Jan 86 #1   The most important news from the annual dinner was Julian
            Wolff's announcement that he was retiring from the leadership
of The Baker Street Irregulars (having held the job longer than anyone
else, Julian said, he decided to be the first to get out alive), and that
he was handing over the reins to Thomas L. Stix, Jr.  And Tom's first
official act, as the new Wiggins of the BSI, was his announcement that
Julian will continue as our Commissionaire Emeritus.  Tom's address is 34
Pierson Avenue, Norwood, NJ 07648.

Nancy Pond (daughter of Walter Pond) was The Woman, honored at the BSI
pre-dinner cocktail party and by The Women at dinner at the National Arts
Club.  The BSI dinner featured the traditional agenda, including Philip R.
Brogdon's fine toast to Sherlock Holmes as Watson's, and our, best friend.
John Bennett Shaw displayed, explained, and defended a life mask of
Sherlock Holmes, apparently taken by M. Oscar Meunier, and Isaac Asimov
doubled as tenor and baritone in a Canonical parody of Gilbert and Sullivan
(Holmes was a much better musician than Sullivan, said Asimov, who then
demonstrated his conclusions by singing some of Gilbert's songs set to
different music chosen by Holmes).

Irregular Shillings were awarded to Eric Beckman (Stapleton), David L.
Hammer (Major-General Stoner), Joseph Fink (The Martyrdom of Man), John
Constable (The Crooked Man), Robert E. Robinson (The Hansom Cab), Gordon R.
Speck (Colonel James Barclay), Bob Bisio (Shinwell Johnson), Richard B.
Shull (An Actor and a Rare One), Barton A. Eberman (The Hound of the
Baskervilles), James P. Suszynski (The Dying Detective), Don Werby (Old
Abrahams), C. Paul Martin (Dr. Leslie Armstrong), Andrew Malec (The Strange
Old Book Collector), and Steven Rothman (The Valley of Fear).  And Two-
Shilling Awards were given to Chris Steinbrunner, Henry T. Folsom, John B.
Koelle, Edward F. Clark, William P. Schweickert, Philip A. Shreffler, and
Theodore G. Schulz.

Other Friday events were The Martha Hudson Breakfast at the Algonquin, The
William Gillette Luncheon at the Old Homestead, Otto Penzler's open house
at The Mysterious Bookshop, The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes at Keen's,
the post-dinners gathering at Keen's, and the post-Keen's gathering at the
Notre Dame suite at the Royalton.  The ASH dinner agenda included Sherry
Rose-Bond's poetic history of the Adventuresses, a slide show by Helen E.
Heinrich, and a new Sherlockian performance by The Friends of Bogie's.

Saturday's events included Julian and Eleanor Wolff's reception at the
Grolier Club (on Julian's 81st birthday), and a Sherlockian invasion of
Bogie's (enlivened by an attempted robbery in the parking lot across the
street).  On Sunday south-bound travelers dined in Philadelphia with The
Master's Class at the Franklin Inn Club, where Daniel S. Knight assembled a
group of devoted Savoyards for some authentic Victorian musicalities.

Press coverage was liberal, starting with the N.Y. Times on Jan. 5 (an
appreciative article by BSI Karl E. Meyer), continuing with the N.Y. Post
on Jan. 10 (a long article by Marilyn Stasio with a sidebar by Chris
Steinbrunner), and ending with the Washington Post on Jan. 11 (an article
filed from their New York bureau with quotes from Christian Steinbrunner,
Andrew Peck, Jon Welenberg, and others).

Jan 86 #2   THE BOZZ CHRONICLES is an intriguing bi-monthly from Epic
            Comics, with Bozz being an extremely alien time traveler in
London in the latter half of the 19th century.  Nothing S'ian in the 1st
issue (Dec. 1985), but Bozz appears in a deerstalker and cloak in the 2nd
issue (Feb. 1986), and Jerry Margolin has been informed by someone in the
field that a future issue will be more S'ian.  Marvel Comics Group, 387
Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016; $1.50 an issue.

Those Hare-Krishna look-alikes in the Egyptian temple in "Young Sherlock
Holmes" were Hare Krishnas, according to an item in the Dec. 1985 issue of
Mademoiselle.  "Their peanut-butter cookies were quite tasty," according to
Nicholas Rowe.  And Alan Cox noted that director Levinson "had to keep
telling them to scowl.  Hare Krishnas have the most peaceful expression
I've ever seen."  Confirmation in the Young Sherlock Holmes Official
Souvenir Magazine ($2.95 at bookshops), with plot synopsis, photographs,
design sketches, etc.; published by Ira Friedman, Inc., 10 Columbus Circle
#1300, New York, NY 10019.  There is also YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE
STORYBOOK, adapted by Peter Lerangis (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985;
$7.95), with lots of color photos.  And an album of the soundtrack music
(MCA-6l59; $7.98) (there's also a cassette, of course).  And the film is
featured in Scholastic Scope (Nov. 29, 1985); $2.25 for the teachers'
edition; 730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

The Armchair Detective (winter 1986) has William A. S. Sarjeant's six-page
report on "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota" (John Bennett
Shaw told the gathering that "Sherlock" was the trade-name of a type of
chastity belt), and Louis Phillips' "The President on Baker Street" (a
one-page summary, uncredited, of Edgar W. Smith's A BAKER STREET FOLIO).

The Promised Valley Playhouse in Salt Lake City had a new production of
"The Hound of the Baskervilles" from Oct. 17 to Nov. 9, 1985, and the
program had a full-color S'ian cover illo; Ron De Waal has extra copies (no
charge), and his address is: The Libraries, Colorado State University, Fort
Collins, CO 80523.

Aljean Harmetz's long article on Michael D. Eisner ("The Man Re-animating
Disney") in the N.Y. Times Magazine (Dec. 29, 1985) includes a large color
illo from "Basil of Baker Street" (due for release this summer).

Sherlockian philatelists can put last year's Sinclair Lewis stamp and this
year's Jack London stamp on the same album page.  In 1910 Lewis proposed to
London a series of stories about the World Police, to be unified by a
central character, the Man of the World Police.  "He need not--should not,
and, with you writing, would not--be in the least like Sherlock Holmes, but
Holmes offers suggestions, nevertheless," Lewis wrote.  Cited from THE MAN
FROM MAIN STREET: A SINCLAIR LEWIS READER (New York: Random House, 1953, p.
124) by Robert L. Coard in his article "Sinclair Lewis, Max Gottleib, and
Sherlock Holmes" (Modern Fiction Studies, autumn 1985, p. 565-571), at hand
from Robert F. Fleissner.

Avon has reissued EARTHMAN'S BURDEN, by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson
(D5795a) with a new cover (189 p., $2.95); their "Adventure of the
Misplaced Hound" is still one of the best SF/SH items in print.

Jan 86 #3   Paulette Greene (140 Princeton Road, Rockville Centre, NY
            11570) offers THE LAST CASE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, a new pastiche
by Trevor H. Hall ("Dr. Hall pieces together the puzzle of Ivy Johnson
Bull's life with the assistance of Sherlock Holmes's only son, Dr. S. J. H.
M. V. Holmes-Adler, F.R.S."); $31.50 postpaid.

"I'm not interested in money," said Gaby Goldscheider to a reporter from
The Times (Nov. 30, 1985) in a discussion of her new Sherlock Holmes Book
Club of Great Britain (32 Hornton Street, Kensington W8).  The article is
on "Keeping the Books in Profit" in the paper's "Family Money" section, and
discusses the investment value of S'ian.  The club is open from Thursday to
Saturday, sometimes Sunday, with coffee served, but only by appointment
(01-937-7311).

For those who have not yet visited all of the places visited by Sherlock
Holmes, the Smithsonian Resident Associates Travel Program offers two
guided tours of Tibet, in June and September, with stops in Shannan,
Gyantze, Xigaze, and Lhasa.  There was no Baedeker's Handbook for Tibet in
the 1890s, but if there had been it surely would have included a warning
note similar to the Smithsonian's: "In addition to an ambitious travel
program in each city, you will be traveling great distances over rugged
terrain at high altitudes and through undeveloped areas with few amenities.
This is an exciting opportunity for Associates fully prepared to meet the
challenges of a rugged environment."

It is unlikely that SH's articles and monographs were actually written as
scientific papers, but he certainly agreed with the advice ("be exacting
and unemotional") offered by Michael J. Katz in ELEMENTS OF THE SCIENTIFIC
PAPER (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985; 130 p., $20.00 cloth, $6.95
paper); Katz's "step-by-step guide for students and professionals" uses
appropriate Canonical quotations as headings for three chapters.

General Gordon is no longer considered to be the unmitigated hero that he
was when his portrait was newly framed by Watson, and we're a year late,
since the centenary of Gordon's death at Khartoum was celebrated on Jan.
26, 1985, but ... Jack Kerr reports Denis Judd's article on "Gordon of
Khartoum: The Making of an Imperial Martyr" in the Jan. 1985 issue of
History Today.  Another article was "The Enigma of Chinese Gordon" by
Donovan Fitzpatrick, in MD (Nov. 1985).  It would appear, from the lack of
any citation by Ron De Waal, that there has never been a S'ian article
about Gordon (an opportunity, obviously, for the militarists in our ranks).
If you'd like to see the last letter Gordon ever wrote, it's in the May
1892 issue of The Strand Magazine, in the "Illustrated Interview" with Lord
Wolseley.

There's a discount edition of A STUDY IN SCARLET: A SHERLOCK HOLMES MURDER
DOSSIER (London: Peerage Books, 1985; $7.98); printed as a book, without
the wedding ring and other clues found in the first edition.  Also SHERLOCK
HOLMES: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED SHORT STORIES (London: Chancellor Press,
1985; 986 p., $7.99); all the short stories, with some but not all of the
illustrations from the Strand.  The books are reported so far only in Coles
bookshops in the U.S.; Peerage Books and Chancellor Press have the same
London address as Octopus Books (perhaps an appropriate name.

Jan 86 #4   Who wrote the first short story ever published in Punch?

"Young Sherlock Holmes" opened in Australia on Dec. 19, with mildly
enthusiastic reviews, and two weeks later was being advertised as "Young
Sherlock Holmes: The Pyramid of Fear".  And one review included Alan Cox's
description of how his hallucination scene was filmed, with the reviewer's
comment, "previous screen Watsons have endured many things in the course of
their relationship with Holmes, but lying stretched out on a studio floor
being attacked by puppet pastries has not been one of them."  All this from
Derham Groves, who happily announces that he and Ping are now proud parents
of son Huey, born on Dec. 30.

"You can depend on a woman for anything except constancy.  Not that I
disapprove of women, except when they attempt to function like domestic
animals.  When they stick to the vocations for which they are best adapted,
such as chicanery, sophistry, self-advertisement, cajolery, mystification,
and incubation, they are sometimes superb creatures."  (Nero Wolfe, quoted
by Ken Darby in his Lakeside Talk at the Bohemian Grove in July 1983.)

Barbara Iris Ulan (aka A Tangled Skein) offers a made-to-order first
edition for dyed-in-the-wool S'ians: a hand-loomed V-neck pullover vest
emblazoned with a portrait of SH, with background mouse-colored (light grey
to tan, dependent on the breed) and motif in scarlet, priced at $45 to $75
according to size.  For an illustrated flier with full details, send a #10
SASE to Barbara at 165 East 35th Street #10-I, New York, NY 10016.

The final official definite formal announcement from PBS' "Mystery!" is
that "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" will air beginning Feb. 6.  The
cases, in order, will be "Gree", "Resi", Norw", "Copp", RedH", and "Fina".

The first short story published in Punch appeared in the Jan. 3, 1900,
issue: "The Debut of Bimbashi Joyce" by Arthur Conan Doyle.  I've not seen
this noted before; credit the back of the dust jacket for T. S. Blakeney's
SHERLOCK HOLMES: FACT OR FICTION?

"A Genuine Monster" is the title of Edward R. Ricciuti's article in the
Jan. 1986 issue of Audubon about Cyanea capillata (with mention of the
Canonical "Lion's Mane").  Reported by Richard G. Smith, who also notes a
suggestion in Glamour (Jan. 1986): "Burrow into a fluffy comforter (buy one
for less at a January white sale) and brave the spine-tingling chill of a
Sherlock Holmes mystery.  January 6 is the famous sleuth's birthday."

Filming for the $18 million movie of Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose"
has ended on location at a 12th century monastery near Frankfurt, and the
company is moving to Rome, according to Time (Jan. 6, 1986).  William of
Baskerville is played by Sean Connery.  F. Murray Abraham (of "Chariots of
Fire") also has a role, according to earlier reports.

I occasionally see reports, or reports of reports, that the Abbey National
Building Society has moved away from Baker Street (to Brighton, among other
places.  Not to worry -- on Oct. 7, 1985, Jeremy Brett (as Sherlock Holmes)
unveiled a bronze plaque honoring the detective at 221B Baker Street, where
Abbey still maintains it head offices.

Jan 86 #5   "Autumn in Baker Street" is scheduled for Oct. 11-12, 1986, at
            Bear Mountain, N.Y., combining "scholarship with friendship,
emotion with reason, and explication with participation."  A flier is
available from Bob Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709.

Reported by John Bennett Shaw: THE READER'S ANTHOLOGY, edited by Robert R.
Potter, with a dramatization of "Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band" by
Alice Delman (with illustrations, notes, and a Teacher's Resource Manual);
Globe Book Co., 50 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010.  Also (same
publisher): THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (D650a) in a new (1984)
edition with illustrations by Nat Glattauer.  THE SHOPS AND INNS OF LONDON,
including The Sherlock Holmes, in a 655-piece jigsaw puzzle, 18 by 25 in.,
$10.00, available from Adam York, Hanover, PA 17331.

The Hounds of the Baskerville (sic) are celebrating the Vincent Starrett
Centennial Year during 1986; if you'd like to be on their mailing list,
write to Robert J. Mangler, 103 Broadway, Wilmette, IL 60091.

"The matter seems to me to be of such importance that I grudge every day
that passes without something having been done to bring it to realization,"
wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a letter published in The Times (Mar. 11,
1913).  The "matter" was the Channel Tunnel, which he supported for many
years, and in another letter in The Times (Dec. 9, 1922) he suggested that
"in money alone it is impossible to compute how much was wasted by our
insane policy of obstructing the boring of the tunnel in pre-war days."

Wally Conger advises fans of the 1984 movie "The Adventures of Buckaroo
Banzai" that The Banzai Institute (c/o Twentieth Century-Fox, Box 900,
Beverly Hills, CA 90213) offers free membership in the official Buckaroo
Banzai Fan Club: The Blue Blaze Irregulars.

Ron De Waal reports an interesting pairing of epigraphs in Irving Wallace's
THE SEVENTH SECRET (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1986): "Though a good deal is
too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened"
(Thomas Hardy) and "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever
remains, however improbable, must be the truth" (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).

Also reported by Ron De Waal: THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. THE
MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, illustrated by Ian Beck (London: Octopus Books,
1985; 348 p., $5.98 at B. Dalton); with THE CELEBRATED CASES OF SHERLOCK
HOLMES as half-title.  THE WORKS OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, frontispiece by
Modeste Stein (London: Longmeadow Press, 1985; xxiv+808 p., $14.95 at
Waldenbooks); almost the same as the earlier Avenel Books edition (Stud
through Bruc), with an additional Introduction by Patricia Horan.  And a
large deerstalker and magnifying glass on a 4-page pamphlet on SURVIVING
SEC SCRUTINY: SECURITIES PRACTICE, from Callaghan & Co., 3201 Old Glenview
Road, Wilmette, IL 60091.

Ferret Fantasy (27 Beechcroft Road, London SW17 7BX, England), losing some
storage facilities, is offering some publications at half price, including
MY EVENING WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES (a 1981 collection of early parodies
compiled by Richard Lancelyn Green and John Gibson); $12.50 per copy
postpaid for orders of five or more copies, deadline Mar. 1, 1986.

