silver Blaze" in GREAT RACING STORIES, edited by Dick Francis and John Welcome (London: W. W. Norton, 1989), and published in the U.S. by Norton in 1990 as THE DICK FRANCIS TREASURY OF GREAT RACING STORIES ($19.95). Chatto & Windus was one of the many British publishers that issued "popular editions" priced at sixpence and with striking color covers, and SIXPENNY WONDERFULS: 6D GEMS FROM THE PAST (London: Chatto & Windus, 1985; 69 pp.; L5.95) offers a nicely-illustrated tour of that publisher's contributions to the genre. They published only one of Conan Doyle's books (THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE), but Gordon Browne's cover for the six-penny edition receives a well-deserved full-page color illustration. The book may turn up on the discount tables (priced as low as $2.99), along with THE BEST OF CRIME & DETECTIVE TV, by Max Allan Collins and John Javna (New York: Harmony Books, 1988; 144 pp., $9.95), with two pages on Sherlock Holmes. Feb 91 #6 Mark Hime (of Biblioctopus) had some nice Sherlockian items on display at the San Francisco International Antiquarian Bookfair this month: an inscribed copy of the first American edition (which appeared before the first British edition) of THE VALLEY OF FEAR ($12,500); the 22- page manuscript of "The Three Garridebs" ($155,000); and the 177-page manu- script of "The Valley of Fear" ($525,000). "It was the worst enemy I had among them all," Jack Douglas said of Ted Baldwin, "one who has been after me like a hungry wolf after a caribou all these years." A recent issue from Canada shows a Peary caribou, and it makes a nice pair with last year's Canadian stamp showing a timber wolf (Feb 90 #6). Bruce Holmes (64 Maple Circle, Dollard des Ormeaux, Quebec H9B 1E5, Canada) offers a sales list of Sherlockian collectibles, mostly philatelic, but also including an authentic J-pen nib. A videotaper alert: Richard Wein reports that "Count Duckula: All in a Fog" will run on Nickelodeon cable at 8:00 am on Mar. 17. "Count Duckula" was a British 30-minute animated series, made by Cosgrove Hall Productions for Thames Television in 1987; in this episode Count Duckula, in an attempt to be a detective, travels to London and meets Hawkeye Soames and Dr. Potson. Richard also reports that "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: My Dear Watson" will be repeated eventually on USA cable, but the repeats are out-of-sequence and he can't confirm a date (if you're desperate, you can call USA cable at 212-408-9100 and ask for programming); filmed in Toronto in 1988 and first aired in 1989, the 30-minute episode features Brian Bedford as Holmes and Patrick Monckton as Watson, but the best part of the show undoubtedly was Hitchcock himself, in a colorized introduction, wearing a deerstalker and blowing bubbles from a calabash pipe. "Peanuts" is one of the largest-circulation comic strips in the world, and there will be few who did not see the pleasant tribute to "The Hound of the Baskervilles" that ran on Feb. 3. Many newspapers, however, do not run the Sunday strips complete: often an initial "throw-away" panel is omitted to make room for more comics, or advertising, or whatever. For the benefit of victims of this sort of censorship, here's the throw-away panel for Feb. 3: The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Mar 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Tom Haas died on Feb. 21. He helped to found the Weathervane Theatre in Whitefield, N.H., and directed William Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes" there in 1975, and it was at the Weathervane that his musical "Operetta, My Dear Watson" had its world premiere in 1979. He became artistic director of the Indiana Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis in 1980, reviving his musical in 1982, and directing Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" in 1990. In 1984 there were hopes for a production of "Operetta, My Dear Watson" in New York, and excerpts from the musical were performed for The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes during the birthday festivities. Spaniels and hounds abound in the Canon, and are shown to nice advantage in a set of stamps issued by Britain this year with paintings by George Stubbs: "King Charles Spaniel" and "Two Hounds in a Landscape". Flier at hand for the Third Canonical Convocation and Caper in Door County, Wis., on Sept. 13-15. Donald B. Izban (5334 Wrightwood Avenue, Chicago, IL 60639) will be happy to send additional information. The Baker Street Dispatch, edited and published by Tom Biblewski and Dick Hopkins, is one of the newer S'ian newsletters, offering brief news items, quizzes, and puzzles. It is published six times a year, and there is no charge for subscriptions (though four or five first- class stamps would be welcome), and the address is Box 5503, Toledo, OH 43613. John Bennett Shaw reports that Libreria Gigamesh has launched a new series of hard-bound Spanish translations of Sherlockiana, with new prefaces or afterwords, priced at 2,600 pesetas each. LAS HAZANAS DE SHERLOCK HOLMES [THE EXPLOITS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr] has commentary by British bookseller David Kirby, and the next books in the series will be William S. Baring-Gould's SHERLOCK HOLMES OF BAKER STREET and Julian Symons' A THREE PIPE PROBLEM (with commentary by John Bennett Shaw). The publisher's address is Rona de San Pedro 53, 08010 Barcelona, Spain, and payment in Spanish currency is requested. Thomas G. Kowols reports in the Feb. 1991 issue of The Police Gazette (the newsletter of The Scotland Yarders) that Doctor Who Magazine recently asked its readers who that would most like to see play the Doctor in a series or film. And the winner was Jeremy Brett (who was under consideration for the role in 1987, when the series was revived after an 18-month hiatus). Reported by Bill Berner and Dick Rutter: a new translation into German by Oliver Bruhns (as WIE ES MIT SHERLOCK HOLMES ZU ENDE GING) of A. Boukhov's pastiche "The End of Sherlock Holmes". Boukhov was a Russian satirist who was forced into exile in 1917, and his pastiche was published in Maurice Dekobra's anthology THE CRIMSON SMILE (London: Laurie, 1929). The German version is a 24-page pamphlet, available for DM 15.00 ($10.00) from Colonel Stark's German Books, Kathe-Kollwitz-Weg 10, D-2400 Lubeck 1, Germany. Mar 91 #2 The real mystery of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" is how Charles Dickens intended to complete the story, which was unfinished at the time of Dickens' death. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle discussed the problem with Dickens (via the medium Florizel von Reuter), and was told by Dickens that "Edwin is alive and Chris is hiding him" (see THE EDGE OF THE UNKNOWN, 1930, p. 149-153), and many Sherlockians have tried to solve the mystery (as early as Sept. 1905, when Andrew Lang proposed a pastiche-solution in Longman's Magazine). THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EDWIN DROOD, by Peter Rowland (London: Constable, 1991; 176 pp., L11.99), is an imaginative and amusing approach to the mystery: the novel opens with the arrival of John Jasper at Baker Street in 1894, to ask Sherlock Holmes to prove that Edwin Drood has been murdered, and offers an intriguing exploration and explanation of the problems posed by Dickens. Switzerland, mentioned in three of the Canonical cases, celebrates its 700th anniversary this year, and a joint issue by Switzerland and the United States (with similar designs on both stamps) shows the Swiss Federal Palace (the Swiss Parliament building in Berne) and the U.S. Capitol in Washington (a city that is also mentioned in the Canon). August Derleth's talents as a writer extended far beyond his fine stories about Solar Pons, and the August Derleth Society continues to honor his work. Membership costs $6.00 a year (checks to Herb Attix, 3333 Westview Lane, Madison, WI 53713) and includes a quarterly newsletter; the current issue (Feb. 1991) has Robert W. Hahn's reminiscences about his trip, with four other Chicago Sherlockians, to visit Derleth in Sauk City in 1966. For the film buffs: GEORGE FLOREY, THE FRENCH IMPRESSIONIST, by Brian Taves (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1987; 438 pp., $39.50), is a detailed study of one of Hollywood's great film-makers. Florey scripted the original version of "Frankenstein" and directed 65 features, including "Murders in the Rue Morgue", the Marx Brothers' "The Cocoanuts", and Reginald Owen's "A Study in Scarlet" (1933). Taves' discussion of "A Study in Scarlet" can also be found as an article in the spring 1989 issue of The Armchair Detective. Ron De Waal has sent a copy of the winter 1990 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, with a long article by Michael W. Homer on "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Spiritualism and 'New Religions'". The article covers Conan Doyle religious beliefs, his use of the Mormons in "A Study in Scarlet", and the Mormons' attitudes toward Conan Doyle when he visited Utah in 1923. $7.00 a copy, from the Dialogue Foundation, University Station (UMC 7805), Logan, UT 84322. The price of CD-ROM technology has begun to drop to relatively reasonable levels. For the non-computerized, that's "Compact Disc-Read Only Memory" (a compact disc holds as much information as 1,800 floppy disks, and the entire Oxford English Dictionary will fit on one compact disc). The early spring 1991 catalog from DAK Industries (8200 Remmet Avenue, Canoga Park, CA 91304) offers a BSR external CD-ROM drive (compatible with PC, XT, and AT computers) and six compact discs for $699. One of the compact discs is the "Library of the Future" (which includes THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES). Mar 91 #3 Michael Hardwick ("The Sign of the Four") died on March 6. He became a writer almost by accident (working as a film producer in New Zealand, he was commissioned to write a book about the Royal Visit when Queen Elizabeth visited New Zealand in 1954), and he went on to become a prolific author in many fields. His first Sherlockian work, written with his wife Mollie, was THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPANION (1962), and their later joint credits included many adaptations of the Canon for stage, radio, and television. He also wrote fine novel-length pastiches (PRISONER OF THE DEVIL, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DR. WATSON, SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE AND CRIMES, and THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND), and when he died he was working on his own Sherlockian memoirs for Gasogene Press. He was a fine raconteur, as many Sherlockians know from his American tours in 1980 and 1985, and he will be missed by his many friends and readers. Granada's new series of Sherlock Holmes programs made the newspapers in Britain, but the publicity wasn't quite what Granada expected. "Star's fury as TV Times bans Holmes photo" was the headline on one story, which reported that TV Times (the British equivalent of our TV Guide) had spent L10,000 shooting a cover photo for its Feb. 16 issue, and then killed the cover, which was to have shown Sherlock Holmes burning a letter, because (according to Jeremy Brett) "apparently the picture was too downbeat for the Gulf War." TV Times used instead a picture of newly-wed "Coronation Street" star Helen Worth and husband actor Michael Angelis. "I'm very disappointed," Brett said, "because I always said I'd play the part until I had been on the front cover of TV Times." British newspaper reviews of the new Jeremy Brett series, at hand from Jon Lellenberg, were generally favorable, though not as enthusiastic as for the earlier series. And an article in the Edinburgh Evening News reports that the new statue of Sherlock Holmes will be installed in Picardy Place in May (although the local branch of the Federation of Master Builders has so far raised only two-thirds of the estimated L45,000 cost); Prince Charles and Lady Diana have politely declined to unveil the statue, and the Federation is not optimistic about an invitation sent to the Queen Mother (they are also considering Sean Connery). Jon also reports SHERLOCK HOLMES: BOOK TWO (Newbury Park: Malibu Graphics, 1991; 132 pp., $17.95); this is a collection of the second five stories in Eternity's comic-book reprints of the 1954 comic strips by Edith Meiser and Frank Giacoia, edited by Tom Mason and with an Introduction by Jim Korkis and a Foreword by Martin Powell. Further to reports on the television film of "The Crucifer of Blood" (Oct 90 #5 and Nov 90 #3), Gary Westmoreland has heard from TNT that broadcast is now scheduled for Sept. 1991. The two-hour show stars Charlton Heston as Holmes and Richard Johnson as Watson. Fusion Video (17214 South Oak Park Avenue, Tinley Park, IL 60477) continues to offer 20 programs from the Jeremy Brett series on videocassettes ($19.98 each for the one-hour programs, and $39.98 each for the two longer shows), and "The Best of Sherlock Holmes" (the 30-minute cassette of excerpts from the series) at $9.98; shipping costs $4.50 per order, and their toll-free number is 800-338-7710. All the cassettes are packaged by MPI Home Video. Mar 91 #4 John Bellairs died on Mar. 8. He was the author of 15 fine children's books, including THE TREASURE OF ALPHEUS WINTERBORN (1978), a non-Sherlockian book that turned Sherlockian when it was adapted for television and broadcast in the "CBS Children's Mystery Theatre" in 1980. The television version starred Keith McConnell as Holmes and Laurie Main as Watson, and is available on videocassette (as "The Clue According to Sherlock Holmes") from Video Gems. Chaiky Halpern's children's books MIHU THE DETECTIVE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING CHAMATZ (Jerusalem: Feldheim Publishers, 1979) and MIHU THE DETEC- TIVE AND THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE BUDGIE (1987) each feature Mihu in S'ian costume, and Jack Kerr reports that both titles are still available from Philipp Feldheim Inc., 200 Airport Executive Park, Spring Valley, NY 10977 (800-237-7149); $2.95 each, and they take plastic. Jack also notes a sesquicentennial conference honoring "Victorian Punch" at the University of London on July 12-13. The list of speakers includes Richard D. Altick on the early days of the magazine, and Anthony Burton on Richard Doyle (ACD's uncle, who created Punch's famous cover). Additional information is available from Michael Slater, Dept. of English, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, England. Scott Bond (519 East Allen's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19119) offers his colorful new Moriarty one-inch lapel pin, for $11.00 postpaid. Scott's earlier matching pins, one with Holmes and the other with Watson, are also still available at the same price. Another plug for THE CONAN DOYLE STORIES, still available from Barnes & Noble (#1262336) at $9.95; this is the Galley Press reprint of the 1956 John Murray edition, with 76 fine examples of ACD's skills as a teller of tales (the stories are non-Sherlockian, except for the apocryphal "The Lost Special" and "The Man with the Watches"). Also available are: Russell Brown's SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MYSTERIOUS FRIEND OF OSCAR WILDE (#1680404) at $5.98; Ken Greenwald's THE LOST ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (#1609049) at $9.95; Peter Haining's THE ART OF MYSTERY & DETECTIVE STORIES (#1636893) at $7.95; Ronald Pearsall's SHERLOCK HOLMES INVESTIGATES THE MURDER IN EUSTON SQUARE (#1685817) at $7.95; William Neblett's SHERLOCK'S LOGIC (#1688233) at $7.95; and Michael Shepherd's SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF DR. FREUD (#1683051) at $3.98. Their address is 126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011; shipping is $4.00 per order, and they take plastic. One of the nice things about living on the east coast is that there was time to warn some west-coast Sherlockians to tape "Saturday Night Live" on NBC-TV on Mar. 23 (else we would just wait patiently for a repeat of the show). Jeremy Irons was the guest star, and appeared as Sherlock Holmes in one of the skits. And then won an Oscar on Mar. 25 for his performance as Claus von Bulow in "Reversal of Fortune". Noted in the spring 1991 catalog from What On Earth: "Brilliant Deduction" T-shirts ($12.95) and sweatshirts ($22.95) with a "Sherlock Holmes Tax Service" cartoon by Alan Hutchinson. Their address is 2451 Enterprise East Parkway, Twinsburg, OH 44087, and they take plastic. Mar 91 #5 Diana Rigg, in her introduction to "The Dark Angel" (the 1988 BBC-TV adaptation of Sheridan le Fanu's UNCLE SILAS, broadcast on "Mystery!" by PBS-TV on Mar. 20), stated that "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lifted the entire plot of 'Uncle Silas' for one of his own books." Diana Rigg was of course working from someone else's script. It would appear to have been M. R. James who first suggested in print, in his Introduction to the World's Classics edition of UNCLE SILAS (1926), that similarities of plot can be found in Conan Doyle's THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE. THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE, written in 1884-85 but not published until 1890, was the second novel written by Conan Doyle (THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH, lost in the mail on its first journey to a publisher, was the first), and Conan Doyle, in MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES, said of THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE that "save for occasional patches it is a worthless book, and, like the first book of everyone else, unless he is a great original genius, it was too reminiscent of the work of others." At the end of his career, in his "Preface to the Crowborough Edition" he wrote that THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE "stands for that crude and imitative stage through which an undeveloped writer may pass," but the book was included in the Crowborough Edition, and Conan Doyle suggested that "I find that it appeals strongly to a certain type of reader who tunes in to my own mind at that point." THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE is certainly a neglected book (although reprinted by Jack Tracy in 1980), and it is recommended to admirers of Conan Doyle who might wish to see how much or how little he actually owes to le Fanu. It should also be noted that UNCLE SILAS (1864) is not the only book by le Fanu of interest to Sherlockians: another is A LOST NAME (1868), discussed in letters to the Sherlock Holmes Journal by Cornelis Helling (spring 1960) and Sydney C. Roberts (winter 1960). A LOST NAME involves a man who plays the violin for inspiration when alone, who takes cocaine, and whose name is Carmel Sherlock. There are references to deer in three of the case (Reig, Abbe, and Wist), and our new stamp for the new postcard rate shows an attractive fawn. Andrew Jay Peck wonders about the fleeting view of Jay Ward and Bill Scott wearing deerstalkers in a photograph briefly shown in the PBS-TV special "Of Moose and Men" honoring Rocky and Bullwinkle. Does anyone know of a Sherlockian connection for the show, or for its creators? Sherlock Holmes has registered and entered the finals of the 1991 Fiddle Contest to be held in Shelburne, Ontario, on Aug. 10, according to George A. Vanderburgh. There will also be a Shelburne Fiddle Parade, with a float ("London: 1895") for visiting Sherlockians, and additional information is available from George at Box 204, Shelburne, Ont. L0N 1S0, Canada. A scholarly article by Marty Roth on "Sherlock Holmes and the Madness of Representation", in the summer 1990 issue of the North Dakota Quarterly, begins with a suggestion that Holmes is an "excessive figure" capable of generating "eagerness, study, adoration, fanatic clubs, and cult worship," and continues with an examination of various aspects of Holmes-as-hero. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202; $5.00. Mar 91 #6 SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS CONSULTING DETECTIVE: BROADCAST AND MOVIE LOG, by Gordon E. Kelley, is a checklist (36 pp.) of S'ian radio, records, television, and films, concentrating on adaptations of the Canonical tales but not ignoring the many pastiches in the long-running American radio series. Available for $10.00 postpaid from the author, at 8600 University Boulevard, Evansville, IN 47712. Arthur Liebman, author of THE BIOGRAPHICAL SHERLOCK HOLMES, will offer an "Evening with Sherlock Holmes" at the New School for Social Research in New York at 8:00 pm on May 3. The address is 66 West 12th Street, the cost is $10.00, and you can register for the evening by calling 212-741-5690. Andy Peck also reports that the Detective Book Club's three-in-one volume with Lloyd Biggle's THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE (Feb 87 #2) is offered at $7.99 plus shipping in a list received from Black's Readers Service, Box 404, Roslyn, NY 11576. This may be a members-only offer. THE HOLMESIAN FEDERATION #8 is a fine addition to the series launched by Signe Landon in 1978; the current issue offers 129 pages of pastiches, tributes, and artwork by old hands (Tina Rhea, Brad Keefauver, Stefanie Hawks, Robert F. Fleissner, and Dana Martin Batory) and new, and it is available for $6.00 postpaid from Signe Landon Danier, 3800 N.W. Van Buren, Corvallis, OR 97330. Mark Erdrich reports that Burbank Video has issued 18 cassettes, each with two of the 1954 television shows starring Ronald Howard, and that he has found the cassettes at a local K-Mart priced at $3.95 each. Further to the report (Feb 91 #3) on how high Canadian postal rates are, Don Redmond reports that Canadian post offices also charge a 7% sales tax on purchases up to $5.00. The tax is imposed on almost everything, and is called a Goods and Services Tax (GST, which many refer to as a Gouge and Screw Tax). Don also reports that many of his correspondents in the U.S. are overpaying postage. It may be a nuisance keeping a supply of different stamps on hand, but your local post office should have free charts showing the new domestic and international rates. A videotaper alert: Richard Wein reports that USA cable will show "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: My Dear Watson" on Apr. 5. As reported earlier, the best part of the show is the colorized introduction, which has Hitchcock himself, wearing a deerstalker and blowing bubbles from a calabash pipe. Also: "The Invisible Man" (1933) will be shown on American Movie Classics on Apr. 20; it has been reported that footage from the film (the Invisible Man moves a railway-switch lever) was used at the beginning of "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" (1942). AMC will also show "Super-Sleuth" (1937) on Apr. 11 and 26; the film has two bits of Sherlockian dialogue. The Family Channel will air "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" (1943) and "Terror by Night" (1946) on Apr. 6. And "Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" (1990) will be shown by HBO on Apr. 14, 16, 20, 25, and 26; one of the episodes in the film is an adaptation of Conan Doyle's "Lot No. 249". The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Apr 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Edward Hardwicke, on his 21st birthday, was presented with a bound volume inscribed by many of his father's friends. One of those friends, a famous author, offered some advice: "Don't go on the stage, Edward, you would only be Cedric Hardwicke's son at best." The author was George Bernard Shaw; those who admire Edward Hardwicke's portrayal of Dr. Watson in the Granada series will be glad that he did not heed that advice. Further to the query (Mar 91 #5) about the photograph in "Of Moose and Men" showing Jay Ward and Bill Scott wearing deerstalkers, Jerry Margolin asked Skip Craig, editor of the show and a close friend of Ward, and the answer was "Ward and Scott just liked to wear funny hats." But the old shows did have Sherlockian content, as do the newly-released Buena Vista Home Video cassettes ("The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle"). Rosemary Michaud reports that vol. 3 ("Vincent Van Moose") shows a S'ian figure trying to stop the Goof Gas Attack, and vol. 5 ("Le Grande Moose") shows Boris and Natasha dressed as Holmes and Watson, investigating the Box Top Robbery. Our current 21-cent definitive stamp honors Chester Carlson, one of the great benefactors of modern civilization. Even though he was not known to have been a Sherlockian, there are many of us who benefit from his genius, and it is a pity that very few people know who he was, and what he did. Denny Martin Flinn's SAN FRANCISCO KILLS (New York: Bantam Books, 1991; 200 pp., $3.95) begins a new series about Spencer Holmes, a private detective who lives colorfully and eccentrically in San Francisco, and who happens to be the grandson of Sherlock Holmes. The plot is derivative (although not from the Canon), and the style a bit labored. KILLER FINISH, the next in the series, is forecast for Aug. 1991. Further to earlier reports (May 90 #7 and Jun 90 #6) on plans to expand the Granada Studios Tour in Manchester, British newspaper articles, at hand from Jon Lellenberg, report that the L1.5-million expansion should be completed and open to visitors at Easter. One of the new features will be a