Jan 87 #1 The birthday festivities were, as usual, both hectic and enjoyable, with pre-weekend publicity starting on Jan. 4 with a long piece by Anthony Burgess in the N.Y. Times Book Review, followed by an Associated Press dispatch in the N.Y. Times and the Washington Post, a brief mention in USA Today, and other items as yet unseen. The BSI bid an unfond farewell to the Regency Hotel (and its $6 drinks), and moved to the ballroom at 24 Fifth Avenue, where Edith Meiser was *The* Woman, honored at the BSI pre-dinner cocktail party and by *The* Women at dinner at the National Arts Club. The BSI observed the usual traditions (highlighted by Albert M. Rosenblatt managing to rhyme POSSLQ in his poetic toast to Mrs. Hudson) and welcomed foreign guests Ake Runnquist from Sweden and Kiyoshi Tanaka from Japan, and Thomas L. Stix, Jr., formally introduced the BSI's other officers, John Bennett Shaw (Simpson) and Robert E. Thomalen (Cartwright). James C. Cleary presented a polished and well-illustrated slide show on Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockians, Norman M. Davis fervently defended The Chicago Four (those much-maligned Canonical Chicagoans), Steven Rothman reported on the history of the BSI necktie and his discovery of Helen Hare Cain (the Betsy Ross of the BSI), William D. Jenkins discussed pastiches and parodies, and Chris Steinbrunner reminisced about long-past and more recent annual dinners. Irregular Shillings were awarded to Ray Betzner (The Agony Column), Robert C. Burr (The Rascally Lascar), T. Michael Kaylor (*Practical Handbook of Bee Culture*), George R. Skornickel, Jr. (Heidegger), Kiyoshi Tanaka (The Japanese Cabinet), Edward J. Vatza (A Typical American Advertisement), and Richard S. Warner (High Tor). Two-Shilling Awards were given to Walter Klinefelter and Ezra Wolff. And there were other Friday gatherings: The Martha Hudson Breakfast at the Algonquin, The William Gillette Memorial Luncheon at the Old Homestead, Otto Penzler's open house at The Mysterious Bookshop, the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes' dinner at the Club 1407, and impromptu festivities in the sixth-floor wein-celler at the Dumont Plaza. At the ASH dinner, Patricia Guy reported on Canonical wines, Marina Stajic and Eileen Katz reenacted an interview between Mary Morstan and her gynecologist, and The Friends of Bogie's presented their newest inventions. Saturday's events featured the cocktail party honoring Julian and Eleanor Wolff. The brief formal agenda featured Ezra Wolff's poetic report on the annual dinner, a presentation to Julian Wolff by George Fletcher, an award of a gilded Queen Victoria Medal to Eleanor Wolff in recognition of her long service as the BSI's most devoted camp-follower, and Isaac Asimov's new Sherlockian song (this year to the tunes of "Yankee Doodle" and "Der Tannenbaum"). Many Sherlockians then dined at Bogie's, whence some de- parted for their hotels and homes in time to view the CBS television movie "The Return of Sherlock Holmes". And on Sunday south-bound travelers dined in Philadelphia with The Master's Class at the Franklin Inn Club. I have updated my listing of Investitured Irregulars, Two-Shilling Awards, and *The* Women. $1.00 postpaid for a print-out. Jan 87 #2 THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (Ware: Omega Books, 1986; 1,116 p., L20.00) has all 60 stories, 58 reprinted in facsimile from the Strand (with all the illos); "Stud" and "Sign" are unfortunately not reprinted in facsimile from their first appearances in print, and one can only hope that an enterprising publisher will eventually offer THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SHERLOCK HOLMES. Too late for last month's mailing: "The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson" premiered on KMTF-TV (Fresno) on Jan. 4, 1987. This is a PBS ten-episode half-hour children's series using puppets to portray "the 30-inch-high detective and his canine companion" who help their human friends in a variety of escapades; it's not a networked show, so check with your local PBS station to see if or when it might be broadcast. "Young Sherlock Holmes" was possibly perceived to have done better in Britain than in the U.S. At least Disney were willing to title their film "Basil, the Great Mouse Detective" when it opened in Britain in Oct. 1986 (to favorable notice in the press). The "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Townhouse" at 2151 Sacramento Street in San Francisco, advertised at $1.3 million (Oct. 85 #2), has finally been sold, "for just under a million," according to Herb Caen's column in the San Francisco Chronicle (Dec. 19, 1986). John D. MacDonald died recently. Interviewed by Ed Hirshberg (in the 1979 Writer's Yearbook), MacDonald was asked if Travis McGee might be a better detective if he were "more committed--like Sherlock Holmes, for example, who never thinks of anything else but just concentrates completely on his job." "I think a total commitment of the hero--*really* total commitment --equals boredom," MacDonald replied. "Sherlock Holmes is too much of a smartass anyway--too many peculiarities, too much cerebration." The Greek Interpreters of East Lansing celebrated their 40th anniversary in 1985 by publishing a history of the scion; THE GREEK INTERPRETERS includes their scion reports and a joint pastiche, all reprinted from the BSJ, and is available for $5.00 postpaid from Howard Brody, 2726 Fontaine Trail, Holt, MI 48842. ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON, by Graham Nown (Topsfield: Salem House, 1986; 143 p., $19.95); an illustrated celebration of the centenary, concentrating on the Canon and ACD's S'ian career, and the criminals and detectives to be found in the Victorian underworld. Sterling E. Lanier's giant-rat pastiche "A Father's Tale" (D5042b) is reprinted in THE CURIOUS QUESTS OF BRIGADIER FFELLOWES (West Kingston: Donald M. Grant, 1986; 254 p., signed by author and artist, $30.00); a fine collections of Lanier's stories, illustrated by Ned Dameron (available from the publisher, West Kingston, RI 02892). Check the discount tables for 33 BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, edited by Gibson and Green, offered at $7.98 in a new catalog from Publishers Central Bureau (One Champion Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001); it's a reissue of the 1984 Doubleday edition of UNCOLLECTED STORIES. Jan 87 #3 ACD's poem "The Athabasca Trail" was written during his Canad- ian tour in 1914, and published widely in newspapers before its appearance in the Apr. 1915 issue of Cornhill Magazine. Chris Redmond (125 Lincoln Road #1101, Waterloo, Ont. N2J 2N9, Canada) would appreciate hear- ing from anyone who knows of early appearances of the poem. THE LITTLE, BROWN BOOK OF ANECDOTES, edited by Clifton Fadiman (Boston: Little Brown 1985), includes anecdotes (non-S'ian) about Joseph Bell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Paul Gore-Booth, Ronald Knox, Christopher Morley, and Rex Stout. During his days in the Foreign Office, Gore-Booth once received an urgent cable from the Middle East: "Ruler has died suddenly. Please advise." Gore-Booth replied: "Hesitate to dogmatize, but suggest burial." Reported by Bob Burr (Plugs & Dottles, Jan. 1987): Baskerville Holmes, former Memphis State starter, pleaded innocent to a charge he roughed up a former girlfriend on his wedding day. Copies of THE SHSF FANTHOLOGY 2 (D1929a) and THE SHSF FANTHOLOGY 3 (D1930a) are still available from Ruth Berman (2809 Drew Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55416); postpaid prices are $1.50 for D1929a, $2.00 for D1930a, and $3.00 for both. Ruth also reports that her S'ian story "Professor and Colonel" will be in MATH IS STRANGE, an anthology edited by Rudy Rucker and due from Arbor House in May. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (New York: Bantam Books, 1985; 266 p., $2.50) has the 13 stories dramatized by Granada in the first two series, an interesting Introduction by Jacques Barzun, and striking modern graphics on the cover. THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (New York: Penguin Books, 1987; 181 p., $3.50) has the 7 stories in the third Granada series, and is the authorized tie-in to the series (with the poster art-work on the cover). Discovered by Ev Herzog: THE CURSE OF BATTERSLEA HALL, written by Richard Brightfield and illustrated by Ted Enik (New York: Bantam Books, 1984; 118 p., $1.95); a "choose your own adventure" children's book with a friendly hound named Baskerville and a deerstalkered (though non-S'ian) protagonist. THE MUMMY (Loughborough: Ladybird Books, 1985; 51 p., $2.13); ACD's "Lot No. 249" retold for children by Raymond Sibley and illustrated by Angus McBride. MONSTERS YOU NEVER HEARD OF, by Daniel Cohen (New York: Pocket Books/Archway, 1986; 101 p., $2.50); with passing mention of the Hound of the Baskervilles in the chapter on "Demon Dogs". For completists: the 2nd printing of Lloyd Biggle's pastiche THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE (May 86 #2 and Oct 86 #1) is a true variant, containing proper acknowledgement to Dame Jean for permission to use the Sherlock Holmes characters. The press run was also much smaller than for the 1st printing. Andy Jaysnovitch (6 Dana Estates Drive, Parlin, NJ 08859) now offers six videocassettes, each with four of the 1954 Ronald Howard TV program (and three more cassettes are in the works); write to Andy for details. For miniaturists seeking a bear-skin rug, a golden pince-nez, a Persian slipper, or a dried snake-skin: a flier at hand from Shirley (9269 Mission Gorge Road #113, Santee, CA 92071). Jan 87 #4 Mike Ashley (4 Thistlebank, Walderslade, Chatham, Kent ME5 8AD, England) is working on a biography and bibliography of Algernon Blackwood, and wonders if anyone has noticed the Canonical echoes in Black- wood's stories "The Nemesis of Fire" and "The Camp of the Dog". There is no De Waal citation for Blackwood, and one item cited by Green/Gibson; if you know of any other connections with SH or ACD, please let Mike know. Reported by Lenny Picker: Rolland Smith (co-host of the new CBS-TV "Morning Program") has named his son Conan, after ACD. Marvel's MUPPET BABIES #13 features "The Casebook of Kermlock Holmes" with Kermit as Holmes, Fozzie as Watson, and Miss Piggy as the Client. Academy Chicago will publish the unedited version of Basil Copper's THE DOSSIER OF SOLAR PONS in March (Copper says that Pinnacle took great liberties with their 1979 edition). And Medallion Books will publish Frank Thomas' SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MISSING MASTERPIECES (this summer, according to Medallion). REFLECTIONS ON A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, illustrated by Jeff Decker, with an Introduction by Jack Tracy (New York: Magico Magazine, 1986; 98 p., $20.00); a good anthology, with reprints of the story and essays by Christ, Jones, and Montgomery, and new material by Green, Johnson, Kean, Keefauver, MacDonald, and Shreffler. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY, by Richard L. Kellogg, with an Introduction by John Bennett Shaw (New York: Magico Magazine, 1986; 90 p., $15.95); a collection of older articles and new essays. THE EXPLOITS OF BILLY THE PAGE, by Willoughby Lane (New York: Magico Magazine, 1986; 57 p., $15.95); a collection of short pastiches, in each of which a celebrated Baker Street detective is moderately involved (the detective is unnamed, but can hardly be confused with Sexton Blake). And the first issue of Magico Magazine has also appeared, edited by Kelvin I. Jones and with articles by Hardwick, Johnson, Hunt, Kean, and Healy; $3.50 (Magico's address is Box 156, New York, NY 10002). Richard Lancelyn Green, in his essay on the manuscript in REFLECTIONS ON A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, reports a solution to the mystery of the second "rest- ing hand" used by Conan Doyle on seven pages of the ms. The second hand has been identified by Adrian Conan Doyle as that of Conan Doyle's sister. For Sherlockian philatelists: I have a small supply of coil pairs of the new re-engraved version of the 1-cent "omnibus" stamp, and the precancelled version of the 4.9-cent "buckboard" stamp, and an even smaller supply of the unprecancelled version of the 4.9-cent "buckboard" stamp. If you need these items, let me know and I'll enclose them with the next mailing. THE ULTIMATE ALPHABET AND WORKBOOK, by Mike Wilks (New York: Henry Holt, 1986; $22.45), is an interesting concept: 26 detailed paintings, showing 7,777 objects beginning with the relevant letters; the workbook lists 12,000 possible objects (the person correctly identifying the most objects will win $15,000). The workbook lists "deer-stalker" and "detective" (the deerstalker is not particularly well-drawn, and the detective not found. "Inside and Outside Sherlock Holmes: A Rhapsody" by Kim Herzinger, in Shenandoah (The Washington and Lee University Review), 1986, v. 36. n. 3, is an enthusiastic investigation of the importance of Sherlock Holmes and the Canon. Box 722, Lexington, VA 24450; $3.50. Jan 87 #5 Caedmon (1995 Broadway, New York, NY 10023) offers SHERLOCK HOLMES ADVENTURES (Blue, SixN, and Blan) performed by John Wood on a two-cassette set ($14.95). Their catalog also lists THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES performed by Nicol Williamson ($14.95 on cassettes, $19.98 on records), Walter Brooks' FREDDY THE DETECTIVE performed by Pat Carroll on one cassette ($8.95), the four S'ian recordings by Basil Rathbone, and a number of T. S. Eliot's S'ian items. Reported by Dana Richards: "Alphamagic Squares" by Lee C. F. Sallows, in Abacus (fall 1986), refers to (and shows the first page of) THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP, a privately printed 19th-century work of scholarship devoted to a study of Druidical practices and the spread of the yew cult among Celtic and Germanic peoples in pre-Christian Europe; the book was privately published in 1887, and apparently misplaced in 1888, but a copy (presumed unique) was recently discovered during a reorganization of bookshelves at the British Library. Dana also reports that Milton Bradley's VCR game CHUTES AND LADDERS has a scenario with Sherwood Holmes and Dottie Watson (not in Canonical costume). And that there is a Canonical reference in Arthur C. Clarke's THE SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH (Del Ray, 1986, p. 189). THE SHERLOCK HOLMES LETTERS, edited by Richard Lancelyn Green (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press; 266 p., $19.95); a spectacular collection, be- ginning with the 1887 reviews of A STUDY IN SCARLET and continuing with a fine selection of letters, articles, and comment published in newspapers and magazines, and with the usual perceptive commentary by Green. Their special offer is $15.95 plus $1.50 shipping if your order is received by Mar. 15, and the press' address is Iowa City, IA 52242. "Sherlock Holmes and Cleveland, Ohio" will be sponsored by Mrs. Hudson's Lodgers on Nov. 7 (details available from The Stetaks, 15529 Diagonal Road, La Grange, OH 44050). An illustrated flier at hand from Tahtsa Ventures Inc. (Box 931, Burns Lake, B.C. V0J 1E0, Canada), offering a Sherlock Holmes Commemorative Tobacco Humidor in a limited edition of 500, at $195.00 postpaid. There was a bit of post-birthday publicity from New York: on Jan. 10 the National Public Radio series "Weekend Edition" ran a six-minute report taped at the Algonquin on Friday morning (with interviews with Lellenberg, Byerly, Peck, Herzog, Stix, Davis, and Shaw), and Herbert Mitgang's article (also based on Friday-morning interviews) ran in the N.Y. Times on Jan. 17. Reported by Tyke Niver: THE ROYAL NORTHUMBERLAND FUSILIERS (a history of the regiment), by Basil Peacock; $15.00 plus $1.25 shipping, from Owen D. Kubik, 3474 Clar-Von Drive, Dayton, OH 45430. COLLECTING: THE PASSIONATE PASTIME, by Susanna Johnston and Tim Beddow (Harper & Row, 1986); with a well-illustrated chapter on the SH room created by Richard Lancelyn Green. And a bisque porcelain miniature of Mickey in S'ian costume, $9.95 plus $1.50 shipping from The Disney Miniature Collectors Club (The Disney Collection, Box 1797, Sherman Turnpike, Danbury, CT 06816), *if* you're a member of the club and sign up for their monthly shipments. Jan 87 #6 On Jan. 23 the "CBS News Nightwatch" program included a 17- minute segment on Sherlock Holmes, with Lem Tucker interviewing Robert Parker, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, and Nicholas Meyer; the three authors took the subject seriously, but Tucker didn't. For those who have never heard of the program, it's the one you watch if you can't get to sleep and can't stand any of the late-late-night movies. I have an off- the-air cassette, and copies will be available, eventually. "For the Love of Holmes" by Derek Nelson, in MD, Jan. 1987, is a long article about Sherlockian doctors, from Gray Chandler Briggs on, with a group photograph taken at a meeting of The Master's Class in Philadelphia (in which Drs. Hill, Smith, and Kean are featured). Haffmans Verlag AG (Hubenstrasse 19, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland) are continuing with their translations of the Canon, the latest being DAS TAL DER ANGST (DM 28.00), with explanatory notes by Hans Wolf. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune (Nov. 14, 1986), cited by John Stephenson, "The Great Mouse Detective" has been banned in Norway as unsuitable for children under 12 (it was approved for all audiences in neighboring Finland, Sweden, and Denmark). Disney plans to issue a subtitled videocassette for Norwegians. 