Jan 86 #6   John Hawkesworth has earned acclaim for a long list of
            television series, from "Upstairs, Downstairs" through "Danger
UXB" and "The Flame Trees of Thika" to "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"
-- but his first major success, for which he won a Screenwriters Guild
Award, was his work on series of Conan Doyle series broadcast by BBC-2 in
1967.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE SMILING JUDGE, a new pastiche by Mary Fantina "from
the papers of Sherlock Holmes," has Holmes describing Watson's successful
solution of a case during the Great Hiatus; the 19-page pamphlet is $3.00
postpaid from the May Press, 32 Old Army Road, Bernardsville, NJ 07924.

"The overall look of the picture, the feeling that you have about the
film's visuals--that's the function of a production designer," explains
Norman Reynolds in an interview in Starlog (Feb. 1986)  Reynolds was the
production designer for "Young Sherlock Holmes," and he certainly did a
fine job.  "We built quite a big set on the backlot, which was cobbled
streets and period buildings.  I looked for London locations, but it has
become very difficult now.  Many buildings have been demolished, and
there's very little in the way of cobbles left.  And if you do find a piece
of cobbled street, there are yellow lines and parking meters and venetian
blinds and modern drapes and TV aerials.  So, finally, we built a section
of London that worked for the film."  The school was another challenge: "We
couldn't find a public school that had everything we wanted, so we went to
Eton for some scenes, and to Belvoir Castle for others.  We also used
Radley College in Oxford, Radcliffe Camera and Brasenose College in Oxford
--all integrated into one, as the same school.  And it works, too--it has
the best of all those places."

A new, and more detailed, flier at hand for "A Weekend in Toronto with Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes" on June 19-22, 1986.  Write to The
Bootmakers of Toronto, 225 Carlton Street, Toronto, Ont. M5A 2L2, Canada.

"Upstairs, Downstairs" fans will welcome the news that fourteen episodes
are available on videocassette ($43.90 each postpaid) from Corinth Video,
410 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10021 (800-221-4720).

"Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy" has started on PBS-TV, with two
Sherlockian actors in the cast: Nicol Williamson as Mountbatten, and Ian
Richardson as Nehru.

The facsimile of Marvin P. Epstein's manuscript of THE ADVENTURE OF THE
PRIORY SCHOOL is at hand, introduced and signed by Len Deighton, and well
produced and highly recommended (90 p., $48.95 postpaid from Pepper &
Stern, Box 2711, Santa Barbara, CA 93120).  Not only is the book the
closest most of us will get to owning a manuscript, it's also a fine way to
see how a story is written (and rewritten).  And there are several places
where new light will be shed on identifications of people and places.

I believe that all of you have now received a copy of my seasonal souvenir
("ICH HABE DIE EHRE IHNEN DOKTOR MORS VORZUSTELLEN!"), either at the
birthday festivities in New York or enclosed with this mailing.  If I've
missed anyone, let me know.

Feb 86 #1   Anthony Boucher's THE CASE OF THE BAKER STREET IRREGULARS
            (D5834a) has been reprinted in paperback (New York: Carroll &
Graf, 1986; 252 p., $3.95), with Otto Penzler's intro from the 1980 Gregg
Press edition; a fine book, and recommended.

It's not S'ian, as far as I know, but fans of Dorothy L. Sayers may be
interested in THE LORD PETER WIMSEY COMPANION, by Stephan P. Clark; $49.95
postpaid from The Mysterious Bookshop (129 West 56th Street, New York, NY
10019), according to a review in Playboy (Apr. 1986).

I've had one request for an address for the Culture Press, publisher of
Robert T. Weidaw's THE CHRONOLOGION (Dec 85 #2).  A careful examination of
John Harris' reviews of "Christmas Books" in the Atlantic (Dec. 1985)
suggests that all of the books are ghosts.

Bantam has issued a "Win a Mystery Weekend!" booklet to promote their
computer game SHERLOCK HOLMES IN "ANOTHER BOW" (you don't need a computer
or their game to solve the mystery).  Available, according to Bantam, at
all stores that carry the game, and but not directly from Bantam Books (the
store also gets a prize if you win).

Reported by John Bennett Shaw: the current catalog from Scholastic Inc.
(Box 7502, Jefferson City, MO 65102), with (new) THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE AND
OTHER MYSTERY PLAYS, including "RedH" (D4383b) and "Bery" (D4353b), and
(old) THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND AND OTHER PLAYS (D4450b); $2.95
each.  Also mention of ACD in SCOPE ENGLISH ANTHOLOGIES on p. 32.

The Newcastle Mint (6512 Belgrave, Garden Grove, CA 92645) has announced
"The Sherlock Holmes 100 Year Commemorative Art Medal Collection" 72 art
medals, 3 cm. in diameter, minted in pure gold on fine pewter ($20.00 each)
or in pure silver ($30.00 each) to be issued monthly beginning in March, in
an edition strictly limited to 1,500 numbered sets, with a subscription
deadline of Feb. 15, 1986.  The announcement was received Jan. 31, along
with a letter offering additional brochures and saying that they will be
happy to extend the Feb. 15 deadline, so I assume that there's still plenty
of time for people to sign up for this $1,440.00 (or $2,160.00) collection.

Sherry-Rose Bond and Scott Bond reported on their trip to Manchester and
the Granada studio "In Search of Sherlock Holmes" in a long article in the
Feb. 1986 issue of Applause (KHYY-TV, 2300 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
19103).

Forecast by St. Martin's Press in June: THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE: A
MEMOIR OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, FROM THE PAPERS OF EDWARD PORTER JONES, HIS LATE
ASSISTANT, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. (256 p., $15.95).

Daniel Thomas' MAD HATTER SUMMER, which I heartily recommend (BSJ June 1985
and BSM spring 1985), has been discounted at $2.95 in the Feb.-Mar. 1986
bargain-books catalog from Edward R. Hamilton.

Newton M. Williams died on Jan. 28, and it's a sad loss indeed.  He was a
good friend to The Occupants of the Empty House and to many others, and an
enthusiastic Sherlockian.

Feb 86 #2   Sound Track Album Retailers (Box 7, Quarryville, PA 17568) is
            closing out FAMOUS DETECTIVE HOLMES (Muramatsu ANL 1018), the
Japanese soundtrack from a cartoon from the studio that did "The Adventure
of Sherlock Hound" (that was on HBO in Nov. 1983); $16.95 plus shipping,
and they take plastic.

Jack Kerr (216 Laurel Building, King & Frazer Roads, Malvern, PA 19355)
offers free photocopies of reviews of "Young Sherlock Holmes" from the Wall
Street Journal (Dec. 5, 1985) and Time Magazine (Dec. 9, 1985).

Dr. Steven Wagner, owner of the "Life Mask of Sherlock Holmes" displayed
and discussed at the 1986 BSI annual dinner, has been persuaded to have
copies made from the original (which has been identified as the work of M.
Oscar Meunier of Grenoble); copies of the moulage, with a detailed
description, will cost $40.00 including UPS delivery, and orders may be
placed with John Bennett Shaw, 1917 Fort Union Drive, Santa Fe, NM 87501.

Waldenbooks is selling "Bearlock Holmes" (the 10-in. Sherlockian teddy
bear) at $19.95 (plus $2.50 shipping if by mail); they take plastic.
Waldenbooks, attn: Marketing-Mystery Club, Box 1084, Stamford, CT 06904.

The British broadcast of the second Granada series generated some comment
in the press.  Nancy Banks-Smith, in the Guardian, noted that we (and
Watson) have only Holmes' word for Moriarty being "anything but a perfectly
respectable professor kind to dumb students and meticulous in his tax
returns."  Holmes, however, "is clearly off his head," she writes, and
wonders how many innocent lives must have been saved by Watson's habit of
abandoning his patients at a word from Holmes.  Watson "seems to use his
head solely to stop his ears banging together," she concludes.  John
Naughton, in The Listener, suggested in one review that "David Burke as
Watson continued to be as useful as a hatstand in a Turkish bath," and in
another that "whether one likes it or not, however, Mr. Brett's rendition
of the character has now reached the point where it might almost be called
an interpretation, and enshrined in American PhD dissertations.  In
contrast, David Burke's portrayal of Watson as a well-intentioned pair of
short planks laid end to end, though hilarious, has been much more
conventional."

Frank Langella is returning to the role of Sherlock Holmes, according to an
item in the N.Y. Times (Jan. 31, 1986), in "Sherlock's Last Case" forecast
for Broadway in October.  The 1974 Charles Marowitz play (D4468b) was
revised for production in Los Angeles in 1984.  Langella will be remembered
as a fine Holmes in the 1981 HBO telecast of Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes".
The BSI birthday festivities in 1979 included a Thursday-night theater
party for "The Crucifer of Blood" -- if Langella's play is a success,
perhaps some energetic New Yorker will make similar arrangements for 1987.

"Young Sherlock Holmes" received one Oscar nomination, for best visual
effects.  Also nominated in that category were "Cocoon" and "Return to Oz".
The film is reported to have cost $16 million, $1 million under budget.
And Toronto Star film reviewer Ron Base had a sarcastic suggestion for a
sequel: Sherlock Holmes goes back to the future, encounters a cute little
alien creature, and defeats an evil shark.

Feb 86 #3   The Granada series earned considerable praise for its fidelity
            to the Canon, even though some liberties were taken (such as
the early introduction of Watson in "The Crooked Man").  But the changes
rung on "The Greek Interpreter" were a thorough disappointment.

Paula Salo's THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MOTHER GOOSE, illustrated by Larry Marty
(Burbank: Sherlock in L.A. Press, 1985; 26 p., $10.00) contains Canonical
matches for 16 short nursery rhymes (including one that begins, "Hickory,
Dickory, Doc./Your brother's watch was in hock."); available from the
publisher (2712 Scott Road, Burbank, CA 91504).

Ron De Waal reports that B. Dalton has the $7.98 discount edition of the
Simon Goodenough murder dossier of A STUDY IN SCARLET published in book
form (Jan 86 #3).

Thanks to Al Rosenblatt for a correction: F. Murray Abraham, forecast in
the film of "The Name of the Rose" (Jan 86 #4), won his Oscar in "Amadeus"
(not "Chariots of Fire").

Gideon Hill reports being told by a Disney publicist that the studio is
concerned by the poor box-office performance of "Young Sherlock Holmes" and
has decided to change the title of "Basil of Baker Street" to something
"less Sherlockian."

The spring 1986 catalog from Historical Products (Box 220, Cambridge, MA
02238) includes the usual assortment of T-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags,
etc., all available with their Steele portrait of Holmes or their Canonical
quotation ("I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental
exaltation.")  And their calendar notes the Canonical event that occurred
on Apr. 27, 1890.

Sherlock Holmes was on television in the U.S.S.R. in 1985, not in the
Granada series, but rather in a Soviet series (presumably "Priklyucheniya
Sherloka Kholm'sa i Doktora Vatsona", the series that was launched from
Lenfilms Studios in Leningrad in 1979).  The series is well produced,
according to a report in the London Daily Star (July 23, 1985), except for
errors such as "the occasional glimpse through the Baker Street chimney
pots of the grand, soaring architecture of the Winter Palace, once the home
of the Tzars of all Russia and the spot where the Russian Revolution got
under way with a vengeance."

"I don't know if you share my growing conviction that Conan Doyle was not a
dog man," Nancy Banks-Smith wrote in the Guardian (Aug. 26, 1985).  "A dog
has only to raise its handsome head in Doyle to have its brains blown out.
The Hound of the Baskervilles (as large as a small lioness) got five bar-
rels in the flank from Holmes.  The mastiff in The Copper Beeches (as large
as a calf) was as affable a dog as ever wagged its tail ingratiatingly at a
cameraman (straight between the ears) and what about Watson's bull pup?
When he first met Holmes Watson mentioned he owned a bull pup (size unspec-
ified) because these things can be accounted a flaw in a fellow lodger.
'Oh, that's all right,' said Holmes 'with a merry laugh.'  Ha Ha indeed.
Do we ever see hair or hide of that dog again?  We do not.  Undoubtedly it
fell victim to Holmes's reckless target practice in Baker Street."

Feb 86 #4   Michael Cox, producer of the Granada series, responded to Nancy
            Banks-Smith's query, in a letter to the Guardian (Aug. 29),
suggesting that she has "reopened one of the great Sherlockian mysteries:
what became of Watson's bull-pup?"  Cox notes Jack Tracy's statement that
"To keep a bull-pup, in Anglo-Indian slang, means to have fits of quick
temper."  But there are no bull-pups in Partridge to support this view,
according to Cox, "so Holmes remains suspected of foul play."  The Anglo-
Indian (actually army) slang was identified by Jacques Barzun (D1547b).

New "interactive fiction" computer games mentioned in the Feb. 1986 issue
of American Libraries, from Codewriter (5605 West Howard, Niles, IL 60648):
CASEBOOK OF HEMLOCK SOAMES 1 & 2 and CASEBOOK OF HEMLOCK SOAMES 3 & 4 (both
for Atari), and SHERLOCK HOLMES RETURNS (for Commodore); $19.95 each.

Len Lawson (1206 Notre Dame Court, Livermore, CA 94550) is using his Corona
(IBM PC compatible) and dBASE III to compile a data base of SH and ACD
periodical appearances, and wonders if there are others doing similar work.
Is there a Sherlock Holmes bulletin board?  Is anyone interested in one?

I have found a source for BOZZ CHRONICLES #1, the comic book mentioned
earlier (Jan 86 #2), and other comics as well, at reasonable prices:
Mindbridge Ltd., 4351 Ebenezer Road, Baltimore, MD 21236.

Gerald Weissmann's "The Game Is Afoot, or Holmes and Watson at Bellevue"
(Discover, Mar. 1986) at hand from Ely Liebow.  "William Goldring told a
group of us that perhaps we could learn as much about clinical medicine
from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as from Cabot and Adams (our somber textbook of
physical diagnosis)," Weissmann writes of his student days.  And he notes
that the Holmes legend is based on the premise that diagnostic skills can
be taught: "Watson's slow progress over time is painful, but inevitable.
He's the true patron saint of the medical student."

"Young Sherlock Holmes" screenwriter Chris Columbus interviewed Billy
Wilder for American Film (Mar. 1986).  Discussing "The Private Life of
Sherlock Holmes", Wilder said, "I should have been more daring, but
unfortunately, the son of Conan Doyle was there.  I had wanted to make
Holmes a homosexual. . . That's why he is on dope, you know.  Look, we have
been freed now from the Green Office of the Johnson Office or that stupid
thing.  In many respects, it's terrifying, because now any idiot and any
pornographer can do anything.  But for the ones who are a little bit
discriminating, who do it delicately, a grand new thing is opened.  But
that was after Private Life.  Just the saddest thing about [the film] is
that it was a waste of a year and a half of my life."

More info on the schoolbooks reported (Jan 86 #5) from the Globe Book Co.
(50 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010).  THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK
HOLMES is a revised 3rd ed. of D650a, with new illos but without the radio
adaptation of "Lion" ($5.83).  THE WORLD ANTHOLOGY, edited by Robert R.
Potter and Roger G. Goodman, has Olive J. Morley's dramatization of "Seco"
($16.78, with student's workbook at $2.94 and teacher's resource manual at
$2.50).  THE READER'S ANTHOLOGY, edited by Robert R. Potter, has Alice
Delman's dramatization of "Spec" (same prices).  Shipping extra, and you
can call 800-221-7994.

Feb 86 #5   A tantalizingly incomplete report from a non-Sherlockian that
            "Young Sherlock Holmes" has appeared with a different title
raises the possibility that Paramount has test-marketed the film with a new
title that might have more appeal to movie audiences.  Does anyone have
more information on this?

Jim Duval reports that the Quality Paperback Book Club (Camp Hill, PA
17012) is offering members a $7.85 set of two 10-ounce ceramic mugs with
portraits of Sigmund Freud and Sherlock Holmes (the Gersten caricatures).