Sherlock Holmes Museum of Criminology, assembled with the assistance of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society and The Northern Musgraves. Also at hand from Jon is John Russell's review of Granada's "The Problem of Thor Bridge" in the Sunday Express (Mar. 3, 1991), with Russell's complaint that Jeremy Brett's "eerie trance-like state did not change from beginning to end of the sort of preposterous production that must have had Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spinning in his grave." And a letter in the paper on Mar. 10, from Dame Jean Conan Doyle, responding to the suggestion about Sir Arthur: "I think he would have enjoyed both the acting and the production." And a British press report that the twelve stories in the recent BBC Radio 4 series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (with Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson) are now available on cassettes in the BBC's "Radio Collection". No details on prices or a source, but the cassettes may be available from the BBC World Information Centre and Shop, P.O. Box 76, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, England (they take plastic). Apr 91 #2 Carole Nelson Douglas' GOOD NIGHT, MR. HOLMES (Oct 90 #4) had three printings in hardcover, and will be published by Tor as a paperback in June ($4.99). A sequel, GOOD MORNING, IRENE, is due from Tor/ Tom Doherty in July (374 pp., $19.95), and offers a new adventure involving Irene Adler Norton, her husband, and Penelope Huxleigh in an entertaining mystery set in Paris and Monte Carlo. Sherlock Holmes appears, from time to time, but it is the adventurous Irene who solves the mystery. To whet your appetite, here's a quote from the jacket blurb: "On the sailor's chest is a tattoo--a tattoo reminiscent of one Irene saw years ago in London, on another sailor's chest, while the corpse lay upon Bram Stoker's dining room table..." Carole Nelson Douglas is a fugitive from Minnesota (where she was a reporter, feature writer, and editor with the St. Paul Pioneer Press), now living in Fort Worth (where it's warmer), and she has had 22 novels published since her first appeared in 1980. Her genres include science fiction and fantasy (for Del Rey and Tor) and romances (four 1990 romances from Bantam were narrated by Midnight Louie, an 18-pound black alleycat, who will feature in DEAD MATTER, a humorous mystery due next year). The silhouette is her own portrait of Irene Adler Norton, who will appear in at least two more novels now in progress. Jennie Paton reports that the Sherlock Holmes episode with the near-sighted Mr. Magoo as Dr. Watson (D6098b) is included in the Paramount videocassette "Mr. Magoo's Literary Classics" ($12.95); probably available at your local video store, but it's also offered by Movies Unlimited, 6736 Castor Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 91949 (800-523-0823). The same episode was issued a few years ago in another Paramount cassette ("Mister Magoo: Man of Mystery"). Jennie also reports that "Greater Than Sherlock Holmes" is included in the videocassette "Films of Stan Laurel Volume 1" ($24.95) offered by Facets Video, 1517 West Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614 (800-331-6197). This is a ten-minute comedy made by Pathe in 1925, with Laurel in Sherlockian costume, released in the U.S. as "The Sleuth" and in France as "Plus fort que Sherlock Holmes". Reported by Gary Thaden: PETER RABBIT PAPER DOLLS IN FULL COLOR, by Kathy Allert (New York: Dover, 1982 but still in print; $3.50); with one doll and 28 outfits, one of which is Sherlockian. Announced by the Opuscula Press: COLLECTING SHERLOCKIANA: AN ESSAY, by John Bennett Shaw, in a 16-page pamphlet with a frontispiece photograph showing the Sage of Santa Fe in his library. Available from the publisher (6307 Forrester Drive, Bradenton, FL 34202) for $5.50 postpaid ($7.00 outside the United States). John Aidiniantz is continuing his efforts to publicize his Sherlock Holmes Museum at 239 Baker Street. According to a recent Reuters dispatch, noted by Barbara Alder, Aidiniantz says that he has secretaries prepared to look up original train timetables for fans who thought Dr. Watson had caught a particular train." Reuters also quoted Erica Harper, who now answers the mail at Abbey National: "We have been replying to fans' letters since 1932 Apr 91 #3 Chester Carlson (Apr 91 #1) invented the photocopier. Anyone who doubts the value of this technology is too young to recall the distant days when purple hectograph masters were the only way one could publish newsletters at a reasonable cost. Graham Greene died on Apr. 3. He wrote a perceptive Introduction for the Murray/Cape edition of THE SIGN OF FOUR (1974), and, for the Spectator, warm reviews of Rathbone's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1939) and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1940), and he recommended Hesketh Pearson's biography CONAN DOYLE: HIS LIFE AND ART (1943), suggesting of Conan Doyle that "we see the large, sturdy, working shoulders, a face so commonplace that it has the effect of a time-worn sculpture representing some abstract quality like Kindness or Patience, but never, one would mistakenly have said, Imagination or Poetry." In his Foreword to Richard Lancelyn Green and John Michael Gibson's A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A. CONAN DOYLE (1983), Greene noted that he had recently reread "A Study in Scarlet" (in his own copy of Beeton's Christmas Annual), cited a few of the Canonical discrepancies, and suggested that "some of the charm of the story-teller lies in the errors, as though we were listening to someone improvising a story for our amuse- ment by our bedside." Travelers to Hyde Park for the Culinary Institute of America dinner on May 4 may also wish to attend the traditional (and recently confirmed) Pancake Breakfast at the Rhinebeck Firehouse on May 5. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave a series of lectures about spiritualism at Carnegie Hall in Apr. and May 1922 (filling the 3,500-seat house at each time). Our newest postal card honors the 100th anniversary of Carnegie Hall. Deer me, Mr. Blau. Deer me!" (as Prof. Moriarty almost said). There are two additional mentions of deer in the Canon (in Vall and Suss), not noted in the report (Mar 91 #5) on the new postage stamp, but carefully recorded by Hugh T. Harrington in HARRINGTON'S CANONICAL INDEX, available from The Village Bookshelf, Box 708, Massillon, OH 44648 ($22.00 postpaid). Trevor Hall died on Mar. 8. In his school-days he was taken to London by his father and introduced to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He was also taken to see Maskelyne's magic show, and Hall continued an interest in spiritualism and conjuring throughout his life, writing many books on both subjects. He also contributed to Sherlockian scholarship, with books such as SHERLOCK HOLMES: TEN LITERARY STUDIES (1969), THE LATE MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES & OTHER LITERARY STUDIES (1971), SHERLOCK HOLMES AND HIS CREATOR (1977), and his last book was THE LAST CASE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1986), a pastiche in which he used Sherlock Holmes to shed new light on the long-disputed haunting of Borley Rectory. Reported: THE NIGHT FANTASTIC, edited by Poul and Karen Anderson (New York: DAW Books, 1991; $4.50); an anthology of fantasy short stories, including Fritz Leiber's "Midnight by the Morphy Watch" (first published in Worlds of If, Aug. 1974), with a passage of imaginary Sherlockian dialogue. Apr 91 #4 Geo. Gately's "Heathcliff" has occasionally appeared in S'ian costume in Sunday and daily comic strips, and he has now been spotted by Jack Kerr in full rig on the cover (only) of HEATHCLIFF: THE CAT DETECTIVE (New York: Tor Books, 1991; $3.50). Charles Goren died on Apr. 3. A world-famous expert on bridge (he made the cover of Time), he started his widely-read newspaper column about the game in 1944 (and was joined by Omar Sharif as co-author in 1970); the column included occasional mentions of Sherlock Holmes. "Well, I quite my job so I could work all alone,/Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes." Those are two lines from the lyrics of a Bob Dylan song that was banned by the Columbia Broadcasting System from the Ed Sullivan show in 1963, and until now available only on bootleg albums. But times do change, and "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" (recorded live at Carnegie Hall on Oct. 26, 1963) has been issued by Columbia Records in a authorized collection called THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOLS. 1-3 (RARE AND UNRELEASED) 1961- 1991. The collection is available as a three-CD set (C3K-47382) at $44.99 and as a three-cassette set (C3T-47382) at $34.99 and on records. Sean O'Faolain died on Apr. 20. He was an Irish patriot and a member of the IRA in the 1920s, and then turned to writing, becoming world-famous for his short stories. In his essay "Good Night, Sweet Sherlock" (in the Jan. 1975 issue of Playboy) he suggested that "the magic of Sherlock Holmes has faded because crime has caught up with him," and that Holmes "was far too successful to remain persuasive in these all too crime-laden days." Reported by Jerry Margolin: a new souvenir sheet from the Commonwealth of Dominica that shows "Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson watching Brunigline train (built 1888) descending from the Brunig Pass towards Meiringen". It's part of a set showing trains (popular with topical collectors, as well as with small countries that need the money), and there's no need to consult your local stamp dealer (unless you want the complete set): our next issue will tell you how to obtain the souvenir sheet and the first day cover. Apr 91 #5 David Lean died on Apr. 16. He was a magnificent director (his best-known films are "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Dr. Zhivago" and "A Passage to India"), and his 16 films won 28 Academy Awards, including two Oscars for Lean himself. He was knighted in 1984, and received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1990. And he was happy to acknowledge his debt to Sherlock Holmes (and Eille Norwood): "at 17, I sneaked into my first cinema, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', and it had immediate magic for me." Robert C. Hess (559 Potters Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718) has a new sales list, with more than a hundred items of Sherlockiana: sculptures, china, artwork, dolls, theatrical postcards and programs and posters, and some books and magazines. An illustrated flier at hand from Schomberg Miniatures (52 Proctor Road, Schomberg, Ont. L0G 1T0, Canada) offering a set of figures (Sherlock Holmes and four of the Irregulars) sculpted by John Pryce and cast in pewter, with a walnut base (CA$195.00 plus $15.00 shipping to the U.S.). "There was excellent wild-duck shooting in the fens," Sherlock Holmes said (in "The Gloria Scott"). Robert Giusti's portrait of a wood duck appears on our new booklet stamps. The revised and enlarged edition of A CATALOGUE OF CRIME, by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor (New York: Harper & Row, 1989; 922 pp., $50.00), has been remaindered at $14.98 and at that price is value- for-money, both as a useful reference work to crime fiction and for the authors' often entertaining opinions on the thousands of items considered. THE ADVENTURE OF THE DOC-CROAKERS' DIRK is the latest round-robin pastiche written by members of The Pleasant Places of Florida (16 pp., and $4.00 postpaid from Ben Wood, Box 740, Ellenton, FL 34222). Local guidebooks are often enjoyable, especially when they include a bit of local history. WELCOME TO WOKING, edited by Ray Veasey and Peter Farr, is a fine example, devoting a page to Borough of Woking resident H. G. Wells (who reduced Woking to "a heap of fiery ruins" in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS) and mentioning in passing that "The Naval Treaty" also involves Woking (but not that Frank and Maude Crosse lived and loved in Woking in Conan Doyle's romantic novel A DUET: WITH AN OCCASIONAL CHORUS). Also in the borough is Brookwood Cemetery, opened by the Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company in 1854, and prominently featured in Basil Copper's NECROPOLIS (1980). The 104-page booklet is available from the Woking Borough Council, Gloucester Square, Woking, Surrey GU21 1YL, England; L1.50. Patti Nead Elrod's THE VAMPIRE FILES #4: ART IN THE BLOOD (New York: Ace Books, 1991; 195 pp., $3.95) is the latest in her series about Jack Fleming (vampire) and Charles Escott (private detective); the only Canonical echo in this volume is in the title (and the epigraph). THE VAMPIRE FILES #5: FIRE IN THE BLOOD is forecast for June 1991. Her artistic "Baker Street Ir-rag-ulars" (original soft sculptures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and special commissions) are still available: send a #10 SASE for additional information (4800 Kilpatrick Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76107). Apr 91 #6 Readers who are also baseball fans may recall the Sherlockian commercial that aired on CBS-TV at the end of the 1990 season, produced by Brouillard Communications for the American Gas Association and Lennox Gas Furnaces (with Patrick Horgan as Holmes and Sandy Marshall as Watson). The commercial will be broadcast again this year, during the American League and National League playoffs, and during the World Series. Mentions of the BSI in non- Sherlockian fiction aren't all that common, but Dean Clark has discovered a new one, in Allen Steele's science-fiction novel CLARKE COUNTY, SPACE (New York: Ace Books, 1990; $4.50). "A Birthday on Baker Street" and "A Day in the Life of Mr. Sherlock Holmes" are one-act comedies written in 1990 by Mohamad Bazzi, sparking-plug of The Young Sherlockians of New York. Both plays will be per- formed at the Central Library Auditorium at 89-11 Merrick Boulevard, Jamaica, N.Y., at 1:30 pm on Apr. 3 (admission is free). Further to Mark Erdrich's report (Mar 91 #6) that 36 of the 1954 television shows starring Ronald Howard have been issued on 18 cassettes (at $3.95 per cassette at his local K-Mart), the company named on the cassette sleeves is Video Classics and the name on the cassettes is Burbank Video. Cynthia Wein (65 Briarwood Lane, Plainview, NY 11803) offers a hand-painted 18x18" needlepoint canvas with a bold portrait of Sherlock Holmes in white, black, and red. The cost of the kit (canvas and yarn) is $58.00 postpaid, and if you would like to see a color photograph, send an SASE to Cynthia. Some of the Canadian HOLMES (Home Office Large Major Enquiry System) items (Jul 89 #2 and Sep 89 #4) are still available from Sgt. David A. Reinhardt (76 Lord Simcoe Drive, Bramalea, Ont. L6S 5G6, Canada): lapel pins ($4.00), mechanical pencils ($2.00), and neckties ($15.00). The necktie is in navy blue with the white HOLMES design (and a red maple leaf to show you're not advertising the British system). Prices are in U.S. dollars and postpaid. New comic books: BAKER STREET #7 (from Caliber, $2.50 and recommended for "mature audiences") continues "Children of the Night" (not Sherlockian but with allusions that include of Chief Inspector Lester Strand and a club called The Baskervilles) and TIMEWANKERS #3 (from Eros, $2.25 and for very mature audiences, since it's straight porno) has Jonathan Fegly in S'ian costume in Victorian London (but only on the cover). The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 May 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press FLASHMAN AND THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT, by George MacDonald Fraser (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991; 367 pp., $22.00), is an account the exploits of Lt. Harry Flashman in the Punjab in 1845 (too early for anything Sherlockian, but it's nice indeed to have another Flashman book after so long a wait). Fraser's "explanatory note" mentions Flashman's "brief excursion, as yet unpublished, to a brawl in Baker Street as far ahead as 1894, when he was in his seventy-second year." That story ("Flashman & the Tiger") has been published, actually, in installments in the [London] Daily Express, Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 1975, but has not yet appeared in a Flashman book. The Canon has many mentions of eagles, although none of them are described as being bald; our new commemorative honoring U.S. Savings Bonds shows a handsome bald eagle. Reported (in a British newspaper article received from Jon Lellenberg): SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE HENTZAU AFFAIR, a new pastiche by David Stuart Davies (Ian Henry, L9.95). A second pastiche (THE TANGLED SKEIN) is set for publication next year. SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT SHERLOCK HOLMES is a 30-page pamphlet offering two new pastiches written by Michael Senuta, and an analysis of the stories in THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Available from the author (881 Columbine Drive, Barberton, OH 44203) for $8.00 postpaid. Some tekkie-talk for computer-literate Sherlockians: DAK Industries (8200 Remmet Avenue, Canoga Park, CA 91304) is a marketer (not a manufacturer), and their summer 1991 catalog offers a Marstek Mars 105 hand-held scanner bundled with an OCR system, for $150. The OCR system will save a text scan as a Lotus, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or WordStar file, or as a plain ASCII file. Marstek claims an accuracy of 99.5%, but DAK suggests that 92% accuracy is more realistic, and that a spelling-checker be run on the file (which should be done in case). This is a real advance on old technology: only a few years ago a decent OCR machine cost thousands of dollars, with accuracy of about 80%. Ake Runnquist ("Jacob Shafter") died on Apr. 23 in Stockholm. He was for many years senior literary editor for Albert Bonniers Forlag, dealing with both Scandinavian and foreign literature, and carefully ensured that a fine Swedish translation of the Canon remained in print (a three-volume edition was reissued by Bonniers in 1985). His interest in the mystery field was also one of long standing (he and Jorgen Elgstrom collaborated on a SVENSK MORDBOK in 1957), and he was a devoted Sherlockian, attending meetings in Scandinavia and (when he could) in other countries, including the United States, where he received his Investiture at the annual dinner in 1981. A fine example of his warm and gentle humor will be found in his review of a Dublin production of Hugh Leonard's play "The Mask of Moriarty" in Baker Street Miscellanea (spring 1986). Noted in the summer 1991 catalog from What On Earth: a 10-inch "Sherlock Troll" doll ($29.95) as well as other older offers. Their address is 2451 Enterprise East Parkway, Twinsburg, OH 44087, and they take plastic. May 91 #2 Reported by Ely Liebow: READING(S), a freshman reader edited by Geoffrey and Judith Summerfield (New York: Random House, 1989), with excerpts from "A Study in Scarlet" and from Joseph Bell's introduction (retitled here as "How Conan Doyle Learned to Read"). The next "Canonical Convocation and Caper" is scheduled for Sept. 13-15 in Door County, Wis. The guest speakers will include Norman Davis, Elizabeth Kowols, and Alfred A. Levin, and there is much more on the agenda. Donald B. Izban (5334 Wrightwood Avenue, Chicago, IL 60639) will be happy to send more information on request. There wasn't enough warning to include a videotaper alert in the previous issue, but "Father Dowling Mysteries" on ABC-TV on Apr. 25 handled the appearance of Sherlock Holmes rather nicely. "The Consulting Detective Mystery" undoubtedly will be run again: according to the TV Guide listing, "Dowling (Tom Bosley) doubles his deductive powers while investigating a murder by consulting with his mentor Sherlock Holmes (Rupert Frazer), whom only he can see." The same problem arose with "Life Goes On" on ABC-TV on Apr. 28, when one of the sub-plots involved two of the kids in a Sherlockian investigation, and in Sherlockian costume. Watch for the repeat: TV Guide said, "Cork and Zoe play Sherlock Holmes and snoop into Tyler's furtive behavior." For those who missed the shows and don't want to wait for a repeat, "Father Dowling Mysteries" and "Life Goes On" are available on a VHS cassette from Jennie Paton's lending library. Another of her lending-library cassettes has the "Saturday Night Live" segment with Jeremy Irons as Sherlock Holmes (from Mar. 23) and other short items. The arrangement is a lending-library charge of $5.00 per cassette, and borrowers pay the return postage. Write to Jennie C. Paton, 206 Loblolly Lane, Statesboro, GA 30458. Maurice Binder died on Apr. 9 in London. He was a graphics arts designer, best known for his splendid title sequences for the James Bond films, but his designs can also be seen in the titles for "Indiscreet" (1958), "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), "The Grass Is Greener" (1960), and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970). Returning to "Father Dowling Mysteries", it was noted that Holmes drove a car during the program. Can anyone recall any earlier film or television show in which Holmes drove a car? The Apr. 1991 issue of The Devonshire Chronicle also at hand, with a nice reprint of the traditionally-sedate group photograph from the 1991 annual dinner of the BSI. It's published quarterly for The Chester Baskerville Society's quarterly and the cost is $4.00 a year, from Michael W. McClure (1415 Swanwick Street, Chester, IL 62233). DOCTOR WHO: THE SCRIPTS: THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG (London: Titan Books, 1989; 154 pp., L3.95), offers Robert Holmes' complete script for the most Sherlockian story in the "Doctor Who" television series, broadcast in 1977 (Tom Baker was in S'ian costume, battling giant rats in Victorian London), accompanied by some interesting background information by John McElroy. May 91 #3 Reported: GOJIRO, by Mark Jacobson (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991; $22.95); a novel about a 500-foot-tall lizard with human intelligence (and if you think you've heard of the lizard before, you have: the 1954 Japanese film "Gojiro" was retitled "Godzilla" for release in the U.S.). According to David Sacks (in the N.Y. Times Book Review), the book is "profoundly strange, often hilarious, but erratic," and seems to have a "submerged allusion" to "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon". Sherlockians (and others) who have long yearned to see the uncut three-hour version of Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) will welcome the news that Wilder was quoted in Liz Smith's syndicated column last month as saying that the film is to be restored, edited, and released in all its original glory (as has been done with "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Spartacus"). "Blood-curdling drama" was the phrase Nicholas Utechin used to describe a dramatization of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" performed by the Steeple Aston Players in Mar. 1982. And the three-act script, written by Anthony Hinds (the producer of Peter Cushing's 1959 film), is now available from the New Playwrights' Network (35 Sandringham Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 1QB, England) for L5.45 postpaid (sterling only, please). Videotaper alert: the 30-minute series "The Collectors" (produced by Oregon Public Television) will have a segment called "Great Characters" (about an imagined meeting of characters such as Mickey Mouse, Howdy Doody, the Star Wars crew, and Sherlock Holmes) that includes a short interview with Jerry Margolin. The program (broadcast in Oregon on Feb. 18) is syndicated, and will be broadcast on Maryland Public Television on June 16 (and repeated on June 22); the series is not networked, so you should check with your local stations for dates and times. "The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box" is the working title for what will be (eventually) a Hypertext edition of THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES: the text of the stories, with annotations from Baring-Gould's THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES, entries from Tracy's THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA SHERLOCKIANA, and anything else that might be appropriate. Hypertext is a computer program that is used to scroll through text, calling up annotations that appear in windows on the screen. A floppy-disk (MS-DOS) test version of "The Red Circle" (annotated from Baring-Gould) is available from George A. Vanderburgh, Box 204, Shelburne, Ont. L0N 1S0, Canada, for US$5.00 postpaid (make sure you specify whether your drive is 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch). The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have gone Sherlockian. Well, one of them, anyway. Jeff Huddleston's imaginative "Michaelange-Holmes" appears as the centerfold in the Apr. 1991 issue of Holmes for the Holidays, published for young mystery fans by Michael W. McClure (1415 Swanwick Street, Chester, IL 62233); $7.50 a year for five issues. Responding to a few queries: Northstar did publish CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES #20 (with a 1990 copyright date), with Dan and David Day's art illustrating "The Red-Headed League". #21 has not been seen or reported, and there have been