1001 MIDNIGHTS: THE AFICIONADO'S GUIDE TO MYSTERY AND DETECTIVE FICTION, by Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller (New York: Arbor House, 1986; 879 p., $39.95), is a splendid reference work, offering essay-reviews of the best, most important, and most interesting titles in the genre; the Canon is carefully considered (by Edward D. Hoch), and the authors of pastiches and parodies are not neglected, but the real value of the book is in its broad coverage of the field. An auction at Sotheby's in London in July 1986 included two letters from Conan Doyle, dated Dec. 29, 1892, and Jan. 6, 1893, to Mr. Cargill, apparently a graphologist, thanking him for providing ACD with ideas for an episode in a Sherlock Holmes story, and expressing some trepidation at writing to him "for fear you should discern imbecility in the dots of my i's, or incipient brain softening in my capitals." The story? "I would like now to give Holmes *a torn slip of a document*, and see how far he could reconstruct both it and the writers of it." "Sleight of Hand" is a new mystery thriller scheduled to open at the Cort Theatre in New York, with three weeks of previews beginning Apr. 6. The author is John Pielmeier ("Agnes of God") and the stars are Harry Groener ("Cats") and Jeffrey DeMunn ("K2"), and the premise involves both magic and mystery ("an amateur magician performs a new trick with fatal consequences bought one day in advance, cost $15 the 1st week, $20 the 2nd week, and $25 the 3rd week. The first issue of The Sherlock Holmes Review (edited by Steven T. Doyle, quarterly at $8.00 a year, 3209 East 10th Street #8C, Bloomington, IN 47401) has 28 p., and contributions from Harry How (reprint), Spencer W. Kennedy (on the ms. of "RedC"), Stafford G. Davis (on the literary influence of ACD), Robert F. Fleissner (on Holmes and Frankenstein). Feb 87 #1 More on Lee C. F. Sallows' article on "Alphamagic Squares" (Jan 87 #5) in Abacus (fall 1986 and winter 1987): it's a two-part article (with a color photograph in the first part showing the first page of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP), and there will be a letter to the editor and a reply by Sallows in the next issue, expanding on the Sherlockian significance of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP as the foundation-stone in the development of the alphamagic formulas. Abacus: The Magazine for Computer Professionals is published quarterly ($26.00 a year, or $6.50 each for single issues) by Springer-Verlag (175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010). All subscribers should now have a copy of my seasonal souvenir for the birthday festivities, received during the New York weekend, or with the January or February info sheets; if you've been neglected, let me know. The commemorative honoring the 150th anniversary of Michigan statehood (Dec 86 #4) was issued on Jan. 26. David Hammer reports "Elementary, My Dear Gillette", a one-page article by Susan Corbett in Country Life (Jan. 8, 1987); mainly contemporary reviews of Gillette's play. Reported by Paul Merz: Baker Street Bar & Grill, a restaurant in Fresno, Calif., with a thoroughly S'ian menu. And by Mel Ruiz: "Topper Returns" (1940) on videocassette from Video Classics, Box 10069, Burbank, CA 91505 (box shows Topper with deerstalker and calabash in his role as ghost detective); and "The CM-37 Mystery" (a filmstrip set with "Spec", "Bosc", "Scan", and "Copp") from Society for Visual Education, 1345 West Diversey Parkway, Chicago, IL 60614. Announced by KeyRod Literary Enterprises (3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385): THE APHORISMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Jack D. Key and Alvin E. Rodin (52 p., $8.95 postpaid); 200 aphorisms containing the epitome and essence of Holmes' wit and wisdom. SONTEX (Apartado 35435, Barcelona, Spain) offers "2 Stories of Sherlock Holmes" (an audio cassette with "Dyin" and "Chas" read in simplified English, accompanied by a booklet with the text) at $8.50 (they take American checks and plastic). We're still trying to find a few long-unheard-from members of the BSI -- please let me know if you have any clues to the whereabouts of Alvin E. Blomquist (1955), William Passen (1955), Peter A. Ruber (1964), and Bernth Lindfors (1968). STARRETT VS. MACHEN: A RECORD OF DISCOVERY AND CORRESPONDENCE, published by Michael Murphy at his Autolycus Press in 1977, was not widely distributed. Vincent Starrett was Arthur Machen's earliest supporter in the U.S., but in 1924 Starrett and Covici-McGee were accused of pirating two of Machen's books; Starrett refuted the charge, and his correspondence with Machen is presented here along with Starrett's writings on the subject. Non-S'ian (except for Machen's thanks for a copy of THE UNIQUE HAMLET); copies are available from Pepper & Stern (Box 2711, Santa Barbara, CA 93120) at $20.00 (or $30.00 for the deluxe issue with hand-marbled edges). Feb 87 #2 Discovered by Ev Herzog: Stephen DiLauro's article about Paul Davis (who did the poster and tie-in paperback covers for the Granada series) in the Jan. 1987 issue of American Artist (1515 Broadway, New York, NY 10036; $2.25). And a rock group called "They Might Be Giants" (samples of their non-S'ian music can be heard on their dial-a-song number, 718-387-6992). And KEATON COMEDIES: A TOBY BRADLEY ADVENTURE, by Harold D. Sill, Jr. (Reading: Addison Wesley, 1977); a children's book in which Toby is time-transported to 1924, and helps Buster Keaton film "Sherlock Jr." The February issue of Smithsonian has four letters to the editor, with compliments, complaints, and explication occasion by Fred Strebeigh's December 1986 article on SH and S'ians. Signe Landon (14985 256th Avenue SE, Issaquah, WA 98027) has announced THE HOLMESIAN FEDERATION #7 (with five S'ian stories) for this month, at $4.00 postpaid. Back issues are also available. Ladbrokes Sherlock Holmes Hotel (Baker Street, London W1M 1LB) is selling figurines of Holmes (6" head and shoulders) and Watson (10") at L35.00 each; no photo or other info available. Reported: THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., in a three-in- one volume from the Detective Book Club (Roslyn, NY 11576) -- I don't know if the DBC sells single volumes, but they're seen at all the charity sales. Forecast: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DETECTIVE STORY, by LeRoy L. Panek, with discussion of ACD, in May from the Popular Press (Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403). SON OF HOLMES, by John T. Lescroart, in March from Leisure Books (240 p., $3.25). In the supermarkets: THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (#12555) and THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE: BASIL'S GREAT ESCAPES (#12556); Golden Look-Look Books (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1986; $1.50 each). More on 33 BY ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (Jan 87 #2), the reissue of the 1984 Doubleday edition of UNCOLLECTED STORIES, edited by Gibson and Green: it's published by Avenel Books and distributed by Outlet Books. George Locke, proprietor of Ferret Fantasy, has written (as Ayresome Johns) a mystery novel called PATTERN OF TERROR, in which one of the characters is a fanatical Holmes collector, seeking a rare, important, and possibly unique Sherlock Holmes book (a proof copy of first British edition of THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, with "Card" included). No publisher has been found yet, but hard-bound photocopies of the 82,000-word typescript can be purchased for $60.00 plus shipping (27 Beechcroft Road, Upper Tooting, London SW17 7BX, England). Reported by Jack Kerr: six of the Granada programs ("Spec", "Scan", "Soli", "Blue", "Nava", "Danc") on VHS cassettes ($39.95 each) from Signals, Box 70870, Saint Paul, MN 55170 (800-424-9424); these are the Paramount/Simon and Schuster cassettes, presumably also available at your local videostore. A special section on SH (and a S'ian cover) in the Feb.-Mar. 1987 issue of British Heritage (Box 8200, Harrisburg, PA 17105; $3.50). Feb 87 #3 Marjorie Weinman Sharmat is continuing her "Nate the Great" series (children's books with Nate generally in S'ian costume in the illos by Marc Simont); NATE THE GREAT AND THE MISSING KEY, NATE THE GREAT AND THE SNOWY TRAIL, and NATE THE GREAT AND THE STICKY CASE (49 p. each) are announced for March from G. P. Putnam's Sons at $10.95 each. Gar Donnelson continues his explorations of Sherlock Holmes's world with 'YOUR BEER SHOULD BE EXCELLENT', a new monograph discussing the beer, breweries, and public houses mentioned in the Canon. The well-illustrated pamphlet (22 pp., $3.50 postpaid) is available from its author, at 430 Steinway Road, Lincoln, NE 68505. Dell is continuing its paperback reissues of Alfred Hitchcock collections ($2.95, each with one of August Derleth's Solar Pons pastiches): BOYS AND GHOULS TOGETHER (D4749b), GAMES KILLERS PLAY (D5613a), and SKULL SESSION (D5663a). Reported by Andy Peck: a "Mark of the Hound Holmesian Sweatshirt" (hound footprints and the appropriate Canonical quote); $25.00 plus $2.50 shipping from Murder by the Book, 1574 Pearl Street, Denver, CO 80210. Ann E. Whetstone's "Bloody Collections" in Scott Stamp Monthly, Feb. 1987, discusses mystery stories that involve philately (with mention of August Derleth's "The Adventure of the Penny Magenta") and photographs of the Nicaraguan set honoring Interpol; Box 828, Sidney, OH 45365; $3.00. Reported by John Stephenson: DETECTIVE MICKEY MOUSE (New York: Golden Books 1985); Little Golden Book #100-58. I THINK THAT IT IS WONDERFUL AND OTHER POEMS FROM SESAME STREET (New York: Golden Books); Little Golden Book #109-9, with Sherlock Hemlock in "A Silly Mystery. BIG MAX, by Kin Platt (New York: Harper & Row); a reissue of D6171a. THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE READ-A-LONG BOOK AND TAPE (Disneyland/Vista Records, Burbank, CA 91521); also available with book and record. PSYCHOLOGY, by David G. Myers (New York: Worth Publishers, 1986); a textbook with a one-sentence quote from the Canon (publisher's address is 33 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003). DEADLY ERNEST, by Daniel Lynch (Zebra Books, $3.95), with a fictional medical examiner who is a Sherlock Holmes fan. A S'ian flier from the Bureau of Business Practice, Waterford, CT 06386. A S'ian "Detective Kit" brochure from the American Society of Personnel Administration, 606 North Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. And "A New Day Dawning: An Interview with Dan Day" [Day is the artist for the Renegade Press S'ian comic book series] in The Comics Journal, Sept. 1986; 4359 Cornell Road, Agoura, CA 91301; $2.95. John also reports THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES [the 1935 Wontner film] and THE "SILENT" MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES ["The Copper Beeches" (1912), "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" (1927), and "The Man with the Twisted Lip" (1922)]; videocassettes, $29.95 each, from Video Yesteryear, Box C, Sandy Hook, CT 06482. Note: Video Specialists International (182 Jackson Street, Dallas, PA 18612) has this material, and more, on two longer cassettes. And that the soundtrack of "Young Sherlock Holmes" was nominated for a Grammy for best instrumental composition. Feb 87 #4 Gary Lovisi's RELICS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a 52-page pamphlet concentrating on relatively recent ephemera, with reproductions of cartoons, advertising artwork, magazine covers, and theater programs, as well as brief comments on newspaper, magazine, and fanzine articles. $3.00 postpaid from Gryphon Books, Box 209, Brooklyn, NY 11228. A minor change in dates for the John Bennett Shaw workshop at Stanford, now Aug. 16-23, 1987. A detailed flier will be available in April from Bruce R. Parker, Stanford University Medical Center S-058, Stanford, CA 94305. Reported by Ron De Waal: "Sherlock Holmes Is Dying" [a dramatization of "Dyin"], by Paul T. Nolan, in Plays: The Drama Magazine for Young People, Nov. 1986 (8 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116). The manuscript of "The Adventure of the Mazarin Diamond" is now available for $75,000 from Mark Hime (Idyllwild, CA 92349); the auction price at Christie's (Dec 86 #4) was $49,500 (including the 10% house commission). Royal Doulton Limited is celebrating the centenary with a new edition of their 1973 "Sleuth" character jug (that's the one with the handle formed by the pipe and magnifying glass); the new edition is 18 cm high, with Holmes in scarlet coat and brown hat, 5,000 copies commissioned by and available only from Lawleys by Post (Swift House, Liverpool Road, Newcastle, Staffs. ST5 9JJ, England). L19.50 plus L1.50 shipping, and they take (and ask that American customers use) credit cards. DARK BANQUET: A FEAST OF TWELVE GREAT GHOST STORIES, edited by Lincoln Child (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1985; 255 p., $15.95), includes ACD's "The Horror of the Heights". Reported: WHAT I TELL YOU THREE TIMES IS FALSE, by Samuel Holt, from Tor Books in February ($14.95); "an actor-turned-detective joins a group of actors-portraying-detectives -- Sherlock Holmes, Miss Jane Marple, and Charlie Chan -- as they attempt to protect themselves from, and find the identity of, a killer in their midst." Peter E. Melonas offers a new "Duel at Reichenbach Falls" print (16x20"), $7.50 postpaid from from the Sherlock Holmes Tobacco and Mystery Shop, 1726A Sycamore Square Mall, Memphis, TN 38134; write for a flier. According to the Walt Disney Company's 1986 annual report, "24 artfully crafted books based on Basil of 'The Great Mouse Detective' sold half the intial one-million-volume run soon after release" in France. Different Worlds Magazine, a bimonthly covering the world of adventure games, had Michael Szymanski's discussion of "The Adventures of Solar Pons" in the July-Aug. 1986 issue, and Dave and Frankie Arneson's "Sherlock Holmes & the Baby" (a new case for the game SHERLOCK HOLMES: CONSULTING DETECTIVE) in the Nov.-Dec. 1986 issue. 2814 19th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110; $3.00 an issue, or $15.00 a year. The Feb. 2, 1987, issue of People had a five-page celebration of the centenary, with a fine assortment of photos of Sherlockian actors. Feb 87 #5 "Fox's 'The Name of the Rose,' if regarded as an art film, did well in sophisticated markets. But since it was a big-budget picture, it has to be considered a flop. It was not a Fox-financed film, but a pick-up in which Fox invested several million dollars plus distribu- tion and marketing costs. The studio may make some money back on ancillar- ies, but it's too bad Fox didn't have the foreign rights: the film is mak- ing a killing in Europe." Anne Thompson, in the San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 15, 1986, spotted by Ted Schulz. "Conan Doyle is probably the world's most ripped-off writer, but none of the copycats has ever replicated the Victorian London that lives these books." Martin Levin, in the San Mateo Times, Dec. 20, 1986, also spotted by Ted. THE CLERIHEWS OF PAUL HORGAN (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1985; 112 p., $15.95 cloth, $8.95 paper) includes one S'ian verse, accompanied by a portrait of Holmes by Joseph Reed. I've had a request for a current source for deerstalkers, which I've seen in a catalog from the Deerskin Trading Post, 119 Foster Street, Peabody, MA 01960 -- are there other sources? Art Ronnie (Columbia Pictures Television, 3300 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91505) has a sales list offering copies of Sherlockian film and television scripts (at $10.00 or $5.00 each), plus some audio tapes and books. Participants at the "Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota" conference in 1984 received some nice collectibles, including two 12-pp. booklets now offered to the public: E. W. McDiarmid's THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES (an examination of Adrian Conan Doyle's campaign promoting his father as the model for Sherlock Holmes) and James P. Shannon's "A FIXED POINT IN A CHANGING WORLD" (a discussion of Philip S. Hench and his collection); $3.50 each postpaid. Also available: Andrew Malec's THE FREDERIC DORR STEELE MEMORIAL COLLECTION (a well-illustrated 20-pp. pamphlet published in 1987 to commemorate the acquisition of the collection by the Univ. of Minnesota ($4.50 postpaid). All three items can be ordered from Special Collections, Univ. Libraries, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Ely M. Liebow, joining Northeastern Illinois University's celebration of its 25th anniversary, will lecture in Chicago on Mar. 19 on "The Birth of Sherlock Holmes--Without Benefit of Anesthesia." Ely also discovered a 1961 LP recording of "King Richard the Second" with cast including Jeremy Brett as Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and Edward Hardwicke as Duke of Surrey, Green, and Second Herald. The cast also included John Gielgud, Leo McKern, and Keith Michell, all of whom have appeared in Sherlockian drama -- Gielgud and Michell as Holmes, and McKern played . . . Bouchercon XVIII will be held on Oct. 9-11 in Minneapolis, with Lawrence Block as guest of honor and Steve Stilwell in charge of the convention; registration is $25 until July 1, then $35, or $10 for supporting members (Box 2747, Loop Station, Minneapolis, MN 55402). The latest publication of The Pleasant Places of Florida is Bill Ward's SONNETS BY THE MAJOR (24 p., $5.00 postpaid from the PPOF, 4408 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, FL 33510. Feb 87 #6 Sir Hugh Carleton Greene died on Feb. 19. He was a journalist in print and radio, and director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969. He wrote the Introduction to the Murray/Cape edition of A STUDY IN SCARLET (D697b), and edited four anthologies in his "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes" series (D4943b-D4946b). The Swiss National Tourist Office (Swiss Centre, New Coventry Street, London W1V 8EE, England) has sent an 18-page detailed announcement of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London's "Pilgrimage to Switzerland" from Apr. 30 to May 9. The cost of the tour is L530, there are still a few places open, and anyone interested should contact the SNTO quickly (their London telephone number 01-734-1921). David Susskind died on Feb. 22. His two-hour syndicated television series "The David Susskind Show" included a program on "Sherlock Holmes Is Alive and Well" in which Susskind attempted to interview Nicholas Meyer, Samuel Rosenberg, Albert M. Rosenblatt, and John Bennett Shaw; the program was taped on Dec. 3, 1974, and apparently first aired on Dec. 27, 1974. I hope that there's a tape preserved somewhere, but I don't know of one; it was a fascinating show, with Susskind's poorly prepared questions occasionally bluntly ignored by his guests. Fred Strebeigh's "The Greatest Detective Who Never Lived" (digested from Smithsonian, Dec. 1986) is in the Mar. 1987 issue of Reader's Digest. Cait Murphy's "The Game Is Still Afoot", a long and perceptive article on S'ian scholarship, is in the Mar. 1987 issue of The Atlantic. The second issue of THE PLUM IN THE PUDDING at hand, handsomely produced and well edited, with contributions by five Baltimore S'ians. $5.00 a year from Stephen J. Cribari, Mercantile Bank Building #612, 2 Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore, MD 21201. There's a color photograph of members of The Master's Class of Philadelphia in Derek Nelson's article "For the Love of Holmes" in MD Magazine, Jan. 1987; 30 East 60th Street, New York, NY 10022; $3.75. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: Judith Conway's DETECTIVE TRICKS YOU CAN DO, (Troll Associates, 1986); boy, girl, and dog in S'ian costume throughout. Troll Associates are at 320 Route 17, Mahwah, NJ 07430. John Dickson Carr's PANIC IN BOX C, reissued in paperback (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1987; 273 p., $3.50) is a fine murder mystery featuring Dr. Gideon Fell, and an early (and not irrelevant) mention of Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes". Peter Loffredo, creator of the fine film about William Gillette (Sep 86 #1 and Nov 86 #2), reports a reduction in the price for 16mm color prints, to $395.00. Videocassettes are still $50.00; orders to Connecticut Heritage Productions, 46 Bretton Road, Middletown, CT 06457. John T. Lescroart's Neronian pastiche SON OF HOLMES has been reprinted in paperback (New York: Leisure Books, 1986; 256 p., $3.25). Mar 87 #1 Donald A. Redmond's SHERLOCK HOLMES: A STUDY IN SOURCES is listed in the discount catalog from University Press Books in America (Columbia Univ. Press, 136 South Broadway, Irvington, NY 10533); the book is item XT3919, the price is $14.95 plus $3.00 shipping, and they take plastic. Flier at hand from Gaslight Publications (112 East Second, Bloomington, IN 47401; plastic accepted) announcing ON THE SCENT WITH SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Walter Shepherd (85 p., $14.95 plus $1.00 shipping); a new work, though with the same title as Shepherd's 1978 book. Samuel Holt's WHAT I TELL YOU THREE TIMES IS FALSE (New York: Tor Books, 1987; 249 p., $14.95) is an entertaining murder mystery in which the sleuths (and suspects) include actors noted for portraying Miss Marple, Charlie Chan, and -- Sherlock Holmes. "Nate the Great" is a deerstalkered young detective who stars in a pleasant series of children's books by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, with illos by Marc Simont. There are now nine NATE THE GREAT titles, published by Coward- McCann, and seven of the books are also available in paperback from Dell. A more detailed forecast: THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., in paperback from Penguin in June at $3.95. Some British items, reported by Andrew Jay Peck: A STUDY IN SCARLET, adapted by Michael Hardwick (recording on BBC tape, L5.50); ARTHUR AND THE BELLYBUTTON DIAMOND, by Arthur Coren (recording on Talking Tape TTC/KO5); CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, read by Robert Hardy (Argo); THE SPECKLED BAND, read by Donald Pickering (Pickwick PTB601); YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE PYRAMID OF FEAR (read-along cassette by Rainbow Communications, L1.99); BASIL OF BAKER STREET, by Eve Titus (Knight, L1.50); BASIL AND THE PYGMY CATS, by Eve Titus (Hodder & Stoughton, L2.95); THE MURDER OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by James Anderson (Star paperback, L1.95); THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES AND OTHER PLAYS, by Michael and Mollie Hardwick (John Murray, Ll.75); SHERLOCK HOLMES (Gillette), adapted by Tim Kelly (Hanbury Plays, L2.50); SHERLOCK MEETS THE PHANTOM, by Tim Kelly (Hanbury Plays, L2.30); SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEVIL'S FOOT, edited by Peter Haining (Severn House, L6.95); THE COMIC CROOKS, by Terrance Dicks (Blackie, L6.50). "A Study in Scarlet: The HemoQuant Assay for Occult Fecal Blood" is an article in the Feb. 1987 issue of Communique [Mayo Medical Laboratories] (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905), reporting on a new procedure in which iron is removed from heme, which is non-fluorescing, to yield porphyrins, which do fluoresce in ultraviolet light. The fluorescence is scarlet, thoroughly appropriate for a procedure that meets most of the requirements of the "Sherlock Holmes" test. The Dramatic Publishing Co. (Box 109, Woodstock, IL 60098) offers four S'ian scripts: THE INCREDIBLE MURDER OF CARDINAL TOSCA, by Alden Nowlan and Walter Learning ($3.50); THE VERY GREAT GRANDSON OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Bill Majeski ($3.50); THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY, by Ruth Sergel from Milne's book ($3.50); and THE FAMILY JEWELS, by Andy Gregg ($1.75). THE FAMILY JEWELS is a one-act play about the famous detective Shirley Holmes. Mar 87 #2 "When Edward J. Perkins became a lowly staff assistant in the Foreign Service 15 years ago, he took to rereading all the Sherlock Holmes detective stories that had fascinated him in the past," according to an article by Juan Williams in The Washington Post Magazine (Mar. 1, 1987). "But this time he didn't read just for pleasure. He studied Holmes. In the great detective he saw a character who knew how to use logic and cunning to foil his adversaries. Perkins had his own adversaries to worry about--the Ivy League white males who dominated the State Department." Perkins is now the U.S. ambassador in South Africa. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: DETECTIVE TRICKS YOU CAN DO, written by Judith Conaway and illustrated by Renzo Barto (Mahwah: Troll Associates, 1986; 47 pp.), with the young detectives in Sherlockian costume. Troll is at 100 Corporate Drive, Mahwah, NJ 07430. THE RAINBOW BEARS GIANT STORY COLORING BOOK, by Nancy Lee Fuller, is giant indeed (17x22"); Pepper, one of the five Rainbow Bears, appears in S'ian costume (Stoneway, Box 548, Southeastern, PA 91399; $1.50). Flier at hand for "A Centenary Adventure in England with Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle and Mr. Sherlock Holmes" (BCM, Box Dewey, London WC1N 3XX, England); the conference will be Sept. 12-20, in and around London, with Dr. Alvin E. Rodin as tour leader. Further to the earlier report (Jul 86 #4) of plans for a reissue of the 1954 Ronald Howard television series, the new series will be called the "Sherlock Holmes Trilogies" and will consist of thirteen 90-minute movies, available for television, cable, and home video. Patrick Macnee will be host and narrator, filmed at Edinburgh Studios on a 19th-century set with the assistance of Richard Lancelyn Green. No release date as yet. Reported from Britain by Roger Johnson: Granada's "The Sign of Four" is scheduled for broadcast at Christmas, and there will be a "Sherlock Holmes Centenary Season" at the National Film Theatre in December. M. J. Trow's third pastiche, LESTRADE AND THE HALLOWED HOUSE, was published by Macmillan in Jan. (L8.95). Peter Haining's new collection, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CREEPING MAN, is due from Severn House in Mar. (L8.95). Allen Sharp's third "storytrail" book, SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE CASE OF THE DANCING BEES, is due from Cambridge University Press in Apr. (L1.50). Tsukasa Kobayashi's SHERLOCK HOLMES' LONDON has been published by B. A. Seaby (L10.95). John Buxton Hilton's new Inspector Brunt mystery, SLICKENSIDES, features two mysterious characters calling themselves Holmes and Watson, competing with Brunt to investigate a disappearance in a village in Derbyshire in 1911 (Collins, L8.95). ACD's THE MYSTERY OF CLOOMBER and THE GREAT SHADOW are due from Greenhill in Mar. Edward R. Hamilton (Falls Village, CT 06031) has three items of interest in his 2/20/87 discount-book sales list: CHAPLIN: HIS LIFE AND ART, by David Robinson (#51064), a massive biography with detailed coverage of Chaplin's appearances as Billy ($5.95); ROGER MOORE, by Paul Donovan (#91073), a biography with minor discussion of "Sherlock Holmes in New York" ($3.95); and ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S WORLD OF STRANGE POWERS, by John Fairley and Simon Welfare (#31430), with references to ACD's interest in spiritualism ($7.95). Add $3.00 per order for shipping. Mar 87 #3 Reported by Lenny Picker: unabridged audio cassettes of THE ADVENTURES (read by Patrick Tull) and THE MEMOIRS (read by Alex Spencer) due from Recorded Books (620 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001) in April ($39.95 for each set of seven cassettes); their catalog also lists the four long stories. Robert Goldsborough's second Nero Wolfe pastiche DEATH ON DEADLINE (with a story involving Lon Cohen and the Gazette) due from Bantam in April. Princess Nina Mdivani Conan Doyle Harwood died on Mar. 3 in London. Nina was *The* Woman at the cocktail party before the BSI annual dinner in 1975, and contributed an Introduction to the 1975 reprint of TALES OF TERROR AND MYSTERY (D329b), but she was not (as at least one obituary suggests) the last of the royal Georgian clan of Mdivanis. They were Georgian, but they weren't royal; Alice-Leone Moats, in THE MILLION DOLLAR STUDS (New York: Delacorte Press, 1977), gives considerable attention to Nina's brothers, all of whom married rich Americans, and little to Nina, who married Denis Conan Doyle and then Anthony Harwood. Nina (as Baskervilles Investments Limited) for a time controlled the Conan Doyle literary estate. Further to my note (Oct 86 #2) about non-S'ian books that use the titles of SH stories, Dick Lesh notes that Rathbone's film "Dressed to Kill" (1946) was matched by "Dressed to Kill" (1980). Well, yes, and there's the double bill of "Spider Woman" and "Kiss of the Spider Woman" . . . Dick also reports that Rathbone's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is available on videocassette at $29.95 from Diversions (Box 1834, Newark, NJ 07101). Also the old Murray Hill three-record sets at $7.99 each: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES/THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (film sound- tracks), SHERLOCK HOLMES: TALES FROM BAKER STREET (6 Rathbone radio shows), and MORE SHERLOCK HOLMES ADVENTURES (6 Gielgud radio shows). Add $3.50 shipping per order. The British post office plans to issue at least one stamp booklet honoring SH in 1987 -- the booklet covers will be S'ian, not the stamps (there have been many such thematic booklet covers in recent years) -- and a flier at hand from Henry Murray (Arlington Supplies, P.O. Box 143, London N13 4XN, England) offers the booklet at $2.50 and a first day cover at $6.95, as well as their own commemorative cover (postmarked Jan. 8) honoring ACD as a Mason at $4.65. Add $1.00 shipping per order. Per my query (Feb 87 #5) on sources for deerstalkers, the only current report is a local one: available for $25.00 from Hats in the Belfry, 1237 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC 20007. Andy Warhol died in February. According to Chris Steinbrunner (THE FILMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1978), "as far back as 1972 pop artist Andy Warhol was reported to be teamed with Rex Reed in an 'underground' variant of the Sherlock Holmes saga, with Reed also playing Watson; this has yet to reach the screen." Ron De Waal has tracked down the comic book MUPPET BABIES (387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016; $0.75); issue #13 (May 1987) has Kermlock Holmes in "The Strange Case of the Missing Mermaid Costume". Mar 87 #4 Albert M. Rosenblatt ("known as Albie to friends," according to the N.Y. Times) has been sworn in as New York State's chief administrative judge. He will administer a court system that has an annual budget of $800 million, about 2,000 judges, and 12,000 other employees, and disposed of more than three million cases in 1986 (that's ten times the total dispositions in federal courts in all 50 states). Al intends to continue his S'ian interests, and impressed the N.Y. Times reporter by correctly naming all four of the long stories. Flier at hand from artist Stefanie K. Hawks (Box 50453, Knoxville, TN 37950) offering S'ian prints, postcard, and stationery. The Mystery Writers of America nominees for best motion picture screenplay include "The Great Mouse Detective" and "The Name of the Rose" -- the Edgar winners will be announced on May 8. "The Name of the Rose" is available on videocassette (Embassy Home Entertainment, $79.95). And a bit of trivia: F. Murray Abraham, who won an Oscar for "Amadeus" and then played Bernardo Gui, the inquisitor, in "The Name of the Rose", began his screen career in a S'ian film: "They Might Be Giants", in which he played the Usher. Harlan Ellison was in Toronto for a lecture on Feb. 8, according to an article at hand from Cam Hollyer. Ellison suggested that those in search of success must read and re-read only one essential book: the collected Sherlock Holmes stories. "They teach you deductive logic. They teach you observation. They teach you to see what is going on around you. The more you see, the more you understand. And the quicker and cleverer you are at spotting and reading people and things, the less you can be manipulated." Videotaper alert: "Young Sherlock Holmes" will be on The Movie Channel on Apr. 10, 12, and 15. If your PBS station was pledge-driving on Mar. 12, you may not have seen the Vincent Price end-of-the-program piece if the station substituted a plea for donations (unless you also watched the repeat daytime broadcast); Price commented on the interesting increase in Holmes' fee, and announced that in the next program Holmes will be involved with the Mafia. Forecast (for November, from Villard Books): THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND, by Michael Hardwick, with illos by Steranko. Villard hopes that the book will be "the first in a series of Sherlock Holmes novels, in the same vein as John Gardner's extremely successful series of 007 novels," according to Villard's editorial director Peter Gethers, quoted in Publishers Weekly. THE ADVENTURE OF BLUE PETER, by John Ruyle, is the first episode in the long-anticipated Memoirs of Turlock Loams; a welcome addition to the Turlockian Canon, and finely printed, as usual, at The Pequod Press. $28.50 (cloth) or $13.50 (paper), from John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707. Reported from London: a new pub sign at The Sherlock Holmes (the real pub sign, not a souvenir), with a new Holmes resembling Peter Cushing. No mention of when the new sign was installed, or how many S'ians have visited the pub without observing the change. Mar 87 #5 Found by Mel Ruiz: "Buster Keaton Scrapbook" on videocassette from Prestige Home Theatre, with two 30-minute TV shows: "This Is Your Life" and "The Detective" (from a short-lived series starring Keaton, broadcast in the early 50s; in this episode "Buster is a sleuth, the likes of which Sherlock Holmes never saw"). Mel reports that the detective is Sam Spade, but Keaton does use a magnifying glass, and has a bloodhound named Watson. I have no idea what series this is from, but it might be "Life with Buster Keaton", a series syndicated in 1951 or 1952; according to the TV reference books, the series consisted primarily of reedited Keaton shorts from the 1930s and 1940s, plus comedy vignettes in which he played "a man struggling to cope with life's endless problems." Dick Rutter, now resident in Germany, reports a source for two items: the nutcracker (30 cm high, at left, about $45.00) and a "Rauchermann" in which one can burn incense (25 cm high, at right, about $25.00); shipping extra, VISA accepted, and you can order from Walter H. Hirschmann, Am Stadtwald 8, 8489 Eschenbach/Opf, West Germany. A new sales list received from Ilene Fauer at US 2 (563 Clinton Road, Paramus, NJ 07652); the new items include centennial note pads and magnets. There's a series called "Mad Movies with the L.A. Connection" on cable (Nickelodeon); they do parodies of old movies, and two of the programs are based on Rathbone's "Secret Weapon" and "Dressed to Kill". Please let me know if you tape these or any other S'ian programs in the series. Copies of the S'ian multi-color 14x24" poster for Sherlockon II, held this month in Torrance, are available for $3.00 postpaid from Sherlock in L.A. Press, 2712 Scott Road, Burbank, CA 91504. "It is true that Holmes sometimes confused induction with deduction, and that he came to the incredible conclusion that there is as much wisdom in Hafiz as there is in Horace. And to speak plainly, he did on a few occa- sions express an unhealthy interest in continental philosophy. But he made no other mistakes, and what is the very last importance, he defeated a man whose treatise on the binomial theorem has had a European vogue." Marvin Levich, in "Bookmarks: the Return of Metaphysics, and of Sherlock Holmes" in the spring 1987 issue of Reed: The Quarterly of Reed College (3203 S.E. Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, OR 97202); forwarded by Jerry Margolin. Mar 87 #6 The Mysterious Bookshop's spring catalog at hand, with a S'iana section. Also the spring issue of Mysterious News, with a short article by Len Deighton and news about Mysterious Press books (100 planned for 1987); the address for both is 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. The press is also co-sponsoring a day-long mystery-fiction con- ference on May 16; details available from Jerry Weiss, Dept. of English, Jersey City State College, 2039 Kennedy Bouevard, Jersey City, NY 17305. Reported by Andy Peck: a "Sherlock Holmes Centennial Collection" of audio tapes of 12 Rathbone/Bruce radio shows, $26.90 from The Source, Box 795232, Dallas, TX 75379. Reported by Roger Johnson: filming of Granada's "Sign" is almost complete. In Sept. they will start on the fourth (and final) series (according to Michael Cox, the new shows "almost certainly" will be "Devi", "Bruc", "Silv", "Wist", and a two-part "Houn"). "The Adventure at the Crossroads" is a Sherlockian mystery weekend set for Apr. 10-12 at the Vintners Inn (4350 Barnes Road, Santa Rose, CA 95401). "The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes" (the one-hour television special with Christopher Lee as host), broadcast here and there in 1986, is reported available on videocassette at $79.95 (sorry, company not known). Reported from England: a S'ian commemorative plate from Caverswall China Ltd., Berry Hill Road, Stoke-on-Trent, England. In case your PBS television station didn't broadcast "The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson" (Jan 87 #2), here's a sample: Apr 87 #1 Reported by Brian R. MacDonald: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S CELEBRATED CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (see Nov 86 #3), with 18 stories and 12 new color plates by Graham Ward (London: Octopus Books, 1986; 318 p., $9.98 at B. Dalton). RUNNING AND BEING: THE TOTAL EXPERIENCE, by Dr. George Sheehan (Warner paperback, $6.95); the chapter on "Racing" has S'ian artwork. BIALOSKY AND THE BIG PARADE MYSTERY, by Justine Koman with illos by Tom Cooke (Big Little Golden Book #10262; $1.19); with a deerstalkered teddy bear. THE CLASSIC ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (Stamford: Longmeadow Press, 1987; 636 p., $7.95) is on the discount tables at Waldenbooks. The book is a new issue of THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (D270b) and THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES published by Castle Books in 1976 and 1980, with all the stories illustrated by Sidney Paget, in facsimile from The Strand Magazine, with a new color jacket illustration by Eric Kincaid. Reported by Paul Merz: a 12-page article by Frank D. McConnell on ACD and SH and "Detecting Order Amid Disorder" in the Wilson Quarterly, spring 1987 (600 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024; $5.00). "What Arthur Conan Doyle did 100 years ago was not simply to invent one of the imperishable figures in the history of English literature but also to provide a form of storytelling, a way of thinking, that has been of inestimable value throughout this troubled century. Only the entrenched snobs of academic criticism should be able, at this date, to ignore the importance of the form and its creator. To most readers, recognition of that importance is, as the Master himself was fond of saying, elementary." Paul also reports Michael Ffinch's G. K. CHESTERTON (Harper & Row, $18.95); a new biography blurbed as drawing upon recently discovered material (let- ters, poems, and a Sherlock Holmes story) to give a very different picture of a major literary figure. The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair (Apr. 2-4) featured sales and exhibitions celebrating the centenary and (according to the ad spotted by Tom Stix), an informal talk by Gahan Wilson on "The Enduring Influence of Sherlock Holmes. Also from Tom is Enid Nemy's column in the N.Y. Times (Mar. 27, 1987) about Sherlock Holmes' search for Dr. Watson. Frank Langella's search, that is. Langella has everything needed for his $1 million production of Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" except a Watson. The play, described as "an exploration of ego and envy, as well as a thriller," is scheduled in Washington (June 19-July 25) before opening on Broadway. At hand from Alan R. Kaplan is the Oregon State Bar Bulletin (Aug.-Sept. 1986), with Rathbone and Bruce on the cover and as frontispiece to Teresa Carp's article on "Hiring a Legal Investigator". 