Jorge Luis Borges' poem "Sherlock Holmes" (translated by Richard Outram) is
in Descant #51 (winter 1985-86); this is the magazine's mystery issue, at
$12.00 (P.O. Box 3l4, Station P, Toronto, Ont. M5S 2S8, Canada).

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES ABC BOOK, by Andy and Bill Paton, with a Foreword by
Bob Coghill (Toronto: Simon & Pierre, 1985; 64 p., $9.95 Canadian); pre-
pared for young readers by young authors (the Patons are teenagers), with
Canonical artwork and relevant discussion for each letter of the alphabet
(from "Adler" to "Zoo"), and nicely done.

Bernie O'Heir reports that the "Young Sherlock Holmes" one-sheet is
available for $8.00 (plus $2.50 shipping) from Movie Poster Service, Box
517, Canton, OK 73724.

"An Afternoon with Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle" is scheduled for Mar.
22 at WSU in Dayton, Ohio.  Details available from Dr. A. E. Rodin, Wright
State University Medical School, Box 927, Dayton, OH 45401.

Chris Redmond (125 Lincoln Road #1101, Waterloo, Ont. N2J 2N9, Canada)
offers copies of THE TALE OF COPPERELLA, a well-executed 8-page pamphlet
("wherein are related the adventures of a sweet young lady, and also the
doings of a noted detective") issued in Oct. 1985; $2.00 (U.S.) postpaid.

Does anyone have Microsoft Windows?  This is one of the new "alternative
operating environments," and it displays a series of icons at the bottom of
the monitor to indicate which applications programs are memory-resident
utilities; one of the icons is a Sherlockian silhouette, according to an
illo in the Feb. 25, 1986, issue of PC Magazine, but I have no idea what it
indicates.  For those who don't "talk tekkie," there's some new computer
software that uses a little picture of Sherlock Holmes to show you that it
can do something, but I don't yet know what.

Barbara J. Raheb (P.O. Box "O", Tarzana, CA 91356) is offering the complete
set of her CHRONICLES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (45 miniature volumes) in a 1740
Chippendale wood cabinet, at $525.00.

And a flier at hand from Peter E. Melonas (Baker Street Enterprises, 1726A
Sycamore Square Mall, Memphis, TN 38134) offering his S'ian posters.

If you're going to be in Chicago this spring, Ely M. Liebow will be
presiding over one of the Lyceum Seminars at the Newberry Library, giving
ten weekly lectures on "The Fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle" beginning on
Mar. 25.

Feb 86 #6   Hascom Publishers (Box 1396, Provo, UT 84603) has sent a flier
            offering THE SECRET CONAN DOYLE CORRESPONDENCE, by Leslie
Vernet Harper, at $6.95 pre-publication (it's scheduled for Apr. 15);
Arthur Conan Doyle, Jacques Futrelle, Nellie Bly, Emma Goldman, and Teddy
Roosevelt trying to prevent the assassination of Arthur Balfour.

I don't know how many newspapers have special Valentine's Day "personal"
sections, but they're worth checking.  Norman Davis reports an "I.A.
Forever. S.H." in the Chicago Sun-Times this year (and occasionally) in
past years.  And the Washington Post usually has one to Irene Adler with a
thoroughly non-S'ian message in a non-Canonical code.

And a hearty raspberry to Vincent Price's script-writer for claiming (in
the introduction to Granada's "The Copper Beeches") that William Gillette
introduced the Holmesian calabash.  There's no evidence for this, photo-
graphic or otherwise; Gillette used a curved wooden pipe.

Forecast for April: SON OF HOLMES, by John T. Lescroart (New York: Donald
I. Fine, 223 p., $15.95; bon vivant Auguste Lupa, the son of Sherlock
Holmes and an opera star, makes his detecting debut in France in World War
I.  According to the publisher's publicity, the author attended a Martha
Hudson dinner in Arlington, Mass., fifteen years ago, "and never recovered
from the experience."

A new saleslist/newsletter at hand from Carol Brener (Murder Ink, 271 West
87th Street, New York, NY 10024), reporting that Daniel Stashower's THE
ADVENTURE OF THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN is one of the nominees for the Mystery
Writers of America's Edgar for best first novel by an American (their
awards dinner is May 9 in New York).  She offers LETTERS TO SHERLOCK
HOLMES, edited by Richard Lancelyn Green (highlights of correspondence to
Holmes), at $6.00 (this is a Penguin paperback which I've not yet seen),
and forecasts (March) DELL BOOK OF QUIZZES & PUZZLES FOR LITERATURE LOVERS,
by Lane & Bartlett ("an Anglophile's Eden" with a Holmes section), at
$7.00, and (May) Michael Hardwick's SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE AND CRIMES at
$9.00 (presumably a trade paperback), and (June) Stashower's ECTOPLASMIC
MAN in paperback at $3.50, and (July) paperback reprints of John Dickson
Carr's NINE WRONG ANSWERS at $3.50 and Anthony Boucher's NINE TIMES NINE
(not in De Waal, but it has many S'ian references) at $5.00.

The March issue of Dial has a nice color photo of Holmes and Moriarty on
location in Switzerland for the Granada version of "The Final Problem".

Wally Conger reports that a videocassette of the 1937 film "Silver Blaze"
is available at $19.95 at Waldenbooks and B. Dalton (and from Kartes Video
Communications, 10 East 106th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46280).

Mycroft's Isolated CoMpanions are planning their Ninth Annual 125th
Birthday Bash for Sherlock Holmes in Cleveland on May 17, 1986.  Additional
information available from Dwight J. McDonald, 1711 Cypress Avenue,
Cleveland, OH 44109.

There are now 80 people on the info-sheets mailing list.  And why not,
suggests Norman Davis: Sherlockians invented "trivial pursuit."

Mar 86 #1   A bibliographic query.  Please check your older copies of A
            STUDY IN SCARLET.  I am trying to find copies published by
Ward, Lock & Co. (in any binding) in which the publishing history (after
the title page) ends with a 1901 printing of the Third Edition.  If you
have such a copy, please send me a photocopy of the publishing history, and
of page xvii.  Eventually this will help sort out the Souvenir Edition of A
STUDY IN SCARLET.  And maybe I can figure out the other three titles in the
Souvenir Edition before the end of the century.

Simon & Schuster Video has finally announced their videocassettes of the
Granada series, with three cases (SCAN, SPEC, and BLUE) to be issued on
Mar. 26 at $39.95 each.

The Jan.-Feb. 1986 issue of the Metropolitan Toronto Library Board News
celebrates the founding of The Bootmakers of Toronto ("now the largest
active Sherlock Holmes society meeting regularly in North America") and the
Library's acquisition of the rare pamphlet with Conan Doyle's speech to the
Edinburgh Burns Club in 1901.  If you'd like to see 1971's beardless Cam
Hollyer, the MTLB address is 789 Yonge Street, Toronto M2W 2G8, Canada.

Reported by John Stephenson: "The Case of the New Pipe Smoker" (a small
S'ian pamphlet), at Walgreen's or other pipe stores handling Dr. Grabow
pipes.  Video Classics (Box 10069, Burbank, CA 91505) is offering 18 of the
1954 Ronald Howard TV programs (and some other S'ian items) at $9.99 each.
"Splash Briefs" (Regal Way, Faringdon, Oxfordshire SN7 7BX, England) with a
S'ian figure gazing through a magnifying glass, captioned "It's got to be
here somewhere" (nylon, one size fits all, L1.35).

Movie Poster Service (Box 517, Canton, OK 73724), who offered (Feb 86 #5)
the one-sheet for "Young Sherlock Holmes", write that they have older
material and ask for want lists.

The Feb. 1986 issue of Nutshell News has an article on one-inch-scale dolls
(including SH) made by Debbie Olsen (Nostalgia by the Inch, 4205 36th
Avenue Drive West, Bradenton, FL 33505); send a #10 SASE for her flier.

Reported from Toronto: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LADY CHATTERLY'S LOVER?, by
Martin Levin (Kansas City: Andrews, McMeel & Perker, 1985), with a page on
what really happened after the Reichenbach battle ("the Norton divorce was
a messy cause celebre...").  THE BENIGN HUMORISTS, by Richard S. Carlson
(Archon Books, 1975), with discussion of Wodehouse and Conan Doyle in the
chapter on "Benign Humor and Escape Literature".

The first issue (Feb. 1986) of The Agony Column has appeared, with Bill
Rabe's perceptive response to complaints from Canonical purists that "Young
Sherlock Holmes" can't be any good because we know that Holmes and Watson
first met at St. Bart's: how did Holmes greet Watson at St. Bart's?  "How
are you? You have been to Afghanistan, I perceive."  Not an opening gambit
with a stranger, Bill suggests.  The Agony Column (8 pp.) will be published
quarterly at $5.00 a year; W. T. Rabe, 909 Prospect, Sault Ste. Marie, MI
49783.  And The Old Soldiers of Baker Street of the Two Saults (Old SOB'S)
will meet on May 26-29 at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island ("the Miami
Beach of the north," Bill once claimed).

Mar 86 #2   "Many historical references to the origins of forensic science,
            even to ancient times, exist in the vast literature of human-
ity.  It was not, however, until Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with intriguing
foreshadowing suggested the use of scientific crime detection methods,
through his fictional character Sherlock Holmes, that modern forensic
science began its development.  Holmes applied principles of serology,
fingerprinting, firearm identification, and questioned document examination
long before these techniques and their utilization were to be recognized
and accepted in modern investigation."  Yale H. Caplan, in his editorial on
"Justice in the Forensic Sciences" in the Journal of Forensic Sciences
(Jan. 1986).

John T. Lescroart's SON OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1986;
233 p., $15.95) is S'ian only in its occasional references to the parentage
and inherited abilities of the protagonist: Auguste Lupa.  He is a large
man, partial to yellow shirts, beer, and gourmet meals, and this tale of
war-time espionage and murder in France in 1915 is more a tribute to the
Neronian Canon than to ours.

Reported by John Bennett Shaw: a long article, with color illos, on "Young
Sherlock Holmes" in American Cinematographer, Mar. 1986 (ASC Holding Corp.,
1782 North Orange Drive, Hollywood, CA 90028; $2.95).  A S'ian story by J.
N. Williamson in Espionage Magazine, Apr. 1986 (Box 1184, Teaneck, NJ
07666; $2.50).  Minor S'ian refs in James L. Swauger's PETROGLYPHS OF OHIO
(Athens: Ohio University Press, 1984).  A series of "Soundscape" audio
cassette/slide programs (including one on "Sherlock Holmes: The Legend and
the Stories") from Heritage International (3 Richard Court, Alston Road,
Barnet, Herts. EN5 4EZ, England); L12.00 plus L5.50 shipping.

New sales list at hand from Ilene Fauer (US 2, 563 Clinton Road, Paramus,
NJ 07652) with S'ian aprons, baseball cards (no, not the one featuring John
Bennett Shaw), and much more.

Ray Milland, who died on Mar. 10, was once scheduled to direct and star in
a movie about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  "The Mystery Man" was to be the next
picture at Republic, Louella O. Parsons announced in March 1955.  Based on
an original story by Marty Rackin, the film was to deal with ACD's early
life as a medical student and to emphasize his interest in the spirit world
rather than his family life.

LETTERS TO SHERLOCK HOLMES, edited by Richard Lancelyn Green (Harmonds-
worth: Penguin Books, 1985; 235 p., $6.95); a representative selection from
Holmes' mail (still about 700 letters a year to 221B Baker Street), and
while many are prosaic requests for autographs and photographs, the variety
of the correspondence (and correspondents) is fascinating.

I'm still exploring the six (or perhaps seven) variants of the Heritage
Club set of the Sherlock Holmes stories.  Does anyone have the Heritage
Club prospectuses offering the 35th and 36th series?

Andy Jaysnovitch (6 Dana Estates Drive, Parlin, NJ 08859) now offers four
videocassettes, each with four programs from the 1954 Ronald Howard series
($29.95 per cassette plus $3.00 shipping); send for his flier.

Mar 86 #3   Trevor H. Hall's THE LAST CASE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES at hand: a
            50-page monograph combining his interest in the haunting of
Borley Rectory ("the most haunted house in England," according to the late
Harry Price) and in Sherlock Holmes, Hall discusses Holmes' attitudes
toward marriage and women and uses a pastiche format (Dr. Holmes-Adler, the
Cambridge scientist, is Holmes' son) to present new information about Ivy
Johnson Bull, the wife of the Rector of Borley.  $31.50 postpaid from
Paulette Greene, 140 Princeton Road, Rockville Centre, NY 11570.

Reported by Brian MacDonald: SHERLOCK HOLMES: SELECTED STORIES (D736a) in a
new edition from Avenel Book ($3.95 at Waldenbooks).  A S'ian cartoon on
the back cover of MAD'S AL JAFFEE FREAKS OUT (Warner, $2.95).  HOPPOPOTAMUS
PLAYS DETECTIVE (Wuzzles Collector Series #5); a stuffed wuzzle with a
small laminated booklet showing Hoppopotamus in S'ian costume.  And a
deerstalkered fox in the closing credits of the TV show "Crazy Like a Fox".

Forecast in Britain: Alan Arnold's novelization YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES
(Grafton Books, L1.95).  YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES STORY BOOK (Grafton Books,
L2.95).  Terrance Dicks' THE DISAPPEARING DIPLOMAT (Blackie, L6.50) and
reissues of Dicks' THE MISSING MASTERPIECE (D5267b) and THE CINEMA SWINDLE
(same).  Simon Goodenough's dossier of THE VALLEY OF FEAR (Webb & Bower,
L9.95).  Robert Bloch's NIGHT OF THE RIPPER (Robert Hale, L9.95).  Allen
Sharp's "choose-your-own-plot" SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE MEYRINGEN PAPERS
(Cambridge University Press, L1.95).  And in progress: Peter's Haining's
history of Sherlock Holmes on television.

And there are some British editions already in print: SHERLOCK HOLMES
THROUGH TIME AND SPACE, edited by Asimov/Greenberg/Waugh (Severn House,
L8.95); Ellery Queen's QUEEN'S QUORUM (Greenhill, L15.00); Dilys Winn's
MURDER INK (Souvenir, L10.95); and ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S YOUR SHARE OF FEAR
with August Derleth's "The Adventure of the Intarsia Box" (Severn House,
L8.95).

Reported by Jerry Margolin: S'ian cover and dramatization "The Red-Headed
Club" in Scholastic Sprint (Jan. 10, 1986); 730 Broadway, New York, NY
10003; $1.00.  A deerstalkered teddy-bear alien in Escape to the Stars #4
(1985); a small-press comic published by Visionary Graphics, Box 4760,
College Station, TX 77844; $1.25.

LETTERS TO THE PRESS, by Arthur Conan Doyle, edited by John Michael Gibson
and Richard Lancelyn Green (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1986; 377
p., $19.95); the third in the series (the others being UNCOLLECTED STORIES
and ESSAYS ON PHOTOGRAPHY), and not yet published in Britain.  It's a fine
selection of ACD's letters to newspapers and magazines, running the gamut
of topics from well-known (Edalji, Slater, spiritualism, politics) to the
less-known (baseball, censorship, speed traps).

Dick Lesh reports that on Mar. 8 his PBS station broadcast a one-hour show
"The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes" (hosted by Christopher Lee).  The
program was produced by Avery Productions (they also do "The Golden Years
of Television").  At least one PBS station (Washington) has decided not to
buy the program from the network ("quality not up to our standards").  Has
the program aired anywhere else other than Fort Collins?

Mar 86 #4   Reported by Jack Kerr: Publishers Central Bureau (One Champion
            Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07131) is now offering the 12 records of the
soundtracks of the Rathbone Universal films at $3.98 each (or all 12 for
$36.00); obviously little demand, now that the VCR is so prevalent.