unconfirmed reports that Northstar ended their comic-book series with #20. Northstar's address is 10829 South Western #2-C, Chicago, IL 60643. May 91 #4 The celebration of the "Reichenbach Centennial" at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park on May 4 was both delightful and delicious. There were six buffet alcoves in the Great Hall, honoring various countries and cuisines associated with the historic confrontation and its aftermath, and a seventh buffet table offered deserts for those who were still hungry. Al and Julie Rosenblatt and Fritz Sonnenschmidt did a magnificent job with the meal and with its accompaniments, which included a delightful display of Reichenbach artwork (one splendid item being Sidney Paget's original ink-and-wash drawing for one of the illustrations, loaned to the exhibition by Willy Werby). The evening's agenda also included toasts (traditional and untraditional), an award of the BSI's Queen Victoria Medal to Fritz Sonnenschmidt, and the announcement by Ev Herzog of four new memberships and (imaginatively ashy) investitures in the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes: John Bennett Shaw ("Arcadia"), Peter E. Blau ("Ship's"), Thomas L. Stix, Jr. ("Shag"), and the late William S. Baring-Gould ("The Blue Swirl of His Tobacco Smoke"). Tom Stix was awarded the formal (and ornate) regalia of the Sherlockian Order of the Garter, in recognition of his contributions to the cause, and Al and Julie Rosenblatt received a copy of Dec. 1893 issue of The Strand Magazine (with the first appearance in print of "The Final Problem"), and formal greetings were offered to the celebrants at the CIA by the Mayor of Meiringen (and the title of honorary citizen of Meiringen was awarded to Sherlock Holmes). Extra copies of the artistic 16-page menu are available for those who could not attend the festivities: $15.00 postpaid from Albert M. Rosenblatt, Box 221-B, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569. A plug for Mysteries by Mail (Box 679, Boonville, CA 95415): their catalogs offer a wide range of in-print (Sherlockian and other) books, video, and audio, and they have a toll-free number (800-722-0726). Syd Goldberg reports that one of his British correspondents reports that Granada is planning "Charles Augustus Milverton" as a two-hour special for Christmas, and may do other stories as well. And (according to a story in the Glasgow Daily Record on May 4, reported by Jon Lellenberg) Granada is not concerned about the need to pad out a short story to fill two hours. The Waterloo Sherlockian Letter is published occasionally by Chris Redmond, offering comment and commentary on whatever comes to Chris' inventive mind. He has no subscription department, but past and current issues (there have been five so far) are available: a dollar or two in U.S. currency will take care of the postage, and his address is 523 Westfield Drive, Waterloo, Ont. N2T 2E1, Canada. Canadians can send postage stamps, Chris advises, since Canada no longer has dollar bills. The new Sherlockian souvenir sheet from the Commonwealth of Dominica (Apr 91 #4) is now available from Ben Wood (Box 740, Ellenton, FL 34222). The souvenir (mint) costs $4.00 postpaid, and the first day cover costs $5.00 postpaid. I also recommend Ben's own irregular newsletter, The Bohemian Scandal Sheet, which is available from Ben on request and without charge. May 91 #5 The newly-expanded Granada Studios Tour is now open, with the Sherlock Holmes Museum of Criminology, a visit to the interior set of 221B, and a stroll along Baker Street (and on May 22 a celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday included a half-hour dramatization of the first meeting between Holmes and Watson, and a Sherlockian debate in Granada's version of the House of Commons). A nicely illustrated booklet describing the S'ian and other attractions is available from the Granada Studios Tour, Water Street, Manchester M60 9EA, England. Klondike Holmes appeared in advertising inserts on May 5, promoting a new "Crack the Klondike Caper" contest in which one of the prizes appears to be a Klondike bear in Sherlockian costume. Details are available on packages of Klondike ice-cream bars, or you can send an SASE to Klondike Caper Rules, Box 8600, Westport, CT 06888. The spring 1991 issue of Freedom Minnesota, reported by Gary Thaden, has a delightful full-page and full-color Sherlockian illustration by Brian Ajhar (for a non-S'ian article about cholesterol and fat). The publisher is the Physicians Health Plan of Minnesota (Communications Dept.), Box 1587, Minneapolis, MN 55440. The 25th issue of The Tonga Times (the newsletter of the Mini-Tonga Scion Society) at hand, with news of Sherlockian miniatures, including reprints of Dee Snyder's interesting articles in the program book for the July 1990 N.A.M.E. Houseparty and in the Dec. 1990 issue of Nutshell News. Send a #10 SASE to Dee Snyder, 8440 Nashua Drive, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418. And the Dec. 1990 issue of Nutshell News is desirable for the fine color photographs of Sherlockian houses and rooms accompanying Dee's article. The address is Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187 (800-446-5489), and the issue costs $3.50 (shipping extra). Plan ahead: the eleventh annual Sherlock Holmes/Conan Doyle Symposium at Wright State University in Dayton will be held on Mar. 13-15, 1992. The mailing list for the symposium is maintained by Alvin E. Rodin, 3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385. Ann Byerly has a new address: 2600 Tunlaw Road NW #1, Washington, DC 20007 (her telephone number has not changed). Jon Lellenberg reports that Prodigy (the on-line computer service) will run a Sherlockian game during July. "In London with Sherlock Holmes" will be sponsored by the National Geographic, with Holmes and Watson exploring the geography of London in "The Adventure of the Jubilee Diamond". Lenore Glen Offord ("The Old Russian Woman") died on Apr. 24. She wrote fine mystery novels in the 1930s and 1940s, and reviewed mysteries for the San Francisco Chronicle for more than 30 years. She was also an ardent Sherlockian, a member of The Scowrers and Mollie Maguires, and the first woman to receive an Investiture in the BSI (from Edgar W. Smith, in 1958); her poetic speculation on her Investiture (in six stanzas, and with eight footnotes) can be found in the anthology WEST BY ONE AND BY ONE (1965). May 91 #6 John Mortimer's "Summer's Lease" (on "Masterpiece Theatre" on PBS-TV) turned out to be more Sherlockian than predicted (Feb 91 #4). Those who did not watch the mini-series are urged to wait for the repeat: there is mystery and humor and fine acting, and the theme of "The Copper Beeches" is echoed in the mystery. The first episode also contains a bibliographic mystery: a long shot of Molly starting to read "The Copper Beeches" in a copy of the John Murray edition of THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is followed by a close-up of the first page of the story in the John Murray edition of SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES. And the cast included two actors who have played Holmes (John Gielgud and Michael Pennington), and one who has played Watson (Dennis Lill). Gielgud starred on radio in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1954), Pennington on television in "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (1987), and Lill on stage in the London production of "The Crucifer of Blood" (1979). "Autumn in Baker Street" will be held on Nov. 2-3 at the Tarrytown Hilton in Tarrytown, N.Y., according to an announcement sent by Bob Thomalen. The price is $145 per person (double occupancy) for meals, room, refreshments during the sessions, and an agenda that features Murray Cantor, Bob Hess, Susan Rice, Paul Singleton, Dante Torrese, Jean Upton, Delia Vargas, and Joanne Zahorsky. The hotel is taking reservations now (914-631-5700), and a copy of the announcement is available from Robert E. Thomalen at 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709. Startling Mystery Stories was launched in 1966 by Robert A. W. Lowndes, who published August Derleth's "The Adventure of the Tottenham Werewolf" in the spring 1967 issue, earning Lowndes his "Praed Street Penny" from Luther L. Norris, on which Lowndes reported in his column "The Cauldron" in the fall 1967 issue. Those who were wise enough to preserve this piece of Pontine ephemera in their collections will be pleased to learn that the fall 1967 issue is of interest for more than its editor's column: it also has a story called "The Glass Floor" (the first published work of Stephen King), and it is now priced at $750 in a catalog just received from Paul Merz (Sandpiper Books, Box 1273, Long Beach, WA 98631). Paul's catalog also includes some Sherlockian material (at reasonable prices). Forecast for 1992: TALES OF MEDICAL HUMANISM AND VALUES, by Alvin E. Rodin and Jack D. Key; this will be an annotated edition of ACD's ROUND THE RED LAMP, six additional medical short stores, and the text of an address to medical students in 1910. Their earlier MEDICAL CASEBOOK OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, a 506-page examination and discussion of his medical career and the medical aspects of his literary work, is still available from the Krieger Publishing Co., Box 9542, Melbourne, FL 32902 ($36.00 plus $4.00 shipping, and they take plastic). One of the nicest things about traveling in Britain is the wide variety of guidebooks available to the tourist (Sherlockian or otherwise), and a fine example is HIDDEN SUSSEX -- THE TOWNS, by Warden Swinfen and David Arscott (Brighton: BBC Radio Sussex, 1990; 158 pp., L4.95). The book provides an informed survey of the legends and history of towns such as Eastbourne, Horsham, Lewes, and Newhaven (all mentioned in the Canon), and Crowborough (with proper attention to its famous resident Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). May 91 #7 More news on the Harmony Gold television films with Christopher Lee and Patrick Macnee, which are now being syndicated by All American Television to independent stations in the U.S. "Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls" is open for broadcast as a four-hour special in a four-week window (Feb. 17 through Mar. 15, 1992), and will be followed by "Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady" (Apr. 20 through May 17). "Victoria Falls" also stars Jenny Seagrove (who played Mary Morstan in Granada's "The Sign of Four") as Lilly Langtry, and Claude Akins as Teddy Roosevelt. "The Leading Lady" (as reported earlier) also features Morgan Fairchild as Irene Adler, and Engelbert Humperdinck as Eberhardt Bohm. Three collections of Sherlockiana written by members of The Speckled Band of Boston are still available, from J. Devereux deGozzaldi, Graystone Farm, 79 Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748 (all prices postpaid): THE FOURTH CAB (1976) and THE BEST OF THE CABS (1980) in paper ($8.00 each), and THE FIFTH CAB (1988) in cloth ($40.00) and paper ($15.00). Also available are Mark Faverman's handsome full-color poster honoring the 50th anniversary of the Band in 1990 ($20.00) and the society's silk necktie in maroon or navy blue ($20.00 or two for $35.00). The Apr. 1987 issue of the Magazine Litteraire paid tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with 51 pages of articles and essays, many original, and with some reprint material translated into French. Gerald F. O'Hara now offers THE CONAN DOYLE FILE, with the original material translated into English, for US$10.00 postpaid; his address is 3912-115A Street, Edmonton, AB T6J 1R1, Canada. At hand from Paul Singleton is an article from the Sherlock Holmes Gazette about plans to renovate The Sherlock Holmes in Northumberland Street. Work will start in November, and Whitbread expects to spend L500,000 on a new facade and internal alterations that will provide a better viewing area for the recreation of the sitting-room. Landlord Dennis Hough notes that the pub is a favorite with foreign tourists (about 50% from Japan, 30% from the U.S., and 10% from Italy). Another article reports that the Ladbroke Group will spend more than L1 million refurbishing The Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street. The hotel's 126 bedroom are to be "themed and redesigned" in Victorian style. THE MISADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, edited by Sebastian Wolfe and first published in Britain in 1989, has been reprinted here (New York: Citadel Press, 1991; 249 pp., $16.95 cloth, $10.95 paper). The anthology reprints some of the better burlesques, parodies, and pastiches (only one of which is to be found in Ellery Queen's anthology, of which Wolfe was unaware when he chose the title for his book), and offers one new pastiche ("The Affair of the Midnight Midget", by Ardath Mayhar). M. J. Trow's LESTRADE AND THE GIFT OF THE PRINCE (London: Constable, 1991; 208 pp., L12.99) is the ninth in his series about Sholto Lestrade, who has been summoned to Scotland (where a Scotland Yard superintendent lacks any jurisdiction and gets little if any respect) for an investigation of crimes at Balmoral and Glamis. Trow thoroughly libels the Scots (he lives safely on the Isle of Wight, about as far as one can get from Scotland and still be in Britain), and as usual his book is packed with broad humor and puns. May 91 #8 Barney Gould, one of San Francisco's most famous press agents, died on May 8. He was an enthusiastic member of the Scowrers and Molly Maguires, and in 1982 wrote a play that used Holmes and Watson to expound Alden Brooks' hypothesis that Shakespeare's plays and sonnets were actually written by Sir Edward Dyer. The play was revised with the help of Peter Donat, and "Sherlock Holmes and the Shakespeare Solution" was staged in Barrie, Ont., in 1986, and in Sunnyvale, Calif., in 1989. Simon & Schuster Audio's THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES #12 is now in the stores, according to Jack Kerr, with the 1945 Rathbone/Bruce radio broadcasts of "The Problem of Thor Bridge" and "The Adventure of the Double Zero" (at this rate there will soon be new issues beyond the 14 cassettes in the subscription series from American Express). Jack also reports that MURDER TAKES A HOLIDAY (New York: Galley Books, 1991; $6.95 on the discount tables) includes "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" and Vincent Starrett's (non-Sherlockian) "Food for Sharks". Reported: SHERLOCK HOUND: DR. WATSON, I PRESUME? (a two-hour videocassette from Celebrity Home Entertainment at $29.99), with more animations from the amusing Japanese/Italian series. Ted Bergman's just-published SHERLOCK HOLMES I SVERIGE: EN BIBLIOGRAFI is a careful and detailed examination of Sherlockiana published in Sweden from 1891 to 1990. The 155-page bibliography includes a summary in English of Ted's introduction, and a glossary, and offers a splendid demonstration of the long-standing Swedish interest in the Canon and the Writings About the Writings. Copies are available for $12.00 (currency only, please) from Ted Bergman, Storkvagen 10, S-181 40 Lidingo, Sweden. Charles Goodman ("The Stockbroker's Clerk") died this spring. Charlie was Christopher Morley's dentist, a member of the Grillparzer Club in the early 1930s, and the last survivor of those present at the first annual dinner of the BSI in 1934. He contributed to our literature, with three long letters he had received from Sherlock Holmes' dentist, Charles A. Wilson (who noted his gratitude to Edgar W. Smith for an offer of honorary membership in the BSI). Charlie was a founder of The Diogenes Club of New York in 1944 (the club's Lantern of Diogenes Awards, for clarity of Sherlockian scholarship, were given to Christopher Morley, President Harry S. Truman, and others), and he received his Investiture in 1950 and his Two-Shilling Award in 1977. Howard Einbinder (180 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201) reports that many Sherlockian items (books, recordings, comics, and art) are still available from his collection; send a #10 SASE for a copy of his sales list. Reported: The Sherlock Holmes Gazette, a new quarterly edited by Elizabeth Wiggins and published by Theme Publications, 43 Bowleaze Coveway, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 6PL, England ($40.00 year, and they take plastic). Incidental intelligence: the U.S. Postal Service delivers a total of 166 billion letters, publications, and packages each year, including 52 billion pieces of third-class advertising (known as junk mail to its detractors). The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Jun 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press B. L. Reid's THE LIVES OF ROGER CASEMENT (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976), recently found on a discount table outside a local used-book shop, is a fine biography, and recommended to those who wish to know more (much more) about one of Conan Doyle's contemporaries. Casement and Conan Doyle worked with E. D. Morel in a campaign against atrocities in the Congo (see Conan Doyle's THE CRIME OF THE CONGO), and in June 1910 they dined and went to see a performance of "The Speckled Band". Conan Doyle wrote to Casement in Aug. 1910 about "a sort of wild boy's book" and asked him to send along "anything weird & strange" he had discovered in South America that might be suitable for the book. Casement visited Conan Doyle in 1912, a few months before "The Lost World" began running in The Strand Magazine. And in 1916, after Casement had been convicted and sentenced to death for treason, Conan Doyle circulated a petition urging (unsuccessfully) that Casement's life be spared. In 1936, Herbert Spencer Dickey, an American doctor who had known and traveled with Casement in Brazil in 1911, suggested that the infamous "Black Diaries" were a forgery perpetrated by the British government, based on an account of sexual perversions among South American natives, dictated by Dickey to Casement and sent by Casement to Conan Doyle. Our compliments to John Bennett Shaw, who was on display this spring in Albuquerque in the Jonson Gallery of the University of New Mexico's Art Museum, in an exhibit of "2,000 Years of Contemporary New Mexico Ceramics". The clay-and-mixed-media portrait is 20 inches high and was sculpted by Caryn Ostrowe-Wagner in 1985. The Scottish art market "appears to have recovered its nerve ahead of the rest of the world," according to an article in the May 4 issue of the [London] Independent, at hand from Jon Lellenberg. At Christie's sale of fine paintings and drawings at Edinburgh's Royal College of Physicians, one of the paintings was "Dancing Round the Moon" (described in the article as "a watercolor of fairies and demons, with the odd policeman and jockey thrown in"), by Charles Altamont Doyle (Sir Arthur's father). Estimated at L3,000 to L5,000, the painting made L9,350 at the auction. Cameron Hollyer wonders who it was who first used the word "Canon" to refer to *our* Sacred Writings. In SHERLOCK HOLMES: FACT OR FICTION? (1932), T. S. Blakeney refers (p. 40) to S. C. Roberts having refused to dogmatize on the "canonicity" of at least one story, and (p. 43) to one of the stor- ies being outside the limits of Ronald A. Knox's "canon". Was Blakeney the first use "Canon" (or "canon") in our context? Tom Stix has found that there are two variants of Edgar W. Smith's pamphlet THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME: PROLEGOMENA TO A MEMOIR OF PROFESSOR JAMES MORIARTY, SC. D. (D3582a). Julian Wolff's copy is #7, inscribed by Edgar on Mar. 16, 1953, and has on the front cover only the title THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME. The other variant has the full title on the cover, and several copies are known inscribed by Edgar on Mar. 9, 1953, and with higher numbers (but none lower than #15). If you have a copy numbered lower than #15, please let Tom know the details (his address is 34 Pierson Avenue, Norwood, NJ 07648). Jun 91 #2 Angus Wilson died on May 31. He wrote fiction, biography, and literary criticism, and was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1958 (and served as its president from 1982 to 1988). He received a C.B.E. in 1968, and a knighthood in 1980, and his enthusiasm for the Canon is well demonstrated in his Introduction for the 1974 Murray/Cape edition of THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. John Mortimer's "Summer's Lease" on "Masterpiece Theatre" (May 91 #6) had no Sherlockian allusions in the third and fourth episodes, but was a fine program nevertheless. There are Canonical references in the book, which is available as a tie-in trade paperback (New York: Penguin Books, 1991; 288 pp., $8.95); it was first published in Britain and the U.S. in 1988, and a signed edition was published by the Franklin Library. Spotted by Mary Lellenberg: three thoroughly Sherlockian candlesticks in the summer 1991 issue of Design for Living, the mail-order catalog issued by Bloomingdale's (475 Knotter Drive, Cheshire, CT 06410). The can- dlesticks are about 13 inches high, and are named (by Bloomingdale's) Lou, Jimmy, and Mike (left to right). They cost $14.00 each (plus shipping) and Bloomingdale's toll-free number is 800-777-0000 (they take plastic). The spring 1991 issue of The Compleat Smoker has Alan Smith's long feature article "A Three-Pipe Problem: Pipes, Tobaccos and Sherlock Holmes" (with some nice color illustrations), an original color cover with a Sherlockian theme, and an advertisement (p. 40) for a lithograph portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Warren Prindle. $6.25 postpaid (Box 7036, Evanston, IL 60201), and a subscription (four issues) costs $17.50. Adapting the printed page for film or television is a fascinating process, and published scripts offer a fine opportunity to see how it's done. One such opportunity is Jeremy Paul's excellent 50-page script for Granada's "The Problem of Thor Bridge" (typeset, illustrated, and now available for $11.50 postpaid from Ian Henry Publications, 20 Park Drive, Romford, Essex RM1 4LH, England). Daniel Massey, who plays J. Neil Gibson, was recently seen on "Mystery!" in "Inspector Morse: Deceived by Flight" as the murderer cricketer Anthony Donn. According to the latest (spring 1991) issue of Anglofile, the fall season for "Mystery!" has not been confirmed by WGBH-TV, but it is likely to start with a six-part adaptation of P. D. James' "Devices and Desires", with "The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes" next (but it is also possible that only five programs will air this fall, with the sixth held back as a special during a later pledge drive). "Over My Dead Body!" is a new electronic bulletin board for mystery fans (general, not just Sherlockian). The phone number is 415-893-6707 (N-8-1) and the sysop is Cheri Jung, 1843 Seventh Avenue, Oakland, CA 94606. Jun 91 #3 Coral Browne died on May 29. She was a fine British actress (best known to American audiences as Vera Charles in the film "Auntie Mame"), and in 1974 she married Vincent Price, who arranged for her photograph to appear in a picture frame in a Baker Street set, "identified as none other than Irene Adler, always 'the woman' for Sherlock Holmes." The set was the one used in Boston for her husband's introductions to the Granada television series when it was broadcast on "Mystery!" Further to the report (May 91 #5) on "In London with Sherlock Holmes" (the game that will run on-line on Prodigy during July), Jack Tracy, who worked as a consultant on the project, reports that after July the game will still be available in the National Geographic archives on Prodigy. There appears to be no way to download the game to a disk. Jack also reports that progress is being made on planning for CALABASH (an acronym for Canonical Analysis and Logical Arrangement of Baring-Gould's Annotated Sherlock Holmes). This will be a thorough revision of the 1967 book, and will be published on a CD-ROM disc, with Jack as editor-in-chief. Assistance is needed from people who would like to serve as supervising editors and research editors, and volunteers are invited to call Jack at 800-243-1895. Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, celebrating its 50th anniversary, has been honoring some of its favorite contributors, and the Aug. 1991 issue of EQMM is dedicated to Robert L. Fish, with reprints of two of his stories, one of which is "The Adventure of the Perforated Ulster" (D5779a). David Kirby died on June 3. He was the proprietor of Rupert Books, and in the 1980s issued a series of fine Sherlockian catalogs. He also published a set of cards and prints with David Cory's S'ian color artwork, and in 1987 the splendid facsimile of Beeton's Christmas Annual prepared by John Michael Gibson. "Professor Presbury's Required Reading" is a 12-page list of Sherlockiana (new and used, and including much comic-book material) available from Tim O'Connor (R.R. 1, Box 138-B, Herscher, IL 60941). Richard Lackritz reports a source for Inverness capes: Texas Body Hangings, 1719 East Main, Nacogdoches, TX 75961. $225 to $410 depending on size, and they will be happy to send you a catalog. Sylvia Porter died on June 5. She began writing a financial column for the N.Y. Post in 1935, and in syndication her column eventually was carried by 450 newspapers with 40 million readers. She was also a devoted Sherlockian and a friend of Thomas L. Stix, Sr., who accompanied her, in a horse-drawn carriage, to the BSI's pre-prandial cocktail party in 1957 and toasted her as *The* Woman. Gerald Laing's bronze statue of Sherlock Holmes was scheduled for unveiling in Edinburgh in mid-June. According to the Times (May 2), Sherlock Holmes Museum director John Aidiniantz believes London would far more appropriate, and was disappointed by the Royal Fine Art Commission rejected his proposal for a L29,000 statue at the Baker Street underground station. Jun 91 #4 Troy Taylor, who presides over Ferguson's Vampires, and edits and publishes their periodicals The Peruvian Bird-Bow and The Poisoned Arrow, is also a skillful artist. His illustrated flier, just at hand, welcomes commissions for Sherlockian artwork for journals, books, and society logos, and his address is 436 West William #5, Decatur, IL 62522. Switzerland was not the only venue for a reenactment of the fateful battle at the Reichenbach, although there were many more onlookers at Meiringen than there were at the Katoomba Cascades, where fifty people gathered for a weekend with the Sherlock Holmes Society of Sydney at the Fairmont Resort in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Richard Wein has sent a list of audiocassettes available from BBC World Service Mail Order (room LG26 NE), Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, England. Each volume contains two cassettes and costs L6.17 (plus 40% for shipping to the U.S.), and they take plastic. The volume titles are: "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (Clive Merrison and Michael Williams): vol. 1 (Scan/RedH/Iden/Bosc), vol. 2 (Five/Twis/Blue/Spec), vol. 3 (Engr/Nobl/ Bery/Copp). "Sherlock Holmes" (Carlton Hobbs and Norman Shelley): vol. 1 (Scan/RedH/Chas/Spec), vol. 2 (Blue/Silv/Fina/Empt), vol. 3 (Musg/Blac/ Bruc/Danc). The BBC has many other non-Sherlockian titles on its list. Also at hand from Richard Wein is a catalog from Dark House (R.R. 1, Box 140-A, Theilman, MN 55978) offering T-shirts, sweatshirts, greeting cards, tote bags, and buttons with designs that include Sherlock- iana (items M-05, S-01 through S-03, and Z-01-4). The Arts & Entertainment cable channel has purchased rebroadcast rights to the Granada series. "Sherlock Holmes Mysteries" will air weekly beginning on Sept. 30. "Ignite a candle in Bohemia," suggests Sherlockian sculptress Selma Kamil, who offers the Grand Duke and *The* Woman as a pair of ceramic candle holders (five inches high) for $100 (painted and glazed) or $75 (unpainted), plus $5 for shipping. An illustrated flier is available from Selma (32 Overlook Avenue, Cliffside Park, NJ 07010). Jun 91 #5 Welcome news for those who have been searching for copies of THE INTERNATIONAL ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (Apr 90 #1 and May 90 #3): copies are available for $32.50 from William Berner, 4712 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. The book was edited by John Bennett Shaw, Tsukasa Kobayashi, and Akane Higashiyama, and is a delightful demonstration of how much fun artists in many countries have had illustrating the Canon over the years and in a variety of styles: there are 742 illustrations (and 59 photographs from the Granada series), with captions in both Japanese and English, and there's very little collateral text in Japanese only. Admirers of Christopher Morley's work will welcome the news that the 1940 film "Kitty Foyle" (with Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan) is available on videocassette, from Movies Unlimited, 6736 Castor Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19149 (800-523-0823); $19.99. Movies Unlimited also offers "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers: Super Sleuths" ($12.99) with "Pound of the Baskervilles" (a Sherlockian animation first broadcast in 1989). Kenneth Ludwig's two-act play "Dramatic License" (about William Gillette) premiered in Milford, N.H., in July 1983 (with Patrick Horgan as Gillette), and it was also produced in Cleveland in 1985. Now titled "Postmortem", it is scheduled at the Leeds Theatre at Brown University in Providence, R.I., on July 9-13 and 16-20, and it is recommended to those who are or might be in the area. The Theatre Department's telephone number is 401-863-3283. And travelers to New Mexico may wish to attend a workshop and conference on "Sherlock Holmes: Alive and Well in the Hearts of Readers Everywhere!" at Santa Fe Community College on July 25-26, 1991. The list of speakers includes many local Sherlockians (Shaw, Cohen, Dinegar, Dunning, Farrell, Miller, and Stanton), and the College's telephone number is 505-438-1251. EDGAR W. SMITH'S SHERLOCKIAN DIRECTORIES is a Hypercard computer version of his APPOINTMENT IN BAKER STREET (1938) and BAKER STREET AND BEYOND (1940), prepared by Bob Gellerstedt and offered for $5.00 postpaid on a single 800K disk (you will need Macintosh system 6.0.7 and Hypercard 2.0). A 50-page print-out is also available for $12.00 postpaid, from Bob Gellerstedt, 1035 Wedgewood Drive, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Further to the query (May 91 #2) on Sherlock Holmes driving cars, Steve and Katlin Hecox and Jennie Paton have remembered that he drove across Arizona on television in "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (1987), and that Sherlock Hound is often seen driving in the Japanese/Italian animations. The Baker Street Bar Association will hold its inaugural dinner during the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in Atlanta in August. For details on the dinner, and on the new professional society, contact David R. McCallister, 2804 Quail Hollow Boulevard, Wesley Chapel, FL 33544. Patrick Campbell reports that the celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday on May 22, at the Granada Studios Tour, was thoroughly enjoyable. The agenda included tours of the sets and the new Museum of Criminology, a performance of David Stuart Davies' play "Fixed Point: The Life and Death of Sherlock Holmes", champagne and an appropriately decorated cake, and a non-Sherlockian debate in Granada's version of the House of Commons. Jun 91 #6 Wiliamsburg in late spring is pleasantly warm (compared to the heat wave that many remembered from the last workshop there in July 1987), and Ray Betzner and The Cremona Fiddlers did a fine job this month with this year's version. There were more than a hundred people on hand for the festivities, which featured a nice range of Sherlockian and Doylean presentations, an opportunity to see the 1957 "Odyssey" television program about the Baker Street Irregulars and a promotional video for the Harmony Gold mini-series starring Christopher Lee and Patrick Macnee, and a radio-theater presentation of "The Maltese Carbuncle" (written by Ray and performed by The Cremona Fiddlers Players of the Air). And one of the more interesting T-shirts at the workshop was worn by Ron Fish, who may be the only Sherlockian winner of one of the "Sherlock Bones" T-shirt offered as prizes by Milk-Bone Flavor Snacks last year (Mar 90 #4). The London Zoo may close in September, according to an article in the May 19 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer, at hand from Syd Goldberg. The Zoo is run by the Zoological Society of London (and has been since its founding in 1828) and claims to be the oldest and most famous zoo in the world, and has now asked for $21 million from the British government to keep the Zoo open. And it was known to Sherlock Holmes, who asked (in "Charles Augustus Milverton"): "Do you feel a creeping, shrinking sensation, Watson, when you stand before the serpents in the Zoo?" Deen and Jay Kogan, who chaired Bouchercon in 1989, have announced a book fair and convention in Philadelphia on Nov. 8-10. The agenda will include panels, workshops, signings, and a dealer's room, and registration costs $30.00. Details are available from the Mid Atlantic Mystery Book Fair and Convention, c/o Detecto Mysterioso Books at Society Hill Playhouse, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147. It's not Sherlockian, but "Northern Exposure" is one of the best series now to be seen (in re-runs) on television. It's on CBS-TV on Mondays at 10:00 pm, and the premise is that it's pay-back time for a young Jewish doctor from Flushing whose medical education has been funded by a grant from the Alaskan state government. Expecting to be working in a modern hospital and living in a condo in Anchorage, he finds himself the only doctor in Cicely, a community so small it hardly qualifies as a town, and he has considerable trouble dealing with the culture shock. The series has excellent stories and fine characters, and is thoroughly enjoyable. While there seems to be no end to the unrecorded cases of Sherlock Holmes that find their way into print, there have been few attempts to extend the sagas of George Edward Challenger or Etienne Gerard. Nicholas Nye's RETURN TO THE LOST WORLD brings Challenger, Roxton, Summerlee, and Malone back to the Lost World in 1912, in a story that is quite faithful to the humor and style of the characters created by Conan Doyle. Their new discoveries on the plateau extend farther into fantasy than he did in THE LOST WORLD, and the story ends with some blunt moralizing that may seem out-of-place in a simple tale of adventure. RETURN TO THE LOST WORLD (256 pp.) costs L16.45 postpaid (sterling only, please) from Images, Lloyds Bank Chambers, 18 High Street, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcs. WR8 0HD, England. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Jul 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Canonical chronology is surely one of the more arcane areas of Sherlockian scholarship (and one of the earliest to be explored by those attempting to reconcile and rearrange the Sacred Writings). Almanacs, weather reports, astronomy, and even astrology have been employed to support or rebut a wide range of dates for most of the stories, and still there is little agreement among those who want an answer to the question, "What was the date?" Henry T. Folsom (a Scandalous Bohemian, and Horror Master of the Cornish Horrors) first published THROUGH THE YEARS AT BAKER STREET in 1962, revised it for a second edition in 1964, and now offers a third (and again revised) edition in an 80-page monograph that provides a fine demonstration of how much fun and frustration are involved in deducing correct dates. The cost is $25.00 postpaid from the Henry T. Folsom, R.R. #1, Box 1413, Randolph, NH 03570. Further to the query (Jun 91 #5) about Sherlock Holmes driving automobiles, Jennie Paton suggests a follow-up: which films or television program show Sherlock Holmes riding a horse? Reported by Jon Lellenberg from the arch-conservative Washington Times: a mention of "Ted Turner, the media Moriarty whose dark one-worldist plots send shivers down the spines of those who still have them." Turner will address a meeting of the Conservative Leadership Conference in Washington in November; the invitation was issued by Reed Irvine, who noted that Ted Turner's only question was, "Can I bring Jane?" Also at hand from Jon are articles in the British press on May 13 about the possibility that the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary may be closed. The Royal is Scotland's largest teaching hospital and its former students include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. "Labour seized on the disclosure -- so far unconfirmed -- as evidence of underfunding and accused Scottish health minister Michael Forsyth of presiding over the 'destruction' of the NHS. Mr. Forsyth fired off an immediate statement indicating he may veto the plan." And a press report that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, fresh from the success of their second "Jeeves and Wooster" series, are planning a Sherlock Holmes series, with Fry as Holmes and Laurie as Watson. Their first "Jeeves and Wooster" series has already aired on PBS (with Fry as Jeeves and Laurie as Wooster). They have also performed in various roles in the British series "Black Adder" (on some PBS stations), and they can be seen in "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" (on Saturdays on the Bravo cable channel). Syd Goldberg spotted another passing reference, by William Safire in the N.Y. Times (July 11): "The Professor Moriarty of finance is a Pakistani named Agha Hasan Abedi" (one of the people responsible for the financial shenanigans at the Bank of Credit and Commerce Insternational). Roger Johnson reports that the Federation of Master Builders in Edinburgh (who are paying for the statue of Sherlock Holmes in Picardy Place, where Conan Doyle was born) are offering commemorative medallions (two inches in diameter, modeled in high relief with a polished gilt finish) for L50 each. Checks can be sent to the Federation of Master Builders (Medal Sales), c/o Ian Baird, 206 Ferry Road, Edinburgh EH6 4QZ, United Kingdom. Jul 91 #2 Sleuth & Statesman, the newsletter launched by Winston & Holmes last year (Apr 90 #4), is now a mail-order catalog that offers "smoker's requisites and gentlemen's accessories" and occasional comment on Winston Churchill and Sherlock Holmes. The gentlemen's accessories include Parker Pens, and the accompanying note ("Myth in the Making") suggests that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his popular mysteries with a Parker pen in the late 1800s. Not quite: the first advertisement by Parker that used Conan Doyle's praise for the Parker Duofold ("I have at last met my affinity in pens") was published in 1931 (and used again in advertisements that ran in magazines in 1989), and Conan Doyle's letter was written from Bignell Wood (the country house that he bought in 1925). Another note suggests that it was William Gillette who first portrayed Sherlock Holmes with a calabash; Gillette did use a curved wooden pipe, but no one has reported any evidence that he used a calabash. The catalog is available from Winston & Holmes at 138 Cumberland Street, Toronto, Ont. M5R 1A6, Canada. If you enjoy spoken-word audiocassettes, there are plenty to choose from: more than 900 companies and more than 44,500 titles are listed in the 1991 edition of R. R. Bowker's comprehensive catalog ON CASSETTE, according to an item in the N.Y. Times Book Review. Bowker's first edition, published in 1985, listed only 11,500 titles. Cathy Childs (Sherlock & Co., 11335 Little Patuxent Parkway #433, Columbia, MD 21044) will happily accept commissions for her original Sherlockian (and Watsonian) artwork. Another plug for the discount-book catalogs from Edward R. Hamilton (Falls Village, CT 06031): his new catalog offers Michael Hardwick's THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND (item 364614) for $4.95, and Isaac Asimov's SHERLOCK HOLMES THROUGH TIME AND SPACE (item 879452) for $3.95. Walt Disney's Goofy Adventures #16 (Sept. 1991 cover date) has a long story ("Sheerluck Goof and the Giggling Ghost of Nottenny Moor") about Sheerluck Goof (Goofy), Dr. Whatsup (Mickey), Chief Inspector Laquacke (Donald), Mrs. Cluckson, and the evil Doctor Mororlessity. Add two Rathbone films to the list of occasions on which Sherlock Holmes can be seen driving an automobile: Hugh Harrington notes that Holmes drives a car while making his getaway from the Nazis in "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" (1943). And Lawrence Nepodahl reports that Holmes is at the wheel when he and Watson rendezvous with the Prime Minister of Rovenia in "Pursuit to Algiers" (1954). An illustrated sales list of Sherlockiana (bookmarks, sweatshirts, aprons, buttons, mugs, bookbags, and personalized bookplates) is available from the Dore Collection (1123 Emerson Street #208, Evanston, IL 60201). Pixar and Disney have announced a joint venture to produce and distribute one computer-animated feature-length film a year. You have seen Pixar's work: known then as the Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Division, they designed and animated the "stained-glass knight" in "Young Sherlock Holmes" (1985). Jul 91 #3 Sherlockian touring continues to become more expensive: press reports from London note that St. Paul's Cathedral now requires (rather than asks) visitors to pay an admission charge (but not on Sunday). Mentions of St. Paul's can be found in "The Sign of the Four" and "The Red-Headed League" and in the old and time-honored phrase "robbing Peter to pay Paul" (which dates from the late 16th century, when many of the estates of St. Peter's Cathedral were appropriated to pay for repairs to St. Paul's Cathedral). St. Peter's is mentioned in the Canon, too. In which story? The answer to this question will be given in next month's issue. Discovered by Tim O'Connor: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES in a hard-bound comic-strip adaptation by Marion Kimberly (New York: Gallery Books, 1991; 30 pp., $4.98). This is not a reprint of the old Classic Comics/Classics Illustrated version. Jennie Paton reports THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (New York: Gallery Books, 1987; 96 pp.): an attractive large-format book with artwork from the film (in the "Disney Classic Series"), sold by Waldenbooks and B. Dalton (and presumably other stores) for $6.95. Sorry about that: the correct toll-free number for Bloomingdale's (Jun 91 #2) is 800-777-0000. For those who aren't aware of the service, you can call 800-555-1212 to get the directory service for toll-free numbers. Sherry Rose Bond reports another item that may be of interest to admirers of dancing men: an Italian lamp called the "spider lamp" with four flexible eleven- inch legs (and suction cups at the ends of the legs). The spider lamp is available in red, white, or black, at $40.00 each (plus shipping), and it's item 1065 in the catalog from Flex Art and Design, Box 7216, San Francisco, CA 94120 (800-547-7778); they take plastic. Reported: ROUND THE FIRE STORIES (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991; $9.95) in a trade paperback similar to Chronicle's earlier two volumes with the Professor Challenger stories. The new collection has the apocryphal cases "The Man with the Watches" and "The Lost Special". Jay Pearsall is moving his mystery bookshop Murder Ink to a new location: 2486 Broadway, New York, NY 10025 (between 92nd and 93rd Streets). And his summer 1991 catalog includes an interview with Elizabeth George, who notes her debt to Conan Doyle. C. Bryan Gassner, who presides over The Shadows of the Elm at the Arroyo del Oso Elementary School in Albuquerque, N.M., assisted her students in presenting half-hour adaptations of "The Speckled Band" (in 1990) and "The Norwood Builder" (in 1991). The plays were nicely done, and are available on videocassettes ($7.50 each or $12.00 for both shows on one cassette, postpaid), with "The Norwood Bloopers" (an assembly of out-takes from both shows) available on request on any cassette at no additional charge. Mrs. Gassner's address is 922 Washington Street SE, Albuquerque, NM 87108). Jul 91 #4 Further to the report (Jun 91 #3) on "In London with Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Jubilee Diamonds" (the interactive computer game that is now available on Prodigy), the game offers attractive graphics, interesting facts about London, and a fairly elementary mystery to solve. Prodigy is an advertiser-supported on-line service (subscribers pay $12.95 a month, and there are no other charges). Further to the report on Anthony Hinds (May 91 #3), he has a Sherlockian credit in addition to producing the film "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1959) and writing the play "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1982). Roger Johnson notes that Hinds (using the pseudonym "John Elder") supplied the story for N. J. Crisp's screenplay for the television program "The Masks of Death" (1984). "John Elder" was Hammer's most prolific scriptwriter, and Michael Carreras (executive producer of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" for Hammer) occasionally used the pseudonym "Henry Younger". Occasional queries about how one can conveniently order in-print books from Britain suggest that it's time for a repeat explanation. Two companies can supply just about anything in print, and they offer two ways to pay without incurring bank surcharges: you can open an account and pay with a check in your own currency (sent to a bank in your country), or you can authorize a charge against a credit card such as Visa or Mastercard. They are W. & G. Foyle (119-125 Charing Cross Road, London W.C.2, England) and Blackwell's (Broad Street, Oxford, Oxon. OX1 3BQ, England). Further to the report (Jun 91 #6) on the London Zoo's financial problems, a later dispatch at hand from Syd Goldberg states that the Zoological Society of London has decided to postpone the closing of the zoo until Sept. 1992, in hopes that funding can be found for a planned conversion of the zoo into a wildlife conservation and education center. The Sherlock Holmes Gazette is a new quarterly, launched by Andrew Archer (who has been in business for more than 20 years on Park Road, at the top end of Baker Street) and edited by Elizabeth Wiggins. The first issue has 24 pages and is well produced, with articles on the Swiss pilgrimage, the Granada Studios Tour, and the Langham Hotel, an interview with Michael Cox on the Granada series, and much more. According to a report in the British press, the first issue had a print run of 25,000 copies, and copies will be sold at hotels, pubs, and other tourist outlets in London. The next issue is scheduled for Aug. 1, with 32 pages, and an annual subscription costs L12.50 a year in Britain (or L18.00 outside the U.K.); checks should be payable to Theme Publications (they also take plastic), and the address is 43 Bowleaze Coveway, Preston, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 6PL, England. Note: the L18.00 rate is lower than announced in their first flier, and is available to those who make (or have already made) payment with sterling checks or by credit card. Others have noted occasional Sherlockian allusions in the writings of John le Carre. Owen Dudley Edwards, in essay in THE QUEST FOR LE CARRE, edited by Alan Bold (London: Vision Press, 1988), offers a possible explanation, from an interview in the Observer (Feb. 3, 1980): le Carre was asked about the "writers who mean the most to you," and responded, "P. G. Wodehouse for rhythm and timing, Conan Doyle for thrust and instant atmosphere." Jul 91 #5 By way of rebuttal to those who suggest that it's all been done before, one can point with enjoyment to Joseph Fink's "not-so- trifling monograph" on the sainted Albert of Bollstadt, in the summer 1991 issue of The Serpentine Muse, published by The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes (Evelyn A. Herzog, 235 West 15th Street #4-B, New York, NY 10011; $6.00 for four issues). And to Rosemary M. Michaud's explorations of the consequences of the rheumatism that afflicted Sherlock Holmes, in the May 1991 issue of Wheelwrightings (Robert C. Burr, 4010 Devon Lane, Peoria, IL 61614; $20.00 a year for three issues of Wheelwrighting and twelve issues of Plugs & Dottles). Eleanor Sullivan died on July 12. It was a classified advertisement in the N.Y. Times that brought her to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine as managing editor in 1970, and she became editor of the magazine after Fred Dannay's death in 1982. She once suggested that Fred Dannay hired her because, when he asked, "How good are you at taking instruction?" she answered, "I went to parochial school." She learned her new job quickly, and she was a fine editor, offering friendship and expertise and helpful advice to hundreds of authors. She also continued Fred's interest in and generosity to the BSI, and was honored as *The* Woman in 1990. The best things in life are no longer free: according to a report from the Federal Communications Commission, there were 761,849,947 interstate calls for directory assistance in 1990. At 60 cents per call (that's what AT&T charges), that's $457 million in income for the phone companies. Hugh T. Harrington (1634 Sherwood Avenue NW, Massillon, OH 44646) is now researching the Sherlockian activities of Clifton Andrew, and would welcome hearing from people who knew or who have information about him. John Baesch reports that The Sherlock Holmes Hotel in London is planning a theme exhibition later this year, and that Studio Gallery (50 Caledonian Road, Kings Cross, London N1 9DP, England) will be offering jewelry items such as the King of Bohemia's emerald snake ring and a replica of the tie pin presented to Sherlock Holmes by Queen Victoria. The hotel now charges L107.25 for a single, and L127.75 for a double. The 1991 running of The Silver Blaze at Belmont (in New York) will be held on Sept. 14. Those who would like to attend, and have not yet received the formal announcement, can write to Stephen L. Stix, 10784 South 250 East, Markleville, IN 46056. For Canadian readers who are wondering who Alden Partridge was: he was born in 1785 in Norwich, Vt., and educated at Dartmouth and the Military Academy at West Point. After teaching at West Point from 1806 to 1817, he returned to Norwich in 1818 to found the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. Now called Norwich University, his school was the first civilian educational institution in the United States to offer military training to its students. Partridge died in 1854, and was honored by the post office in 1985 as the spiritual father of the ROTC (the Reserve Officers Training Corps). For American readers who may be wondering why Canadian readers are wondering: a portrait of Alden Partridge appears on the 11-cent stamp that can be used with a 29-stamp to send a 40-cent letter to Canada. Jul 91 #6 Further to the news of Bill Barton's "So Ya Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star! A Rock 'n' Role-Playing Game" (Jan 91 #2), Bill now reports that the major Sherlockian sections of the game are available as "Sherlock in Rock: The Adventures of Sherlock & the CDs" ($6.95 postpaid). Information on this and on other S'ian offers is available (in return for an SASE) from Bill Barton, Box 26290, Indianapolis, IN 46226. If you would like to know what's in store from 221A Baker Street Associates through the end of 1994, when Simon and Schuster's series of 26 Rathbone/ Bruce audiocassettes will end, Lawrence P. Nepodahl (1230 Vienna Boulevard, DeKalb, IL 60115) offers a complete list of the 52 program titles in return for an SASE. Isaac Bashevis Singer died on July 24. He was a masterful storyteller who wrote all of his stories and novels in Yiddish, and won the Nobel prize for literature in 1978. Not long after receiving the award, Singer recalled his first youthful encounter with literature, in Yiddish storybooks: "When I was about 12 years old I read Sherlock Holmes stories by Conan Doyle. They impressed me highly, and I immediately decided to become a writer of detective stories. About the same time, Dostoyevsky's 'Crime and Punish- ment' came out in Yiddish. I didn't understand all of it, but my elation was great. I think that right then I resolved that I must be a Yiddish writer just as Conan Doyle and Dostoyevsky were. It never occurred to me that these were translations." The 1991 catalog for grades 7-12 from the Perfection Form Co. (spotted by Peter Ashman) offers a Dell paperback of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES in their special cover-craft binding (with teaching aids such as pictures and tests), RETOLD BRITISH CLASSICS (a 1987 anthology with adaptations of "The Speckled Band" and "The Red-Headed League" and with striking illustrations by Clint Hanson), and a colorful poster for "The Speckled Band". Their address is 1000 North Second Avenue, Logan, IA 51546 (800-831-4190). "Sherlock Holmes Detected in the Arizona State University Libraries" was the theme suggested by Maxine Reneker for an exhibit intended to promote library instruction at ASU in 1989, and "Sherlock Detected" is the title of Rosanna Miller's three-page article explaining the exhibit, spotted by Paul Herbert in the Jan. 1991 issue of College & Research Libraries News. The magazine is available from the Association of College & Research Libraries, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611; $4.50. Richard Manney's library will be sold by Sotheby's in New York on Oct. 11. His collection is a fine one (he owns the only known Dickens manuscript in private hands), and there will be some important Doyleana in the sale: the manuscript of "The Mazarin Stone", Beeton's Christmas Annual (two pages of advertisements and the rear cover in facsimile), the first printing of the first edition of THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES in dust jacket (the only copy known), inscribed first editions of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and THE VALLEY OF FEAR, and a first edition of THE LOST WORLD inscribed to Lady Doyle are some of the more interesting items. Hard-bound catalogs will be available from Sotheby's subscription dept. (203-847-0465) in late Sept. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Aug 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press The statue of Sherlock Holmes in Picardy Place in Edinburgh was unveiled on June 24 by Geoffrey Chisholm, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, in a ceremony attended by Holmesians such as Shirley Purves, Pam Bruxner, and Stanley MacKenzie. According to The Scotsman, it was Stanley MacKenzie who noticed that the plaque on the statue announces that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born there on 22 May 1841. The Federation of Master Builders presumably will be able to correct the date to 1859. The ferocious hound (of the Baskervilles, according to Herb Tinning), is a three-inch black-and-yellow sticker distributed by the postal service in Maplewood, N.J., so that patrons can warn mail carriers. Further to the forecast (Jan 91 #1) about the magazine Argosy, issue #3 (Aug. 1991) has been published, with an attractive full-color Sherlockian cover by Steranko and the first half of Ellery Queen's adaptation of "A Study in Terror" illustrated by Alan Weiss. The magazine costs $4.00 an issue, or $15.00 for a four-issue subscription (the second half of the story will appear in issue #4); there is an amusing S'ian twist in Bruce Pelz's story "True Profession" in issue #1 (May 1990), available only with a four-issue subscription). Argosy's address is 242 East Third Street, Long Beach, CA 90802; a separate print of the Steranko cover is available on request and without charge (while supplies last) to those who order issue #3 or a four- issue subscription. Jack Kerr reports: GREAT TALES OF MADNESS & THE MACABRE, edited by Charles Ardai (New York: Galahad Books, 1990; $4.98 on the discount tables); with Conan Doyle's "The Leather Funnel". And a new addition to Marjorie Weinman Sharmat's series: NATE THE GREAT GOES DOWN IN THE DUMPS (Dell, $2.95). Travelers to or in California may wish to attend the running of The Silver Blaze at Bay Meadows Race Track in San Mateo on Oct. 20. Contact Bruce R. Parker, Dept. of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. The Empire Publishing Service (Box 1344, Studio City, CA 91614) is a U.S. source for Sherlockiana published in Britain by Ian Henry: John North's SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GERMAN NANNY and SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ARABIAN PRINCESS ($19.95 each), David Stuart Davies' SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE HENT- ZAU AFFAIR ($24.95), Val Andrews' SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE EMINENT THESPIAN and SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE BRIGHTON PAVILION MYSTERY ($19.95 each), and Terence Mustoo's play SHERLOCK HOLMES IN THE DEERSTALKER ($7.95); shipping is $4.00 for one book, plus $1.50 for each additional book. But you might request a sales list from Ian Henry Publications (20 Park Drive, Romford, Essex RM1 4LH, England); they offer more titles directly, at somewhat lower prices, and they accept checks in dollars or sterling. Donald Girard Jewell's A TROUT IN THE MILK: A MONOGRAPH ON FISH AND FISHING IN THE TIME OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Westminster: Pinchin Lane Press, 1991) is a carefully researched and illustrated 32-page monograph, available from the author (4685 Geeting Road, Westminster, MD 21158) for $9.95 postpaid. Aug 91 #2 St. Peter's (Jul 91 #3) *is* mentioned in the Canon. See "The Second Stain" (where Godolphin Street is described as "one of the old-fashioned and secluded rows of eighteenth century houses which lie between the river and the Abbey"). The "Abbey" is Westminster Abbey, and that's where you will find St. Peter's (no longer a cathedral). In 1550 the abbey church of St. Peter, Westminster, was advanced to the dignity of a cathedral by letters patent, but ten years later it was rejoined to the diocese of London, and that's when many of its estates were appropriated to pay for repairs to St. Paul's Cathedral. Sorry about that: admirers of Alden Partridge (Jul 91 #5) will not be able to purchase those stamps at post offices, because the postal service took them off sale some time ago. You may, in fact, encounter some difficulty in purchasing any sort of 11-cent stamps, because the only 11-cent stamp now available (and not widely available) is a coil stamp portraying a Stutz Bearcat (which one might assume is a tribute to Aunt Clara, of course). Catalog #8 at hand from Vinnie Brosnan (Sherlock in L.A., 1741 Via Allena, Oceanside, CA 92056), with 440 items (most of them Sherlockian or Doylean). Sherlock Holmes' long association with Playboy began with the first issue, which included an excerpt from "The Sign of the Four" (because in those early days Hugh Hefner could afford to publish only public-domain fiction). And the association continues: Holmes and Watson appear in Playboy's Party Jokes in the Sept. 1991 issue. Further to the query on Sherlock Holmes riding horses (Jul 91 #1), Hugh Harrington notes additional occasions, in the film "The Copper Beeches" (1912) and in Granada's version of "The Priory School". Richard Wein sends news of the September schedule for Arts & Entertainment cable: the 1967 British series "The Prisoner" starts on Sept. 19 (Patrick McGoohan appears in Sherlockian costume in the episode "The Girl Who Was Death"), and "Sherlock Holmes Mysteries" (the Granada series) on Sept. 23 (there is a report that A&E has edited the programs to 43 minutes to allow time for more commercials). Harry Reasoner died on Aug. 6. He was a television and radio newsman for 35 years, mostly with CBS but also, in the 1970s, with ABC. It was on "The Reasoner Report" on ABC radio news on Feb. 12, 1973, that he reported that "Sherlock Holmes Still Lives" and offered a fine tribute to the Master. At one point in his report he acknowledged that "there are those supercilious little people who insist he never existed," adding that "fortunately, there are only a few of that kind around and we can ignore them." Julian Wolff noted in the BSJ that Reasoner (and his listeners) owed much to the writer and producer of the program: Otto Penzler. Spotted by Jennie Paton: a new edition of SEARCH-A-PICTURE PUZZLES, by Tony Tallarico (first published in 1981), with Sherlockian artwork on the cover and in one of the picture puzzles (Chicago: Kidsbooks; 64 pp., $1.95). Aug 91 #3 "Life around here ambles on fairly unexcitingly. This month has slipped by without any work--false starts mainly--and a good deal of dining out that featured a few quite boring evenings. One of the worst occurred this past week when I weakly consented to dinner with... Princess Mdivani.... It seems that she was previously wed to Denis Conan Doyle, the son of the celebrated Arthur, and has now become the heiress to the whole literary estate. She and the husband are determined to rope me into writing a screen play for *The Lost World*, that science-fiction non- sense of Conan Doyle's about Professor Challenger, and as a result I was dragged through two endless evenings. On the second, the Princess insisted on telling my fortune with cards, presumably hoping to foretell that I would do their screenplay. The pasteboards revealed, however, that I was not destined to stay in England. 'You weel only be fulfeeled by movement,' the Princess declared, her nose buried in the cards. 'You are like a table --underneath you are ze real wood, but pipple see only ze veneer on top. Zey mus' penetrate through ze veneer and find ze real you, ze wood under- neath.' She was wrong in calling it wood, though--actually, I'd turned to stone." S. J. Perelman, in a letter written from London on Jan. 30, 1972, discovered in DON'T TREAD ON ME: THE SELECTED LETTERS OF S. J. PERELMAN, edited by Prudence Crowther (New York: Viking, 1987). Spotted by eagle-eyed Jack Kerr in the fall 1991 catalog from Talbots: a nicely Sherlockian hand-knit ramie/cotton sweater (item F39121) available with a red background and in various sizes, for $114.00 plus shipping. The catalog has full-color photographs (the back of the sweater, not shown here, has a rather unBaskervillean basset hound). The address for Talbots is 175 Beal Street, Hingham, MA 02043 (800-882-5268), and they take plastic. An Associated Press press dispatch (sent by Rick Smith) reports that the National Farm Medicine Center in Marsh- field, Wis., is concerned about the exposure of farmers to skin cancer. The standard baseball caps worn by many modern farmers do not provide adequate protection from the sun, the center believes, and one of the alternatives now being tested is the deerstalker. To avoid possible confusion about the dates of "Autumn in Baker Street", the event will be held on Nov. 2-3 at the Tarrytown Hilton in Tarrytown, N.Y. The hotel is taking reservations now (914-631-5700), and registration information and a detailed schedule are available from Robert E. Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709. It is tempting to think of some people in the Sherlockian world as truly permanent and perpetual sources of assistance and advice, and one of those people is Cameron Hollyer, who has now officially retired from his post at the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library, where he has ably served our cause (and theirs) as curator of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection for more than twenty years. His successor is Victoria Gill, who has specialized in British literature at the library since 1983, and whom Cam has described in glowing terms as a member of the Bootmakers and "well up" in Holmes and in detective fiction in general. As might be expected, Cam is not yet totally retired, and will continue as a consultant to the library until Dec. 6. Aug 91 #4 ZPPR Productions (the radio repertory company whose membership includes performers who occasionally masquerade as The Friends of Bogie's) is known to National Public Radio's listeners for the series "Little Chills", and Susan Rice reports that the series has now been issued on audiocassettes by Dove Audio, and that LITTLE CHILLS #1 contains Andrew Joffe's "Hatrack of Death" (a Sherlockian parody described on the jacket as a delicious, murderous farce: the unlovely host of a bizarre cocktail party is found murdered). The cassette sells for about $9.00 in bookstores and in the mail-order catalog from Wireless (Box 64422, Saint Paul, MN 55164). The Folio Society has published THE ADVENTURES OF SHER- LOCK HOLMES (1958), THE LOST WORLD (1977), and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1987), and this year CRIME STORIES FROM THE 'STRAND', edited by Geraldine Beare, and with an introduction by H.R.F. Keating and striking full-page illustrations by David Eccles. The anthology has a good selection of stories (including "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Dying Detective"). The book costs $35.50 and is available only to members of the Society; membership requirements are four titles a year, from the current list or the lengthy back-list, and their U.S. address is Folio Books Ltd., 594 Broadway #806, New York, NY 10012. The second issue of The Sherlock Holmes Gazette at hand, with 32 pages and nicely done, with a good mix of articles and reports, and a colorful souvenir postcard promoting an exhibition of Deirdre Keetley's artwork at the Sherlock Holmes Hotel in Baker Street. The Gazette reports that Granada was to start shooting this month on "The Master Blackmailer" (their new title for the two-hour version of "Charles Augustus Milverton"), with Robert Hardy as Milverton. The Gazette also followed up the report in the Daily Mail (Jul 91 #1) that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are planning a Sherlock Holmes series, and discovered that neither the actors' agents nor Fry himself know anything about it. The quarterly Sherlock Holmes Gazette costs L18 a year outside the United Kingdom; payment by sterling check or credit card, to Theme Publications, 43 Bowleaze Coveway, Preston, Weymouth, Dorset DT3 6PL, England. "What is huge and furry, has vicious fangs, big ears and a long tail, and sings 'My Way'?" And by way of a another correction to a mistake in an earlier issue (May 91 #7), Gerald F. O'Hara's proper address is 3912-115A Street, Edmonton, Alta. T6J 1R1, Canada, and that's where you can send orders (US$10.00 postpaid) for a copy of his translation into English of the original material in the Apr. 1987 issue of the Magazine Litteraire, the French magazine which paid warm centenary tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with a lengthy section of articles and essays. Jon Lellenberg reports that a facsimile of the 1930 John Murray edition of Conan Doyle's THE EDGE OF THE UNKNOWN has been published in the Time-Life Books subscription series "The Collector's Library of the Unknown". Books in the series cost $18.95 each to subscribers, and more information can be obtained from Time-Life Books, 777 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Aug 91 #5 Rupert Holmes (whose pen name reflects his enjoyment of Rupert Knickerbocker beer and the Canon, and who wrote the imaginative musical "The Mystery of Edwin Drood") will have at least one Sherlockian line in his next musical. "Solitary Confinement" will star Stacy Keach, and is scheduled to begin previews at the Pasadena Playhouse on Nov. 15 and to open officially on Nov. 24. For those who haven't been paying attention to promotional announcements on PBS-TV: "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" will start on "Mystery!" on Nov. 14. The new series will have six programs (though not necessarily in this order): "The Problem of Thor Bridge", "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax", "The Illustrious Client", "The Creeping Man", "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", and "Shoscombe Old Place". This brings the total of stories to 32, with 34 hours of programming (well, about 30 hours if you don't count the introductions), and puts Jeremy Brett well in the lead for the most hours as Holmes on screen or tube. Jerry Margolin is trying to complete his set of the nine variants of the three titles published by Union Carbide in 1971 (D219b, D231b, and D234b), and now needs only THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES with the Isaac Asimov story on the dust jacket. Anyone who can offer a copy of this variant for sale or trade is invited to write to Jerry at 10007 S.W. Quail Post Road, Portland, OR 97219. Doug Marlette, creator of the cartoon strip "Kudzu", is also a political cartoonist, and his most recent Sherlockian artwork, received from Paul Singleton, appeared in Newsday on Aug. 11. Aug 91 #6 Turner Network Television reports that their two-hour broadcast of "The Crucifer of Blood" will debut on TNT cable on Nov. 4, with repeats later in the week. Paul Giovanni's play premiered in Buffalo in 1978 and then ran on Broadway, with Paxton Whitehead (Holmes), Timothy Landfield (Watson), and Glenn Close (Irene St. Clair), and was produced in London in 1979 (with Keith Michell, Denis Lill, and Susan Hampshire). The play was revived in Los Angeles in 1980 (with Charlton Heston and Jeremy Brett), and this was followed by discussions with CBS-TV about a television project with Heston, targeted for the 1982-83 season. There have also been more than 35 productions of the play by local theater companies in the U.S. and Britain. The TNT version will star Charlton Heston, Richard Johnson, and Susannah Harker. "What is huge and furry, has vicious fangs, big ears and a long tail, and sings 'My Way'?" "The giant rat of Sinatra," according to Roger Johnson, in the May 22 issue of his newsletter The District Messenger. Visitors to Colorado may wish to see an exhibit of "Magnificent Obsessions" at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Arvada (on view through Nov. 24). The exhibit's theme is collectors, collecting, and collections, and it will include Sherlockiana from the collection of John E. Stephenson. Edward A. Merrill ("Palladio") died on Aug. 14. His Investiture reflects his expertise in architecture, and in that field he was expert indeed. He served as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in World War II, and then joined the firm known eventually as Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, and was resident project engineer for the construction of the Air Force Academy in Colorado. His first Sherlockian project was his article in the BSJ in 1970 on "Holmes and Brunton: Civil Engineers" (for which he won the Morley-Montgomery Award), and he received his Investiture in 1972. He was also an active member of scion societies in San Francisco and Tulsa, and a fine amateur player of the violin and viola, and his continued interest in Musgrave architecture (as well as his fine writing style) is best displayed in his definitive monograph "FOR THE SAKE OF THE TRUST": SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL (Gaslight Publications, 1982). The "Mark Trail" cartoon (drawn by Jack Elrod) ran in many papers on Aug. 18. Trail obviously is a better naturalist than he is a speller. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Sep 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press A "Victorian Holmes Weekend" in Cape May, N.J., in Nov. 1990 was successful enough to warrant a repeat, on Nov. 8-11, 1991. According to the flier, at hand from Bob Katz, there will be a Sherlockian mystery ("The Adventure in Cape May") to be solved by those who attend the weekend, and an opportunity to "join Arthur Conan Doyle in his study as he wrestles with the plot to his latest Sherlock Holmes story." Additional details are available from the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, Box 340, Cape May, NJ 08204. Jerry D. Flack's MYSTERY AND DETECTION: THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING WITH THE SLEUTHS (Englewood: Teacher Ideas Press, 1990; 246 pp., $21.00) takes an imaginative approach to the use of the mystery genre in teaching gifted students. The Canon receives heavy emphasis, and many of the ideas in the book can easily be used by parents. The publisher's address is Box 3988, Englewood, CO 80155. The Arthur Conan Doyle Society, launched in 1989, publishes two journals that concentrate (but not exclusively) on the non-Sherlockian aspects of Conan Doyle's career and works: A.C.D. is a more formal journal, averaging about 80 typeset pages with illustrations, and The Parish Magazine is an informal newsletter (four issues each have appeared to date, and all are interesting and well-produced). Surface-mail membership in the society costs L14.00 (or $24.00) to the U.S., and airmail membership costs L19.00 ($32.00); the society's founder and editor is Christopher Roden, Grasmere, 35 Penfold Way, Dodleston, Chester CH4 9ML, England. Milton F. Perry ("Nathan Garrideb") died on Aug. 20. Milt's specialty was regional history, and he was an early member of the Great Alkali Plainsmen distinguished, revealing in Dec. 1966 at a meeting of the society in Tulsa, his discovery that Sherlock Holmes had visited Kansas City in Jan. 1880 and had investigated a mysterious death there (see his article in the June 1976 issue of Baker Street Miscellanea). Milt was curator of the Truman Library and Museum in Independence until 1976, and often discussed the Canon with President Truman. In 1978 Milt launched the restoration of the Jesse James farm, retiring recently after 13 years as curator of the James Museum. Elizabeth Peters' sixth mystery novel about Amelia Peabody Emerson will be THE LAST CAMEL DIED AT NOON, to be published in hardcover by Warner Books, and as a main selection of the Mystery Guild, and as an alternate selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club (that's called covering all the bases), and those who have been waiting patiently for three years for an addition to the series will need no additional recommendation. For newcomers: the series is set in Victorian England and Egypt, and is written with style and humor, and the new book may include one or more Sherlockian allusions (as have most of the others in the series). THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES 100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, published by the Easton Press in three volumes in 1987, is a handsome leather-bound reprint (with color frontispieces) of the Heritage Press edition published in 1952 and 1957. Jon Lellenberg reports that the set is again available, at the 1987 price of $39.45 per volume postpaid; the address of the Easton Press is 47 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06857, and they take plastic. Sep 91 #2 It's time for a new plug for the USPS Stamped Envelope Agency, the source for boxes of 500 printed stamped envelopes used for these mailings (you can order up to seven printed lines, and there are no shipping charges). The printed regular #10 stamped envelopes cost $160.00 a box (that's 32c each); the fancier LOVE envelopes cost $161.00 a box. Their turn-around time is about three weeks, and order forms are available from the Stamped Envelope Agency, Williamsburg, PA 16693-0500. "Felon to folk hero: Fugitive's life in S.C." was the headline on an intriguing item in a July issue of USA Today, spotted by Dave Galerstein. Jack Koelle noted a story (with photograph) on "A Cannon on the Loose" in Time (July 29), and Bob Robinson reported far more publicity in the South Carolina papers (as might be expected), and that the fugitive Cannon is no longer loose (if you're nautical) or at large: he was taken into custody again while mowing a lawn. Bill Berner's supply of THE INTERNATIONAL ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (Jun 91 #5) was quickly sold, but he has ordered more copies from Japan. The publisher's shipping costs have increased, and the book now costs $35.00 postpaid (order from William Berner, 