1776 S.W. Madison Street, Portland, OR 97205; $2.00. The Franklin Library (Franklin Center, PA 19091) is launching the "Franklin Library of Mystery Masterpieces" with 50 monthly titles at $14.50 each plus shipping; one of the titles, according to a recent advertisement, will be GREAT CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Apr 87 #2 "To say that MI5, the British Secret Service, was and remains the mastermind behind the Piltdown hoax is to provoke outrage by readers of decent sensibilities," Charles J. Blinderman suggested in an article in the Journal of Irreproducible Results (Feb.-Mar. 1986). But he also concluded that "only the British Government could have had a motive sufficient for the initiation of this hoax and the resources to carry it out so comprehensively." Blinderman has now addressed the matter more seriously, in his new book THE PILTDOWN INQUEST (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1986; 261 p., $22.95); his work is carefully researched, and his book is written with style and humor. His chapter on Conan Doyle (hardly a serious candidate as culprit, according to Blinderman) is, unfortunately, written as a S'ian pastiche, and Blinderman is not an accomplished pasticheur. The Journal of Irreproducible Results, I should add, has been described (accurately) as "the funniest thing to happen to science since Archimedes ran naked through the streets of Syracuse." Box 234, Chicago Heights, IL 60411; $5.90 for five issues. The latest mail-order catalog (749M) from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011) offers THE CONAN DOYLE STORIES (76 tales in a reissue from the 1929 John Murray edition) at $6.95, and videocassettes of six of the Granada programs (Scan, Blue, Spec, Danc, Nava, Soli) at $29.95 each. Bantam's two-volume paperback edition of SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE NOVELS AND STORIES is finally in the bookstores ($4.95 each volume), with an Introduction by Loren D. Estleman, who fervently defends Dr. Watson against his detractors. LESTRADE AND THE HALLOWED HOUSE (Macmillan, L8.95), the third novel in M. J. Trow's series about Lestrade, received an approving review in Punch. Michael Hardwick's SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE AND CRIMES (BSJ Jun 85) has been issued as a trade paperback (New York: Henry Holt, 1986; 208 p., $7.95). Hardwick's THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SHERLOCK HOLMES (BSJ Mar 87) has been published in an American edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986; 255 p., $16.95). Reported by Dana Richards: SEVEN CLUES TO THE ORIGIN OF LIFE: A SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE STORY (BSJ Mar 87) has been reissued in wrappers (Cambridge Univ. Press). THE ANNOTATED INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN, by G. K. Chesterton, annotated by Martin Gardner, has a lengthy comparison of Father Brown and Sherlock Holmes (Oxford Univ. Press, 1987; an American edition due soon). SLICKENSIDES, by John Buxton Hilton (London: William Collins, 1987; 164 p., L8.95), is an interesting murder mystery set in Derbyshire in 1911; the detective, Inspector Brunt, sorts through the local suspects as well as two London outsiders who appear to be (but aren't) Holmes and Watson. THE CRIMSON CIRCLE is the 24-page newsletter of The Edgar Wallace Society (write to John A. Hogan, 7 Devonshire Close, Amersham, Bucks. HP6 5JG, England; membership including subscription is L6.00). And the newsletter often has S'ian material; the Feb. 1987 issue reprints Wallace's "Sherlock Holmes on the Cambridge" (D5224b). Apr 87 #3 I have completed work on the computer file of Sherlockian societies (407 societies, including 181 active societies). The numbers will change, of course, as the file is revised. A print-out (37 pages) with names of all societies, and contact names and addresses for all active societies, is available for $2.50 postpaid. Labels are available for mailings to active societies, at $10.00 a run. Sound Track Album Retailers has a new address (Box 487, New Holland, PA 17557), and their latest catalog relists the record of "Young Sherlock Holmes" (MCA 6159) at $9.95; shipping extra, and they take plastic. The Occupants of the Empty House have just published the 100th issue of The Camden House Journal, their monthly newsletter (and there are only a few other scions with that fine a track record). At the end of 1986 they also published BEEMAN'S CHRISTMAS ANNUAL, a 28-page pamphlet with articles and artwork by members; copies are still available for $3.00 postpaid from William R. Cochran, 517 North Vine Street, DuQuoin, IL 62832. The "Sherlock Holmes Centennial Collection" (Mar 87 #6) has six cassettes with twelve of the Rathbone/Bruce radio shows, from "The Bruce-Partington Plans" (1939) to "The Night Before Christmas" (1945), on high-quality recordings; $31.90 postpaid from The Source, Box 795232, Dallas, TX 75379. Kiyoshi Tanaka brought a few copies of his 1987 Sherlockian calendar to the birthday festivities in New York, and it is a handsome production, with an attractive full-page illustration by Kiyoshi for each month. Copies are still available from Kiyoshi Tanaka, 8-7 Babacho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa 235, Japan, for $10.00 postpaid; please send currency, not checks (Japanese banks charge even more for foreign checks than British banks do.) Dr. N. Joel Ehrenkranz discussed "A. Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, and Murder by Tropical Infection" in a 4-page article in Reviews of Infectious Diseases, Jan.-Feb. 1987; reprints may still be available from the author (1295 N.W. 14th Street, suite M, Miami, FL 33125. Chris Caswell (Sherlock's Home, 4137 East Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90804) reports that he stocks deerstalkers, as well as bowlers for Watson and genuine helmets for your local bobby; write for details. The Easton Press (47 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06857) is planning a deluxe three-volume COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES 100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION at $37.50 postpaid per volume; this will be a reissue of the Heritage Press edition, bound in leather, with full-color Steele frontispieces. At hand from Charles Shields: "Adventures of a Young Balzac", an article by Michael Murphy on Vincent Starrett's newspaper career in Chicago, in the spring 1987 issue of Inland: The Magazine of the Middle West (Inland Steel Co., 30 West Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603). THE HOLMESIAN FEDERATION #7 (Feb 87 #2) at hand, with Tina Rhea's "Pax de Deux" (Sherlock and Irene post-Reichenbach), four other pastiches, and some fine illos by Stefanie Hawks; 91 p., $4.00 postpaid from Signe Landon (14985 256th Avenue SE, Issaquah, WA 98027). Apr 87 #4 1988 will be the centenary of Jack the Ripper's bloody visits to Whitechapel, and Alexander Kelly has revised and expanded his JACK THE RIPPER: A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE (D2251b); it's an expert review of who's written what about Saucy Jack, and available for L7.95 from the Association of Assistant Librarians, 55a Lordship Lane, East Dulwich, London SE22 8EP, England. The Renegade Press comic CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES #6 (Mar. 1987) has "The Resident Patient" with more of Dan Day's artwork. Six issues may indeed be the longest recorded run of a S'ian comic book. Flier at hand for "Fiddling Around with Sherlock Holmes" (also known as the "Centennial Weekend with John Bennett Shaw") at the College of William and Mary on July 24-26, 1987; write to Ray Betzner (2906 Richard Pace South, Williamsburg, VA 23185). MERCENARIES, SPIES & PRIVATE EYES is a boxed-set role-playing game from Sleuth Publications (689 Florida Street, San Francisco, CA 94110), with a 124-page rulebook, 32-page adventure, character sheets, and dice; $20.00. The game is much like Dungeons & Dragons, requiring a game-master to run (and invent) the scenario, which might be Victorian London, with Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty as three of the many possible characters. Erratum (Mar 87 #3): Princess Nina Mdivani Conan Doyle Harwood died on Feb. 18 in London, I am informed by a reliable reader. The Quality Paperback Club (Camp Hill, PA 17011-9968) has again offered its members its Sherlock Holmes sweatshirt (with the caricature by Gerry Gersten), at $16.00. I'm not sure that it's available to non-members, however. If you'd like to join the club (right now you get three books for $1.00, with no further purchase obligation), Andrew Jay Peck (24 Fifth Avenue #829, New York, NY 10011) will be happy to supply details. GREAT CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a "Best Loved Audiobooks" two-cassette package from Random House/Reader's Digest ($14.95), with four cases (Twis, RedH, Spec, Blue) capably read by Robert Lindsay; the text of the stories follows the 1966 Reader's Digest Association book (D687a). Scholastic Voice (Mar. 23, 1987) has much S'ian, including "The Speckled Band" adapted for radio by the Hardwicks, "The Last of Sherlock Holmes" by Tim Kelly, and an interview with Tim Kelly. 730 Broadway, New York, NY 10003; $2.25 for the Teachers' Edition. The Feb. 1987 issue of Tourist in London Magazine (a courtesy hotel and in-flight magazine) has Michael Mahoney's two-page article on "Sherlock Holmes' London" and a S'ian color cover; Lee Publications, 98 Plashet Road, London E13 0RQ, England. Richard D. Lesh (2631 Flintridge Place, Fort Collins, CO 80521) has found a few copies of the handsome medal issued by The Maiwand Jezails in 1980 to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of Maiwand. The medal (BSJ Sep 1982, photo on p. 191) is silver-plate over bronze, green ribbon, $30.00 postpaid and insured. Apr 87 #5 Has anyone done any research on M. Oscar Meunier of Grenoble? Donald A. Redmond (SHERLOCK HOLMES: A STUDY IN SOURCES, 1982, p. 111) notes a Belgian engraver named Jean-Baptiste Meunier, born in 1821, and the firm of Henri Meunier & Co., artists' colourmen, in the Earl's Court Road. But there was also the Belgian sculptor Constantin Meunier, who exhibited in several Salons des Beaux-Arts in Paris, including one in 1893; he was favored by Siegfried Bing (the inventor of "art nouveau"). Another of Bing's artists was James Ensor, a Belgian who was a member of the XX Group in 1902; it is in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" that Holmes "was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters." THE BEST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is a four-cassette package presenting careful readings of four cases (RedH, Iden, Musg, Twis); $15.99 from the Great American Gift Co., 33 Portman Road, New Rochelle, NY 10801. Some British news, via Roger Johnson: the Folio Society (202 Great Suffolk Street, London, SE.1, England) will publish their new edition of "Houn" (with illos by Edward Bawden) in August. Tyburn Productions plans to start production "within the next few months" on "The Abbot's Cry" (with Peter Cushing and John Mills). That's Entertainment records will issue an album of Patrick Gowers' music from the Granada series. Here's another one of those "name an actor" questions: name a professional actor who has played both Billy and Watson. The answer is on the next page, so don't wait to think about it. We've had Sherlock Holmes musicals, and a Sherlock Holmes ballet. Now John Bennett Shaw reports "The Hound of the Baskervilles" presented in dance, mime, and music by the National Tap Dance Company in Toronto on Mar. 29. Also from John is a newspaper report: "For the past two years, a Tokyo sleuth calling himself Doctor Yu has headed a firm named Sherlock Holmes Japan, which will locate your lost love for you, very discreetly, and give you the details you want." The cost is $120 in Tokyo, $140 in the rest of Japan, plus a $45 bonus if the search is successful (they claim a 99% success rate), and the company is taking in about $1,350,000 a year. Flier at hand for Bouchercon XVIII (Murder in the North Country) at the Ritz Hotel in Minneapolis, Oct. 9-11. Lawrence Block will be guest of honor, and there will be a full day of alternate S'ian programming, with John Bennett Shaw, to celebrate the centenary. The address is Box 2747, Loop Station, Minneapolis, MN 55402; registration is $25.00 until July 1, $35.00 thereafter, and $10.00 for supporting membership. In the course of my research for the list of Sherlockian societies, I have found 12 inactive societies for which we have no information on who the founder or contact was. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows anything about: The Boulevard Assassins of Paris, The Boulevard Assassins of Suburban Detroit, The Cascade Canoneers, The Deal-Top Monographers, The Lion's Mane of Grand Rapids, The Puzzled Squires of Downey, The Resident Patients of Montana State University, The Retired Colourmen of Essex, The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Canonical Criminals, The Sons of Sherlock Holmes, The Students in Terror, or The West of Tokyo Interpreters. Apr 87 #6 COLLECTING: THE PASSIONATE PASTIME, by Susanna Johnston and Tim Beddow (New York: Harper & Row, 1986; 136 p., $24.95), is a fascinating book, based on interviews with British collectors and fully illustrated with color photographs. One of the collectors is Richard Lancelyn Green, who has created a Sherlock Holmes room at Poulton Hall. Reported by Tom Stix: Xavier Roberts Collectors Dispatch, winter 1987, with an illustrated story "The Case of the Black Feather" featuring Cabbage Patch doll Otis Lee in S'ian costume. The magazine is published by the BabyLand General Hospital, 19 Underwood Street, P.O. Box 714, Cleveland, GA 30528; $3.00. "Sherlock Holmes and the Poirot Connexion" is a new pastiche by Julian Symons, in the Apr. 1987 issue of The Illustrated London News; the color cover by Paul Slater is better than the pastiche. Chris Redmond's WELCOME TO AMERICA, MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES (his report on ACD's 1894 visit) is now announced for publication this spring. Additional information available from Simon and Pierre, P.O. Box 80, Adelaide Street Postal Station, Toronto, Ont. M5C 2J4, Canada. The professional actor who has played both Billy and Watson is Christian Slater, who played Billy (with Frank Langella as Holmes) in the 1981 HBO television version of William Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes", and Adso of Melk (with Sean Connery as William of Baskerville) in the 1986 film "The Name of the Rose". THE COPPERFIELD CHECKLIST OF MYSTERY AUTHORS, edited by Pamela Granovetter and Karen Thomas, follows the format of A SHOPPING LIST OF MYSTERY CLASSICS (BSJ Mar 87); ACD is one of the 100 authors, with 25 titles listed. The 128-page book is available for $7.00 postpaid from The Copperfield Press, 306 West 11th Street, New York, NY 10014. The British stamp booklet (Mar 87 #3) honoring "Stud" was issued on Apr. 14, and will be followed by three more (dates not set) honoring "Houn", "Spec", and "Fina". Our circulation department, noting that every mailing this year has been six pages, calculates that the cost of printing and mailing requires an increase in the subscription price, to $8.00 a year. Editorial departments never argue with circulation departments, of course, so future renewals will be at the new price. May 87 #1 "The Jewel in the Crown" is back on PBS-TV, starting May 24. Ronald Merrick is played by Tim Pigott-Smith, who played Dr. Watson in the Royal Shakespeare Company's revival of "Sherlock Holmes". And there are minor references to Sherlock Holmes in episodes 12 ("The Moghul Room") and 13 ("Pandora's Box"). There will be more Sherlockian stamps issued this year than I predicted. A pane of 50 different stamps showing North American wildlife will be issued on June 13. The animals include a bighorn sheep and a bison, to name only two specifically American animals found in the Canon. And there are many more candidates, if you're willing to stretch a bit (the badger and the rabbit in "Sign" probably weren't American, nor the foxes in "Houn", and there are others). The pane might make an interesting visual quiz. And a commemorative honoring New Jersey statehood will be issued on July 15. I trust you all know who was born in New Jersey . . . And a postal card honoring the 150th anniversary of John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow will be issued on May 22. Howard Garrideb advertised "steam and hand plows" but may not have meant anything that old. David G. Kirby (Rupert Books, 59 Stonefield, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB3 8TE, England) has issued a colorful centenary catalog ("A Century of Scarlet") with book offers, color photographs, and eight color illustrations for the story by David Cory; the catalog costs $4.00 postpaid by airmail. Question #1: What was the name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle? Laboromnia (15 Wallingford Avenue, London W10 6QA, England) has a color flier showing items in their centenary collection (busts in bronze or ceramic, plates, a mug, and a thimble); their American agent is Robert C. Hess (559 Potter Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718). Pedro J. Saavedra's short S'ian poem "Detectiverse: Wiggins" is in the May 1987 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Richard D. Lesh (2631 Flintridge Place, Fort Collins, CO 80521) offers high-quality stereo audio cassettes made from his high-fidelity Austrian phonograph record of "The Polyphonic Motets of Roland de Lassus" (Mons 1532, Les Larmes de St. Pierre, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Choir, Cambridge University, 45 minutes); $10.00 postpaid. Dick also reports that Publisher's Central Bureau (One Champion Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07131) offers a new videocassette: "100 Years of Sherlock Holmes" (60 minutes, black-and-white, $19.95). According to the catalog, "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous sleuth is the focus of this compilation covering the filmed history of Holmes and Watson. Holmes has thrilled fans for one hundred years and this memorable collector's piece will satisfy anyone's interest." No other information available as yet. And Dick reports that on May 2 the syndicated TV series "Entertainment Tonight" included a 10-minute segment on the centenary, with film of ACD and an interview with Sherlock Holmes' secretary Sue Brown. May 87 #2 The latest issue of the August Derleth Society Newsletter (winter-spring 1987) has a fine article by Michael Harrison on "Derleth: My Fellow Duke" (both were dukes of the Caribbean kingdom of Redonda, and surely are still regarded as such by those who deny Great Britain's subsequent claim of sovereignty over the island). The newsletter is published quarterly by the August Derleth Society and edited by Richard H. Fawcett, 61 Teecomwas Drive, Uncasville, CT 06382; $5.00 a year. In a letter to the editor of Stamps (May 2, 1987), Robert Boos reports a new production error in two recent episodes of the Granada series: mail inspected or received by Holmes bears a Penny Black stamp, unlikely to be used in the late nineteenth century. I think that "unlikely" is the key word here: the penny black (1840) was superceded by a penny red (1864), and there were new one-penny stamps issued in 1880 and 1881 with a new design. Question #2: What was the