Plan ahead.  John Bennett Shaw ("our favorite all-round Sherlockian,"
according to Senex Junior) will return to Stanford University for a week of
Holmesian fun and games, Aug 16-23, 1987.

And when should we commemorate the birth of Sherlock Holmes?  Stanley
MacKenzie, interviewed in London by UPI, notes that spring 1986 is the real
centenary, because A STUDY IN SCARLET was written in March and April 1886.

Jerry Margolin reports that the latest word from Disney is that July 25
will be the release date for "The Great Mouse Detective" (that's their new
non-Sherlockian title for "Basil of Baker Street").

"American criticism today is like telephoning long distance and having
someone under the age of five answer the phone," Gregory Mcdonald said last
year at a crime writers' luncheon in New York.  The quote is in the first
issue of Mysterious News (Feb. 1986), a 16-page magazine to be issued five
times a year (and available to direct-mail customers of The Mysterious
Press, 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019); non-S'ian, well produced,
and informative.

Reported by Jon Lellenberg: G. Cabrera Infante's HOLY SMOKE (New York:
Harper & Row, 1986; 329 p., $16.95); a compendium of cigar lore and
literature, according to the review in the N.Y. Times (Feb. 7, 1986), with
discussion of Holmes' monograph on the difference between various types of
cigar ash.

The Longman's "Heritage of Literature" series includes the nine volumes of
the Canon and THE LOST WORLD, added to their list in 1979 and 1980 in a
uniform paperback format, and still in print in England at L1.00 to L1.95 a
volume.  The S'ian volumes are reprints of the Murray/Cape edition, without
the Introductions but with two new general introductions and back-of-the-
book notes.

"Young Sherlock Holmes" was nominated for an Oscar for best visual effects,
but "Cocoon" was the winner in that category.

Reported by Ron De Waal: DETECTIVES A TO Z, edited by Frank D. McSherry,
Jr., Martin Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh (New York: Bonanza Books, 1985;
$7.95); contents include "Copp".

ROUND THE FIRE MYSTERIES (London: Greenhill Books, 1985; 207 pp.; L7.95) is
a facsimile reprint (except for the title) of ROUND THE FIRE STORIES (with
"The Man with the Watches" and "The Lost Special").

Bruce Williamson's "The Year in Movies" in Playboy (May 1986) includes
mention of Nicholas Rowe ("best young Spielberg"), but unless I missed it,
they never reviewed the film -- which has opened in Britain as "Young
Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear".

Apr 86 #1   A new series of "Active Books" audiocassettes includes SHERLOCK
            HOLMES, with an Introduction and four stories (Scan, RedH,
Iden, and Musg) ably read by William Barker.  The two-cassette package
costs $9.95, from Dercum Press, Box 1425, West Chester, PA 19380.

A few copies of the scarlet "Silver Blaze Necktie" are still available for
$11.95 postpaid, from Thomas L. Stix, Jr., 34 Pierson Avenue, Norwood, NJ
07648.  And a reminder that the Silver Blaze at Belmont will be held on
Sept. 12; write to Tom if you'd like to receive the announcement.

ACD's signature is not uncommon, on books or short notes, but letters with
significant content are seldom available.  One such letter, non-S'ian, is
nevertheless of interest: writing to Harry Houdini in the spring of 1920,
ACD suggests that Houdini's astonishing escapes from sealed containers are
achieved by dematerialization ("my reason tells me that you have this
wonderful power, for these is no alternative").  The three-page letter,
quoted at length (though not entirely correctly) by Ernst and Carrington in
HOUDINI AND CONAN DOYLE (D2106b, p. 99), is being offered in a mail auction
closing on Dec. 1, by Gregory B. Edmonds, Box 2741, Columbia, SC 29202.

John Ruyle (521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707) is celebrating the
15th anniversary of the first appearance of the great Turlock Loams with a
new Crow's Foot Edition of THE ADVENTURE OF THE FIVE BUFFALO CHIPS
(D5154b), revised and with a new Preface; $28.50 cloth, $13.50 paper.

Correction (thanks to Mendax Major): the report on the 1987 festivities
planned at Stanford (Mar 86 #4) came from Senex Senior, not Senex Junior.
There is as yet no confirmation of the rumor that the Stanford agenda will
include a lubricious discussion by MM and SS of the Sherlockian references
in the poetry of Petrarch.

"Come to the Parker House in Boston for the auction of a rare Sherlockian
document.  But be careful!  Death has the highest bid!"  That's the promo
for the "Murder by the Letter" weekend scheduled by Bogie's Murderous
Mystery Tours on June 27-29.  Details available from Stevens Travel
Management, 432 Park AVenue South, New York, NY 10016 (800-223-1028).

Everything has a S'ian connection, people suggest . . . "By the Sword
Divided" now on PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" is adapted from a novel by
Mollie Hardwick.

Planning has begun for a "Final Problem" tour from England to Switzerland
in late April and early May of 1987, with Scott Bond and Sherry Rose-Bond
as escorts.  Details available from Trade Winds Travel, 21 South 5th
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

THE CONTENTS OF A LUMBER-ROOM: A CATALOGUE OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES
COLLECTION (City of Westminster: Department of Leisure Services, 1986; 95
p., L7.00 postpaid from the Marylebone Library, Marylebone Road, London NW1
5PS, England).  The collection at Marylebone, the only public collection in
Britain, was housed in a solitary bookcase 20 years ago, but in recent
years it has expanded considerably; Catherine Cooke's introduction
discusses both the Abbey House exhibition and the collection itself.

Apr 86 #2   Ted Schulz reports that the Video Classics series of $9.99
            cassettes of the 1954 Ronald Howard series (Mar 86 #1) has two
programs on each of the 18 cassettes; thus 36 of the 39 programs are
available.  For compulsive completists, "Christmas Pudding" (D5532a) is
available on one of the Andy Jaysnovich cassettes, but I have no record of
anyone offering "Texas Cowgirl" (D5513a) and "Violent Suitor" (D5534a).
Video Classics is at Box 10069, Burbank, CA 91505; Andy Jaysnovich is at 6
Dana Estates Drive, Parlin, NJ 08859.

Reported by John Stephenson: British paperback reprints (from W. H. Allen)
of John Gardner's THE RETURN OF MORIARTY and THE REVENGE OF MORIARTY. Also:
VOICES 1870-1914, by Peter Vansittart (New York: Avon Books), with a
section of quotes from ACD and SH.  Also that Rick's Movie Graphics (1105
North Main Street #3E, Gainesville, FL 32601) sells the press kit for
"Young Sherlock Holmes" (with 18 stills) for $25.00.

Forecast by Roger Johnson from England: BRIGADE: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF
INSPECTOR LESTRADE, by M. J. Trow (Macmillan, May, L8.50); a sequel to THE
ADVENTURES OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE.  And filming in progress on "The Abbot's
Cry" with Peter Cushing and John Mills, a Tyburn Films sequel to "The Masks
of Death" (1984 on British television).

Rick Hacker (Box 634, Beverly Hills, CA 90213) offers a sepia-photograph
poster (8.5 x 11 in.) showing SH smoking a calabash while reading THE
ULTIMATE PIPE BOOK; $7.50 postpaid.

Forecast for May: a trade paperback edition of Michael Hardwick's SHERLOCK
HOLMES: MY LIFE AND CRIMES (New York: Henry Holt & Co.; 208 p., $8.95). And
a trade paperback of Robert Bloch's THE NIGHT OF THE RIPPER from Doubleday,
with a cameo appearance by ACD.

Bouchercon XVII will be held at the Sheraton Inner Harbor in Baltimore on
Oct. 1012, with Donald E. Westlake as guest of honor.  Regular membership
costs $25.00 (higher after July 1), and supporting membership costs $10.00
(you can upgrade to regular if you want to attend).  Bouchercon XVII is
being run by Gail Larson, The Butler Did It, 10449A Green Mountain Circle,
Columbia, MD 21044.

The acting script for Charles Marowitz's play "Sherlock's Last Case" (due
on Broadway this fall with Frank Langella as Holmes) is available from
Dramatists Play Service (440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016) for
$3.35.  Also available (same price): Dennis Rosa's "Sherlock Holmes and the
Curse of the Sign of Four" (D4521b) and F. Andrew Leslie's "The Hound of
the Baskervilles" (D4481b).  Book-rate postage is 95c per order.

Add Paul B. Smedegaard to your list of Sherlockian politicians.  In his
first try for public office, he won election to the city council in Racine,
Wis., this month.  "I felt all along it would be a very close election,"
the new alderman said of his 487-to-430 victory.

A second set of programs from Agatha Christie's "Partners in Crime" starts
on "Mystery!" on PBS-TV on May 1, and "The Case of the Missing Lady" will
air on May 15.  This is the most S'ian of the published stories.

Apr 86 #3   There's a large-print edition of ELLERY QUEEN'S LOST LADIES
            (the collection includes Robert L. Fish's "The Adventure of the
Disappearance of Whistler's Mother"); 512 p., $15.95 from the publisher:
John Curley & Associates, Box 37, South Yarmouth, MA 02664.

Jim Duval reports that the Gibson/Green UNCOLLECTED STORIES BY ARTHUR CONAN
DOYLE is discounted at $4.98 (plus $2.95 postage) by Publishers Central
Bureau (Dept. 410, One Champion Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001; a fine book, with
many seldom-seen stories by ACD, and a number identified for the first time
as having been written by him.

M. A. Dabritz, whose 3" bronze statue of Holmes sold out quickly in 1980,
now offers a pair of figures (Holmes with magnifying glass examining a
walking stick, and Watson with bowler hat and Gladstone bag) as a $95.00
set on a cherrywood base that can hold a Cross pen and pencil set ($29.00
extra); shipping is $4.50.  Additional details from A Cast of Characters,
1631 S.E. Main Street, Portland, OR 97214.

The Midwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America, noting that 1986 is
the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vincent Starrett (winner of the MWA's
Grand Master Award), and that his grave in Chicago is unmarked, is raising
funds to provide a marker for the grave.  Contributions to the Starrett
Memorial Fund are welcome, and checks may be sent to MWA Midwest, Box 8,
Techny, IL 60082.

Gideon Hill reports that the Apr. 15 episode of the TV game show "The
$25,000 Pyramid" had a category "Holmes Sweet Holmes" with instructions to
name items in a Sherlock Holmes movie; the list consisted of pipe, London,
butler, laboratory, clue, Watson, and mansion.  They've used the category
before, according to my notes, with a somewhat different list.  And here's
my own question for S'ian cinemaphiles: of the 12 Rathbone-Bruce films in
the Universal series, how many have a laboratory? and how many have a
butler?

The April issue of The Agony Column at hand from W. T. Rabe (909 Prospect,
Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783) with much of interest, including Bill's warning
that "subscriptions of those who fail to contribute over a three-year
period will be discontinued and refunded pro-rata."  And news of David L.
Hammer's new Gasogene Press, announcing plans to publish FOR THE SAKE OF
THE GAME, the sequel to his THE GAME IS AFOOT; "it seems important, says
Dave, "that there be a Sherlockian press which will be publishing rather
than reprinting."

A bit of Hollywood gossip (from Forbes, Apr. 28): Sidney Ganis, who worked
for George Lucas, has moved to Paramount as marketing chief.  Paramount
"prays it hit bottom last Christmas when both major holiday releases
bombed.  One, 'Young Sherlock Holmes,' a Steven Spielberg presentation, had
seemed particularly promising.  But knowledgeable observers say it wasn't
marketed properly--many Americans thought it was a foreign film."

There is a new pair of hand-painted wall plaques, of Holmes and Watson,
from Bossom in England.  $35.00 each postpaid from R. Jack Davis (Davis and
Son, Long Leaf Mall, Wilmington, NC 28403).

Apr 86 #4   "He is the King of Bohemia, and he reigns over a world of red
            herrings and black eyes, trench coats and shallow graves, and
butlers who did it and maidens who won't," according to Jerry Schmetterer,
in an article about Otto Penzler in the Mar. 1986 issue of On the Avenue.
What would do if he found himself in Sussex one day and met Sherlock
Holmes?  "I would ask him to autograph a first edition of The Hound of the
Baskervilles."  Nominees and winners of awards from the Mystery Writers of
America will be honored at Otto's MWA Open House Party at the Mysterious
Bookshop (129 West 56th Street in New York) on May 10 from 11:00 to 7:00,
with many authors on hand to autograph their books.

Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine ceased publication with the August 1985 issue,
according to Edward D. Hoch's column in the spring 1986 issue of The
Armchair Detective; if you didn't notice, it was probably because the
magazine had no proper distribution in recent years, but it did publish
occasional S'ian items.

And on p. 214 of the new TAD, Louis Phillips quotes a story from THE
PROPERTY BASKET, the autobiography of the English actor Robert Speaight:
"Only a few years ago I was one of a rather large dinner-party in
Minneapolis.  We sat at different tables, and when the meal was over a tall
and rather melancholy figure came over to me from the other side of the
room.  He was a very distinguished physicist who had won the Nobel Prize
for the discovery of Cortisone.  'Do you see anything odd in my
appearance?' he asked.  He seemed to be impeccably and conventionally
dressed, and I replied that I could see nothing odd about him at all.  'My
tie,' he persisted.  I looked closer and discerned what might have been the
emblems of a hat and a pipe woven into the silk.  'The Sherlock Holmes
Society,' he went on.  'I have made all my important scientific discoveries
by applying the methods of Sherlock Holmes.'"

Reported by Ron De Waal: a new edition (New York: Bell Publishing Co.,
1986; 160 p., $3.98 at B. Dalton) of Ruth Lake Tepper's THE SHERLOCK HOLMES
CROSSWORD PUZZLE BOOK (D3929b).  Large-print editions of THE ADVENTURES OF
SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES from North Books, Box
337, Peace Dale, RI 02883; $18.00 each in cloth, or $14.00 in paper.

It was Philip S. Hench who was wearing the Sherlock Holmes Society of
London's tie; he won the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1950.
And it's his Sherlockian collection that is now at the Wilson Library at
the University of Minnesota.

If you don't have Bill Blackbeard's SHERLOCK HOLMES IN AMERICA (and you
ought to), it's available for $14.75 postpaid from Chris Voigt, 2600 East
Main Street, Lot 33, Merrill, WI 54452.

"The Piltdown Problem Solved", by Charles S. Blinderman, presents yet
another explanation of the Piltdown Hoax, in the Feb.-Mar. 1986 issue of
the Journal of Irreproducible Results (Box 234, Chicago Heights, IL 60411;
$1.50) (or $5.90 a year for 5 issues).  The JIR (the official organ of the
Society for Basic Irreproducible Research) has been described as "the
funniest thing to happen to science since Archimedes ran naked through the
streets of Syracuse."

May 86 #1   Rex Stout's DEATH TIMES THREE (New York: Bantam Books, 1985;
            213 p., $3.50) presents three previously uncollected Nero Wolfe
novellas, with an introduction by John J. McAleer (one of the stories is
published for the first time, an event which McAleer suggests "is on a par
only with the discovery of an eightieth Sherlock Holmes story").

The S'ian references in part 4 and part 6 of "Charters & Caldicott" on
"Mystery!" on PBS-TV are also in the novelization by Stella Bingham (New
York: Penguin Books, 1986; 180 p., $3.95).

There's a paperback reprint of Daniel Stashower's Holmes-and-Houdini
pastiche THE ADVENTURE OF THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN (New York: Penguin Books,
1986; 203 p., $3.50).

New to me (at a local charity book sale) and possibly still in print:
TANTALIZING LOCKED ROOM MYSTERIES, edited by Asimov/Waugh/Greenberg (New
York: Walker and Co., 1982; 303 p.); contents include "Spec".

Wally Conger reports an article in the Los Angeles Times (Apr. 20) on Frank
Langella's plans for "Sherlock's Last Case" on Broadway this fall.  Staging
the play will cost $850,000, according to Langella, and "it's hard to ask
people to come up with thousands of dollars that they could lose in 24
hours.  But already we've got two-thirds of the money."