4712 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94117. Recorded books appear to be increasingly popular in Britain: a recent newspaper review notes that Random Century Audiobooks has issued a two-cassette set of THE VALLEY OF FEAR, read by Peter Cushing (L7.99). Further to the report (Aug 91 #4), the Folio Society has announced that they have decided to close their office in the United States. But they are still in business in Britain, and their address there is 202 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1 1PR, England. If your local National Public Radio station carries "NPR Playhouse" you may have a chance to hear a new series in October. The likely series title is "Cases of Sherlock Holmes" and there will be eight 30-minute broadcasts: "A Study in Scarlet" (in six parts), plus "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Speckled Band", with Edward Petherbridge (who has played Lord Peter Wimsey on "Mystery!") as Sherlock Holmes and David Peart as Dr. Watson. National Public Radio is also considering acquiring the BBC Radio 4 series that stars Clive Merrison and Michael Williams, if a corporate angel can be found. If you know a generous prospect who might be willing to contribute about $20,000 to fund the project, the contact is Andy Trudeau, National Public Radio, 2025 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 (202-822-2000). Sep 91 #3 For the completists: the "221A" audiocassettes of the Rathbone/ Bruce radio programs distributed by Simon & Schuster are avail- able in stores (there are now 13 cassettes, each with two programs), and in boxed sets (there are now two sets, each with eight programs). The second boxed set ($24.95) is in the fall 1991 catalog from Wireless (Box 6422, St. Paul, MN 55164), along with lots of other nice things of interest to fans of public radio. The phone number is 800-669-9999, and they take plastic. One of the truly frustrating aspects of the popularity of Sherlock Holmes is that he so popular in Japan, where almost all of the Writings About the Writings are written and published in Japanese, a language which very few western Sherlockians can read. A welcome exception is THE NEZIRE ZANMAI INTERNATIONAL, an anthology of artwork and articles, all in English. The 32-page booklet has been published by The Men with the Twisted Konjo, and costs $4.00 (U.S. currency rather than checks, please) postpaid by airmail, from Yuichi Hirayama, 2-10-12 Kamirenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181, Japan. Gilded Lily Creations (1084 East 250 South, Bountiful, UT 84010) offers a new print (signed and numbered by Jan Walker) on 14x17-inch high-rag stock, at $24.00 each, plus $3.00 per order for shipping. Comic-book news, reported by Tim O'Connor: Dan Day's series, first published by Renegade Press and then by Northstar (for a total of 20 issues), will continue, from Tome Press (apparently a subsidiary of Caliber). According to the latest issue of Advance Comics, THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND ($2.50) is due to ship in November. Spotted by Tyke Niver: Garry James' well-illustrated article on "Shooting the Guns of Sherlock Holmes" in the Oct. 1991 issue of Handguns for Sport & Defense. James has written about Canonical weaponry in the past, and now reports on his test-firing of a Webley Metropolitan Police revolver and an Adams revolver. The address for the magazine is 8490 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90069, and the cover price is $2.95. John Crosby died on Sept. 7. He began his career as a journalist with the Milwaukee Sentinel, and moved to the N.Y. Herald Tribune in 1935, where in 1946 he became their radio-television critic and held that job until 1965, winning many awards for achievement in journalism. Reviewing the Ronald Howard series in 1955, Crosby praised its sense of period ("when everything moved a lot more slowly and a private detective could pursue a criminal in a leisurely and gentlemanly way, a refreshing relief from all the punch- drunk Mickey Spillane characters"). But he also noted that the series had received an endorsement from the BSI, and suggested that "All I can say to that is that that mob must have lost some of the old fire . . . in the old days, there would have been shooting from the housetops." Dick Rutter reports that Microsoft supplies a "Windows Resource Kit" with its Windows 3.0 software. And the "Productivity Pack" includes a section on "Learning Windows" that offers assistance from five historical figures: Einstein, Cleopatra, Merlin, Robin Hood, and Sherlock Holmes. Sep 91 #4 WHO STOLE MRS. WICK'S SELF-ESTEEM? (reported in the Sept. 1991 issue of In Health and spotted by Herb Tinning) is a 16-page pamphlet offering a story written by Billie Thomas and illustrated by Tom Novak, with Holmes and Watson giving advice on how to develop a positive self-image. $2.00 postpaid from the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, Public Awareness Department, Box 2866-IH, Chicago, IL 60690. Harmony Gold and Klondike Films are now in production on "The Lost World" and "Return to the Lost World", and are filming in London and Zimbabwe. The stars are John Rhys-Davies (Challenger) and David Warner (Summerlee), supported by Eric McCormack (Malone), and Tamara Gorski (Jennie Nielson, the beautiful girl who accompanies the expedition). The two mini-series are targeted for release in 1993. Spotted by Bob Burr: a forecast of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SHERLOCK HOLMES? DETECTIVE FICTION, POPULAR THEOLOGY, AND SOCIETY, by Robert S. Paul, due from Southern Illinois University Press in Nov. (288 pp., $24.95). Paul analyzes the genre, and suggests that "the writer of detective fiction, without conscious intent, appeals directly to those moral and spiritual roots of society unconsciously affirmed and endorsed by the readers." It was Joe Eckrich, rather than Ron Fish, who was seen wearing the Sherlock Bones T-shirt at Williamsburg (Jun 91 #6). Gary Thaden (who sent in twenty separate entries) also won one of the T-shirts. The latest sales list from the British publisher Ian Henry includes two new books: DOCTOR WATSON AND THE INVISIBLE MAN, a pastiche by Noel Downing, has Langdale Pike and Dr. Watson pursuing Griffin's stolen invisibility formula (L10.95), and Harry Stone's THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK DOYLE reports on the many real-life mysteries investigated by Conan Doyle (L15.95). Ian Henry's address is 20 Park Drive, Romford, Essex RM1 4LH, England. Denny Martin Flinn's KILLER FINISH (New York: Bantam Books, 1991; 260 pp., $3.99) is the second in his series about Spencer Holmes, the San Francisco private detective who is the grandson of Sherlock Holmes and who is in the audience when the magician The Great Gandolfo dies mysteriously during his last performance. This Great Gandolfo is not, however, the grandson of the magician with whom Sherlock Holmes was involved in the 1945 Rathbone/Bruce radio program "The Great Gandolfo". There are mentions of roses in three of the stories, or four (if you want to count the rose-water in "The Sign of the Four"), or five (if you count Salvator Rosa), a total that neatly matches the five roses on a new set of stamps issued by Great Britain. Sep 91 #5 Shooting for "Charles Augustus Milverton" (which will be called "The Master Blackmailer" by Granada) was scheduled from Aug. 19 to Sept. 20 in Manchester and on location in Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire. Robert Hardy is in the cast, probably in the role of Milverton (and one can only hope that he is Milverton, because he'll be a fine one). And there's more news about "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" on "Mystery!" (beginning Nov. 14): there will be five programs broadcast by PBS-TV: "The Illustrious Client", "The Creeping Man", "The Problem of Thor Bridge", "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", and "Shoscombe Old Place" ("The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" is being held in reserve for broadcast during the Aug. 1992 pledge drives). And there's good new and bad news about Jeremy Brett: the good news is that he will arrive in New York on Sept. 29 and then tour, promoting the Granada series. The bad news is that the tour schedule is (as we go to press) only tentative (so you should check with your local PBS-TV station to see what's really what, and when). The arrival dates after New York are (or at least may be): Oct. 8 in Los Angeles, Oct. 14 in Dallas, Oct. 17 in St. Louis, Oct. 20 in Atlanta, Oct. 22 in Detroit, Oct. 23 in Philadelphia, Oct. 25 in Washington, Oct. 30 in Boston, Nov. 3 in Cleveland, and Nov. 5 in Chicago. Alan Wheatley died in Sept. His obituary in the Daily Telegraph noted that Wheatley "combined an air of supercilious self-assurance with a shifty-eyed hint of villainy to make his mark in a variety of roles on both stage and screen," and those roles included Sherlock Holmes, in six Canonical tales broadcast by BBC television in 1951. In 1954 he was on BBC radio as Herr Professor Willi Notenschlager (Holmes' old German teacher of the violin) in "A Tribute to Sherlock Holmes", and in 1963 he played Sherlock Holmes again on BBC radio in "The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes" (an "investigation into the relationship between the famous detective and his creator" written by Michael and Mollie Hardwick). Niagara Falls is shown on a new postal card, with an attractive design by Wendell Minor. "'From a drop of water,' said the writer, 'a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other.'" (Stud) "I seem to have all Niagara whizzing and buzzing in my ears." (Croo) That's nice imagery, certainly, but: how many other oceans and falls might be inferred from a drop of water? And how much whizzing and buzzing can actually be heard at Niagara Falls? This year's Christmas card from the Sherlock Holmes Society of London will have a photograph of the sitting room at the new Sherlock Holmes Museum in Meiringen (with brief commentary and the usual greeting). A packet of ten cards costs $8.50 postpaid, and checks (payable to the Society) can be sent to Capt. W. R. Michell, Old Crown Inn, Lopen, South Petherton, Somerset TA13 5JX, England. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson appear (again) in Playboy's Party Jokes in the Oct. 1991 issue. The joke, I fear, is no funnier than the last one. Sep 91 #6 They are still called trading cards, apparently, and people may actually trade them still (we certainly did in the days when they came in packs of bubble gum), and "Star Trek" is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a set of 160 cards showing scenes from the original series and from "Star Trek: The Next Generation". And card #38 has a scene from the 1988 program "Elementary, Dear Data" (with Brent Spiner as Holmes and LeVar Burton as Watson). Jonathan Abell reports that some comic-book shops and other outlets break open packs so that complete sets can be assembled, selling the duplicate single cards for modest sums. The distributor of the cards is Impel Marketing Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Watch for newspaper reports in Oct. about the results of the auction of the independent television franchises in Britain. There are 16 ITV franchises (including Granada), and new ten-year licenses will take effect in 1992. According to the latest issue of Anglofile, there are rumors that Granada has been outbid, but may nevertheless retain its license because there is a "quality threshold" that winning bidders must also satisfy. But if Granada does lose its license it could operate as an independent production company and might offer "Coronation Street" (its most popular series) to the BBC. Anglofile offers the latest entertainment news from Britain, and costs $12 a year (Box 33515, Decatur, GA 30033). Al Rosenblatt (whose disclaimer reads, "Honest, I had nothing to do with this!") reports some Sherlockian artwork on a judicial flier. Deborah W. Sage's DOGGEREL IN THE NIGHT-TIME is the newest title published by the Gasogene Press, and it is nicely done, with amusing and imaginative poems, and delightful illustrations by Jeff Decker. The 92- page book (paper covers) is available for $13.45 post- paid from the publisher (Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004). Sherlock, Stock & Barrel (Box 8261, Colorado Springs, CO 80933) offers a new sales list, with sculptures by Cheryl Harness, medals by Alex Shagin, and a varied assortment of Sherlockian pins. Does anyone have or know of a publicity photograph or still showing Anna May Wong in the film "A Study in Scarlet" (1933)? I would welcome a photocopy (and if you can help, please don't assume that someone else will be sending me one). Anvil Cassettes (4 Reed's Corner, Marlborough, Wilts. SN8 2RR, England) are offering FAVOURITE MUSIC OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, a new audiocassette (L4.99) that Roger Johnson describes as a "rather speculative" collection of music by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Offenbach, Beethoven, and others (but without anything by Wagner). Spotted by Al Rosenblatt at a local Grand Union: CURSIVE WRITING (a "Golden Step Ahead" activity book) with Sherlockian art on the cover and on p. 26 (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1990; 32 pp., $2.25). Sep 91 #7 THE SCOTTISH STUDENTS' SONG BOOK will no longer be published. A report in The Higher: The Times Higher Education Supplement (Aug. 16, 1991), at hand from Chris Redmond, the book was first published in 1891 and was so popular (sales averaged 11,000 copies a year until World War Two) that it was claimed to be one of two books that could be found in every Scottish household (the other being the Bible). But student songs "are no longer in vogue," according to the secretary of the committee that publishes the book (and a shorter edition published in 1982 was banned at Glasgow University on the grounds of racism in songs such as "The Campdown Races"). For many years the song book contained the words and music for Claude Ralston's "Sherlock Holmes" (D4472a), and for "Mush, Mush" (the song whose tune would seem to have been the source of Jim Montgomery's tribute to his, and our, beloved "Aunt Clara"). Reported by John Bennett Shaw: SASSAFRAS HOLMES AND THE LIBRARY MYSTERIES, by Carolmarie Stock, a 61-page pamphlet with a Sherlockian artwork on the cover and Sherlockian characters explaining libraries to youngsters. $9.95 from the Alleyside Press, Box 889, Hagerstown, MD 21741. A revival of Christopher Martin's adaptation of "A Study in Scarlet" toured in Britain this year, and the program from the one-week run at the Theatre Royal in Margate included a bit of history, whence comes this excerpt about a meeting in London: "It turned out to be a fruitful dinner party: from it resulted not only Conan Doyle's next Sherlock Holmes masterpiece, The Gang of Four, but also Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray." Reported by Dick Rutter: AN EXALTATION OF LARKS: THE ULTIMATE EDITION, by James Lipton (Viking, 1991, $20.00). First published in 1968, and revised in 1977 (and again for the new edition), the book explores "the venereal game" (which is not quite what you may be imagining at the moment). Lipton notes in his introduction that Conan Doyle once played the game, and quotes at length from SIR NIGEL, in which young Nigel demonstrates his knowledge of collective nouns, such as a cete of badgers, a skulk of foxes, etc. The City of Westminster and the Arthur Conan Doyle Society have joined in publication of a facsimile of the manuscript of "The Dying Detective", with an introduction by Julian Symons and an afterword by Owen Dudley Edwards. The deluxe edition (limited to 100 copies bound in buckram and signed by Symons, Edwards, and Dame Jean Conan Doyle) costs L105 postpaid ($200 to the U.S.), and the standard edition (bound in paper-covered boards) costs L27.50 postpaid ($60 to the U.S.). See the enclosed flier for details on where to send your checks. Michael Harrison ("The Camberwell Poisoning Case") died on Sept. 13. It is tempting to assume that he was known by everyone: those who were his hosts during his visits or in audiences as he reminisced, or who were readers of his many books, Sherlockian and otherwise. He was truly an Edwardian, ably demonstrating the intelligence and the mischievous humor of a long-gone era (and one that he remembered well). His arrival in the world of Sherlockian literature was almost accidental, in 1958, but IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES was a landmark that led to a series of essays, articles, and books that won him the BSI's Two-Shilling Award in 1985 and a legion of readers, present and future, who will be the best memorial he could have wished for. Sep 91 #8 John Gardner ("Moriarty") has written (and continues to write) books other than his continuation of Ian Fleming's series about James Bond, but it is the Bond series that sells best: a recent article in the Times notes that Fleming's series has sold 75 million copies worldwide, while the Gardner sequels have sold 100 million copies. The Franco-Midland Hardware Company (a British-based international Holmes- ian correspondence study group) offers an introductory booklet describing their organization, publications and projects. Send $2.00 (currency only, please) to Philip Weller, 6 Bramham Moor, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire PO14 3RU, England. A new catalog from Bits & Pieces: The Great International Puzzle Collection offers a Sherlockian chess set for $179.95, and the game 221B BAKER STREET (D3957b) for $16.95. Shipping is extra; their address is 1 Puzzle Place (B8016), Stevens Point, WI 54481 (800-544-7297); and they take plastic. An imaginative and amusing soft-sculpture Sherlockian jack-in-the-box was spotted by Jerry Margolin at The Wood Gallery in Newport, Ore. The price is $73.00 (including shipping), they take plastic, and the toll-free number is 800-359-1419. Only for the completists: THE HOUSE OF AGATHA MYSTRIE, a three-act comedy- mystery written by Robert A. Allen. The cast of parody detectives includes Sherlucky Holmes, and the 82-page script is available from Baker's Plays, 100 Chauncy Street, Boston, MA 02111 ($6.00 postpaid). Carol Nelson Douglas reports that GOOD MORNING, IRENE will be followed by DR. WATSON, I PERCEIVE, due in July 1992. Reported by Jennie Paton: A COLLECTION OF HAUNTING TALES, including Conan Doyle's "The New Catacomb") on a set of three audiocassettes (Audio Book Contractors, Box 40115, Washington, DC 20016; $23.50). Our recent booklet pane honoring comedians was designed by Al Hirschfeld, who has included his daughter Nina's name at least once on each stamp (the postal service waived its long-standing rule against secret marks, because those who recognize his style also tend to look for his trademark "NINA"). Laurel & Hardy, Charlie McCarthy, and Abbott & Costello have all appeared in deerstalkers in films, and Charlie McCarthy also on a souvenir spoon. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Oct 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press THE REAL WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE TRUE CRIMES INVESTIGATED BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, by Peter Costello (London: Robinson, 1991; 235 pp., L14.95) (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991; 235 pp., $19.95), offers a wide-ranging examination of ACD's involvement with the police (he was interviewed by a politely-suspicious detective in Southsea in 1885) and his interest in the crimes and criminals of his day. Some of the crimes and criminals will be familiar to those who have read ACD's own books and his biographies, but Costello offers new insight and information on the familiar, and intriguing detail on generally-neglected connections such as ACD's membership in the "Crimes Club" and the club's guided tour in 1905 of the scenes of Jack the Ripper's outrages. The Dec. 1991 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine has Ellery Queen's script for "The Disappearance of Mr. James Phillimore" (reprinted from THE MISADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES). The script is based on "Mr. Short and Mr. Long" (broadcast by NBC in "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" in 1943); no one has ever reported a recording of the show. Plan ahead (suggests Bill Rabe): The Old SOBs3 will hold their first "Aunt Clara Singalong" for those at loose ends at 8:00 pm on Thursday, Jan. 9, 1992, at O'Lunney,s saloon and restaurant on West 44th Street, a few steps up (or down) from the Algonquin. Sherlockians are invited to wine and dine from a moderately-priced menu, and raise their voices in traditional and unconventional song (led by Hugh O'Lunney's resident folk singer). Bring your own favorite song sheets. No advance payment is required, but it is not a large establishment and a check for $10.00 for each person in your party, mailed to Mr. O'Lunney (12 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036), will reserve your table and will be applied to your tab for the evening. Be certain to explain what the check is for (Hugh has a lot on his mind). Diane Ackerman's A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SENSES, first published in 1990, is now available in paperback (Vintage, $11.00); it is an interesting book, with as much philosophy as natural history, and a discussion of the Canon: "We can detect over ten thousand different odors, so many in fact, that our memories would fail us if we tried to jot down everything they represent. In 'The Hound of the Baskervilles,' Sherlock Holmes identifies a woman by the smell of her notepaper, pointing out that 'there are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that a criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other.' A low number, surely. After all, anyone 'with a nose for' crime should be able to sniff out culprits from their tweed, India ink, talcum powder, Italian leather shoes, and countless other scented paraphernalia." THE GREAT DETECTIVE PICTURES, by James Robert Parish and Michael R. Pitts (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1990; 630 pp., $59.50), covers both films and television, and in some detail, with essays and quotes from reviews. The focus, however, is on American films and television: Arthur Wontner's 1937 "Silver Blaze" is discussed as "Murder at the Baskervilles" (the title for the American release in 1941), there is only minor discussion of the Jeremy Brett series (which is credited to Thames Television rather than Granada), and there is no listing for Baker's 1982 "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Oct 91 #2 I've now seen a preview videocassette of Charlton Heston's "The Crucifer of Blood" (due to debut on TNT cable on Nov. 4), and I enjoyed it. This won't be a review, since I don't want to ruin some of the surprises for those who aren't familiar with the plot of the play by Paul Giovanni. But I will note that the show is thoroughly melodramatic, in the tradition of the Gillette play, and at times Charlton Heston's resemblance to William Gillette in his later years as Sherlock Holmes was striking. Michael Pointer's new THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (160 pp.) is a large book (10x14 in.) packed with illustrations (many in full color) of material owned by Pointer, Richard Lancelyn Green, and Stanley MacKenzie. Pointer's earlier books include THE PUBLIC LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1975) and THE SHERLOCK HOLMES FILE (1976); the text of his new book is more for the general public than for old hands, but the illustrations are thoroughly spectacular, offering a fine survey of early illustrators, stage, screen, radio, television, and advertising both old and new. The British edition is published by the Bison Group (London), and the American edition by the Mallard Press (New York) with a list price of $19.98. Spotted by Jackie Geyer in the Oct. 1991 issue of Cat Fancy: a photograph of a Maine Coon brown mackerel tabby named Grand Champion Purricoon Arthur Coonan Doyle. Capital Holmes has made its society emblem available on button, T-shirts, golf shirts, and sweatshirts. Write to Sheila Vaudrey (2217 Iris Street, Ottawa, Ont. K2C 1B7, Canada) for an illustrated flier with more information on prices, sizes, etc. John Ruyle is alive and well and versifying, and back on board the Pequod (Press), whence comes an announcement of THE BULL PUP, with 27 "remarkable paraphrastic quartets" devoted to "A Study in Scarlet" (accompanied by a short poem written by Sherlock Holmes himself). The book is available from the author (521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707) for $35.00 (cloth) or $15.00 (paper). The Granada series has indeed been edited for Arts & Entertainment. A&E's version of "A Scandal in Bohemia" had only 49 minutes from Granada, with bits and pieces missing (most noticeably some of the scenes that show Irene being adventurous), and there are frequent appearances of A&E's "bug" (the emblem that is superimposed at the lower right of the screen from time to time, to let you know that you're watching A&E). The PBS-TV versions run 53 minutes, I believe. Of course the good news is that airing the series on the Disney channel, and now on A&E, will allow a far larger audience to see the fine work that Granada has done with Sherlock Holmes. And