name of the second novel written by Conan Doyle? THE QUALLSFORD INHERITANCE, by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., is now out in paperback (New York: Penguin Books, 1987; 278 pp., $3.95); it's one of the better pastiches (BSJ Dec 86). The Woods-Runner (the official meeting place and magazine of Unicorn Hunters International) generally reflects many if not most of the varied interests of its soon-to-retire (but never retiring) general manager Bill Rabe. It's published quarterly at $3 a year by Lake Superior State College (Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783); the next issue (#59) will include "Letters about Sherlock" (excerpts from The Agony Column). The two-record album with two of the Rathbone/Bruce radio broadcasts from "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (Oct 86 #1) is a fine production, with high-quality recordings of "The Unfortunate Tobacconist" (30 Apr 45) and "The Paradol Chamber" (21 May 45), interesting commentary by Ben Wright (who played Holmes in a later series), an informative booklet on "Sherlock Holmes on American Radio", and handsome album decorations. The scripts were written by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher, and the album is a limited edition (3,000 copies), available for $27.50 postpaid from 221 "A" Baker Street Associates, Box 351453, Los Angeles, CA 90035-998. Peter Melonas reports that the first issue of Pipefinder portrays Sherlock Holmes searching for the perfect pipe; available free from Pipefinder, Box 721288, Houston, TX 77272. Colin Blakely died on May 7. He was a fine Watson in Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes", and one of his last appearances was in the British television series "Paradise Postponed". Peter Haining's THE TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES (London: W. H. Allen, 1986; 224 pp., L14.95) is now available at B. Dalton stores for $24.95; it's the third printing, indicating that the book has been successful, and with reason: half of the book is a discussion of Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockian television pre-Granada, and half of the book is devoted to the Granada series. Both sections are profusely illustrated, with much color, and the book is up-to-date through the first twenty Granada programs. Recommended. May 87 #3 A brief report on the sale of John Michael Gibson's collection on Apr. 24-25 at the California Book Auction Galleries: it was great fun, according to the auction staff and to people who were there. The sale total for the 2,007 lots was about $94,000 (including the 10% buyer's premium), and all lots were sold (there were no reserves). There were about 175 bidders (about half of them by mail, with a few people bidding by telephone), and the collectors apparently did better than the dealers: almost all of the "high spots" (such as the sets of first editions and the long runs of The Strand Magazine) went to collectors. Rudy Rucker has edited MATHENAUTS: TALES OF MATHEMATICAL WONDER (New York: Arbor House, 1987; 300 pp., $18.95 cloth, $9.95 paper); the book includes Ruth Berman's "Professor and Colonel", a pleasant speculation about a meeting between two of the Moriarty brothers. Reported by Helen Heinrich: Daniel Pinkwater's THE SNARKOUT BOYS & THE AVODCADO OF DEATH (BSJ Mar 84) and THE SNARKOUT BOYS & THE BACONBURG HORROR (BSJ Jun 85) are now available as Signet Vista paperbacks (160 pp., $2.25 and $2.50). Also a new expanded edition of the Signet Classic paperback THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERIES (BSJ Mar 85) now with 22 stories ($3.50). The Washington Post reports from the Cannes Film Festival that "Night of the Comet" director Thom Eberhardt will be behind the cameras for "The Impostor of Baker Street", a $10 million comedy-adventure with the intriguing premise that the bumbling Dr. Watson was actually the brains behind Sherlock Holmes. One reference book summarizes "Night of the Comet" as "world comes to an end, leaving only a couple of California valley girls behind!" Question #3: What was the name of the third novel written by Conan Doyle? Reported from Britain: Hesketh Pearson's CONAN DOYLE (D3956a) has been reissued in paper covers by Unwin Hyman at L6.95. Reported by Jack Kerr: M. J. Trow's THE SUPREME ADVENTURE OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE (BSJ Mar 86) in paperback (Stein and Day, $13.95). Monsignor Thomas A. Whelan ("The Vatican Cameos") died on Apr. 21. One of the early members of The Six Napoleons, he was born in Baltimore and had ten generations of ancestors in Maryland. I don't know of any S'ian references in books by Elizabeth Linington (aka Lesley Egan, Anne Blaisdell, Egan O'Neill, and Dell Shannon), but there is a newsletter for her fans; sample copy available from Rinehart S. Potts, 1223 Glen Terrace, Glassboro, NJ 08028. John T. Lescroart's RASPUTIN'S REVENGE (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1987; 285 pp., $17.95) is his second novel about Auguste Lupa, who was first seen in last year's SON OF HOLMES, a Neronian pastiche that was only inferentially Sherlockian. In RASPUTIN'S REVENGE we find Auguste Lupa (whose passport is in the name of John Hamish Adler Holmes) in St. Petersburg in 1916, trying to solve a complicated series of murders, accused of espionage, rescued by his father, and eventually successful in solving the mystery. May 87 #4 Fanny Butcher died on May 14 in Chicago at the age of 99. She worked at the Chicago Tribune for 50 years, including 40 years as literary editor, and of course she knew Vincent Starrett well, and found occasion to write about him (as well as about Sherlock Holmes) in her own Sunday column "The Literary Spotlight" -- in which, on Jan. 16, 1955, she reported that "the story that Doyle called his hero Holmes after Oliver Wendell Holmes was his own invention, Starrett now admits." In case you weren't paying attention, the three questions are: What was the name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the second novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the third novel written by Conan Doyle? The answers will be given next month, when I will also recognize those who submit correct answers on their first attempts. Terry Carr died on Apr. 7. There were S'ian stories in two collections he edited: THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR NO. 1 (D4825b) and UNIVERSE 5 (D5244b). Chris Redmond reports another non-Sherlockian book with a Sherlockian title: Lauri Lewin's NAKED IS THE BEST DISGUISE: MY LIFE AS A STRIPPER (London: Pandora, 1984). On May 7 the syndicated TV series "PM Magazine" (and "Evening Magazine") included a 6-minute segment from London on the centenary, with clips from some of the Rathbone films, views of the exterior of The Sherlock Holmes, and interviews with Stanley MacKenzie and Sue Brown. A brief report, from Andrew Jay Peck, on a few of the awards by the Mystery Writers of America at their annual dinner on May 9 in New York. Michael Gilbert (D691b, D1825b) won this year's Grand Master Award. The Edgar for best motion picture went to "Something Wild" (the nominees included "The Great Mouse Detective" and "The Name of the Rose"). The Fourth Irregular Quinquennial Holmesian Dinner was a splendid affair, with some 160 people gathered hungrily at the Culinary Institute of America on May 16. The centenary of the publication of "A Study in Scarlet" was celebrated with Afghan hors d'oeuvres, followed by an international buffet that ranged from London to Cleveland. The festivities included wining and dining and toasting at the CIA, post-prandial conversation at the Beekman Arms, and The Norwegian Named Sigerson Commemorative Syttende Mai Pancake Breakfast at the Rhinebeck Fire House. CIA master chef Fritz Sonnenschmidt received the BSI's Two-Shilling Award for his continuing services to the cause, and Al and Julie Rosenblatt were awarded a joint Queen Victoria Medal for their imaginative celebration of the centenary of the publication of the first Sherlock Holmes story. It was pleasantly coincidental that the spring 1987 issue of the county magazine Dutchess included a major article on Judge Albert Rosenblatt "at work and at play" (Al is learning to play the clarinet, and Julie thinks "it's wonderful that he's learning to play after all these years . . . as long as you don't have to hear him"). Plan ahead: the Fifth Irregular Quinquennial Holmesian Dinner has been announced for May 4, 1991, by way of honoring the centenary of the fateful meeting at the Reichenbach. May 87 #5 The American Booksellers Association gathered in Washington on May 23-26, and it was an impressive gathering: more than 1,000 exhibitors, more than 20,000 people registered, and god knows how many books, current and planned. Some plans were of particular interest: Mysterious Press: THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, leather-bound, with 12 color plates and more than 50 line drawings by Frederic Dorr Steele, and an introduction by Andrew Malec (Nov., 320 pp., $25.00); an American edition of Julian Symons' 1979 biography CONAN DOYLE: PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST (Nov., 160 pp., $15.95). Carroll & Graf: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: ORIGINAL STORIES BY EMINENT MYSTERY WRITERS, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh (Oct., 324 pp., $18.95); HOUND DUNIT, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh, with "Silver Blaze" and Rex Stout's "A Dog in the Daytime" (Sept., 256 pp., $15.95); a reprint of John Dickson Carr's 1949 biography THE LIFE OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (Oct., 310 pp., $8.95 paper); H. R. F. Keating's CRIME & MYSTERY: THE 100 BEST BOOKS, a survey that includes "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (Nov., 220 pp., $15.95). St. Martin's Press: THE SPECKLED BAND, illustrated by Paul Morrissey, in a new "Night Lights" children's series with glow-in-the-dark clues (Oct., 32 pp., $6.95); an American edition of John Buxton Hilton's SLICKENSIDES (Mar 87 #2) (Oct., 176 pp., $13.95). International Polygonics: a reprint of Herbert Brean's WILDERS WALK AWAY (Oct., 250 pp., $4.50 paper). Their fall 1987 trade catalog has a nice S'ian color cover by Roger Roth, and they gave me their extras (not enough for everyone, unfortunately); if you would like one, send me $1.00 to cover mailing costs. Iron Crown Enterprises (distributed by the Berkley Publishing Group): a series of "Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries" similar to Allen Sharp's choose- your-own-plot "Storytrails" series for Cambridge University Press. There are 8 titles planned, starting with Gerald Lientz's MURDER AT THE DIOGENES CLUB (Sept., 160 pp., $2.95 paper). Academy Chicago: THE DOSSIER OF SOLAR PONS, by Basil Copper, is at the printer now, to be followed by THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SOLAR PONS (Aug., 208 pp., $15.95 cloth, $5.95 paper); these are revised editions of the paperback collections originally published by Pinnacle, and the series will eventually include some new stories. Donald I. Fine: according to an unofficial report, John T. Lescroart is considering (but has not yet written) a third novel, which may be even more Sherlockian (and less Neronian) than this year's RASPUTIN'S REVENGE. Sleuth Publications: ADVENTURES BY GASLIGHT (June, $15.00), the newest supplement to their game SHERLOCK HOLMES: CONSULTING DETECTIVE. Their supplements are now free-standing (you don't need the original game), and their catalog includes older supplements, a chess set, and other S'ian books; 689 Florida Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. May 87 #6 I can't remember who it was who wanted a current address for Ward, Lock and Company; it's now Ward Lock Limited, 8 Clifford Street, London, W1X 1RB, England (but they have no copies left of Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887, or any records from the old days). "The Year of the Reader" is being celebrated in various ways, including a handsome color poster with quotations and illustrations (by John Hyatt) from famous books, including "The Blue Carbuncle". The poster (30x22 in.) costs $5.50 postpaid from: Year of the Reader, 870 Market Street #919, San Francisco, CA 94102. Listen for Pleasure (One Colomba Drive, Niagara Falls, NY 14305) still has the three two-cassette packages with readings of "Houn" (D4671b, read by Hugh Burden) and "Stud" and "Sign" (each read by Tony Britton), as well as "The Lost World" (read by James Mason); $14.95 each. All four titles are now also available in "read-along" packages that include the cassettes, a transcript book in easy-to-read type, and a teacher's guide; $29.95 each. An interesting phenomenon observed at the ABA convention was the growth of the "graphic novel" (book-length, with expert full-color artwork and often adult themes). One of the more intriguing, and amusing, graphic novels is GREENBERG THE VAMPIRE, by J. M. DeMatteis and Mark Badger (New York: Marvel Comics Group, 1986; 70 pp., $6.95); a non-S'ian story "about the undead, the living dead, sin, redemption, the magic of love... and the healing power of chicken soup." In a more serious vein (sorry about that), there is DRACULA: A SYMPHONY IN MOONLIGHT AND NIGHTMARES, by Jon J. Muth (also Marvel, 1986, $6.95), with a striking and sensuous extension of the Bram Stoker novel. Getting back to S'iana, Sherlock Hemlock and his dog Watson appear in A BIRD'S BEST FRIEND, a Sesame Street "book 'n' tape" set (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1987). G. K. Chesterton admired Sherlock Holmes, but he disapproved of the Higher Criticism. "The real inference is that Sherlock Holmes really existed and that Conan Doyle never existed," he wrote in 1935. "If posterity only reads these latter books, it will certainly suppose them to be serious. It will imagine that Sherlock Holmes was a man. But he was not; he was only a god." Best known today for his detective stories, Chesterton was far more than an author of fiction; G. K. CHESTERTON, a new biography by Michael Ffinch (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986; 369 pp., $18.95), concentrates on his personality and personal life, rather than on his writings. But the book contains a pleasant surprise for S'ians: the first page, reproduced in facsimile, of "The Case of the Vanishing Car", written by Chesterton for a young neighbor and friend who had run her father's car off the road. The Apr. 27 issue of AB Bookman's Weekly was their annual "special crime, law, and mystery issue" with a S'ian cover and four articles, including one on "Sherlockians Commemorate the Centenary of 'The Master'" by Gretchen Falk, a member of the staff of the California Book Auction Galleries. Copies of the issue are available for $10.00 from AB Bookman's Weekly, Box AB, Clifton, NJ 07015. Jun 87 #1 The three questions were: What was the name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the second novel written by Conan Doyle? What was the name of the third novel written by Conan Doyle? And the answers are: The name of the first novel written by Conan Doyle was THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH (written in 1883 and lost in the post on its first journey to a publisher), the second was THE FIRM OF GIRDLESTONE (written in 1884-85 and published in 1890), and the third was A STUDY IN SCARLET (written in 1886 and published in 1887). THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN SMITH is mentioned by Hesketh Pearson (CONAN DOYLE: HIS LIFE AND ART, 1943, p. 74-75). There was only one (and incorrect) response to the query. A BIRD'S BEST FRIEND (May 87 #6) is also available as a Golden Press Book (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1986); a Sesame Street story by Trish Sommers about Sherlock Hemlock and his dog Watson. A possible answer to my bibliographic query (Oct 86 #4) on the two variants of the first printing of Dorothy L. Sayers' THE OMNIBUS OF CRIME (New York: Payson and Clarke, 1929): the trade variant has the list of other books by Sayers on page [2] and the copyright statement on page [4] positioned toward the bottom of the pages, and the dust jacket has an overprinted statement "Read em and Creep! Christopher Morley" in white ink and in Morley's hardwriting. The Book-of-the-Month Club variant has the list of other books by Sayers and the copyright statement positioned toward the top of the pages, and the dust jacket does not have the overprinted statement. Reports from the European press, and from participants, indicate that the SHSOL tour to Switzerland was a great success. "Each stop along the trek elicited a stirring welcome by the local town band, a march through the streets to the city hall, a speech by the mayor, and an obligatory glass of wine," according to Dick and Joanne Rutter. "Our days in Switzerland are remembered as being either one-, two-, or three-mayor days." Dick also reports another source for the S'ian nutcracker and "Rauchermann" (Mar 87 #5): Music Box Plaza, Bahnhofstrasse 23-A, CH-3800 Interlaken, Switzerland (Cindy Egger, the manager, is from San Diego). Reported: THE ANNOTATED INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN, edited by Martin Gardner (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987; 274 pp., $18.95); Gardner's theory is that Sherlock Holmes, according to the Canon, performed vital secret tasks for the Vatican, and there must have been a go-between . . . Reported by Don Pollock: mention of SH, and a short quiz, in the Apr. 1987 issue of Previews (a video-store hand-out). In 1977 there was a massive advertising campaign for the Dodge Diplomat, using SH in print and TV promotion, and Dodge dealers displayed life-size cardboard figures of SH, one of which is now offered for $150 (shipping extra) by Jean G. Weidner, 113 Holly Hill Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15237. According to Pravda, quoted in an Agence France-Presse report in the San Francisco Examiner (Apr. 29), at hand from Al Rodin: Vitaly Solomin, who has played Watson in a SH series on Soviet television, is now director of a Moscow theater called Detective. The theater will specialize in detective plays, by authors such as Poe, Conan Doyle, Christie, and Simenon. Jun 87 #2 PRISONERS OF THE NIGHT, edited by Alayne Gelfand, is "an adult anthology of erotica, intrigue, fright, allure, and vampirism," with 156 pp. of prose and poetry. Holmes and Watson make brief appearances in Tina Rhea's stories "Alteration" and "Darkness". Available for $15.00 from MKASHEF Enterprises, Box 368, Poway, CA 92064-0005. Compliments to Cleveland. The only press report seen so far on the CIA dinner was in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on May 23, by Gus Dallas, who worked for the Plain Dealer as a police reporter some 30 years ago. The article concentrates on the Cleveland connection, of course, and includes a large photograph of Stafford Davis and Mike Kean, who do not appear to be connected to anything other than the buffet line. THE OXFORD SOLUTION, at hand from Herb Tinning, uses S'ian artwork in a pamphlet explaining why one should participate in the Oxford Health Plans (23 Old Kings Highway South, Darien, CT 06820). A few items of interest in the new catalog from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011-5666), and presumably on discount tables at other stores: NEVER TO BE TAKEN ALIVE: A BIOGRAPHY OF GENERAL GORDON, by Roy MacGregor-Hastie (195 