Reported: discussion of SH in one of the essays in Anthony Burgess' BUT DO
BLONDES PREFER GENTLEMEN?: HOMAGE TO QUERT YUIOP AND OTHER WRITINGS (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1986; 589 p., $24.95).

Reported by John Stephenson: a paperback reprint of John Dickson Carr's THE
NINE WRONG ANSWERS (D5849a) from Ingram in June.  And a computer game
"Baker Street Detective" (for Apple and Commodore 64) at $9.95 from
Artworx Software Co., 150 North Main Street, Fairport, NY 14450.

"Young Sherlock Holmes: The Pyramid of Fear" went into general release in
Britain on Mar. 14, receiving mixed reviews.  The other major release in
that week was a new movie starring John Cleese, and it was that movie that
received major attention from most reviewers.

Reported by Jerry Margolin: a paperback reprint of William Kotzwinkle's
TROUBLE IN BUGLAND (Boston: David R. Godine, 1986; $9.95); for those who
didn't get the 1983 first edition, it's a collection of S'ian mysteries
featuring Inspector Mantis and Doctor Hopper, with imaginative illos by Joe
Servello.

Reported: THE DANCING MEN, by Duncan Kyle (Collins, 1986); a mystery novel
with no S'ian connection except the title.

Thimbles have become the fourth leading world-wide collectible this
century, according to Thimble News.  And Francesca China makes two thimbles
honoring Holmes and Watson, imported by Heirloom Editions, 25100 South
Normandie Avenue, Harbor City, CA 90710.  Their wholesale price is $11.00
each (minimum order $100.00), or they will be happy to tell you who your
local Heirloom Editions retailer is.

May 86 #2   "Detektivgeschichten" is a weekly television series broadcast
            by ZDF in Germany, and on Feb. 22 the program was a Kulturdok-
mentation uber den Meisterdetektiv Sherlock Holmes," showing the 1985
Hoboken workshop, John Bennett Shaw and his collection, London and a
meeting of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, the Reichenbach and some
British Sherlockians re-enacting the battle, and the nearby "Moriarty" pub.

ALIMENTARY ALERT!  The Fourth Irregular Quinquennial Holmesian Dinner will
be held at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., on May 16,
1987.  More information will be available, eventually, from Albert M.
Rosenblatt, Box 221B, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569; write to him to ask to be
put on his mailing list for a formal announcement.  By the time you read
this, it is possible that no rooms will be available at the Beekman Arms in
Rhinebeck (914-876-7077).  An acceptable alternative is the new Montgomery
Inn at 67 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 (914-876-3311).

THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE: A MEMOIR OF SHERLOCK HOLMES FROM THE PAPERS OF
EDWARD PORTER JONES, HIS LATE ASSISTANT, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. (New York:
St. Martin's Press, 1986; 246 p., $15.95); a new pastiche, and a fine one.
A member of the original Baker Street irregulars until he was 16 years old,
Jones asked Holmes to be taken on as an apprentice detective, and by 1900
had become a valued assistant; this is Jones' story, of a case that brought
him and Holmes to the Romney Marshes, fraught with mystery and danger.
Holmes is thoroughly credible, the mystery appropriate, and the book well
written.

"The Great Mouse Detective" opens nationwide on July 2, according to Walt
Disney Pictures.  "The mysterious kidnapping of a master toymaker sets into
motion the most entertaining comic caper of all time as the great mouse
detective Basil matches wits with his old rival, the villainous Professor
Ratigan."  Vincent Price provides the voice for the criminal genius ("a
character whose large ego is matched only by his aptitude for crime, Rati-
gan is embarrassed by his rodent origins and prefers to think of himself as
a large mouse rather than the rat he actually is").  The studio publicity
notes that "a new story was meticulously crafted using the characters from
Eve Titus' popular children's book, Basil of Baker Street," but the 38-page
pressbook carefully avoids mention of S******k H****s.  The voice of Basil
is provided by the British actor Barrie Ingham, who played Dr. John
Thornkyke in "The Moabite Cipher" in the television series "The Rivals of
Sherlock Holmes" broadcast in Britain in 1971 and in the U.S. in 1972 (that
credit is not mentioned in the pressbook, of course).  Music by Henry
Mancini, with three songs: "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind" (an upbeat
music-hall melody in which Ratigan's thugs salute their infamous leader
while cavorting merrily in a spirited parody of a Busby Berkeley number),
"Goodbye, So Soon" (a sardonic ballad in which Vincent Price demonstrates a
fine vocal range while describing the longstanding relationship between the
two rivals), and "Let Me Be Good to You" (written and sung by Melissa
Manchester, a zesty number in delivered in high style by a chanteuse in a
sleazy river-front pub where Basil and Dawson go in search of Ratigan).
And . . . at the very end of the long list of credits, well after the
"breakdown and inbetween artists" and "ink & paint supervisors," there is a
list of "additional voice talents" that inclues Basil Rathbone (Sherlock
Holmes) and Laurie Main (Watson).

May 86 #3   The twelfth (and final) episode in The Adventures of Turlock
            Loams is A SCANDAL IN BULIMIA, fresh from the Pequod Press and
priced at $28.50 (cloth) or $13.50 (paper) postpaid from John Ruyle, 521
Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707.  "The shrewd detective once again
uncovers a monstrous scheme by his elusive nemesis Coroner Sandals, the
John Bennett Shaw of crime."

"Harlan Ellison's Watching" in the July 1986 issue of Fantasy & Science
Fiction is a long essay on "Young Sherlock Holmes", which Ellison describes
as "109 minutes of just simply awful, lamebrained and inept crapola from
the team that brought you Gremlins."  Ellison also has some kind things to
say about the Sacred Writings ("the adventures we read over and over from
our first thrilling exposure to the canon till that final rereading of 'The
Adventure of the Retired Colourman' moments before we go to meet Sir Arthur
in person on the other side"), and will continue his discussion in his
column in the Aug. 1986 issue of F&SF.

Reported: a going-out-of-business sale by Sherlockian Enterprises (Frank A.
Hoffmann, 734 Richmond Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222), closing out his stock of
T shirts, calendars, brass plaques, leather items, and such.

Martin Gabel died on May 22.  He played Moriarty in the 1964 musical "Baker
Street" (D5166a).

BAKER STREET DETECTIVE, by David Fogel, is a new computer adventure game
from Artworx Software Co., 150 North Main Stret, Fairport, NY 14450 ($9.95
for Apple or Commodore 64).  "You are Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest
detective, and you have just been presented with two new mysteries to
solve.  In the case of A Wasted Winess, Inspector Lastrade asks you to
investigate the mysterious death of the government's star witness during an
extortion trial.  In the Scourge of the Executioner, you try to find a link
between the murder of a bank president, and a bank robber who wears an
executioner's hood."

SHERLOCK HOLMES'S LONDON: FOLLOWING THE FOOTSTEPS OF LONDON'S MASTER
DETECTIVE, by Tsukasa Kobayashi, Akane Higashiyama, and Masaharu Uemura
(San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1986; 128 p., $14.95).  This is the
American edition of A PICTORIAL RECORD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES'S LONDON,
published in Japan in 1984 and reported with considerable enthusiasm here
recently.  "S'ians who fail to acquire this volume will inevitably be
exposed as lacking both sense and sensibility" (BSJ, Dec. 1986).

Vilhjalmur Stefansson, one of five Arctic explorers honored by a set of
commemorative stamps issued on May 28, was a friend and admirer of ACD.
"In his home Conan Doyle is not merely a sturdier Watson and a kinder
Holmes," Stefansson wrote (D2051b).  "He is also a gentler Sir Nigel and a
mellow blend of all the host of his nobler characters."

Robert Burchfield has finished editing the four-volume, 5,750-page Oxford
English Dictionary Supplement, and one of the new entries under "wonder" is
"wonder-woman," cited from the example "A wonder-woman in every way."  The
citation is credited to A. Conan Doyle and appears in the Canon.  Who was
the wonder-woman?

Jun 86 #1   HOLY SMOKE, by G. Cabrera Infante (New York: Harper & Row,
            1985; 329 p., $16.95), is a fascinating, humorous, and expert
discussion of the history of cigars (and cigarettes and pipes), with
occasional references to the Canon.

"Violet de Merville, young, rich, beautiful, accomplished, a wonder-woman
in every way," was the description given by Sir James Damery (Illu), and
now found in the Oxford English Dictionary Supplement.

Recommended by Dick Lesh: THE UNIFORMS OF THE WORLD'S GREAT ARMIES: 1700 TO
THE PRESENT, edited by I. T. Schick, with many British Victorian uniforms
in full color (item #20659); originally $24.50, discounted to $2.95 (plus
$3.00 shipping per order) from Edward R. Hamilton, Falls Village, CT 06031.

Reported from Britain by Roger Johnson: Granada's "The Return of Sherlock
Holmes" (seven programs with Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke) will be
broadcast beginning in July.  Baskerville's is a new restaurant, with
extensively S'ian decor, in Alsopp Place, near the London Planetarium.
Published: SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE MEIRINGEN PAPERS, by Allen W. Sharp, a
choose-your-own adventure in the "Storytrail" series (Cambridge University
Press, L1.25); SHERLOCK HOLMES AT THE 1902 FIFTH TEST, by Stanley Shaw, a
paperback reprint of his cricket pastiche (Star, L1.95).  Forecast: MICHAEL
HARDWICK'S COMPLETE NEW GUIDE TO SHERLOCK HOLMES (Weidenfeld & Nicholson);
a revised edition of THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPANION.  And a heavily
illustrated centenary volume by A. J. Eyles (John Murray).

The latest issue of Communication at hand from The Pleasant Places of
Florida, with the latest offers from Baker Street Emporium, including all
13 of the Granada "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" on 3 VHS cassettes at
$20.00 (value for money indeed).  Write to The Reverend Dr. Benton Wood,
4408 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, FL 33510.

Arion Press (460 Bryant Street, San Francisco, CA 94107) has announced
their next limited edition: Raymond Chandler's THE BIG SLEEP, at $425.
Copies of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES are still available (at $300), or
you can wait for the trade edition ($16.50) announced for fall 1986 by
North Point Press.

LAST LAUGHS, edited by Gregory Mcdonald (New York: Mysterious Press, 1986;
$16.95); the MWA annual, with Edward D. Hoch's "The Most Dangerous Man"
(D4992b).

BUT DO BLONDES PREFER GENTLEMEN? HOMAGE TO QWERT YUIOP AND OTHER WRITINGS,
by Anthony Burgess (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986; 608 p., $24.95), is a
massive collection of his literate essays and book reviews, including his
review of Owen Dudley Edwards' THE QUEST FOR SHERLOCK HOLMES.

                     Vilhjalmur Stefansson, honored by a commemorative
                     stamp issued on May 28, was a friend and admirer of
                     ACD.  "In his home Conan Doyle is not merely a sturd-
                     ier Watson and a kinder Holmes . . . he is also a
                     gentler Sir Nigel and a mellow blend of all the host
                     of his nobler characters." (D2051b).

Jun 86 #2   Sherlock Holmes Security Inc. was one of the 17 companies in
            Florida and Alabama seized by the government on May 30 in a
federal undercover drug bust targeted against a $1 billion cocaine ring
that imported nearly four tons of the drug into the U.S. in the past four
years.  The company, where much of the planning for the operation occurred,
was owned by Henry Edsel Holmes, who was one of 30 people arrested and
charged with violations of the "drug kingpin" statute.

Gasogene Press (Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004) will publish FOR THE SAKE OF
THE GAME: BEING A FURTHER STUDY OF THE ENGLAND OF SHERLOCK HOLMES in July
at $22.95 (plus $2.00 shipping); this is the second volume of David L.
Hammer's researches.  Gasogene (which is David L. Hammer) will reprint his
first volume, THE GAME IS AFOOT, in 1986, and has also scheduled two books
by Michael Harrison: LONDON BY GASLIGHT (reprint) and SHERLOCKIAN MEMORIES
(new).

I suspect this won't be much help to fanatic collectors, but: Smucker's
Plush Toy Offer (Box 935, Medina, OH 44258) offers a 14-inch Disney's The
Great Mouse Detective "Basil" Plush Toy in return for $12.95 and front
labels from two 18-ounce jars of Smucker's jams/jellies/preserves and a
special coupon that was included in a newspaper insert here, with a
deadline of Aug. 31.  It is of course possible that the toy will also
appear in toy stores.

CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a new black-and-white comic book published by
Renegade Press (3908 East 4th Street, Long Beach, CA 90814).  The first
issue (May 1986) has the full text of "Bery" copiously illustrated by Dan
Day, who has used Rathbone and Bruce as his models but often seems more
concerned with art than with accuracy.  Six issues are planned, with the
second devoted to "Danc" and then new stories.  Cover price is $1.70, or
you can order direct ($2.00, or $7.00 for a six-issue subscription).

Tom Dunn (20-37 120th Street, College Point, NY 11356) is publishing a
second printing of Book I of The Pipe Smoker's Ephemeris, at $50.00.  Book
I is a fully indexed, 541-page, cloth-bound reprint of the first 15 years
(spring 1965 through autumn 1979) of TPSE, Tom's massive irregular
newsletter for The Universal Coterie of Pipe Smokers, whose ranks include
many S'ians who over the years have indulged in much S'ian commentary. TPSE
is a true labor of love, mailed free for the asking to anyone who expresses
an interest (financial contributions welcome, but not required).

The Candy Cruncher is a small pamphlet for children, with text by Anna L.
Carlson and illustrations by Diana Wynne showing "Candy Cruncher" in S'ian
garb while pursuing his quarry ($1.95 from PMG International, 1104 Summit
Avenue #100-B, Plano, TX 75074).

Reported by Brian MacDonald: a computer named Sherlock in OPERATION
SHERLOCK #1: THE A.1. GANG, by Bruce Coville (Signet paperback, $2.25).
Holmes Mouse and Watson Mouse in four "Adams Wood" mysteries by Stewart
Cowley (Derrydale Books/Crown, $2.00 each); the titles are WHO STOLE THE
MIRROR, WHO SPILLED THE PAINT, WHO STOLE THE PRIZE, and WHO ATE THE CAKE.
And THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Collier paperback, $4.95) with a new
cover illo by Richard Ross.

Jun 86 #3   The Bettmann Archive is offering portraits of 65 historical
            personalities, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, printed from
original negatives.  The portraits cost $45.00 each (plus $6.95 shipping),
and their illustrated brochure costs $1.00.  Bettmann Originals, 136 East
57th Street, Dept 1B, New York, NY 10022.

John Bennett Shaw will hold two Sherlock Holmes workshops next year: July
24-26 at William & Mary College in Virginia, and Aug. 16-23 at Stanford
University in California.  Write to Ray Betzner (124 Wickre Street, Will-
iamsburg, VA 23185) to join the mailing list for the July event.

A few minor items: a deerstalker as a clue in the cover-quiz on "famous
doctors" (Games, June 1986); a S'ian reference in one panel of a parody on
"Moon-Fighting" (Mad, July 1986); a S'ian panel in "The Last of the Holly-
wood 'B' Movies" (Giant History of Cracked, Oct. 1986).

Reported by John Stephenson: DETECTIVE ARTHUR SEE-A-WORD PUZZLES (Western
Publishing Co., $1.29); Detective Arthur in S'ian costume, in a Golden Book
for children.

Holmes and Watson appear on the box containing the LONDON MURDER MYSTERY
GAME (Buffalo: Tuco, 1985; $10.00), a role-playing party game for four to
eight players, but not among the actual characters, which include Shanda
Lear, Onda Mayke, Philip de Glass, and Vic Tim.