we will have an opportunity to see much more of Jeremy Brett on PBS-TV, since he has decided that he would like to do all sixty of the stories, and reports that Mobil is enthusiastic. The bad news, of course, is that that means delay in bringing his play to the United States, but Brett said that "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes" will open at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York on Jan. 12, 1994. Yes: 1994. And Granada recently sold its series for broadcast in the Soviet Union, for a new total of 83 countries. Oct 91 #3 Marian J. A. Jackson's THE CAT'S EYE (New York: Pinnacle Books, 1991; 256 pp., $3.50) is the third in her series about Abigail Patience Danforth, who continues to ignore Conan Doyle's earlier warning that amateur detecting is no career for a young lady (Sep 90 #5). Abigail is now in San Francisco in March 1900, involved in the high society of Nob Hill and the much lower society of the Barbary Coast (guided through the latter by Jack London). "There's no place like Holmes for the holidays" surrounds a gold silhouette of a pipe-smoking Sherlock Holmes on a bright green Christmas tree ornament (diameter 2.5 inches) now available in a limited edition of 250 copies from Rick Hacker (Box 634, Beverly Hills, CA 90213) at $18.50 postpaid. This is the second annual issue of Rick's ornaments; a few of last year's ornaments (in red, with a gold Santa's pipe and "Happy Holidays, Happy Smoking") are still available at the same price. According to Christopher Dunkley, in the [London] Financial Times (Feb. 27, 1991), Britain's most popular television series ("Coronation Street") has about 17 million viewers. Mysteries are also popular: "Dalgleish" has 12.6 million, "Poirot" 12.4 million, and "Inspector Morse" 11.2 million. By way of comparison, the season opener of "Murphy Brown" had a Nielsen rating of 23.8 (that's 21.9 million TV households). The United States has about four times the population, so a program as popular as "Coronation Street" is in Britain would have almost 70 million viewers here. And by way of further comparison, the 1990 TV film "Hands of a Murderer" had a 9.5 Nielsen rating (8.7 million TV households); the Nielsens for "Mystery!" (and everything else on PBS-TV) are much lower than that. Our new commemorative honoring the bicentennial of the District of Columbia shows a view down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol, based on a photograph taken in 1903; this is the view that William Gillette would have seen when he brought his play "Sherlock Holmes" to Washington in Nov. 1900 and in Dec. 1902. The first formal mailing has arrived from Bouchercon XXIII, which will be held in Toronto on Oct. 8-11, 1992, at the Royal York Hotel. This will be the first four-day Bouchercon, with Thursday as a "Special Interests Day" and a farewell cocktail party on Sunday evening. Margaret Millar will be the guest of honor, Charlotte MacLeod will receive the Bouchercon lifetime achievement award, and Otto Penzler will be the toastmaster at the dinner on Saturday evening. Registration is $60.00 through the end of 1991, and the address is Bouchercon XXIII, Box 23, Station "S", Toronto, Ont. M5M 4L6, Canada. SHERLOCK HOLMES ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD: OR THE ADVENTURE OF THE WAYFARING GOD, by Thos. Kent Miller (Redlands: Rosemill House, 1991; 75 pp., $4.50), is yet another long-lost manuscript, but this one was written by Leo Vincey (whom some will recall from Rider Haggard's SHE and AYESHA). Accompanied by Horace Holly, Vincey is in Lhassa in 1891, where they meet a Norwegian named Sigerson, who is able to resolve both accusations of murder and the theft of a valuable religious document. Available from the publisher (Box 7692, Redlands, CA 92375) for $6.00 postpaid. Oct 91 #4 Carolmarie Stock's SASSAFRAS HOLMES AND THE LIBRARY MYSTERIES (Hagerstown: Alleyside Press, 1991; 60 pp., $9.95) offers a pleasant collection of short stories about Sassy Holmes, her best friend Jane Watson, and city librarian Mrs. Hudson, intended to help youngsters learn how to use libraries. There are many Sherlockian allusions, and the book is available from the publisher (Box 889, Hagerstown, MD 21741). Welcome news for those who are tired of eating Klondike ice-cream bars in hopes of winning a Klondike bear in Sherlockian costume (May 91 #5): John E. Stephenson reports that the bear can also be purchased ($16.45 plus two proofs of purchase from Klondike six-packs) from Klondike Holmes Bear, 5400 118th Avenue North, Clearwater, FL 34620. It's not Sherlockian, but gourmets and gourmands (and others) will enjoy A COOK'S ALPHABET OF QUOTATIONS, edited by Maria Polushkin Robbins (New York: Dutton, 1991; $16.95). A sample: "Isn't there any other part of the matzo you can eat?" (Marilyn Monroe). Dick Rutter suggests that political pundits worrying about atomic devices in the hands of the "breakaway" Soviet republics might recall the Latvian "gentleman" who once threatened the world in a story by Conan Doyle. Reported by Troy Taylor: Robert McCammon's BOY'S LIFE (New York: Pocket Books, 1991; 440 pp., $21.95); not Sherlockian (but with an appearance by one of Professor Challenger's dinosaurs). Add one more film to the list of occasions on which Sherlock Holmes can be seen driving an automobile: Jim Vogelsang notes that Holmes is seen at the wheel of the antique car at the end of "Murder by Death" (1976). The new trade-paperback edition of ROUND THE FIRE STORIES (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991; 226 pp., $9.95) is a fine companion to Chronicle's reprints of THE LOST WORLD & THE POISON BELT (Sep 89 #3) and WHEN THE WORLD SCREAMED & OTHER STORIES (Aug 90 #1). ROUND THE FIRE STORIES offers some well-told tales, including the apocryphal cases "The Man with the Watches" and "The Lost Special". According to a review in The Higher: The Times Higher Education Supplement (Sept. 6, 1991), at hand from Chris Redmond, MANLINESS AND MORALITY: MIDDLE CLASS MASCULINITY IN BRITAIN AND AMERICA, 1800-1940, edited by J. A. Mangan and James Walvin (Manchester University Press, 1991; 278 pp., L12.95), has an essay by Jeffrey Richards on "Manly Love and Victorian Society" in which the discussion of male love and friendship includes "that paramount sign of the complex but in the end confident nature of late Victorian masculinity, the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson." And the reviewer suggests that "the enduring power of this relationship in particular under- lines the need for continuing research into masculinity in history." Reported: the Promotional Services Center (Box 5062, Janesville, WI 53547) is running a "Whodunit?" mystery sweepstakes with a one-week tour of London as the grand prize ("you'll visit Scotland Yard and the haunts of Sherlock Holmes"). Apparently you are sent two packs of "a leading light cigarette" and an opinion-survey card that serves as your entry in the sweepstakes. Oct 91 #5 "There can be only one original of every painting. But this is not true of literature. There is no special virtue in first editions: one would usually prefer to read a later one in which the print- ing is up to date, the paper has not faded and the author has corrected the errors. All this trade [in rare books and fine bindings] is as deeply bor- ing to people who are interested in literature as it seems to be fascinat- ing to those others who, incapable of literary culture, try to buy the dis- tinction of letters by paying unusual prices for bibliographical rarities. . . . I can assure them that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a collector of first editions to enter the Kingdom of Literature." Edmund Wilson (1926), quoted by Janet Malcolm in the New Yorker (May 6, 1972). Reported: THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD (Canongate, L4.95), with a new introduction by Owen Dudley Edwards. The Latvian "gentleman" who once threatened the world in a story by Conan Doyle was the evil Theodore Nemor (in the Professor Challenger story "The Disintegration Machine"). Thanks to those who reported on the pictures of Anna May Wong in "A Study in Scarlet" on p. 43 of Chris Steinbrunner's THE FILMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. But does anyone have an actual still? And (even better) something showing Mrs. Pike with Sherlock Holmes? The new pin (enamel on metal) for The Parallel Case of St. Louis costs $12.00 postpaid, from Joseph J. Eckrich (7793 Keswick Place, St. Louis, MO 63119). Joe also offers a six- page sales list of Sherlockiana (send him a #10 SASE). The bidding at the auction of the library of Richard Manney by Sotheby's in New York demonstrated considerable interest in the more important Doyleana (prices include the 10% buyer's premium): $82,500 for the manuscript of "The Mazarin Stone"; $23,100 for Beeton's Christmas Annual (with two pages of advertisements and the rear cover in facsimile); $53,900 for the first printing of the first edition of THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES in dust jacket (the only known copy of the first printing in a jacket); $18,700 for an inscribed first edition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES; $16,500 for an inscribed first edition of THE VALLEY OF FEAR; and $4,950 for a first edition of THE LOST WORLD inscribed to Lady Doyle. There were some other nice items in the collection of Richard Manney, who had an interest in polar exploration, and owned an unpublished manuscript journal kept by T. Orde-Lees, who had been assigned by the Admiralty to Shackleton's trans-Antarctic expedition in 1914. After the wreck of their ship *Endurance*, the party managed to reach an island, whence Shackleton set off for help, leaving most of the men behind through a bitter winter that reduced them to eating boiled seaweed by the time they were rescued. Some years later, Orde-Lees noted in a typewritten continuation of the journal: "We were faced with starvation. For reasons unknown, disclosed to me some thirty years after, I was the one first on their list to be chosen to give sustenance to my comrades, because I was in better health than any of the others. This is one of the drawbacks of Polar exploration." Oct 91 #6 Richard Wein reports that the new catalog from The Mind's Eye (Box 1060, Petaluma, CA 94953) offers a "collector's edition" boxed set with the first 13 audiocassettes (with 26 Rathbone/Bruce radio programs) issued by Simon and Schuster at $99.35, and an attractive and colorful portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Bruce Wolff on sweatshirts ($24.95) and T-shirts ($14.95); they take plastic (800-227-2020). The catalog also has previously-available S'ian radio programs, as does a new catalog from Radiola, Box C, Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (800-243-0987). Richard also reports that Harmony Gold has delayed the air dates for "Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls" (starring Christopher Lee and Patrick Macnee), pending negotiations over release on videocassettes; the Feb. 17/Mar. 15 "window" for local stations has been postponed until May 18/June 14. Some more auction news: an unsigned typescript of the first three acts of a four-act dramatization of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" will be auctioned by Sotheby's in New York on Dec. 12. Previously owned by Bliss Austin, the typescript is dated Aug. 1902, and was typed at Mrs. Marshall's Typewriting Office in London, an agency that was used by Conan Doyle for typescripts of other plays (Adrian Conan Doyle suggested in a letter to Bliss Austin that the script of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" was "probably discarded by my father as unsuitable.") The auction at Sotheby's will also include a copy of WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST inscribed by Conan Doyle to Houdini. Further to the discussion of Niagara's "whizzing and buzzing" (Sep 91 #5), Don Pollock reports a comment by Richard Burton: "I well remember not being able to sleep within ear-shot of Niagara, whose mighty orchestra, during the stillness of the night, seemed to run through a repertoire of oratorios and operas." Burton visited Niagara Falls in 1860. Reported: Carin Rafferty's romance novel SHERLOCK AND WATSON (Don Mills: Harlequin Temptation, 1991; $2.99); Sherlockian only by title, and #363 in a subscription series that is also available in bookstores. Two Sherlockian wall calendars have been announced for 1992, showing dates for the cases taken from Baring-Gould's THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES. The calendar available from Mark Alberstat (6258 Payzant Avenue, Halifax, N.S. B3H 2B1, Canada) has Sidney Paget illustrations (US$10.00 postpaid), and the calendar from Brian and Charlotte Erickson (1029 Judson Drive, Mountain View, CA 94040) offers Ron White's new photographs of the recreation of the sitting-room at the Holiday Inn in San Francisco ($15.00 postpaid). James O. Duval's ceramic Christmas Christmas-tree ornaments (Nov 89 #2) are still available: Holmes on one side and Watson on the other, with a ribbon for hanging on a tree and a pedestal holder for display on a shelf. $17.50 postpaid, and Jim's address is 72 Merrimack Street, Penacook, NH 03303. Late-breaking news: the next volume in the series of BSI archival histories edited by Jon L. Lellenberg will be called IRREGULAR RECORDS OF THE EARLY 'FORTIES, due from the Fordham University Press in late November at $18.95 plus shipping. Procrastinators are warned that last year's volume sold out very quickly; the toll-free number is 800-666-2211, and they take plastic. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Nov 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Readers of the well-written and well-argued chapter on "Brief Writing and Oral Argument in Appellate Practice" in NEW YORK APPELLATE PRACTICE (a book published this year by the New York State Bar Association) may or may not be aware that most of the plaintiffs, defendants, parties, and witnesses have names taken from the Canon. The author of the chapter is Associate Justice Albert M. Rosenblatt, who carefully notes the distinction "between a brief that is either joyful and informative, and one that is dark and incomprehensible." Donald Houston died on Oct. 13. His acting career began on stage in 1940, and he made his film debut in loincloth and opposite Jean Simmons in "The Blue Lagoon" (1949), and his many later roles included a stalwart Watson in John Neville's "A Study in Terror" (1965). Further to the report (Aug 91 #3) on the National Farm Medicine Center's test of the best hat for farmers to wear to reduce their exposure to skin cancer, Bob Brusic and Gary Thaden have sent an Associated Press dispatch on the results. The winner (with 41 points) was a modified baseball cap with a detachable flap that covers the temples, ears, and neck. In second place (with 35 points) was a mesh variation of the deerstalker. Plan ahead: there will be (at least) two Sherlockian workshops in 1993. The Norwegian Explorers will sponsor a conference on "Sherlock Holmes' Victorian Criminal Classes: Rogues, Rascals, and Ruffians" on June 11-13 (write to: Bruce E. Southworth, 2600 West 86th Street, Bloomington, MN 55431). And The Scowrers and Mollie Maguires of San Francisco will hold their Sherlockian weekend at Stanford University on Aug. 5-7 (Charlotte A. Erickson, Box 341, Mount Eden, CA 94557). Gene Roddenberry died on Oct. 24. Best known as the creator of "Star Trek" (now celebrating its 25th anniversary), he also wrote more than 80 scripts for other television shows, and was head writer for the series "Have Gun, Will Travel". Susan J. Beasley has reported that several years after the original "Star Trek" series ended, Roddenberry wrote the screenplay for a television film that involved Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in a case that occurred after Holmes' retirement and was intended as a pilot for a series starring Leonard Nimoy as Holmes. Nimoy did not want to do the series, and when Roddenberry approached the Conan Doyle estate he was rudely rebuffed. Roddenberry then changed the names of the lead characters, and the two-hour film "Spectre" was broadcast by NBC-TV on May 21, 1977, with Robert Culp as William Sebastian and Gig Young as Dr. Hamilton. The Sept. 1991 issue of Canadian Holmes honors Cameron Hollyer, and one of its best features is a reprint of Cam's speech (in Montreal in 1990) about his career and the birth and nurturing of the Arthur Conan Doyle collection at the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library. It's the sort of thing that make one wish one could have been there, and additional recommendation is required, the Sept. 1991 issue also has Dayna Nuhn McCausland's portrait of a bare-breasted Mary Morstan. Canadian Holmes is a quarterly published by The Bootmakers of Toronto, and costs $12.00 a year (checks can be sent to Maureen Green, 47 Manor Road West, Toronto, Ont. M5P 1E6, Canada). Nov 91 #2 THE EXPLOITS OF BRIGADIER GERARD (Edinburgh: Canongate, 1991; 188 pp., L4.95) is a fine reprint of the first set of stories about the Brigadier, who was one of best of Conan Doyle's creations. The book also has a new and interesting introduction by Owen Dudley Edwards, and short notes introducing each of the stories. Irwin Allen died on Nov. 2. Famous in the film industry as "The Master of Disaster" for his work as producer of films that included "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972), "The Towering Inferno" (1974), and "The Swarm" (1978), he also produced, directed, and shared writing credit for "The Lost World" (1960). According to press reports, Allen purchased the rights to Conan Doyle's novel for $100,000 and hoped to star Gilbert Roland, Victor Mature, and either Trevor Howard or Peter Ustinov (and it would be nice indeed to have seen Ustinov in the role of Challenger). The manuscript of "The Mazarin Stone" and the copy of Beeton's Christmas Annual sold by Sotheby's last month (Oct 91 #5) were bought for stock by a British dealer. Potential purchasers are invited to write to Vivienne Rudd at E. Joseph, Booksellers, One Vere Street, London W1M 9HQ, England. The second issue of Varieties of Ash has arrived, and it is nicely done, with illustrated articles on events (past and present) at the Reichenbach Falls, and other Sherlockian commentary. The magazine is published twice a year, and annual subscriptions cost $10.00 (from Susan E. Dahlinger, 758 Third Street, Secaucus, NJ 07094). SHEER LUCK HOLMES is an amusing Australian two-act school musical (script by Simon Denver and music by Ian Dorricott), first performed in Brisbane in 1979 and now in its fifth edition, and available for AU$10.50 from Peepshow Productions (Bergann Road, Maleny, Queensland 4552, Australia. Shipping is extra (by airmail if requested), and Peepshow will ship with an invoice (to be paid only in Australian dollars, please). Joan Kerins notes that Daniel Massey (who plays J. Neil Gibson in Granada's version of "Thor Bridge") strongly resembles his father, and suggests that it may not have been mere coincidence that the son of an actor famous for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln was chosen to play a character described as "an Abraham Lincoln keyed to base uses instead of high ones." "But the Solar System!" Watson protested (in "A Study in Scarlet"). Our new booklet pane shows the nine planets, and the Moon, by way of honoring the exploration of space. Which of the planets is mentioned elsewhere in the Canon? Nov 91 #3 Roger Johnson reports that Thorley Walters died earlier this year. He was a generally-bewildered Watson, in the tradition of Nigel Bruce, in films with Christopher Lee in "Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes" (1962) and Douglas Wilmer in "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" (1965), and on television with Christopher Plummer in "Silver Blaze" (1977). He also played Watson in an uncredited cameo in the film "The Best House in London" (1969), and Major John Sholto on tele- vision in "The Sign of Four" (1983). The Klondike bear in Sherlockian costume (Oct 91 #4) does exist, and you do not need to solve the ice-cream-bar mystery in order to get one (mine has now arrived): you can send $16.45 and two proofs of purchase from Klondike six-packs to Klondike Holmes Bear, 5400 118th Avenue North, Clearwater, FL 34620. The new ten-story Harold Washington Library Center in downtown Chicago is grand indeed, and imaginatively designed, and the largest public library in the world (other libraries are larger but don't allow the public to borrow books). It has about 2 million books (in open stacks except for some fine special collections) and more than 600 staffers (and those that I met were knowledgeable and friendly), and a 400-seat auditorium, and computers that work. And planning is underway for a Sherlock Holmes Center, supported by the local Sherlockians. LESTRADE AND THE MAGPIE, by M. J. Trow (London: Constable, 1991; 224 pp., L12.99), is the tenth novel in his amusing series about Inspector Sholto Lestrade. The time is 1920, and Lestrade is remarried, reunited with his daughter, retired, and nevertheless thoroughly involved in a mystery that offers the now-traditional opportunities for name-dropping, bawdy humor, and puns. And for those who may have missed the first three titles in the series, CONSTABLE CRIME OMNIBUS 2 (London: Constable, 1991; 630 pp., L7.99) is a paperback omnibus reprint with THE ADVENTURES OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE, BRIGADE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE, and LESTRADE AND THE HALLOWED HOUSE. Newly noted audiocassettes: THE LOST WORLD (read by Jack Sonderlicker on six cassettes), THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (read by Gene Engene on six cassettes), and four volumes of SHORT STORIES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (each with six stories read by Tim Behrens on six cassettes). The fidelity is high, the stories are unabridged, the readings are nicely done, and the sets are available for $33.95 each from Books in Motion, 9212 East Montgomery #501, Spokane, WA 99206 (800-752-3199). Howard Haycraft ("The Devil's Foot") died on Nov. 11. Howard had a long and distinguished career in publishing (he was president and chairman of the board of the H. W. Wilson Co.), and was best-known in our field as an energetic and enthusiastic critic and editor. His first Sherlockian book was THE BOYS' SHERLOCK HOLMES (1936), and his MURDER FOR PLEASURE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE MYSTERY STORY (1941) was a splendid introduction to the field. He also edited THE ART OF THE MYSTERY STORY (1946), and received an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America in 1947 (and a special award in 1975 for his many contributions to mystery criticism and scholarship). He received in Investiture in 1950, and the BSI's Two-Shilling Award in 1972. Nov 91 #4 We will celebrate Sherlock Holmes' 138th birthday on Friday, Jan. 10, with the traditional festivities in New York. But the festivities will actually begin on Thursday at 9:00 am in the lobby of the Hotel Algonquin (59 West 44th Street), whence Allen Mackler will lead participants in the annual Christopher Morley Walk, which includes luncheon at McSorley's. Allen can be reached from Tuesday on at the Iroquois Hotel (212-840-3080). And at 8:00 pm on Thursday the Old SOBs3 will hold an Aunt Clara Singalong at O'Lunney,s saloon and restaurant at 12 West 44th Street. Sherlockians will wine and dine from a moderately-priced menu, and are invited to bring their own favorite song sheets. No advance payment is required, but space is limited and a check for $10.00 for each person in your party should be sent to Hugh O'Lunney (12 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036) to reserve your table (the $10.00 will be applied to your tab for the evening. And be certain to explain what the check is for (Hugh has a lot on his mind). Friday's schedule will begin with the Martha Hudson Breakfast from 8:30 to 10:30 am in the Oak Room at the Hotel Algonquin at 59 West 44th Street (The Stetaks, 15529 Diagonal Road, La Grange, OH 44050); $15.00 (checks payable to The Baker Street Irregulars) for a buffet of juice, eggs, oatmeal (back by popular demand), bacon, sausage, muffins, coffee, and tea. The William Gillette Luncheon starts at noon at the Old Homestead at 56 Ninth Avenue at 14th Street (Susan Rice, 125 Washington Place #2-E, New York, NY 10014; $28.50). Otto Penzler's annual open house at The Mysterious Bookshop (129 West 56th Street) is also on Friday, from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, and it is as always possible that S'ian authors will be on hand to sign their books. The Baker Street Irregulars will gather at 6:00 pm at 24 Fifth Avenue at 9th Street, and The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes at 6:00 pm at the Century Cafe at 132 West 43rd Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway (Evelyn A. Herzog, 360 West 21st Street #5-A, New York, NY 10011; $50.00). Early reservations are, as in past years, recommended for the breakfast, the luncheon, and the Adventuresses' dinner. On Saturday a posse of purveyors will be selling a variety of S'iana on the second floor at the Algonquin, from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Huckster tables are still available (Ray Betzner, 2906 Richard Pace South, Williamsburg, VA 23185); $30.00 for a half table, and $60.00 for a full table. On Saturday afternoon The Baker Street Irregulars will hold their annual reception, open to all Sherlockians and their friends, from 2:30 to 5:00 pm at 24 Fifth Avenue at 9th Street. There will be an open bar, with hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, and tickets cost $30.00 a person. Checks (payable to The Baker Street Irregulars) should be sent to Robert E. Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709. Mary Ellen Rich has once again kindly provided a list (see the next page) of hotels that offer reasonable (as defined by New York landlords) rates, along with a warning about non-optional extras: $2.00 a day occupancy tax, 8.25% state tax, 5% city tax, and 5% state tax on rooms costing more than $99.99. If you plan to arrive on Thursday, it is important to confirm that the weekend-package rates include Thursday. Nov 91 #5 Information on hotels: Algonquin (59 West 44th Street): special Sherlockian rate of $150 per night per room (single or double) (800-548-0345). Madison Towers (22 East 38th Street): $99 (single/double) (800-225-4340). Roosevelt (Madison Avenue at 45th Street): $89 (single/ double) (800-223-1870). Iroquois (49 West 44th Street): $75 (single) $85 (double) (800-332-7220). Shoreham (33 West 55th Street): $75 (single) $84 (double) (212-247-6700). Rosoffs (147 West 43rd Street, near the Century Cafe): $50 (single) $60 (double) (212-869-1212). Washington Square (103 Waverly Place just off Washington Square North, about three blocks from 24 Fifth Avenue): $52 (single) $73 (double) (212-777-9515). Further to the query (Nov 91 #2) about the planet mentioned in the Canon, it is in "The Bruce-Partington Plans" that Holmes suggests with regard to his brother Mycroft's impending visit to Baker Street that "a planet might as well leave its orbit," and later comments that "Jupiter is descending today." It is, however, possible that it was the god that was descending, rather than the planet. So: which of the other planets is mentioned by name in the Canon? Reports from Bouchercon .22 in Pasadena suggest that the convention was both enjoyable and hectic. The convention program ran to 100 pages, with Holmesian and Adlerian covers by Stu Shiffman, and the agenda included a panel discussion and a performance of Anthony Boucher's radio play "The Gunpowder Plot", and a presentation by Harry Andruschak on "The Dynamics of an Asteroid" (audiocassettes are available for $8.50 each postpaid from On-Site Taping Services, 29318 Quail Run, Agoura Hills, CA 91301. The convention also published a 100-page EDWARD D. HOCH BIBLIOGRAPHY, edited by Mike Nevins and June Moffatt and with a fine introduction by Marv Lachman ($10.00 postpaid, from SCIFI, Box 8442, Van Nuys, CA 91409). Plan ahead: Bouchercon XXIII in Toronto on Oct. 8-11, 1992 (Al Navis, Box 23, Postal Station S, Toronto, Ont. M5M 4L6, Canada); Bouchercon XXIV in Omaha in Oct. 1993 (Charles Levitt, Little Professor Book Center, 13455 West Center Road, Omaha, NE 68144); and Bouchercon XXV in Seattle in Oct. 1994 (Thom Walls, Box 1095, Renton, WA 98057). And Bouchercons are no longer the only mysterycons: the second annual western regional mystery conference will be held in San Francisco on Feb. 14-16, 1992 (Left Coast Crime, attn: Donna Rankin, Box 1367, Martinez, CA 94553), Malice Domestic IV will be held in Washington on Apr. 24-26, 1992 (Box 701, Herndon, VA 22070), the third annual midwest mystery and suspense convention will be held in Omaha on May 29-31, 1992 (Little Professor Book Center, 13455 Center Road, Omaha, NE 68144), and the International Crime & Mystery Festival will be held in Nottingham on May 29-June 7, 1992 (Shots in the Dark, attn: Adrian Wootton, Broadway, Broad Street, Nottingham, NG1 3AL, England). Howard Einbinder (180 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201) offers a new five-page sales-list of Sherlockiana. Suzan L. Zeder's two-act play "The Death and Life of Sherlock Holmes" was first produced in Louisville in 1987, and it has been revived at The Open Eye: New Stagings at 270 West 89th Street in New York. Performances will run through Dec. 15, and you can call 212-679-4143 for reservations. Nov 91 #6 This year's summer-weekend excursion by The Sherlock Holmes Society of London was to Winchester, and the guidebook is a splendid production, with 83 pages of maps, illustrations, and articles by members of the Society. Copies of THE TRI-METALLIC QUESTION cost $33.00 postpaid (surface mail) from Peter Horrocks (22 Old Buildings, Lincoln's Inn, London WC2A 3UJ, England). And Roger Johnson, who will be briefly in the U.S. in Dec., will have a supply available at $27.00. A fine example of the imaginative details in the Granada series occurs in "The Illustrious Client" in the scene that shows the evil Baron turning the pages of his "lust diary" while listening to a recording from an opera. As more than one of my correspondents (more knowledgeable about opera than I) have noted, the aria is the "Catalog Song of Leporello" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni" (in which the Don's servant enumerates his master's conquests). The eleventh annual Sherlock Holmes/Conan Doyle Symposium at Wright State University in Dayton will be held on Mar. 14-15, 1992. Contact: Alvin E. Rodin, 3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385. "She keeps a quote on her desk from the writer Arthur Conan Doyle: 'Medio- crity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.'" (from the cover story about Madonna in TV Guide, Nov. 23) As for the other planet mentioned in the Canon (Nov 91 #5), it is of course our own. How on Earth could anyone have forgotten that often-used phrase? A new sales-list of Sherlockiana has arrived from Carolyn and Joel Senter (Classic Specialties, Box 19058, Cincinnati, OH 45129). Reported by Erwin Schussel: MURDER AT CHRISTMAS AND OTHER STORIES, edited by Cynthia Manson (New York: Signet, 1991; $4.99); contents include James Powell's "Death in the Christmas Hour" (reprinted from EQMM, Jan. 1983), in which a murder is solved by a Sherlock Holmes doll. A new catalog from the Mysterious Bookshop (129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019) has a section of S'iana, old and new, and an announcement of a hardcover reprint of Richard L. Boyer's pastiche THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA in the Armchair Detective Library ($19.95). Yes indeed, times and prices do change. This advertisement was spotted by Ted Schulz in the Sept. 1904 issue of McClure's Magazine. That issue cost 10c on the newsstands (or one-twentieth of the price of an inexpensive room at the Algonquin). Hotels inflate faster than magazines . . . The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Dec 91 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press An article by Andrew Blum in the Wall Street Journal (Nov. 22) about the continuing battle over where 221B Baker Street really is quotes Grace Riley (who works for John Aidiniantz) as saying that his Sherlock Holmes Museum has had 25,000 visitors over the last eight months. But: that's more than 100 visitors a day, seven days a week. A mailing from Ted Schulz includes a reminder that two collections of S'ian golf stories by Bob Jones are still available: SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE GOLFER (1981; 182 pp., $8.75 postpaid) and SHERLOCK HOLMES SAVED GOLF (1986; 151 pp., $10.95 postpaid). The tales are nicely told, and interesting even to those who are not avid golfers, and the books can be ordered (inscribed on request) from the author (Box 582, Pebble Beach, CA 93953). Further to the multi-part question on the Solar System and its planets (Nov 91), Bob Thomalen was the first to note that Mercury is also mentioned in the Canon (in "The Hound of the Baskervilles"). Yes, but that Mercury was not a planet, but rather a newspaper (the Leeds Mercury). Spotted by Ralph Hall (and presumably available in supermarkets): TINY TOON ADVENTURES, a box of 100 five-ounce paper Dixie kitchen cups with different designs, one of which shows Babs Bunny in Sherlockian costume. An article in MACWeek (Nov. 19), at hand from Mark Erdrich, notes that the ICOM Simulations game "Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective" (Feb 91 #2) will soon be available on CD-ROM discs for Macintosh and IBM computers (the game was launched earlier on compact discs that play on NEC and other home video-game machines). The game will retail at $69.95 and runs 90 minutes, with some 15-frames-per-second quarter-screen video. Jeremy Brett was interviewed on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition" on Nov. 17, and John E. Stephenson reports that a printed transcript is available from National Public Radio (Audience Services), 2025 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 (mark the envelope "transcript order" at lower left); $10.00 postpaid. Plans are afoot for a Michael Harrison Memorial Bench in Palmeira Square, in front of his home in Hove, and donations for this nice project can be sent to Tina Rhea, 3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770. Tim O'Connor reports that the Pauline Ralph "Sherlock Holmes Pub" music box is still available, from Shannon Duty Free Mail Order (c/o Aer Lingus/Irish Airlines, Building No. 87, John F. Kennedy Airport, NY 11439 (800-223-6716) Ireland) at $74.00 plus $13.80 shipping (item LC00604). The music box is six inches high, with a trinket compartment under the roof, and they take plastic. Jim Vogelsang reports that theaters showing the new Disney film "Beauty and the Beast" are showing a trailer for "The Great Mouse Detective" as one of the coming attractions, and that Basil is now due for a second release in the spring (probably around Easter). Jim also suggests that you keep an eye out for tie-in merchandise at Disney stores at local shopping malls. Dec 91 #2 It would appear that TNT cable broadcast a 15-minute feature on "A Century of Sleuthing" after the premiere of "The Crucifer of Blood" on Nov. 4 -- and did not broadcast the feature after the repeats. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has an off-the-air recording of "A Century of Sleuthing". The late winter '92 catalog from DAK Industries (8200 Remmet Avenue, Canoga Park, CA 91304) (800-325-0800) has a Sherlockian cover, promoting their new Portable Tale Spinner, a battery-powered XLP audiocassette machine ($49.90) that plays 12-hour cassettes, one of which is Scene of the Crime ($29.90) with unabridged readings of A STUDY IN SCARLET, THE SIGN OF THE FOUR, THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, and THE MOONSTONE. Leslie P. Engelland's THE DESERT GANG MYSTERIES is a collection of stories for young readers, about a young boy whose family moves to Saudi Arabia, where he meets new friends and solves a series of amusing mysteries. The book is Sherlockian only for Marsha Cain's cover art, which is also amusing, showing a Sherlockian camel. $7.50 plus shipping, from SandScripts, P.O. Box 61279, Riyadh 11565, Saudi Arabia. An article in the N.Y. Times (Nov. 24), at hand from Syd Goldberg, reports that London's Isle of Dogs is now a mixed-use community administered by the London Docklands Developments Corp., with homes and offices for a couple of hundred thousand Londoners, and a residential theme park -- certainly quite different from the days when Holmes and Watson rounded the Isle of Dogs in pursuit of the dainty Aurora and the Agra Treasure. BOY'S LIFE, by Robert R. McCammon (New York: Pocket Books, 1991; 440 pp., $21.95), is a delightful book, presenting the story of a young boy growing up in Zephyr, Alabama, in the 1960s. There is a mystery (with plenty of red herrings and a nice solution), and a passing mention Holmes and Watson, and an appearance by one of the dinosaurs from the Lost World, but the real strength of the book is in its fantasy and humor and (most importantly) in its warm style and splendid characters. Our congratulations to Ann Byerly, who is engaged to be married (probably in June) to John Marlowe. Ann's new address is 10324 Castlehedge Terrace, Silver Spring, MD 20902 (301-681-5197). Videotaper alert: Arts & Entertainment cable began broadcasting "In Search of . . ." on Sundays at 6:00 pm (with repeats on Wednesdays at 10:00 pm and Thursdays at 2:00 am). And at some point they may show "In Search of . . . Sherlock Holmes" (1978) [D4622b]. "He looks exactly like a Hound of the Baskervilles," according to Bobbye Crawford, "but he has the most loving, playful temperament." And he is at the moment residing with Bobbye, who is seeking someone who needs a canine companion. A photograph and additional details are available from Bobbye Crawford, 1809 Shelby Avenue, Nashville, TN 37206 (615-228-4789). Dec 91 #3 Selections from MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, the anthology edited by Thomas Godfrey and published by the Mysterious Press in 1982, have been issued in a four-cassette boxed set of audiocassettes from Dove Books on Tape ($24.95). One of the stories is "The Blue Carbuncle", read (and nicely read) by John Standing. There's a Sherlockian excuse (in case anyone needs one) to see the new film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country": in the Orlando Sentinel (Dec. 4), an article by Jay Boyar (at hand from Gary Westmoreland) reports that at one point in the film, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise are trying to determine who has attacked a Klingon ship. "When an unlikely solution is proposed, Spock says that an ancestor of his (whom he doesn't name) once remarked that when you eliminate all the impossible solutions, the one that is left, no matter how improbable, is correct." And Nicholas Meyer, who directed and co-wrote the film, confirmed to Boyar that the allusion was a deliberate echo from the Canon. Meyer enjoys seeing the film with preview audiences, he said, "because there are enough Holmes buffs in the audience that people go nuts when that line comes up." Also: the fiendish Klingon General Chang (played by Christopher Plummer), exclaims (elsewhere in the film), "The game's afoot!" (quoting Shakespeare). Where in the Canon does "The game's afoot!" appear? Roger Johnson reports that The Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment will unveil a memorial to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Crowborough on May 23, 1992. The society is led by Malcolm Payne, who has done much to ensure that Sir Arthur is remembered in Crowborough, and those who would like to attend the festivities can obtain additional information from Philip Weller (6 Bramham Moor, Hill Head, Fareham, Hants. PO14 3RU, England). "It is the mute hound that bites the hardest." --Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (at least that's the attribution in an article about radar detectors in Road & Track, at hand from Paul Martin). The quotation isn't from the Canon: can anyone identify the source? More Sherlockian philately, in a set of stamps issued this year to honor the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Ordnance Survey. The four stamps show the area around the village of Hamstreet in Kent, from maps published in 1816, 1906, 1959, and 1991. The ordnance maps now cover all of Britain at a scale of one inch to the mile (two centimeters to the kilometer in these metric days), and are as important to travelers now as they were in Sherlock Holmes' time. Ordnance Survey maps are mentioned three times in the Canon (Engr, Prio, and Houn). Dec 91 #4 Additional news on the earlier report that Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) is to be restored and released in an uncut version: Bruce Southworth has noted an interview by Andrew Sarris (in Film Comment, July-Aug. 1991) in which Wilder said that the missing footage does exist, but must be cleared through the Mirisch brothers (who produced the film). The mail-order catalogs from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011) continue to offer discount and remaindered books, including William Neblett's SHERLOCK'S LOGIC (1985) at $9.95; a college-level textbook that presents a murder mystery investigated by Sherlock Holmes' grandson, using the mystery to demonstrate and analyze methods of logical reasoning. DIE KUNST PFEIFE ZU RAUCHEN is the title of the German edition of Richard Carlton Hacker's THE ULTIMATE PIPE BOOK, published here in a second revised edition in 1989 with discussion of Sherlockian pipes and pipe-smoking. The German edition is further revised, with color plates, and a few copies are available for $55.00 postpaid from Rick (Box 634, Beverly Hills, CA 90213). It should also be noted that the long-stemmed pipe smoked by Jeremy Brett in the latest Granada series was designed by Rick, made by Steve Waddell, and presented to Brett in Jan. 1990. Our new stamped envelope shows a family of country geese (yes, the gemmiverous goose in the Canon was town-bred, but country-bred geese were available at Breckinridge's stall). Unfortunately the envelope was issued only in the #6 size, so I couldn't use it for this mailing. Where in the Canon does "The game's afoot!" appear? Nowhere. What Holmes said (in "The Abbey Grange") was "The game is afoot." One Sherlockian scholar has noted that Sherlock Holmes quoted Shakespeare many times, but never exactly correct. But "the game was afoot" in another Canonical story. In which story? And who said that the game was afoot? Reporting on the auction at Sotheby's in New York on Dec. 12: the copy of first American edition of THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST, inscribed by Conan Doyle to Harry Houdini, sold for $6,050 (including the 10% buyer's premium). But the unsigned typescript of the first three acts of a four- act dramatization of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (estimated at $15,000- 25,000) did not make the reserve and was bought in. Previously owned by Bliss Austin, the typescript is dated Aug. 1902, and typed at the agency used by Conan Doyle for other plays, but the lack of firm proof that the dramatization was written by Conan Doyle apparently held down the bidding. A late-breaking report on an addition to the birthday-festivities schedule: "Holmes, Sweet Holmes" will be one of four one-act ballets presented by the Dance Circle Company at the Marymount Manhattan Theatre at 221 East 71st Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) on Jan. 11 (8:00 pm) and Jan. 12 (2:00 pm). "Holmes Sweet Holmes" is an amusing mystery-ballet choreographed and directed by Ernesta Corvino to music by Tchaikovsky, first produced in 1984 and warmly reviewed in the N.Y. Times. Tickets cost $12.00 (or $8.00 for students and seniors), and the box-office phone number is 212-924-0077. Dec 91 #5 We learned only recently of the death of Michael L. Cook, in 1988. Michael was an enthusiastic collector and bibliographer: MURDER BY MAIL (1979 and 1983) provided a fine discussion and checklist of the mystery book clubs; MYSTERY, DETECTIVE, AND ESPIONAGE MAGAZINES (1983) included comment on the major Sherlockian journals; MYSTERY FANFARE (1983) was an annotated index to the mystery fanzines; and MYSTERY DETECTIVE, AND ESPIONAGE FICTION (1988) was a massive two-volume checklist of the contents of American pulp magazine from 1915 to 1974. And his contributions to our Sherlockian literature included the Foreword to Sherlock Holmes' PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BEE CULTURE (Magico, 1981) and a monograph on THE ANCIENT CURSE OF THE BASKERVILLES (Gaslight, 1984). THE FILMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Chris Steinbrunner and Norman Michaels, is not the first of the Sherlockian filmographies, but it was, and is, one of the very best. And it is really Chris Steinbrunner's book, since it is his scholarship and enthusiasm that illuminates his world of Sherlockian films. He gives scant attention to many of the early and long-lost films, but that allows more space for his commentary, and his commentary is often far more interesting than the films themselves. First published in 1978, THE FILMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES has been reissued as a large trade-paperback (New York: Citadel Press, 1991; 253 pp., $15.95). It was Watson who said that "the game was afoot" (in "Wisteria Lodge"). The latest issue of Anglofile reports a new twist on fan-campaigns to keep series on the air: the "Doctor Who Action Committee" is threatening to file a lawsuit against the BBC to force it to resume production. The committee maintains that the BBC, funded by a mandatory television license fee, has a duty to broadcast fee-payers' favorite shows. Anglofile also has a report on the auction of independent television franchises in Britain (Sep 91 #6): Granada Television won renewal, and Thames Television lost its franchise. Responsible for about a third of ITV's programming (including "Rumpole of the Bailey"), Thames quickly announced that it would become an independent production company, selling programs to everyone (including the BBC). And the magazine has a two-page interview with Jeremy Brett. Anglofile offers the latest entertainment news from Great Britain, and costs $12.00 a year (Box 33515, Decatur, GA 30333). Comic-book news: BAKER STREET (Caliber) is now up to #9, with part IV of a story called "Children of the Night" (a non-Sherlockian Jack-the-Ripper echo, but with the same characters that appeared in "Honour Among Punks"). And BAKER STREET GRAFFITI has old and new material, including a reprint of the Sherlockian "Elementary My Dear" from CALIBER PRESENTS #9. Each of the comic books costs $2.50. And the CALIBER SUMMER SPECIAL ($3.95) includes a reprint of the opening of "Honour Among Punks" (these are all for "mature" audiences, and are quite graphic, though not porno). More comic-book news: THE NINE LIVES OF FELIX THE CAT (Harvey) apparently is reprinting old stories from the 1950s. #3 (Feb. 1992) has Felix with a deerstalker on the cover ($1.25). Video-taper alert: Tom Baker's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1984) will air on Arts & Entertainment cable in two parts on Jan. 28 and Feb. 4. Dec 91 #6 Reported from Great Britain: DETECTIVE STORIES FROM THE STRAND MAGAZINE and STRANGE TALES FROM THE STRAND MAGAZINE, edited by Jack Adrian and with forewords by Julian Symons (Oxford University Press, 1991; 374 pp., L15.95 each). Honoring the centenary of the founding of The Strand Magazine, the anthologies offer six stories by ACD (three Canonical tales in the first volume, and three non-Sherlockian in the second). The first volume also has Ronald Knox's fine pastiche "The Apocryphal Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the First Class Carriage". SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS, edited by Harold Orel (London: Macmillan, 1991; 278 pp., L45.00) (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991; 278 pp., $59.95), is an intriguing approach to biography, offering extracts from Conan Doyle's own writings, from interviews with him, and from articles, essays, and autobiographies written by people who knew him. Orel has divided his selections into five sections ("The Years at Edinburgh University"; "Sherlock Holmes"; "The Professional Writer"; "Speaking Out on Public Issues; Sports"; and "Spiritualism"), and has added useful notes to help modern readers to whom many names and references will not be familiar. And although the book is expensive, there are many reasons to recommend it: one is that the selection is a good one, providing first-hand insight into many aspects of Conan Doyle's life and career. Another reason is that the opinions and interpretations are those of the writers, who were closer to Conan Doyle than any of us (whether biographers or admirers) can be today. And (possibly most important) there is much material that will be new, and interesting, to almost anyone who wishes to know more about a man who did so much, and so well. And an additional philatelic item: the new postal card commemorating the 150th anniversary of the University of Notre Dame, John Bennett Shaw's alma mater, where he presided over a Sherlockian workshop in 1977. The card shows the University's administration building. "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes send off to Stanfords for an Ordnance Survey map of Dartmoor to help solve the mystery of the 'Hound of the Baskervilles," notes an article on London's "Bookshops for Gadabouts" in the N.Y. Times (Dec. 15), at hand from Syd Goldberg. Founded by Edward Stanford in Covent Garden in 1852, it moved in 1901 to 12-14 Long Acre, where it is still in business, claiming with great pride to be the world's largest map-seller (by stock and range, sales and floor space). Robert S. Paul's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SHERLOCK HOLMES? DETECTIVE FICTION, POPULAR THEOLOGY, AND SOCIETY (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991; 305 pp., $24.95) is a theological study of the genre, and an examination of how the genre reflects contemporary culture, religion, and ethical standards. Paul begins his study with "Those Eminent Victorians" (and he has consulted Wayne Wall's article on "The Theology of Sherlock Holmes" in the Sept. 1979 issue of the BSJ) and concludes with a view of the modern writers, suggesting that a large part of the reading public welcomes a return to detective fiction set in earlier times. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830