pp., $5.98); THE ANGLO-BOER WARS: THE BRITISH AND THE AFRIKANERS, 1812-1902, by Micheal Barthorp (176 pp., $16.95); CHAPLIN: HIS LIFE AND ART, by David Robinson (792 pp., $6.95), with details on his performances as Billy in the Gillette plays. Reported by John Stephenson: "They Might Be Giants" (D5165a) now available on video cassette (MCA Home Video) at $59.95. A "Sherlock Holmes Mystery Journey" to England, Oct. 14-27 (flier available from Book Sleuth Mystery Books, 2501 West Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80904). Hound of the Baskervilles bookends from Signals (Box 70870, St. Paul, MN 55170). BIALOSKY AND THE BIG PARADE MYSTERY, by Justine Korman, illustrated by Tom Cooke (Racine: Western Publishing Co., 1986); a Big Little Golden Book, with Bialosky the bear in S'ian costume again. Brig. John Doyle, the son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's younger brother Innes, died in May, at the age of 73. He joined the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1933, and served in India, Burma, and Malaya, and with the Allied Landing Forces in Europe, and received the OBE for his long and distinguished military career. THE GREAT COVER-UP: THE MYSTERY OF THE NON-HEALING WOUND is a promotional pamphlet (for Squibb's DuoDerm dressing) with a S'ian pastiche. ConvaTec (attn: Nina Rossi), Box 4000, Princeton, NJ 08543-4000. Betty Pierce reports that Peter Haining reports that his THE TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES (May 87 #4) will be revised and expanded for a new edition due in 1988. The first issue (May-June 1987) of Pipe Finder at hand, with a S'ian logo. It's intended as an "advertiser for the pipe collector" and the first issue has advertisements but no articles. Box 721288, Houston, TX 77272; $10.00 a year for six issues. Jun 87 #3 Reported by Dana Richards: the spring 1987 issue of Abacus, with comment on Lee Sallows' earlier article on Alphamagic Squares (Jan 87 #5 and Feb 87 #1). A letter from one Duncan Ross (Popes Court, Fleet Street, London) discusses some of the identifications of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORSHIP made by S'ian scholars in the past, and suggests that the photograph published with Sallows' article is "a calculated, if colourful, counterfeit." Sallows replies at length, describing the "popular conviction that Mr. Sherlock Holmes is to be construed as a fictional creation of the writer A. C. Doyle" as a belief whose "obstinate persistence in these days when every kind of pseudoscientific rigmarole finds eager embrace is only a sad reflection of the misguided cynicism of our times," and suggesting that the author of THE ORIGIN OF TREE WORKSHIP was actually a mathematician well known to readers of the Canon. THE BAKER STREET DOZEN: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S THIRTEEN FAVORITE SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES, EACH ACCOMPANIED BY AN ESSAY BY A PROMINENT SHERLOCKIAN, ALONG WITH VARIOUS INTERLUDES, CURIOSITIES & MISCELLANEA, edited by Pj Doyle and E. W. McDiarmid (Chicago: Congdon & Weed, 1987; 352 pp., $15.95), has been announced for October, and the publisher has a mail-order flier (180 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601). Dick Lesh reports that a videocassete of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1959, with Peter Cushing) is available for $29.95 (plus $3.50 per order for shipping) from Publishers Central Bureau (One Champion Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07131). I assume that this is the CBS/Fox Video cassette (first issued at $69.95), and that it is also now available at the lower price at your local video shops. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: DELIGHTFUL MURDER: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE CRIME STORY, by Ernest Mandel (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984) (printed London: Pluto Press, 1984); with many references to Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. SABERHAGEN: MY BEST, by Fred Saberhagn (New York: Baen Books/Pocket Books, 1987); with his 1980 pastiche "The Adventure of the Metal Murderer". Philip A. Shreffler (11333 Big Bend Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63122) would like to hear (quickly) from people who have photographs taken at the CIA dinner, for possible use in the BSJ. "The Other Victorians and Victorian Others" will be the theme of the next conference of the Northeast Victorian Studies Association, on Apr. 15-17, 1988, at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa. Additional details available from Earl E. Stevens (Dept. of English, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI 02864), and papers may be submitted to Michael Brooks (Dept. of English, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383). Herman Herst, Jr. (Box 1583, Boca Raton, FL 33429-0494) is one of the best of the philatelic writers; there are no S'ian stories in his MORE STORIES TO COLLECT STAMPS BY and THE COMPEAT PHILATELIST, but they're fun to read. $8.75 each postpaid, or $16.00 the pair, autographed. And his FORENSIC PHILATELY is a fine account of one of the most famous philatelic trials in history (with several 1890s stamp dealers convicted at the Old Bailey and sentenced to hard labor); $9.50 postpaid. Jun 87 #4 Tina Rhea (3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770) has employed Fontastic Plus to devise a new Ridling Thorpe font for the Macintosh computer, in case you own a Mac and want to write letters using the dancing men cipher. The cipher is complete, in the version displayed by Schenck (BSJ, Apr. 1955), with the flagged (end-of-the-word) letters obtained using the shift key. The font is available in 18-point (1822 bytes) for Macwrite and Macpaint, and 36-point (5494 bytes) for Macpaint. Tina will supply both fonts, and a note on how to use them, free of charge, in return for an initialized Mac diskette (single-sided or double-sided) and return postage; if you do not have Font/DA Mover, put a System file on the diskette and she will insert the fonts. The new owners will maintain "the very special atmosphere that has made the Algonquin all that it is today," according to Ben Bodne, who denied four months ago that the hotel was about to be sold. The new owners are Caesar Park Hotels International Inc., a Brazilian subsidiary of the Aoki Corp. of Tokyo, and the sale price was $29 million for the 200-room hotel. Bodne noted that "throughout its 85-year history, the Algonquin has maintained a civilized atmosphere, reminiscent of a fine English inn." The new owners will operate the hotel much as it has been, according to one report "with an eye toward the exclusive end of the market." We will now pause to con- sider whether ordering in Portuguese or Japanese will be of assistance in persuading waiters to bring breakfast at future meetings in honor of Sra. Hudson. Al and Julie Rosenblatt's 20-page souvenir menu for "An Evening in Scarlet" at the Culinary Institute of America on May 16 was handsomely devised, designed, and produced, with illustrations, annotations and explanations, and copies are available for those who wish to see what they missed. The cost is $15.00 postpaid, and checks may be sent to: Peter E. Blau, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830. The autumn 1986 issue of The Gazette: The Journal of the Wolfe Pack (just published) has Marvin Kaye's article "From Zeck to Moriarty to Wild" in which Kaye traces both Zeck and Moriarty back to Jonathan Wild (mentioned in "Vall"). Kaye notes that Henry Fielding's novel about Wild was the basis for Edwin Justus Mayer's black comedy "Children of Darkness", staged many years ago at the Circle in the Square in New York with George C. Scott in the title role. And that gives Scott a thoroughly remote claim to have played both Holmes and Moriarty. Which leads to the question: Orson Welles played both Holmes and Moriarty on radio; who played both roles on stage? The Hawkshaw Press, a "freshly grown tentacle of the Pequod octopus," has announced "UNCLE WALT" & SHERLOCK HOLMES, reprinting for the first time two S'ian "prose rhymes" by Walt Mason, whom George Ade once called "the high priest of horse sense." Orders may be sent to: John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707; $27.50 cloth or $12.50 paper. "The Baker Street Ir-rag-ulars" are a series of original soft sculptures created by Patricia Nead Elrod (4800 Kilpatrick Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76107), including a number of imaginative Canonical characters (ranging from Sherlock Holmes to a giant rat), and special-request commissions are welcome. Send a #10 SASE (39c) for a copy of her catalog. Jun 87 #5 "Sherlock Holmes at 100: A Special Program Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Master Detective of Baker Street" will be held at UCLA on July 11, with Arthur M. Axelrad as moderator and a program featuring Jon Breen, John Ball, Karen A. Krone, Audrey Peterson, Robert G. Steele, William Barry, Sean Wright, Ira Fistel, Leslie Klinger, Barbara Cooper, Ronnie James, and Bob Shayne. Flier available from Box 24901, Dept. K, UCLA Extension, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Reported by Paul Merz: Edward Wellen's story "Voiceover" (originally in SHERLOCK HOLMES THROUGH TIME AND SPACE) (BSJ Mar 85 and Dec 86) is now in TIN STARS, edited Asimov/Greenberg/Waugh (Signet, $3.95); an anthology of robot/law enforcement stories. Reported by Ron De Waal: THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (London: Octopus Books, 1987; 195 pp., $3.98 at B. Dalton). "Communicator Oversees Sherlock Holmes Affairs" (on Sue Brown, with a cover photo taken at the Sherlock Holmes Museum at the Holiday Inn on Union Square), in Communication World, May 1987; Communication World/ABC, 870 Market Street #940, San Francisco, CA 94102. The Apr. 1987 issue of Magazine litteraire contains a 50-page section on "Sherlock Holmes: Le dossier de Conan Doyle" with a handsome color cover and contributions (all in French) by Robert Louit, Francis Lacassin, Simone Arous, Graham Greene, Guillermo Carrera Infante, Rene Reouven, Christine Jordis, Umberto Eco, Jean-Baptiste Baronian, Arthur Conan Doyle, Basil Rathbone, Jacques Baudou, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Francois Landon, Anthony Burgess, and Jacques Meunier; a few are reprints-in-translation, but most are new. The cover price is 24.00 F, and the address of the magazine is 40 rue des Saints-Peres, 75007 Paris, France. Daedalus Books (2260 25th Place NE, Washington, DC 20018) is a remainder house, and their spring 1987 catalog includes Conan Doyle's THE EDINBURGH STORIES (Salem House; 86 pp., $3.98 plus $3.00 shipping per order). This was first published by Polygon Books in Edinburgh in 1981, and contains "The Field Bazaar" and four other items with Edinburgh connections, as well as an Introduction by Owen Dudley Edwards. Recently seen but not new: LORD DARCY, by Randall Garrett (Garden City: Nelson Doubleday, n.d.; 600 pp.); a Science Fiction Book Club three-in-one edition, with TOO MANY MAGICIANS (D4934b), "The Napoli Express" (with passing mention of Michael Kurland's THE INFERNAL DEVICE), and "A Case of Identity" (S'ian only by title). "Analmentary, my dear Watson!" is the theme of the newest S'ian porno video "Who Came in the Back Door", produced by Paradise Visuals and starring John Leslie (with calabash in the advertisement), Gail Force, Shana McCullough, and Joey Silvera; 83 minutes, $54.95 from Video Specialists International, 182 Jackson Street, Dallas, PA 18612. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh (May 87 #5), due from Carroll & Graf in October, will be a major item, with 25,000 copies in the first printing; it's a collection of new stories by mystery writers such as John Gardner, Dorothy B. Hughes, Stuart Kaminsky, Jon Breen, Joyce Harrington, and Peter Lovesey. Jun 87 #6 "The Edison Twins" is a 70-minute videocassette now available from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. In Sept. 1985 it was aired as a three-part Disney Channel miniseries, featuring "a mysterious stranger who has a deerstalker hat, and Inverness cape, and an uncanny ability to solve mysteries." He's Joseph Bell (played by Gillie Fennic), the son of Dr. Joe Bell, the model for Sherlock Holmes. "Sherlock Holmes on Broadway" is a Theatre Collection exhibition at the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, though Aug. 11, celebrating the centenary with a display of theater programs, photographs, and memorabilia. Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" began previews at the Kennedy Center in Washington on June 23, opening on July 1 and closing on Aug. 1, with Frank Langella (Holmes) and Donal Donnelly (Watson). The publicists ask, "If Holmes is the victim...*who* will solve the crime?" Langella is also co-producer (the budget is now $1.2 million and rising, according to a recent interview). "Something happens to Holmes in this play that has never happened to him before," Langella hints, "and as a result we see all the familiar characters in an entirely new light." Reported by Jack Kerr: minor S'ian references in MURDER ON CAPITOL HILL, by Margaret Truman (Warner paperback, $3.50). Reported by Richard Wein: the Renegade Press comic book CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES has been extended to at least 12 issues (issue #7 is in the stores). LONDON BY GASLIGHT 1861-1911, by Michael Harrison (Dubuque: Gasogene Press, 1987; 197 pp., $25.95 postpaid), revised and expanded from the long-out-of- print 1963 edition, is a delightful exploration of an age in which S'ians have long found refuge. Michael Harrison, as always, has many tales to tell, and tells them splendidly. Available from the publisher (Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52001-1041). Kelvin I. Jones (18 Ross Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 2DF, England) has an- nounced A SHERLOCK HOLMES DICTIONARY for publication this fall in a signed and limited edition. It will be "a complete etymological guide to the less familiar words and phrases" in the Canon, with word derivations, Canonical references, and literary parallels, and you can reserve a copy by writing to Kelvin. Flier at hand from the Quinlan Press (131 Beverly Street, Boston, MA 02114) promoting THE OFFICIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES TRIVIA BOOK, by Richard T. Ryan (200 pp., $7.95). THE QUEST FOR SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: THIRTEEN BIOGRAPHERS IN SEARCH OF A LIFE, edited by Jon L. Lellenberg, has been announced by Southern Illinois University Press for Nov. (232 pp., $19.95); the book presents critiques of the autobiographies and biographies. "Centenary, my Dear Watson" (the 26-page pamphlet with the itinerary of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London tour) is available (along with some colorful tourist brochures) from Meiringen-Haslital, 3860 Meiringen, Berner Oberland, Switzerland. Jul 87 #1 A Canadian brewery, impressed by the Granada series, plans to open a chain of pubs, each called "Sherlock Holmes" and each being based on a different story, according to a report in the Derbyshire Times (May 22). Havenplan's Architectural Emporium, supplier of fittings for the Granada sets, will furnish the pubs. The deluxe three-volume COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES 100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Apr 87 #3) has been published, and it's handsomely done. The publisher reports that it will not be in print much longer (they've had good response from their mailings to collectors of leather-bound books as well as to Sherlockians), so if you're considering a puchase it might be well not to wait much longer. It's $37.50 postpaid per volume, and they take plastic; The Easton Press (47 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06857). Forecast: SKULLDUGGERY, by Peter Marks, in Aug. from Carroll & Graf, $17.95; a mystery novel dealing with the Piltdown hoax. "Although parts of his plot might seem outlandish (a scene between Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde takes place in a homosexual brothel), Marks gracefully achieves the reader's willing suspension of disbelief," Publishers Weekly reports. Corrigendum: the report (Jun 87 #1) that there was only one (and incorrect) response to the query about the first three novels written by Conan Doyle neglected the pre-publication experiment: Jon L. Lellenberg did know the correct answer. He has not, however, admitted knowing where the missing novel might be. Arnold Korotkin (12 Glenwood Road, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043-1941) has announced SHERLOCKIAN TIDBITS, an "irregular newsletter containing cartoons, ads, graphics, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, book reviews, general resources, and curios." Frequency irregular, cost $2.00 postpaid per issue. The first issue at hand, with 11 photocopied pages. The July 1987 issue of Changing Times covers S'ian events in some detail in its section "Your Questions Answered" (with some nice artwork by Joe Gast). There were, of course, many articles in the European press about the tour to Switzerland by The Sherlock Holmes Society of London (there are some photographs in the summer 1987 issue of the Sherlock Holmes Journal). One of the press reports noted that Victor Hamilton, of Belfast, participated as "Wilson, the Notorious Canary Trainer." At the turn of the century the word "canary" had various unsavoury meanings, according to the article, and Hamilton carried a piece of cuttlefish and a spray of millet to make it quite clear that his canaries were of the feathered variety. A "canary" was a harlot in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, according to a dictionary of slang consulted by Jon Lellenberg. And a "canary" was a female thief by the end of the 19th century, according to Michael Harrison. No wonder Wilson was notorious. Reported (and recommended) by John Bennett Shaw: "The Sherlock Holmes Centenary Brasses" (a collection of ceramic-centered commemorative horse brasses depicting Holmes, Watson, Moriarty, and Lestrade); L6.50 for each brass, or L22.00 for the four-brass martingale. A flier is available from British Brassware, 24 Mill Lane, Camelford, Cornwall, England. Jul 87 #2 "Sherlock's Last Case" is great fun, thoroughly untraditional in its approach, well acted, and staged with great imagination. Frank Langella does a fine job in the title role, and I hope that the play will still be running on Broadway during the birthday festivities (it opens in New York on or about Aug. 13). Charles Marowitz is the author, and the acting script is available from Dramatists Play Service (440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016) for $3.35 (plus $0.95 shipping); the play has some interesting twists and surprises, and you are urged to avoid reading the script before seeing the play. A "Sherlock Holmes Seminar in Rogers Park" will be held in Chicago on Oct. 28 and 31, featuring speakers from the Chicago scions. Contact Norman M. Davis, 1263 West Pratt Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60626. Paperback Speller is a new software package for the IBM PC and compatibles (with more than 60,000 words in the spelling-checker dictionary); the box portrays Holmes and Watson ("Amazing...it detects and corrects spelling errors. It's elementary, my dear Watson"). $39.95 from Paperback