"The alarm clock beside Bisker's bed called him to his daily life at half-
past five...  Striking a match, he lit the hurricane lamp standing on the
wooden kerosene case beside the bed.  Then he took up one of two pipes, in
the bowl of which had been compressed the dried 'dottles' taken during the
previous day from the other pipe.  Bisker was a connoisseur in the art of
nicotine poisoning, and he favoured an extra-strong dose before rising in
the mornings, to be followed with mere ordinary doses during the day.  To
avoid wasting time, the special dose was loaded into the pipe overnight."
Discovered by Evelyn Herzog in Arthur Upfield's THE DEVIL'S FOOTSTEPS (a
1946 Napoleon Bonaparte mystery).

Jorge Luis Borges died on June 14.  His translation "La Liga de los Cabezas
Rojas" was first published in 1943, and reprinted in the July 1947 issue of
the BSJ, and his poem "Sherlock Holmes" was published in the winter 1985-86
issue of Descant.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN, by Daniel Stashower, was nominated
for the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar for best first novel, but the
winner in that category was WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, by Jonathan Kellerman.

The musical "Baker Street" is seldom seen, but it will run Aug. 12-31 at
the Berea Summer Theatre at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.  Mrs.
Hudson's Lodgers are planning a theatre party on Aug. 16; details available
from Tom Stetak, 15529 Diagonal Road, La Grange, OH 44050.

More plans for next year: The Sherlock Holmes Society of London will make a
"Pilgrimage to Switzerland" from Apr. 30 to May 9, 1987; details available
from Cdr. G. S. Stavert, 3 Outram Road, Southsea, Hants. PO5 1QP, England.

Jun 86 #4   There are, of course, still a few months in 1987 without any
            already-announced S'ian activity, but I'm sure there will be
more in store.  So far: BSI annual dinner in New York (Jan. 9), SHSOL ex-
cursion to Switzerland (Apr. 30-May 9), CIA dinner in Hyde Park (May 16),
JBS at William & Mary (July 24-26), JBS at Stanford (Aug. 16-23).

The next chapbook from The Pleasant Places of Florida will include Duane
Damon's new pastiche "The Adventure of the Wolf's Head Stick" and an ex-
cerpt from David Kahn's book THE CODEBREAKERS; $2.00 postpaid prepublica-
tion (July 4) and then $2.50, from Ben Wood, 4408 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach,
FL 33510.

The latest sales list from Video Specialists International (182 Jackson
Street, Dallas, PA 18612) includes two VCR cassettes filled with long-
unavailable items ranging from "Sherlock Holmes Baffled" (1900) and "The
Mystery of the Leaping Fish" (1916) to "The Singular Case of the Plural
Green Mustache" (1964) and "The Celebrated Archives of Mr. Sherlock Holmes"
(1970).

Atlanta is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of GONE WITH
THE WIND, and one article notes that while author Margaret Mitchell didn't
get involved in the casting battles which were waged over the move, she did
have a favorite for the role of Rhett Butler: Basil Rathbone.  "Frankly, my
dear Watson . . ."

Reported by Bob Thomalen: an "inside joke" in the film "Back to School", in
which Rodney Dangerfield, having decided to get a college degree, argues
with his business professor, saying, "Now look, Sherlock . . ."  The joke
is that the business professor is played by Paxton Whitehead, who played
Sherlock Holmes on stage in "The Crucifer of Blood" (1978).

Nigel Stock died on June 22 in London.  In 1983 Nicholas Utechin called him
"the best Dr. Watson of his generation in the media," and the praise was
well-deserved.  He played Watson in two BBC television series (with Douglas
Wilmer in 1964-65 and Peter Cushing in 1968), on four phonograph records
(with Robert Hardy in 1970-71), and in his one-man tour in "221B" (1983).
He also recorded readings from the Canon for BBC radio in 1969 and 1976-77.

And more news from Britain, reported by Roger Johnson: SHERLOCK HOLMES
MEETS ANNIE OAKLEY, a new pastiche by Stanley Shaw (W. H. Allen, L9.95);
his SHERLOCK HOLMES AT THE 1901 FIFTH TEST MATCH appeared in 1985.  THE
TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Peter Haining (W. H. Allen, L14.95, in
Aug.); heavily illustrated in color and black-and-white.  And THE SHERLOCK-
IAN, the quarterly journal edited by Kelvin I. Jones, will debut in Aug.

Baskerville Holmes, the forward for the Memphis State basketball team, has
been drafted.  By Milwaukee, in the second round of the NBA draft.  For
those who tuned in late, it is reported that his mother has liked the 1939
Rathbone film, and saw it again not long before he was born.

Reported by Russ Geoffrey: 221B BAKER STREET, another computer adventure
game (Atari, Commodore, Apple); $29.95 from Intellicreations, 19808 Nord-
hoff Place, Chatsworth, CA 91311.

Jul 86 #1   If you've been wondering why PBS-TV hasn't shown reruns of "The
            Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", it may be that they paid for
only one airing.  The series started on USA cable on June 27.

Flier at hand for The Silver Blaze at Belmont on Sept. 12.  This will be
the 35th running of the race, and Dorothy and Tom Stix will be handing over
the reins to their successors at the end of the festivities.  Details from
Thomas L. Stix, Jr., 34 Pierson Avenue, Norwood, NJ 07648.

               "He shows quite remarkable talent in planning the capture of
               mice, little birds, and insects," Violet Hunter said of Ed-
               ward Rucastle (Copp).  In 1985 Britain issued a set of five
               stamps honoring the centenary of the Royal Entomological
               Society of London.  Three of the stamps show insects men-
               tioned in the Canon; can you identify the contexts?

               Add another event to next year's calendar: Sherlockon II, at
               the Marriott Hotel in Torrance, Calif., on Mar. 13-15, 1987,
               sponsored by The Blustering Gale(s) from the South-West.
               Details from Sherlockon II, Box 1226, Lawndale, CA 90260.

               Rumored: a new publisher for the Solar Pons pastiches by
               Basil Copper: reissues of the four volumes published by
               Pinnacle, plus two volumes that died with Pinnacle.

               TV Guide (July 5) reports on plans for "The Return of Sher-
               lock Holmes" as a TV-movie/pilot on CBS.  "It seems that
               back in the old days, the evil Moriarty tricked Holmes into
               ingesting bubonic plague bacteria--whereupon Holmes had his
               companion Dr. Watson freeze and hide him in Watson's coun-
               try home until a cure could be found.  Cut to the present:
               Watson's American great-granddaughter discovers the detec-
               tive and thaws him out."  This has been in the works since
               1981, when it was reported as written and produced by Bob
               Shane (in consultation with Michael Hodel, Sean Wright, and
               Nancy Senter) and the Aaron Spelling organization for an
               ABC-TV movie-of-the-week; later that year the project was
               suspended when, according to Hodel, Spelling demanded more
               changes in the second draft than Shayne was prepared to
make.  And (from a later press report) Kevin Connor ("North and South II")
will direct, with shooting to start on July 21, for broadcast next season.

"Victorian Pleasures: Food, Fun, and Games" will be the theme of the next
conference of the Northeast Victorian Studies Association, on May 1-3,
1987, at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.  Details available from Earl E.
Stevens, Dept. of English, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI 02908. They
have also issued a call for papers, which should be sent to Prof. Judith
Wilt, Dept. of English, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167.

Forecast: WELCOME TO AMERICA, MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S
1894 LECTURE TOUR, by Christopher Redmond, due this fall from Simon &
Pierre (P.O. Box 280, Adelaide Street Postal Station, Toronto, Ont. M5C
2J4, Canada); write to the publisher to enroll on their mailing list.

Jul 86 #2   Forecast: a series of ten DANGER MOUSE books from Little, Brown
            and Co. in October, at $3.95 each.  They are also offering a
life-sized Danger Mouse costume to stores planning in-house appearances and
autographings, and posters and badges.  The books are a spin-off from the
British 10-minute cartoon series, first broadcast in Britain in 1981 and
showing here on the Nickelodeon cable channel.  "Dangermouse, the world's
greatest detective, and his faithful assistant, Penfold, the world's most
obvious coward, operate from a letterbox on Baker Street, helping their
boss, Colonel K, solves crises that range from exploding custard that is
taking over the world to a weather machine run amok."

MORE WHO'S WHO ON SESAME STREET (Racine: Western Publishing Co., c1982,
99c) is a new coloring book, with one page devoted to Sherlock Hemlock.

Add Tim Pigott-Smith to the short list of actors who have portrayed both
Holmes and Watson.  He played Holmes in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast of "Vall"
on May 24.  And he played Watson in the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival
of Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes".  How many others on that short list can
you identify?

Pause for a moment to consider how many books have been written and pub-
lished, and how many subjects there might be that have never been dignified
by such treatment.  However short the list might be, the count is now
reduced by one.  Encountered in a recent dealer's catalog: THE MUCK MANUAL:
FOR THE USE OF FARMERS. A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE CHEMICAL PROPERTIES,
MANAGEMENT, AND APPLICATION OF MANURES, by Frederick Falkner (London: John
Murray, 1846); a new edition, with a glossary of chemical terms, and an
index.

SHERLOCK HOLMES THROUGH TIME AND SPACE, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin
Harry Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, first published in 1984, is now
available in a trade paperback (New York: Bluejay Books, 1985; 355 p.,
$8.95); a fine anthology of S'ian tales from the fields of fantasy and
science fiction.

THE YOUNG DETECTIVE'S HANDBOOK, by William Vivian Butler (Boston: Atlantic
Monthly Press, 1981; 144 p., $4.95); with S'ian references in text and
illustrations.

Flier at hand from Mostly Mysteries (225 Carlton Street, Toronto, Ont. M5A
2L2, Canada), offering the original artwork for one of Gus Mager's 1924-25
"Sherlocko" cartoon strips, at $1,500.

"PLEASE GIVE THE YARD A CALL, WATSON." presents Gar Donnelson's exploration
of the use of the telephone in the Canon.  The well-illustration pamphlet
(10 p., $2.50 postpaid) is available from its author, at 430 Steinway Road,
Lincoln, NE 68505.

James C. Cleary's THE BUTLER OF HURLSTONE: A COMPARISON OF SOURCES, first
published in the Sept. 1982 issue of Prescott's Press and now expanded and
annotated, presents some startling (and occasionally scandalous) discover-
ies in the personal journals of Richard Brunton (16 p., $4.95 postpaid from
the author, at 28 Pengilly Drive, New Rochelle, NY 10804).

Jul 86 #3   "Sherlock Holmes I read now with the same pleasure as I did
            then, and am contantly finding myself in good company.  T. S.
Eliot once told me that he thought The Speckled Band one of the great short
stories in the English language, and as I recalled to him the classic
opening chapters of The Hound of the Baskervilles his slow, his slightly
sepuchral, voice completed the quotation: 'Mr. Holmes, they were the foot-
steps of a gigantic hound.'"  From THE PROPERTY BASKET, by Robert Speaight
(Collins and Harwill Press, 1970), quoted by Louis Phillips in the summer
1986 issue of The Armchair Detective.

The same issue of TAD has "A Conversation with John Gardner" by Joseph E.
Bitowf, in which Gardner comments on his Moriarty series.  $20.00 a year;
129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019.

William Passen (1955).  Donald McDonough (1976).  David Pearce (1977).
Three Investitured members of The Baker Street Irregulars, without known
addresses.  Can anyone offer help, or a clue?

Nessiteras rhombopteryx, perhaps the most famous of Scotland's tourist
attractions, and its counterpart Belua aquatica champlainiensis in Lake
Champlain, have been the targets for much research, but it should be noted
that there is a Loch Ness Monster, assembled in the loch and abandoned
there when it sank during filming of "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes"
in 1969.  "Nessie's Movie Double" is one of the chapters in a new book by
Joseph W. Zarzynski, who suggests that "possibly one day Sherlock Holmes
devotees in their ever-active quest for Sherlock Holmes memorabilia, may
launch an expedition to locate and retrieve Billy Wilder's creation.
MONSTER WRECKS OF LOCH NESS AND LAKE CHAMPLAIN (111 p., $9.95 postpaid), is
available from M-Z Information, Box 2129, Wilton, NY 12866.

"I'm hoping to have one more stab at Holmes," Peter Cushing said in a
recent interview.  "Now he's very old and tottering around with his bees.
But it's a good script.  If I can only stagger through Holmes--he never
stops talking and moves with such speed.  I thought, 'Oh, crikey.  Roller
skates please, props.'"  He's referring to "The Abbot's Cry" (the sequel to
the 1984 British television film "The Masks of Death"), and the new film
will also have Rex Harrison, Nanette Newman, Patrick McGoohan, and Trevor
Howard ("None of us are in the first flush of youth," Cushing noted).

According to a newspaper report forwarded by Jerry Margolin, not long after
the title of the film "Basil of Baker Street" was changed, "some little imp
posted a memo on the Disney animation department's bulletin board, with the
department chief's name affixed, announcing the renaming of all the
studio's animated classics in the mundane style of the latest film.  'Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs' became 'Seven Little Men Help a Girl', 'Alice
in Wonderland' became 'The Girl in the Imaginary World', and 'The Wooden
Boy Who Became Real' was the improved version of, well you get the idea.
Studio execs were not amused, but then studio execs are the kind of people
who come up with titles like 'The Great Mouse Detective'."

Chris Redmond (125 Lincoln Road #1101, Waterloo, Ont. N2J 2N9, Canada) has
extra copies of several issues of BAKER STREET PAGES (D4187a and D4188a),
50c each or offered in trade; if your run is incomplete, write to him.

Jul 86 #4   "I'm going on the premise that he is not the Sherlock Holmes,
            but almost an identical personality in today's world, only in-
stead of sparks of intuition he uses scientific means to solve his cases."
That's Richard Matheson's description of "The Evidence Never Lies", a TV
pilot for Lorimar about the work of Prof. Leon MacDonald, "the country's
greatest criminalist."

The "Mystery Classics" series of Hear-a-Book audio cassettes includes 35 of
the tales, read with enthusiasm and style by Hugh A. Rose or Leonard
Sloane.  The cassettes cost $4.95 (no shipping charge for readers of the
BSJ), and a list of titles is available from Westlake House, 31220 LaBaya
Drive #110, Westlake, CA 91362.

There's a press report that a distributor is "dusting off" the 1954 Ronald
Howard series, pasting the episodes into TV movies for next season.

                          Credit Rich Koelle for discovering the accompany-
                          ing article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  And
                          credit Jack Koelle for identifying the Canonical
                          connection, quoting the London Standard (in
                          Sign): "The prompt and energetic action of the
                          officers of the law shows the great advantage on
                          such occasions of a single vigorous and masterful
                          mind."

                          More news on the grand gourmet S'ian dinner at
                          the Culinary Institute of America on May 16,
                          1987.  Rooms at the Beekman Arms (914-876-7077)
                          are being filled quickly.  The dinner will be
                          black tie, and the price $50.00 a person.  Checks
                          payable to Albert M. Rosenblatt, whose address is
                          Box 221B, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569.

Reported by Ron De Waal: "The Adventure of the Mnemonic Norwegian" by Rob-
ert W. Hahn, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Sept. 1986.  "Mickey
Mouse and the Seven Ghosts" in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse #219 (Oct.) and
#220 (Nov. 1986).  THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, with an afterword by
Frederick Busch (New York: New American Library, 1986; 251 p.); Signet
Classic paperback.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S A MYSTERY BY THE TALE (anthology #22, fall 1986, $3.50)
has a reprint of Penelope Wallace's "The World According to Uncle Albert".
The story begins, "My uncle was mad about Sherlock Holmes," and continues,
"I'd once pointed out to him that there were other crime writers.  It was
like telling a religious bigot that there were other churches."

Flier at hand for "Autumn in Baker Street" at Bear Mountain on Oct. 11-12.
Philip Brogdon will be one of the speakers, lecturing on "A Look at Black
Detectives, with an Emphasis on Practitioners of the Sherlockian-Deductive
Method, Including a Look at Individual Detectives Who Are Prohibited from
Using the Sherlockian Method, Either Because of Personality Conflict or for
Other Reasons."  Write to Robert E. Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY
10709.

Jul 86 #5   More on the new version of the 1954 "Sherlock Holmes" series
            with Ronald Howard, reported by Marsha Pollak from an ad in
Variety: "a major host will recreate the spirit of Baker Street" and the
series will be re-released, partly in color, in 90-minute and two-hour
formats, in the fall of 1987. Whitehall Productions, Ltd., distributed by
R. T. Donnelly Enterprises, 21588 Rambla Vista Drive, Malibu, CA 90265.

Marsha also spotted an item about Rupert Holmes, who wrote the music and
script for the musical "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (which won five Tony
awards).  Rupert Holmes is really David Goldstein, "a man who loves to
drink Rupert Knickerbocker beer and an avid fan of ace sleuth Sherlock
Holmes," according to the Dallas Times Herald (June 3, 1986).

"You mean these Baker Street societies and all that.  Grown men being
silly.  I can't say that I've had time to read any of the stories.  When I
do get time for reading, which isn't often, I prefer an improving book."
That's the reply of Miss Lemon, secretary to Hercule Poirot in HICKORY
DICKORY DOCK, when asked if she is acquainted with THE ADVENTURES OF
SHERLOCK HOLMES.  And that, in turn, is from "Some Canonical Traces in the
Detective Works of Agatha Christie", by David McGowan, in the summer 1986
issue of The Sherlock Holmes Journal, which also contains Jessica McMahon's
interview with Edward Hardwicke, Jeremy Brett's new Watson.

Fantomas, described by his latest publisher as a character so sinister that
he makes Professor Moriarty look like a common shoplifter, created a sensa-
tion when he first appeared in France in 1911, launching a series of se-
quels and films that were highly popular and that are now almost totally
unknown.  An English translation of FANTOMAS, the first of the series writ-
ten by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, has been reprinted (New York:
William Morrow and Co., 1986; 324 p., $17.95), offering an introduction to
one of the true criminals in literature.  There is nothing S'ian about the
book (Inspector Juve is intelligent and tenacious, but Fantomas always
escapes), but the novel is a stylish presentation of a long-forgotten era.

"The Great Mouse Detective" is an enjoyable film -- favorable reviews so
far from the N.Y. Times and the Washington Post, as well as from a few
smaller papers -- and it ranked #9 on the Associated Press list of the ten
top-grossing films for the weekend of July 4-6 with an estimated gross of
$3.2 million, and #10 for the weekend of July 11-13, with an estimated
gross of $3.4 million.  For comparison, "Karate Kid Part II" was #1 both
weekends with grosses of $6.3 and $6.7 million.  For the weekend of July
18-20, "Aliens" led the list, with a gross of $10.0 million, and "The Great
Mouse Detective" didn't make the top ten.

Tyke Niver reports that the Military Collectors Guild (906 South Main
Street, St. Charles, MO 63301) offers a number of items for Canonical
militarists, including John S. Farmer's THE REGIMENTAL RECORDS OF THE
BRITISH ARMY ($18.95) and a regimental badge for the Fifth Northumberland
Fusiliers ($15.00).  And J. Blades & Co. (Box 503, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA
93921) offers a good selection of regimental neckties (not to be worn when
traveling in the British Isles, of course, as "we would not want to be
responsible for any unsuspecting American being branded a bounder and a cad
by an outraged, but otherwise civil, Briton").

Jul 86 #6   The Hounds of the Baskerville (sic) have confirmed some of
            their plans for the commemoration of the Vincent Starrett
centennial: an exhibit of Starrett books and papers at the Cultural Center
of the Chicago Public Library in October, with reading from Starrett's
works on the afternoon of Oct. 24; a symposium on Starrett as writer,
newspaperman, and Sherlockian, at the Newberry Library on the afternoon of
Oct. 25; and a dedication of a memorial to Starrett at Graceland Cemetery
on Oct. 26.  Contact: Robert J. Mangler, 103 Broadway, Wilmette, IL 60091.

The answer to the philatelic challenge:  "I, my old housekeeper, and my
bees have the estate all to ourselves," Holmes wrote (Lion).  The buff-
tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris), one of Britain's commonest bumble
bees, undoubtedly was one of the inhabitants of Holmes' retirement estate
in Sussex; the Canon also includes mention of bee-farming (Seco) and bee
culture (Last), but these are, perhaps, more likely to refer to honey bees
than to bumble bees.  Britain's largest beetle, the stag beetle (Lucanus
cervus), is a prime target for collectors; "He was pinned like a beetle on
a card," was Stanley Hopkins' description of Peter Carey (Blac).  And old
Sherman said of his slow-worm that "It keeps the beetles down." (Sign)
With two different references to beetles in the recorded cases, it is of
course appropriate that there are two different beetles in the set; the
seven-spotted lady bird (Coccinella septempunctata) is also a beetle.

                 And another philatelic item:  The British film industry
                 was honored with a set of five stamps issued in 1985, and
                 two of the stamps show actors who not only appeared in
                 S'ian plays, but also may have played the same part.
                 Charles Chaplin, shown in a photograph by Lord Snowden,
                 was Billy in touring productions of William Gillette's
                 "Sherlock Holmes" from 1903 to 1906, and with Gillette
                 himself in "The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes" in
                 London in 1905.  David Niven, photographed by Cornel
                 Lucas, is far less famous as a S'ian actor, but he wrote
                 in his autobiography THE MOON IS A BALLOON (New York: G.
                 P. Putnam's Sons, 1972) that during his final term at
                 Sandhurst he "found time to produce a couple of concerts
                 and to play the juvenile lead in The Speckled Band."

                 THE HOUNDS OF THE VATICAN; OR, HOLMES'S LAST BOW, by G.
                 Randolph Holms (New York: Vantage Press, 1986; 130 p.,
$10.95) reveals what the world's greatest consulting detective has been
doing since he solved the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in
Edmund Aubrey's SHERLOCK HOLMES IN DALLAS; the story involves malevolent
Freemasonry, echoes of the film "Murder by Decree", a conspiracy against
both church and state, and the eventual destruction of world order.  G.
Randolph Holms is a pseudonyn, concealing the identities of three "inter-
national merchant bankers" who use an Elizabethan (II, not I) Holmes to
present their own views on the catastrophe which civilzation now faces.

Reported: SHERLOCK'S LOGIC, by William Neblett (University Press of
America, 1986; 290 p., $26.50 cloth, $11.25 paper); SH's grandson attempts
to solve a murder mystery in the first third of the book, with the rest
devoted to an exposition of elementary logic.

Aug 86 #1   Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse (and three other Disney comic book
            titles) are now issued by Gladstone Publishing (Box 2206,
Scottsdale, AZ 85252); I've been told that Gold Key went bankrupt, causing
a six-year drought that has only now ended.  "Mickey Mouse and the Seven
Ghosts" is in Mickey Mouse #219 (Oct.), #220 (Nov.), and #221 (Dec.).
The story is a rerun of the daily strips that began on Aug. 7, 1936;
Mickey, Goofy, and Donald are the Acme Detective Agency, with Goofy
deerstalkered and calabashed.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, with an Afterword by Frederick Busch (New
York: New American Library, 1986; 251 p., $2.25); Signet Classic edition of
"the only full-length Holmes novel," according to the back-jacket blurb.

Reported: "Sherlock Holmes Meets Dracula" (a new comedy with Tony Randall
as Holmes and Sid Caesar as the Count) is now being filmed on location in
Transylvania.

The second annual Sherlock Holmes dinner at the Dickens Inn in Philadelphia
will be held on Sept. 21, 1986.  Details available from Gideon D. Hill,
1810 South Rittenhouse Square #207, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

And another report on "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" planned for CBS-TV:
Sherlock Holmes (frozen and revived) will be played by British stage star
Michael Pennington, and Jane Watson by Margaret Collins (who was on "Foley
Square").

Reported by Andrew Jay Peck.  The Granada series "The Return of Sherlock
Holmes" will be broadcast by PBS on "Mystery!" beginning on Feb. 5, 1987.
And Paramount has released a videocassette ($24.95) of the 1970 film "The
Molly Maguires" (non-Sherlockian, but of course with strong echos of "The
Valley of Fear").

John E. Stephenson reports that the Holmes and Watson ceramic thimbles,
made by Francesca China and imported by Heirloom Editions, are available
from Sherlock's Home, 5614 East Second Street, Long Beach, CA 90803; $22.98
each or $42.00 for the pair, plus $1.75 shipping.

ADVENTURING IN ENGLAND WITH DOCTOR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: ENCOUNTERS WITH
SHERLOCK HOLMES, DISCIPLES AND MEDICINE, by Alvin E. Rodin and Jack D. Key
(Beavercreek: KeyRod Literary Enterprises, 1986; 121 p., $13.50 postpaid
from the publisher, 3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385); a journal of
Rodin's second trip to England, furthering his crusade to rescue Conan
Doyle's medical reputation from the widely-held belief that he was a failed
physician who turned to literature.

Advertised: THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE, with illustrations by Sidney Paget, the
second in a series of miniature editions from The Press of Arden Park (861
Los Molinos Way, Sacramento, CA 95864); $35.00.  A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA,
issued in 1984, was nicely done.

Reported: Basil Rathbone's autobiography IN AND OUT OF CHARACTER (D5092a),
reprinted by Buccaneer Books (Box 168, Cutchogue, NY 11935); price not
known.

Aug 86 #2   "Holmes is still a master at deduction, but he has yet to mas-
            ter the culture and technology of the 1980s," according to a
CBS-TV press release forwarded by Ted Schulz.  "Holmes is thrown by (and
sometimes into) everything from swimming pools to airplanes to disposable."
That's "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," again, and don't ask what it is
that's supposed to be disposable.  The film-for-TV stars Michael Pennington
and Margaret Colin, supported by Lila Kaye, Barry Morse, and Connie Booth.
Connie Booth played Mrs. Hudson and Francine Moriarty in "The Strange Case
of the End of Civilisation as We Know It" (1977), and Barry Morse played
Holmes on the Canadian television program "Magic Shadows" (1975).

Bill Barton reports that his role-playing game CTHULHU BY GASLIGHT has been
published by Chaosium Inc. (Box 6302, Albany, CA 94706; $22.00 postpaid),
and that it has a scenario "The Yorkshire Horrors" that is based on Baring-
Gould's suggestion that Holmes was involved in a case there in 1896.

BRIGADE: FURTHER ADVENTURES OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE, by M. J. Trow (London:
Macmillan, 1986; 219 p., L8.50); a sequel to THE ADVENTURES OF INSPECTOR
LESTRADE (1985, with an American edition as THE SUPREME ADVENTURE OF
INSPECTOR LESTRADE).  The basic premise is that Lestrade was much maligned
in the Canon, and he once again demonstrates his expertise at detection,
disguise, and amorous dalliance; the humor is broad and occasionally
slapstick, with a cast of cameo characters that extends from Kaiser Wilhelm
to an infant Basil Rathbone.

Television viewers may remember a 1985 "60 Minutes" report on BBC Radio,
and mention of the fact that one of the buildings occupied by the BBC is
the old Langham Hotel ("where Sherlock Holmes once met Moriarty," according
to Morley Safer).  Roger Johnson now cites a report in the London Standard
that the BBC, having failed to demolish the Langham Hotel, is now preparing
to sell that venerable edifice.  There are three mentions of the Langham in
the Canon, and you can look them up in Tracy's ENCYCLOPAEDIA SHERLOCKIANA.

The latest news from Rhinebeck is that the Beekman Arms is now fully booked
for the weekend of May 16, 1987.  Other motels and inns in Rhinebeck and
Hyde Park are listed in the flier that will be mailed to those who send in
reservations for the C.I.A. dinner (black tie, $50.00 a person, checks to
Albert M. Rosenblatt, Box 221B, Pleasant Valley, NY 12569).  Al judiciously
warns that the dinner will surely be over-subscribed, and that reservations
will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.  He also recommends a
re-reading of A STUDY IN SCARLET, and reports that an excellent description
of the Third Quinquennial Sherlock Holmes Alimentary Festival will be found
in Beverly Wolov's review in the Sept. 1982 issue of the BSJ.

Albert and Julia Rosenblatt's THE SHERLOCK HOLMES CROSSWORD (reviewed BSJ,
Mar. 1986) is not, as I had heard, out of print; copies in wrappers are
still available at $4.00 (from the Norwegian Explorers, 1473 Fulham Street,
Saint Paul, MN 55108), and it's a fine book.

The Arion Press $300 limited edition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
(reviewed BSJ, Dec. 1985) has been reprinted in a trade edition at $16.50.
The new edition is a smaller book (reduced about 20%), and the publisher is
North Point Press, 850 Talbot Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94706.

Aug 86 #3   "My God!" cried John Nieminski, "What a blind beetle I have
            been!" And so did Hall Pycroft (Stoc), adding a third beetle
reference to last month's list.  John also wonders if David Niven played
some other part in "The Speckled Band" than Billy, who, certainly a
juvenile, and a lead of sorts, was surely too young for even a young Niven.
John suggests that the play might have been adapted from ACD's version,
with Niven playing the cheetah or the baboon, in roles beefed up for the
occasion.  Perhaps, but there's another possibility: Niven in drag in the
role of Enid Stonor, given the exclusion of the fair sex from the ranks at
Sandhurst.  After all, there's a precedent, what with Holmes appearing in
drag in "The Mazarin Stone".

                   And on to this month's philatelic item: a portrait (by
                   A. Ramsey) of George III, King of Great Britain and
                   Ireland (1760-1820), issued this year in the Australian
                   Bicentennial series.  It was Holmes who said (Nobl) that
                   "I am one of those who believe that the folly of a
                   monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone
                   years will not prevent our children from being some day
                   citizens of the same world-wide country under a flag
                   which shall be a quartering of the Union Jack with the
Stars and Stripes."  The monarch was George III.  I don't know of a stamp
honoring the blundering minister.

The [Lowell, Mass.] Sunday Sun has been running the comic strip "Walt
Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales: The Great Mouse Detective" and by July
13 (the first strip I've seen), Ratigan was making his balcony appearance
with the robot Queen.

Chris Caswell, who is Sherlock's Home (5614 East 2nd Street, Long Beach, CA
90803) confirms that he stocks the Holmes & Watson thimbles (Aug 86 #1), as
well as S'ian chess sets, and reports that he is expecting a shipment of
S'ian spoons and pipe-holders.  Write for his catalog.

And back to the world of comic books.  Cases of Sherlock Holmes #2 (July
1986) has "Danc" illustrated by Dan Day (who provides barely veiled but
firm buttocks on Elsie Cubitt); the next issue will have a pastiche (The
Vourdalak) by Gordon Derry.  The Bozz Chronicles #1 was marginally S'ian,
and non-S'ian in #2-5.  If your home town is sufficiently civilized to have
a shop specializing in comic books, I recommend a visit, if only to browse
titles such as "Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black
Belt Mutant Ninja Critters".

Seen in a discount bookstore: A STUDY IN SCARLET: A SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY
(adapted by Nigel Flynn) and THE SIGN OF FOUR: A SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY
(adapted by Richard Widdows), with illustrations from the Burbank Films
(Peter O'Toole as the voice of Holmes) animations (New York: Gallery Books,
1985; 56 p., $3.98 each).  There were four animations, so "Houn" and "Vall"
may be along eventually.

Also discounted (at $2.98): THE LUNATIC FRINGE, by William L. DeAndrea (New
York: M. Evans and Co., 1980); a well-written mystery, with one minor
reference to the Canon.

Aug 86 #4   Copies of THE FOURTH CAB (D887b) and THE BEST OF THE CABS (a
            1980 selection from the three earlier anthologies) are still
available ($7.50 each postpaid) from J. Devereux deGozzaldi, 79 Frankland
Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748; both books contain fine contributions by members
of The Speckled Band of Boston.