Software (2830 Ninth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710) or your local software shop. Forecast: THE BERENSTAIN BEARS AND THE MISSING HONEY, by Stan and Jan Berenstain, in November from Random House at $1.95 (or $5.99 in library binding); the bears are in S'ian costume. "The Second Hundred Years: A Sherlock Holmes Centennial Weekend" is the eighth annual program presented by The Six Napoleons and The Carlton Club at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore on Nov. 14 (10:00 to 4:00) and Nov. 15 (2:00-4:00). Details available from Robert S. Katz, 1190 West Northern Parkway #924, Baltimore, MD 21210. Reported by Dick Lesh: Vincent Starrett's BOOKS ALIVE (D2220a), the 1969 Books for Libraries Press edition ($5.95), and M. J. Trow's THE SUPREME ADVENTURE OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE ($3.95), in the latest catalog from Edward J. Hamilton, Falls Village, NY 06031 (add $3.00 shipping per order). Reported by Dave Galerstein: A BOOK OF DAYS FOR THE LITERARY YEAR, edited by Neal T. Jones (Thames & Hudson, 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017); the dates include the births of Holmes and Watson, and the birth and death of Conan Doyle. Reported by Bill Nadel: Comics Revue #21 (in the comic shops in August) will reprint the entire 1985 Steve Canyon "Baker Street Adventure" (with an introduction by Bill); I don't know the cover price, but if you can't find the magazine, their address is Box 1762, Wayne, NJ 07470. Also from Bill: the Aug. 1987 issue of London Calling (published by the BBC World Service) has SH on the cover, Steve Weinman's article "A Study in Devotion", and reports on two "Sherlock Holmes" broadcasts by Gillian Gray on Aug. 2 and Aug. 9, a repeat (from 1986) two-part dramatization of "The Valley of Fear" (with Tim Pigott-Smith and Andrew Hilton) on Aug. 9 and Aug. 16, a repeat (from 1974) of "A Study in Scarlet" (with Robert Powell and Dinsdale Landen) on Aug. 23, and a two-part dramatization of Charles Marowitz's "Sherlock's Last Case" on Aug. 31 and Sept. 7; the magazine's address is P.O. Box 76, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, England. Jul 87 #3 Paul Herbert reports that his dust-jacket copy of THE OMNIBUS OF CRIME (Jun 87 #1) has the trade-variant book and an dust jacket without the Morley overprint; his copy was bought at a flea-market sale, suggesting that it was not a dealer's "made-up" copy. But: my copy of the BOMC edition, with the BOMC pamphlet laid in, was also bought at a charity sale. Paul also mentions having seen the book in a boxed edition, which I'd not heard of before. Walter Klinefelter ("The British Barque *Sophy Anderson*") died on July 4. He was a true bibliophile and a fine writer, on S'ian and other subjects, and one of the few who submitted correct solutions to the Morley crossword puzzle in The Saturday Review in 1934. Kyle Richeson notes that Nicholas Rowe's Sherlock Holmes is left-handed in "Young Sherlock Holmes" and wonders which other actors played a left-handed Sherlock Holmes. Video Specialists International (182 Jackson Street, Dallas, PA 18612) offers a videocasette with two programs ("The Luckless Gambler" and "The Body in the Case") from the 1981 series starring Geoffrey Whitehead and Donald Pickering; $21.00 postpaid. "The Molly Maguires" (1970), with Sean Connery (Jack Kehoe), Richard Harris (James McParlan), Frank Finlay (Police Captain Davies), and Samantha Eggar (Mary), will be shown by The Movie Channel on Aug. 17. The Grosvenor Hotel (formerly the Dutch Americana) in Orlando (near Disney World) has been purchased by Don Werby (proprietor of S. Holmes Esq. in San Francisco); the 630-room hotel is being renovated and redecorated, and will reopen soon with S'ian bars and restaurant, and a S'ian museum. Charles Pogue's new S'ian play "The Ebony Ape" will be performed at The Opera House in Lexington, Ky., on Sept. 10-13 and 17-20. Pogue is not a new-comer to the S'ian world: he wrote the screenplays for the 1983 TV films of "Houn" and "Sign" (with Ian Richardson as Holmes). Ben Wood has announced the latest round-robin pastiche by members of The Pleasant Places of Florida. MYSTERY OF THE PALE-ONTOLOGIST OF MELTDOWN costs $2.50 postpaid from Baker Street Designs, 1397 22nd Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33713. Reported by John Stephenson: Robert Lee Hall's THE KING EDWARD PLOT in a paperback reprint from Critic's Choice ($3.50); this 1980 mystery novel features Frederick Wigmore (form Hall's EXIT SHERLOCK HOLMES) and his own Baker Street Irregulars. Forecast: a new edition of A. A. Milne's THE RED HOUSE MYSTERY (D5083b) from Dell in August ($3.50). Reported by Roger Johnson: SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED NOVELS (Chancellor Press, L5.95). THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, read by Peter Emmens, in a six-hour audiocassette pack (Eloquent Reels, Alhampton, Castle Cary, Somerset BA4 6PZ, England; L12.95). Jul 87 #4 Reported: Gerald Weissmann's article "The Game Is Afoot, or Holmes and Watson at Bellevue" (on the relevance of the Canon to medical training) reprinted (from Discover, Mar. 1986) in his new book THEY ALL LAUGHED AT CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: TALES OF MEDICINE AND THE ART OF DISCOVERY (Times Books, $17.95). Flier at hand for "A Sherlockian Seminar with John Bennett Shaw" at Stanford University, Aug. 19-23, presented by The Scowrers and Molly Maguires of San Francisco and The Knights of the Gnomon of Redwood City. The program promises lectures, movies, documentaries, panel discussions, and social events (including a Sherlockian Singalong "and as many informal gatherings as your liver can tolerate"), and details are available from Bruce R. Parker, Stanford Medical Center S-058, Stanford, CA 94305. William A. Barton's CTHULHU BY GASLIGHT (BSJ Mar 87) won the H. G. Wells Award for best role-playing supplement of 1986 at the recent Origins convention. Bill also reports that there will some S'ian material in the Victorian section of Steve Jackson Gaines' GURPS HORROR BOOK, due in game stores soon. Flier at hand for The Silver Blaze at Belmont Park, N.Y., on Sept. 18. Write to Stephen L. Stix, Route 1, Box 452, Markleville, IN 46056. And for "Autumn in Baker Street" at Bear Mountain, N.Y., on Sept. 19-20. Write to Robert E. Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709. Martin Gardner's THE ANNOTATED INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987; 274 pp., $18.95) is a delightful exploration of the first of the collections of G. K. Chesterton's stories about the "little priest" who is regarded by Gardner as the second most famous mystery-solver in English literature. Gardner notes that "Chesterton was as careless with his details as Dr. Watson, and as many curious questions can be asked about the priest as about Holmes." Many of those questions are answered in the annotations, which do not neglect the Sherlockian aspects of the stories. The suggestion, reported in a review in the May 18 issue of Time (Jun 87 #1), that Father Brown was the go-between in Holmes' secret tasks for the Vatican is not Gardner's, but was invented by Time's reviewer. The second British stamp booklet honoring Sherlock Holmes was issued on July 14. Henry Murray (Arlington Supplies Ltd., P.O. Box 143, Palmers Green, London N13 4XN, England) has a new flier offering both booklets, first day covers, other British items, the Turks & Caicos Islands stamps, and non-philatelic material from two recent British plays. Jul 87 #5 Reported by Ron De Waal: SHERLOCKIANA 1987: SHERLOCK HOLMES 1887-1987, edited by Gian Franco Orsi (Milano: Rosa & Nero, 1986; 383 pp.); an anthology with translations of older material and new commentary (the publisher is Edizioni Rosa & Nero, Diapress Srl., Via Madre Cabrini 9, Milano, Italy). MURDER AND MORAL DECAY IN VICTORIAN POPULAR LITERATURE, by Beth Kalikoff (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986; 193 pp., $39.95); the prologue and chapter 9 (p. 157-168) are primarily devoted to crime in Stud, Sign, Five, Fina, and Veil. A BAKER'S STREET DOZEN (San Francisco: Mind's Eye, 1987); a six-cassette package with 12 of the Gielgud radio programs ($24.95 at Waldenbooks). Reported by Ev Herzog: two S'ian items in Marc Bilgrey's THE SCIENCE FICTION CARTOON BOOK (Andrion Press, 128 East 56th Street, New York, NY 10022; $8.25 postpaid). Smithsonian Radio has a 30-minute program on National Public Radio, and on Aug. 16 at 9:00 pm the broadcast will include a segment on Sherlock Holmes. DISGUISES IN THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: AN ILLLUSTRATED ANALYSIS OF THIRTY DISGUISES FROM THE WRITINGS OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, by Alvin E. Rodin and Jack D. Key (Beavercreek: KeyRod Literary Enterprises, 1987; 51 pp., $12.00), is an examination of various impersonations (including the photo of ACD as Challenger). Available from the publisher (3041 Maginn Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45385) for $13.00 postpaid. Announced by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press (440 Forsgate Drive, Cranbury, NJ 08512): DIAGNOSIS AND DETECTION: THE MEDICAL ICONOGRAPHY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Pasquale Accardo (144 pp., $23.50). The author "has determined to rescue Holmes and Watson from the historicism, psychologism, and armchair pseudoanalysis in which they have become entangled." Stanley MacKenzie (64 Bassett Road, London W.10, England) still has copies of his colorful commemorative postcard (Aug 86 #4 and BSJ Dec 86); the postpaid price is $6.00 for ten, $48.00 for 100, and $84.00 for 200. Reported from London: Baskerville's Restaurant, with S'ian fliers, at 2 Allsop Place, NW1 (opposite the Planetarium). James F. Brewer ("Josiah Brown") died in July. Fitz was one of the earliest members of The Six Napoleons, and his professorial humor and scholarship were long a highlight of their meetings. SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED NOVELS (London: Chancellor Press, 1987; 496 pp.) is a companion volume to SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED SHORT STORIES (BSJ Jun 87). The novels, not reprinted in facsimile, nevertheless include most of the fine illustrations by George Hutchinson, F. H. Townsend, Sidney Paget, and Frank Wiles. WHO'S WHO IN SHERLOCK HOLMES: A COMPLETE AND HANDY REFERENCE TO THE GREAT DETECTIVE'S EVERY CASE, by Scott M. Bullard and Michael Leo Collins (New York: Taplinger, 1980; 251 pp., $14.95 cloth, $7.95 paper) is available again. It is also covers the where and what, with entries (keyed to THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES) on people, places, restaurants, and much more. Jul 87 #6 Jack Lescoulie died on July 22. He worked with Dave Garroway on the first "Today" show broadcast by NBC-TV in 1952, and retired from the program in 1967. On May 22, 1963, the program included an interview with Julian Wolff and a reading of a passage from "The Hound of the Baskervilles" with Lescoulie as Watson and Hugh Downs as Holmes. Tyke and Teddie Niver report that July 24 was "Sherlock Holmes Day" in Connecticut, per an official statement from Gov. William A. O'Neill. THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS PEANUT: A BOOK FOR YOU TO COLOR is a six-page pamphlet in which Sherlock, the Peanut Detective, is assigned to find out all about the peanut, and determines that "peanuts are liked by nearly everyone." Copies may be available from Growers' Peanut Food Promotions, Box 1709, Rocky Mount, NC 27801-1709. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Fiddling Around with Sherlock Holmes" at the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg on July 24-26 was a splendid centennial celebration, with more than 200 on hand for the workshop. Ray Betzner and John Lanzalotti and the rest of The Cremona Fiddlers were thoroughly efficient in handling the details, both usual and unusual, and John Bennett Shaw proclaimed the gathering to have been the best of his 18 workshops. The formal sessions ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime (but will be listed in the order in which they were actually presented): "The Sherlock Holmes Cult at 100" (John Bennett Shaw); "Saxe-Coburg Square: The Definitive Identification" (John Lanzalotti); "Sherlock Holmes and the First Cocaine Epidemic" (David Musto); "The Adventure of the Detected Detective: Sherlockian Allusions in James Joyce's *Finnegans Wake*" (William Jenkins); "Hell Must Look Something Like That: The Vermissa Valley, Then and Now" (Edward Vatza); "A Sherlock-ian Poetry Reading" (Philip Brogdon); a panel discussion on Holmesian art, book collecting, and starting a scion society (S. Kate Hawks, Peter Blau, and Ray Betzner); "Let a Woman in Your Life: The Women in Conan Doyle's Life and Works" (Ely Liebow); "Why Netley" (Robert Katz); and "O To Be in England: A Tour of Sherlockian Haunts" (Charles Henry). John Bennett Shaw's quizzes were as ingenious (or malicious) as always, the winning entries for the literary contest were pleasantly imaginative, and the Saturday evening banquet featured a new performance by The Friends of Bogie's, Sherlockian toasts, and Sherlockian filk songs. The huckster rooms were full of hucksters hawking, and there were some new items of interest. Carole Logan (Latimer's, 5 Raglan Avenue, Toronto, Ont. M6C 2K5, Canada) has a new catalog of S'ian sweatshirts, mugs, postcards, and other material. Robert J. Stek (Box 315, Tolland, CT 06084) has a flier giving details on his plans to offer "The Computerized Canon" at the end of the year in standard ASCII format (readable by IBM, Macintosh, or computers) on 15 floppy disks for about $50.00. And Gael Stahl of the Tennessee Municipal League announced that Gov. Ned McWherter had issued an official proclamation that the "people of Tennessee commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of Sherlock Holmes' first appearance in print. Aug 87 #1 THE BEST OF TREK #11, edited by Walter Irwin and G. B. Love (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1986; 204 pp., $2.95), is collection of material from Trek: The Magazine for Star Trek Fans; the contents include Patricia Dunn's "A Problem of Identity: Was Holmes a Vulcan?" (she votes "no" in a rebuttal to Paul Schwartz's "A Theory of Relativity" in THE BEST OF TREK #4). THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERIES: 22 STORIES BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, with an Introduction by Frederick Busch (New York: New American Library/Signet, 1987; 533 pp., $3.50), is an "expanded edition" billed as including "all the stories on PBS-TV" (yes, all 20 stories, plus "Bosc" and "Five"); the Introduction is the same as in the 1985 edition that had 16 stories. Reported by Tyke Niver: an article by Thomas L. Drucker on "Sherlock Holmes and Victorian Mathematics" in the May 1987 issue of Dickinson Magazine (Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA 17013-2896). SABERHAGEN: MY BEST, by Fred Saberhagen (New York: Baen Books, 1987; 311 pp., $2.95), includes "The Adventure of the Metal Murderer" (a pastiche first published in the Jan. 1980 issue of Omni). MYSTERY OF THE WINDY MEADOW, written by Ski Michaels and illustrated by Allen Atkinson (Mahwah: Troll Associates, 1986; 48 pp., $1.95), is a children's book featuring Detective Duck in S'ian costume. Guy Averill's article "Did You Remark the Postmarks?" (British Philatelic Bulletin, June 1987) discusses the philatelic aspects of the Canon and shows the first two of the four booklet covers honoring the centenary. British Philatelic Bureau, 20 Brandon Street, Edinburgh EH3 5TT, U.K. THE SCIENCE FICTION CARTOON BOOK, by Marc Bilgrey (New York: Andrion Books, 1986; 104 pp.), contains one (minor) S'ian cartoon. His earlier collec- tions THE SHERLOCK HOLMES CARTOON BOOK and THE PRIVATE EYE CARTOON BOOK (with one S'ian cartoon) are also still in print. $7.00 each, plus $1.25 shipping, from Andrion Books, 128 East 56th Street, New York, NY 10022. ELEMENTARE, SIGNOR PRESIDENTE (DIECI ANNI DOPO), by Laura Grimaldi and Marco Tropea (Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1987; 226 pp., 18,000 lira) is a satiric sequel to their ealier ELEMENTARE, SIGNOR PRESIDENTE (D523b). Hercule Poirot, Father Brown, Inspector Maigret, Nero Wolfe, and (of course) Sherlock Holmes are involved. It was coincidental, but certainly neatly timed for the John Bennett Shaw workshop in July: the summer 1987 issue of Colonial Williamsburg includes Luis Marden's article "The Adventure of the Copper Plates" in which he invokes the spirit of Sherlock Holmes in describing the discovery of some important aids to the reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg. Media Relations Department (attn: Sondra Rose), Drawer C, Williamsburg, VA 23187. Reported by Allen Mackler: a detective in S'ian costume on the cover of the MASTER DETECTIVE SET ("here's everything a child needs to become an amazing Super Sleuth who unearths clues, identifies suspects, and solves crimes!"), advertised at $22.50 by The Paragon, Westerly RI 02891. Aug 87 #2 If you've not been able to find the new one-volume edition of William S. Baring-Gould's THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES in a bookstore, it's available direct from Crown Publishing Inc., Dept. 571, 54 Engelhard Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001; $59.05 postpaid, and they take plastic. CBS/Fox Video is advertising its "Five Star Collection" of "the best in Sci-Fi" -- including videocassettes of "The Empire Strikes Back", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "Rollerball", and Peter Cushing's 1959 "The Hound of the Baskervilles". SKULLDUGGERY, by Peter Marks (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1987; 284 pp., $17.95), offers an imaginative and fictional solution to the Piltdown mystery, with all of the major protagonists involved in a tale of ambition, sex, blackmail, violence, and betrayal. Arthur Conan Doyle is one of those protagonists, portrayed with some sympathy, but Marks makes several quite elementary mistakes, both in his account of the famous 1889 dinner in London at which Lippincott's agent J. M. Stoddart commissioned Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and Conan Doyle's THE SIGN OF THE FOUR, and in something as simple as the name of Conan Doyle's home in Crowborough. THE GAME IS AFOOT: A TRAVEL GUIDE TO THE ENGLAND OF SHERLOCK HOLMES was the first of David L. Hammer's fine guided tours through the London and English countryside of the Canon (BSJ Mar 84), and it is now available again in a second printing in paper covers: $15.95 postpaid from Gasogene Press, Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52001. MURDER AT THE DIOGENES CLUB, by Gerald Lientz (New York: Berkley Books, 1987; 160 pp., $2.95), is the first of a series of "Sherlock Holmes Solo Mysteries" devised by Iron Crown Enterprises. The reader is a cousin of Dr. Watson, assisting Holmes in two "solve-it-yourself" cases involving considerable page-turning as decisions are made about where to go and whom to question and what to ask. THE BLACK RIVER EMERALD, by Peter Ryan, is the second in the series, with the reader a schoolboy accused of the theft of the emerald. The concept is interesting, but the method is perhaps too simple for adult Sherlockians, since most of the decisions to be made are essentially irrelevant to the solutions; there are no dead ends, and all