Lenny Picker reports that Frank Langella wants Denholm Elliott as Watson in
this fall's Broadway production of "Sherlock's Last Case".  "Now on-screen
with 'A Room with a View'" (according to the newspaper item), Elliott was
Stapleton in the 1978 Cooke-Moore film "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and
Dr. Mortimer in the 1983 Richardson-Churchill TV film of "The Hound of the
Baskervilles".

Nominations have been announced for the Bouchercon XVII "Anthony" awards,
with "Young Sherlock Holmes" one of five candidates for "best movie" -- the
others are "Blood Simple", "Fletch", "Jagged Edge", and "Witness".  There
is a new address for Bouchercon XVII (The Butler Did It, 2020 North Charles
Street, Baltimore, MD 2l218) and the convention is Oct. 10-12.

Reported: references to ACD, SH, and the Hound in Ray Bradury's new novel
MURDER IS A LONELY BUSINESS (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, $15.95).

Stanley MacKenzie (64 Bassett Road, London, W.10, England) has celebrated
the centenary of the publication of the first Sherlock Holmes story with a
splendid commemorative postcard that shows D. H. Friston's frontispiece, a
photograph of ACD, and (in full and glorious color) the cover of Beeton's
Christmas Annual; the cost of the cards (postpaid by surface mail) is $6.00
for ten, $48.00 for 100, and $84.00 for 200.


























Aug 86 #5   There is very little published information on The Sherlock
            Holmes Society (the predecessor of The Sherlock Holmes Society
of London), one interesting exception being Maurice Campbell's address to
the SHSOL on Jan. 5, 1967, which was reprinted in the SHJ (D4528a).  The
SHS held its first dinner on June 6, 1934, and Dick Sheppard, then a Canon
of St. Paul's was elected President.  "He was chosen because of his
services in persuading Conan Doyle to resume the publication of Holmes'
Adventures on an I Zingari cricket tour.  The persuasion, I was told, took
the form of sitting on Doyle as he lay on a sofa after lunch until the
promise had been given."

"To test a trivial theory that none of the many millions who bought,
borrowed, or otherwise acquired the number-one international best-seller of
the early eighties had ever actually read it in its entirety, I spoke with
some people to whom that book is presumably dearest--namely, those who were
spending $20 million to film it."  That's the lead in Robert Katz's article
in American Film, Sept. 1986, on "The Name of the Rose" -- although Katz,
who was on location in Italy when the monastery was torched, didn't get to
interview too many of the people working on the film.

Reported by John Bennett Shaw: SAM THE DETECTIVE AND THE ALEF BET MYSTERY,
a beginning Hebrew reader written and illustrated by Amye Rosenberg (New
York: Behrman House, 1980); with Sam being a Sherlockian bear.

A helpful reader has supplied leads for two of the three "missing" members
of the BSI, but I'm still trying to find William Passen (1955).  I also
need leads for Terry Belanger (1968), Berth Lindfors (1968), Russell L.
Merritt (1960), and Peter A. Ruber (1964), who aren't where we thought they
were.  Please let me know if you have any helpful hints.

Andy Peck has sent an item from the May 1986 issue of Manhattan Inc., with
a report on Michael King of King World (the television syndicators, who
distribute "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!").  "We bought the Basil
Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies and 'The Guns of Will Sonnet' and 'Branded'
for $5 million from Leo Gutman," King told the interviewer.

Bret Harte, author of the parody "The Stolen Cigar Case" (D5920a), will be
honored on the $5.00 stamp to be issued in 1987 in the Great Americans
Series.  William D. Jenkins has discussed some Canonical echoes of Harte's
work (D2583a).

Reported by Ron De Waal: THE BOOK OF THE SLEUTH: FOURTEEN CLASSIC TALES OF
MYSTERY & SUSPENSE, edited by Alan K. Russell (Poole: New Orchards, 1986;
380 p., $7.98 at Waldenbooks); contents include "Spec" and "Prio".  And
four "Basil of Baker Street" items (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1986):
DISNEY'S THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (Golden Look-Look Books, 24 p., $1.50);
DTGMD: BASIL'S GREAT ESCAPES (Golden Look-Look Book, 24 p., $1.50); DTGMD:
A COLOR AND ACTIVITY BOOK (Golden Book, 60 p., $0.99); DTGMD: A COLORING
BOOK (Golden Book, 60 p., $0.99).

Can anyone supply a mailing address for Different Worlds Magazine?  I've
had a report that the July-Aug. 1986 issue has an article on Solar Pons,
and the Library of Congress doesn't have an address for the magazine.

Aug 86 #6   Oh to be in England, now that April's here . . . if it's April
            1911, when the Strand published an interesting advertisement:




















































Sep 86 #1  It's a rising market for Conan Doyle manuscripts.  "The auto-
           graph of Conan Doyle's uncollected story 'A Regimental Scandal'
just made its lower estimate of L4,000 to a private buyer," according to a
press report on an auction at Christie's on May 29.  You can read the story
in UNCOLLECTED STORIES, the collection edited by John Michael Gibson and
Richard Lancelyn Green.

Reported by James O. Duval: THE DELL BOOK OF QUIZZES AND PUZZLES FOR LITER-
ATURE LOVERS: CROSSWORDS, NAME GAMES, QUIZZES, AND WORD SEARCH PUZZLES TO
CHALLENGE AND DELIGHT ADMIRERS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, THE BRONTE SISTERS,
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND JANE AUSTEN, by Maggie Lane and Nigel Bartlett (Dell,
1986, $6.95), with a S'ian section by Bartlett.

If you've never been to the New York bookshop Murder Ink, you can see Carol
Brener (and her cat Clouseau) on the cover of the Nov. 1986 issue of EQMM.

"Lite Reading" is the head on the N.Y. Times comments on a Workman cassette
tape that will dispense "Ten Classics in Ten Minutes" -- and the Times has
responded by offering a whole library in one minute.  One of the books in
their library is THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, summarized by the Times as:
"Dog scares heir, heir hires Holmes, detective meets dog, heir spared,
Watson tells all, o'er moor and fen."  (And that's considerably longer than
their summary of Toynbee's THE STUDY OF HISTORY: "What rises, falls."

              T. S. Eliot's enthusiasm for Sherlock Holmes is well known
              (see Jul 86 #3) (and BSJ, Sept. 1985, p. 188, and the many
              items bibliographed by Ron De Waal); he was honored by this
              year's "literary arts" commemorative, issued on Sept. 26.

              Granada's "Return of Sherlock Holmes" was widely reviewed in
              the British press, with reports of plans for a fourth series
              to be filmed in 1987, with six more stories (for a total of
              26).  Brett's feelings toward Holmes have changed, according
              to one interview: "He used to complain that the role was
              turning him into a recluse, but these days, to his surprise,
he enjoys playing him."  "I now want to do all the stories," Brett said,
"there are 34 more! I couldn't have imagined that a year ago."  In another
interview Brett explained that the series "has proved so popular in America
that Sherlock Holmes societies have been formed."  "I went to a convention
in the U.S. and was the only one dressed normally," he added, "all the men
and women were wearing deerstalkers and smoking pipes.  It is a great cult
over there."

"William Gillette: A Connecticut Yankee and the American Stage" was shown
to The Red Circle on Aug. 29, and it's a splendid production.  The 30-min-
ute documentary includes an appreciative narration, a long interview with
Helen Hayes, an impersonation of the actor (by Garrett Walters), and Gill-
ette himself (in the Fox Movietone interview filmed at Seventh Sister). 
Available on videocassette ($50.00 postpaid) from Connecticut Heritage
Productions, 46 Bretton Road, Middletown, CT 06457.

Reported: Sherlock Hemlock in "The Mysterious Stranger" in THE SESAME
STREET TREASURY, VOLUME 2, in supermarkets and such.

Sep 86 #2   The SHSOL Christmas card (see BSJ, Sept. 1986, p. 189 for the
            photograph of the Brixton Road) will cost $7.00 for a packet of
ten, postpaid by airmail; checks (payable to The Sherlock Holmes Society of
London) can be sent to Capt. W. R. Michell, The Old Crown Inn, Lopen, South
Petherton, Somerset TA13 5JX, England.

Bill Goodrich has supplied a swarm of beetles to add to the three noted
earlier: "what a blind beetle I have been" (Prio), "I was such a blind
beetle" (Card), the "beetle-ridden, mouldy old coffin of a Chin China
coaster" (Glor), a "beetling crag" (Stud), and a "beetling forehead"
(Houn).  Bill's "reference guide" to the 1960 Doubleday edition of the
Canon (revised from the earlier appearance in BSM #1-24) will be published
by Gasogene Press.

GREENWICH KILLING TIME, by Kinky Friedman (New York: William Morrow/Beech
Tree Books, 1986; 196 p., $13.95); a new murder mystery, with a number of
minor S'ian allusions.

Forecast: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE RALEIGH LEGACY, a pastiche by
L. B. Greenwood, from Atheneum in Nov. (192 p., $12.95).  POTBOILERS: THREE
BLACK COMEDIES (including SHERLOCK'S LAST CASE, by Charles Marowitz), from
Marion Boyars Publishers in Sept. (192 p, $18.00 cloth, $9.95 paper).
ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON: THE SHERLOCK HOLMES CENTENARY, by Graham Nown,
from Salem House in Dec. ($19.95).  THE HISTORICAL ROMANCES, by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, a two-volume set from New Orchard/Sterling, on the discount
tables.

A new (and revised) Crows Foot Edition of THE ADVENTURE OF THE SOLEDAD
CYCLIST (D5162b) been published by John Ruyle (Pequod Press, 521 Vincente
Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707); $28.50 (cloth) or $13.50 (paper).

The Canon is now widely available in Britain, and in a variety of formats.
World International Publishing has issued six of the stories (BOSC, FIVE,
COPP, REDH, SPEC, and SILV) in individual volumes with attractive covers
and appropriate interior illustrations, priced at 75p each.

Lenny Picker reports that he was told by a Lorimar Pictures executive that
the Peter Cushing TV film "The Masks of Death" will be broadcast here
before the end of the year.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, by Kelvin I. Jones, first
published in the Sept. 1982 issue of Wheelwrightings, has been reissued as
a separate 12-pp. pamphlet ($5.50 postpaid from the author, 18 Ross Street,
Rochester, Kent. ME1 2DF, England).  Kelvin's plans for a continuation of
the series include THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE HOUND and THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE
HOUND.  He is also editing the magazine THE SHERLOCKIAN, with the first
issue announced for October.

And here's a bibliographic discovery: P. J. Pirages (Box 504, McMinnville,
OR 97128) offers the first 48 numbers of The Strand Magazine, in single
issues (for $3,500).  One number marked "Special Reprint", two others
"Second Edition", and one "Third Edition".  I have never seen a copy of the
Strand with such markings.

Sep 86 #3   "Many of the skills portrayed by the fictional character Sher-
            lock Holmes and the skills used by the early American scouts
and trappers can be developed by the modern investigator," Colorado private
investigator Nelson K. Jennett told more than 100 delegates from 17 coun-
tries at the 61st annual convention of the World Association of Detectives
this month in Singapore.  He recommended "reading the scene as Sherlock
Holmes would, being on the lookout for the small traces of physical evi-
ence which were overlooked by the criminal and often overlooked even by the
seasoned investigators."

The 35th running of The Silver Blaze, at Belmont on Sept. 12, was a fine
occasion, with record attendance (more than 80).  Richard A. Wein received
an Investiture ("Silver Blaze") from Julian Wolff, and Dorothy Stix
received a Queen Victoria medal from Julian in recognition of all the work
she has done in making arrangements for the race.  Stephen L. Stix and
Richard A. Wein will be in charge of The Silver Blaze in future years.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MASQUERADE MURDERS, by Frank Thomas (Los Angeles:
Medallion Books, 1986; 250 p., $2.95); murder and financial chicanery,
investigated by an energetic Holmes and a sharp-shooting Watson.

The seven stories in Granada's new series "The Return of Sherlock Holmes"
are: Empt, Prio, Seco, Musg, Abbe, Twis, and SixN.  At least five of the
stories have been broadcast in Canada; I've seen some of them, and the high
quality of the series continues.  Edward Hardwicke is fine as Watson,
though I think David Burke was a bit better (a stronger actor); on the
other hand, Hardwicke didn't have all that much to do on the programs I've
seen so far.  Granada, having already announced plans to do a fourth series
with six more stories, now hopes to start filming in October on a two-hour
version of "The Sign of Four".

"Clue: Movies, Murder, and Mystery!" was a one-hour special on CBS-TV on
Sept. 17, with a number of S'ian bits and pieces, but there wasn't anything
special about this uninspired collage of clips, stills, and dull comment by
Martin Mull.  But the "Read More About It" public service announcement that
followed the program did have Mickey Spillane recommending THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF MYSTERY & DETECTION, by Chris Steinbrunner and Otto Penzler.

If anyone encounters The Crowborough Edition with the signed limitation
page missing from Vol. 1, the page was recently offered for $100 by Tollett
and Harman (175 West 75th Street, New York, NY 10023).  God help us.  It's
bad enough when someone removes a signature or inscription from a book in
order to paste it into an autograph album, but some sort of special torment
should be reserved for anyone responsible for felony libricide.

Older items reported by John Bennett Shaw: THE FIRESIDE BOOK OF CARDS,
edited by Jacoby and Morehead (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957), with
the text of "Empt" in the section on whist.  A SECOND COMPANION TO MURDER,
by Spencer Shaw (New York: Knopf, 1962), with a chapter on Oscar Slater and
several pages on Conan Doyle.

"Young Sherlock Holmes" has been issued on videocassette by Parmount Home
Video ($79.95).

Sep 86 #4   An 8-page "Profile: Arthur Conan Doyle" by Mike Ashley, and
            ACD's "Lot No. 249" are in the winter 1986 issue of Night Cry
(Montcalm Publishing Co., 800 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017; $2.95).

Reported by Ron De Waal: THE VICTORIAN SHORT STORY: DEVELOPMENT AND TRIUMPH
OF A LITERARY GENRE, by Harold Orel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1986; 213 p., $29.95); with 3 pages on the SH stories and a Paget illo.
MANNEN PA KLIPPAN, by H. Paul Jeffers (Hoganas: Bra Deckare, 1986; 230 p.);
a Swedish translation of MURDER MOST IRREGULAR.

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Michael Hardwick (London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986; 255 p., L12.95); similar in approach to
Hardwick's THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPANION, but with greater emphasis upon
the stories (and a better introduction to the Canon).  Forecast by St.
Martin's Press in 1987.

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES LETTERS, edited by Richard Lancelyn Green (London:
Secker & Warburg, 1986; 266 p, L14.95); a spectacular collection, beginning
with the 1887 reviews of A STUDY IN SCARLET and continuing with a fine
selection of letters, articles, and comment published in newspapers and
magazines, and with the usual perceptive commentary by Green.  Forecast by
the University of Iowa Press in 1987.

The Six Napoleons have published the first issue of THE PLUM IN THE PUDDING
(the scion's 40th anniversary seemed a decent occasion on which to publish
a magazine), edited by Stephen J. Cribari (Mercantile Bank Building #612, 2
Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore, MD 21201); well designed and typeset, with three
good articles; $3.00 postpaid (or $5.00 a year for at least two issues).

There's still time to take advantage of "a unique opportunity in the heart
of London's West End" (according to an advertisement in the Wall Street
Journal on Sept. 12), purchase of "an island site of 1.65 acres to include
the former Langham Hotel" (Aug 86 #2).  The offer is freehold, for sale by
tender, and the closing date is Nov. 28.  Contact Richard Ellis, Berkeley
Square House, London W1X 6AN, England.

"The Name of the Rose" is off and running, in limited distribution.  The
good news: it's an enjoyable film, with splendid atmosphere and fine acting
by Sean Connery and Christian Slater (in the Holmes and Watson roles).  The
bad news: there have been many deletions (after all, the film is only two
hours