decision paths lead to the same solution. John D. Ruemmler, series editor for Iron Crown Enterprises, informs me that the format is known as a "flipbook" and that the books are primarily intended for 13-to-19-year-old males, the "core readers" for such gamebooks. THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, in an unabridged reading by Peter Emmens, is available in a four-cassette package from Eloquent Reels, Alhampton, Castle Cary, Somerset BA4 6PZ, England; $34.00 postpaid. The reading is carefully done, with a fine variety of accents. Now that the Iran/Contra hearings have ended, it seems appropriate to note one of the many Sherlockian connections: the many references to the search for a "smoking pistol" (a phrase which non-Sherlockians presumably thought originated with the Watergate hearings). "Phrase from Sherlock Haunts Reagan" was the headline on one newspaper's publication of a column by W. Dale Nelson that moved on the AP wire on June 18, 1987, giving proper credit to the Canon for the first appearance of the phrase. Aug 87 #3 A MEDLEY OF MURDERS is a new audiocassette set from Audio Book Contractors (Box 40115, Washington, DC 20016); $23.50 for three cassettes with five unabridged stories, including "Silver Blaze" read by Grover Gardner. The company also offers "Selected Cases of Sherlock Holmes" on two cassettes (BSJ Dec 85) at $19.95 and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" on four cassettes at $24.50. The Pequod Press has announced W IS WATSON, a centennial alphabet by John Ruyle, with 26 new verses ranging the alphabet "from the Atkinson brothers to Zion, with a bow to Eddie, the cockroach kid, along the way." $29.00 (cloth) or $14.00 (paper) from John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707. Mike Whelan reports that the videocassette "100 Years of Sherlock Holmes" available from Publisher's Central Bureau at $19.95 (May 87 #1) is just two of the 1954 Ronald Howard television shows. Reported by Roger Johnson: LESTRADE AND THE LEVIATHAN, by M. J. Trow (Macmillan, L8.95); the fourth in the series of pastiches. MURDER AND MORAL DECAY IN VICTORIAN POPULAR LITERATURE, by Beth Kalikoff (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986; 193 pp., $39.95), discusses the portrayal of murder in the Victorian age, from the street literature of 1830 to the fiction of 1900 (including the Sherlock Holmes stories); the book offers an informed survey of a genre that by the end of the century had become "an emblem of moral decay" reflecting a loss of faith in divine justice and a world in which "all roads lead to crime." The postal card honoring the 150th anniversary of John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow was issued May 22. Howard Garrideb advertised "steam and hand plows" but may not have meant anything quite that old. Aug 87 #4 "Your credentials look excellent from where I sit; wherefore, welcome to the BSI." Thus wrote Vincent Starrett to Russell McLauchlin on Sept. 11, 1945, in a letter reprinted by Bill Rabe in the June 1987 issue of The Agony Column, recalling an age when things were thoroughly informal as well as thoroughly irregular. Henry and Linda Berkowitz (Endless Mountains Crafts, R.D. 1, Box 793, Sabinsville, PA 16943) offer a Sherlock Holmes wooden jointed doll, 12" high, at $34.75 postpaid; you can specify colors desired. Stefan Kanfer (the magazine's staff Sherlockian) had an appreciative essay on "The Game Is Still Afoot" in the Aug. 17 issue of Time. The Sherlock Holmes Review has announced its second issue (spring 1987) at $2.50, and plans for a third (double) issue (fall 1987) at $5.00. 3209 East 10th Street #8-C, Bloomington, IN 47401. IMMORTAL SLEUTH: SHERLOCKIAN MUSINGS AND MEMORIES, by Michael Harrison, is his newest exploration of the Canon, and the book offers its readers a fine example of how entertaining and instructive he is, in his public lectures and in his private conversations; his essays range from a discussion of the Baker Street wardrobe and furnishings ("The Many-Suited Sherlock") to a proposal that Watson's arrival at Bart's was not unexpected by Holmes ("That 'Path Lab' Meeting"), and the best of his tales are those in which he draws on his own memories of a fondly depicted Edwardian age. $25.95 postpaid from the Gasogene Press, Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004-1041). John B. Taylor (Box 804, Midlothian, TX 76065) offers S'ian books, jewelry, prints (the Douglas West watercolors that are sold at The Sherlock Holmes in London), and authentic police equipment (Bobbies' whistles, handcuffs, and truncheons). Send a #10 SASE for his sales list. Mrs. Hudson's Lodgers have a flier ready on their plans for "A Centenary Celebration: The Cleveland Connection" on Nov. 7. The festivities will include a ceremony at the Cleveland Police Museum, a day of lectures and films at the Cleveland Public Library, and a Jacob W. Schmitt Memorial Dinner at Kiefer's Restaurant. Details available from Tom and Ruth Stetak, 15229 Diagonal Road, Nickel Plate, La Grange, OH 44050. A videotaper alert from Paul C. Merz: Cinemax cable will broadcast color versions of two Rathbone films in September: "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" on Sept. 6, 19, 23, 29, and "Terror by Night" on Sept. 3, 6, 15, 19, 30. Aug 87 #5 David Kirby (Rupert Books, 59 Stonefield, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB3 8TE, England) is offering sets of 8x10" prints ($40.00) and note-cards ($7.00) with the eight color illustrations by David Cory that appeared in the spring 1987 catalog from Rupert Books. "In 'Sherlock's Last Case,' the writer Charles Marowitz and accomplices have so completely diminished Victorian England's most beloved detective that one leaves the play wishing its title were a promise rather than merely an idle threat." N.Y. Times reviewer Frank Rich had much more to say about the play, but none of his comments were in any way complimentary. Pennsylvania is mentioned twice in the Canon (in "RedH" and "Vall"), and the new commemorative honors the 200th anniversay of statehood for Pennsylvania. "Murder on the Essex Express" (featuring Bulldog Drummond) on Sept. 12 is the next mystery excursion by The Valley Railroad Company (Box 452, Essex, CT 06426); $85.00 a person, including dinner. FANTOMAS, by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre (BSJ Dec 86) is now in paperback (Ballantine, 327 pp., $3.95). By way of confirming the latest rumor: yes, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: ORIGINAL STORIES BY EMINENT MYSTERY WRITERS, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh (the anthology of new stories due from Carroll & Graf this fall), will include a contribution by Stephen King. The book will have an initial printing of 25,000 copies, and it has been selected by The Mystery Guild as its main offering for November. In case you're still wondering where the "smoking pistol" appears in the Canon, it's in "Glor" (as noted in 1978 by William Safire in SAFIRE'S POLITICAL DICTIONARY). Reported: a new issue of Doubleday's one-volume THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES, with new dust jacket, $17.95. Judy Harkison's article "'A Chorus of Groans,' Notes Sherlock Holmes" in the Sept. 1987 issue of Smithsonian explores the history of the "personals" (and begins and ends with quotations from the Canon). Jack Davis (Davis and Son, Long Leaf Mall, Wilmington, NC 28403) distribute the Mini Pub Signs, including a 5" x 7" rendition of the sign for The Sherlock Holmes ($8.95 plus shipping). Also the hand-painted Bosson wall plaques of Holmes and Watson ($52.00 each, plus shipping). Reported by Mel Ruiz: a videocassette of the 1974 cartoon "It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown" (with Snoopy as Sherlock); from Kartes Video Communications, Box 68881, Indianapolis, IN 46278 (or your local video shop). "An Evening with Sherlock Holmes and Otto Penzler" will be the title of a lecture for the Friends of the N.Y. Public Library later this year; I don't know the date, but you can call their Volunteer Office (212-930-0654). Aug 87 #6 Cereal collectors alert: boxes of Total now have a "Murder, She Wrote" contest, with one of the prizes being a vacation for two in Sherlock Holmes' London. Completists will, of course, want all three box sizes. And can store them with the 1984 Post Alpha-Bits boxes that had a portrait of Alfie in a deerstalker, promoting their "Alfie Solve the Mystery Sweepstakes". Bret Harte, shown on the new $5 regular issue, is the author of the parody "The Stolen Cigar Case" (D5920a). William D. Jenkins has discussed the relationships between Harte's ballad "The Letter" and "The Noble Bachelor" (D2538a). Discovered by Paul C. Merz: the Apr.-June 1987 issue of Pipe Smoker, with a color cover showing a S'ian pipe hand-carved by Steve Waddell. The pipe includes a small magnifying glass fitted into the shank; the glass can be used to view a micro-dot embedded in the stem, and the micro-dot shows "the four famous clues" Holmes used to solve the murder mystery in "A Study in Scarlet" The magazine is published by Pipe Collect- ors International, Box 22085, Chattanooga, TN 37422; $2.00. Robert Lee Hall's THE KING EDWARD PLOT, first published in 1980, is now available in paperback (New York: Critic's Choice, 1987; 280 pp., $3.50). The mystery novel features Frederick Wigmore (who first appeared in 1977 in Hall's EXIT SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE GREAT DETECTIVE'S FINAL DAYS), and his own Baker Street Irregulars; Wigmore moved into 221B Baker Street in 1906, and now investigates a murder at the Diogenes Club. "New York Is Book Country" (the annual street fair on Fifth Avenue between 48th and 57th Streets) will be held on Sept. 20, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution and the centenary of Sherlock Holmes. "There's No Face Like Holmes" is the motto of Foul Play Mystery Books, which will offer a Spot-the-Sherlock contest in the form of a ten-foot picture concealing ten silhouettes of Holmes, and there will be a fair-wide mystery created for the event by William L. DeAndrea. Further to the discussion of Granada's postal production error in "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (May 87 #2), the envelopes shown bearing a "penny black" are the one opened by James Wilder in "The Priory School" (dated 1901 by Baring-Gould) and the one from Neville St. Clair to his wife in "The Man with the Twisted Lip" (dated 1887 by Baring-Gould). The "penny black", issued in 1840, was replaced by the "penny red" in 1841; slightly different designs for the "penny red" were issued in 1864 and 1880, and a completely different design (in lilac) was issued in 1881. It was Robert Boos who noted the error (in Stamps, May 2, 1987); C. C. M. Pawson, of the British Post Office, has replied (in Stamps, Aug. 22, 1987) that with more than 70 million penny blacks having been printed, "it seems quite possible that Holmes should receive a portion of his mail bearing these stamps." Well, it might be possible, but it would be highly improbable. Theron Wierenga, an authority on older postage uses, informs me that "the chances are probably one in a million," and notes that in this country, for example one almost never sees stamps of the Civil War issue used in the 1890s. But Granada still merits excellent grades for accuracy: this is only the third production error anyone has noted in the series. Sep 87 #1 Recently seen on a supermarket bookshelf: SESAME SEASONS (CTW/ Golden Books, 61 pp., $3.98); with Sherlock Hemlock on the cover and inside. And MORE WHO'S WHO ON SESAME STREET (CTW Golden Books, $0.99); a coloring book with Sherlock Hemlock inside. Reported by Mel Ruiz: THE INVENTORY OF 221B BAKER STREET, LOCATED AT S. HOLMES, ESQUIRE, a 12-page booklet of text and photographs describing the recreation of the sitting-room in San Francisco; available for $4.00 from Charlotte Erickson, 571 Kingsley Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301. And TALES OF SCOTCHLAND YARD, BY SHERLOCK HOMES is the "title" of a ceramic liquor decanter, made to resemble a leatherbound book, advertised at $40.00 by Casual Living, Kent Road, Box 1078, New Milford, CT 06776; add $5.45 for shipping, and they take plastic. Reported: a trade paperback of John Dickson Carr's THE LIFE OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, from Carroll & Graf at $8.95. The 90-minute BBC radio adaptation of "A Study in Scarlet" broadcast in 1974, with Robert Powell as Holmes (D4557b), is available on cassette (catalog number ZCF 501) from the BBC World Information Centre and Shop (P.O. Box 76, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, England) for L5.99 plus 25% shipping outside the U.K. (they take Visa, Access, and Mastercard). AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DETECTIVE STORY, by LeRoy Lad Panek (Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1987; 214 pp., $22.95 cloth, $11.95 paper); a textbook survey of the genre, with a chapter on "Doyle". Bjarne Nielsen has announced plans to publish THE GREAT NORTHERN ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, a fully-illustrated history (in Danish and English) of the series of films made by Nordisk from 1908 to 1911. The book will have about 100 pages, and will cost 365.00 Kr (about $52.00) postpaid; details available from Pinkerton, Nansensgade 68, 1366 Kobenhavn K, Denmark. Comics Revue #21 (Jul 87 #2) is now in the shops, with a reprint of the entire 1985 Steve Canyon "Baker Street Adventure" and an introduction by William Nadel. Manuscript Press, Box 1762, Wayne, NJ 07470; $3.50. Doubleday has honored the centenary with a new printing of its one-volume edition of THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES ($17.95), in a new multi-color dust jacket that proudly announces that there have been "over half a million copies sold." This edition is still the standard for most American readers of the Canon, and it has been a steady seller: at the end of 1960 (the year in which this edition first appeared), Doubleday announced that "since 1938 close to 375,000 customers have bought this book," and the additional sales average about 8,000 copies a year. And if you want a Sherlockian "inflation indicator," the 1960 Doubleday one-volume edition was priced at $4.95. John Huston died on Aug. 28, after a brilliant career as director and actor. None of the obituaries seen so far have mentioned his appearance as Prof. Moriarty in "Sherlock Holmes in New York" (1976). Sep 87 #2 Ruth Brandon's THE SPIRITUALISTS: THE PASSION FOR THE OCCULT IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES, first published in 1983, is now available in a trade paperback (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 315 pp., $14.95); the book includes considerable discussion of Conan Doyle. "Sherlock Holmes and the Hands of Othello" is a new play by Alex Simmons, scheduled at the Westbeth Theater Center at 151 Bank Street in New York, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 25, 1987. Reported by Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh: "Sherlock Gus" is a new teddy bear, designed by Linda Spiegel (of the Bearly There Company), 13" tall, jointed, with deerstalker, cape, and pipe. Available for $75.00 postpaid from Stuf'd 'n Stuff, 10001 Westheimer, Dept. F, Houston, TX 77042 (they take plastic). Congratulations to Ronald B. De Waal, who will receive this year's Colorado Library Association Literary Award, honoring his career as the Human- ities Librarian at Colorado State University as well as his S'ian bibliographies. Chris and Kate Redmond were on tour in August, lecturing in Chautauqua on "The Stately Holmes of England" and investigating the vineyards in upstate New York, where they discovered a wine called "Aunt Clara" (white, sweet, fruity) available from the Lakeshore Winery, 5132 Route 89, Romulus, NY 14541. More information on the "Evening with Sherlock Holmes" at the N.Y. Public Library (Aug 87 #5): the date is Nov. 18 (at 6:00 pm), the cost is $10.00, and Otto Penzler will provide "a multi-media biographical journey," with film segments and slides as well as a talk. Call 212-930-0654 for details on how to join the Friends of the N.Y. Public Library. FREDDY THE DETECTIVE (D6166a) and THE COLLECTED POEMS OF FREDDY THE PIG (D5259b) are only two of the entertaining series of books written by Walter R. Brooks, and FREDDY THE DETECTIVE is still in print (Alfred A. Knopf, $9.99 cloth, $3.95 paper). The Friends of Freddy, founded in 1984, have held a convention and have been featured in an article in the Dec. 1986 issue of the New York Air inflight magazine Skylines, and now have more than 180 members and publish The Bean Home Newsletter as an irregular quarterly. Membership dues are $9.50 for the current 8 issues, or $19.00 for the first sixteen issues; the membership director is Kevin W. Parker, 3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770. The Sherlock Holmes Society of London's 1987 Christmas card "would appear to depict Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson showing great ingenuity in the pursuit of criminals during exceptionally severe weather." $8.00 (postpaid by airmail) for a packet of ten cards; checks should be payable to The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and sent to Capt. W. R. Michell, The Old Crown Inn, Lopen, South Petherton, Somerset, TA13 5JX, England. Sep 87 #3 There were about 100 people at the Stanford workshop in August, which was marred only by John Bennett Shaw's being unable to attend because illness prevented his traveling to the festivities. Ron Fish reports that Bruce Parker and Ted Schulz and their cohorts provided fine arrangements and an interesting agenda, which included presentations by Steve Rothman (on "Christopher Morley and Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Enthusiasm"), Mike Kean ("Once Moor with Feeling: Suggestions for Further Research into 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'"), Howard Lachtman ("Sir Arthur by the Golden Gate, with Observations on 'The Noble Bachelor'"); and Bill Haunert ("The History of English Prosody Through Sherlock Holmes"). Don Werby (the proprietor of S. Holmes, Esq.) announced that his company is now operating the Grosvenor Hotel in Orlando (near Disney World) and that the Sherlock Holmes room there will be finished soon. Tyke and Teddie Niver were featured in the color cover story on "Spotlight: Sherlock's Music" in the Apr. 1987 issue of Musical Merchandise Review, which paid proper attention to the Sherlockian background for their music business. Magazine address: 210 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167. And Tyke reports that K-Mart has a TEDDY BEARS 1988 CALENDAR with the May picture showing Holmes and Watson at 221B. Further to Mike Whelan's report (Aug 87 #3) that the videocassette "100 Years of Sherlock Holmes" available from Publisher's Center Bureau at $19.95 (May 87 #1) is just two of the 1954 Ronald Howard television shows, Russ Geoffrey reports that the cassette he saw had a variety of older material, even though it came in the same box used for volume 1 of the Ronald Howard series. At hand from its editor, Kelvin I. Jones: the 2nd issue of THE SHERLOCKIAN (49 pp.). The contents include articles by Ray Betzner ("Whatever Happened to Baby Rucastle?"), Robert F. Fleissner ("A Sherlockian Treatment of the Mystery of the Dedication to Shakespeare's Sonnets", reprinted from Clues, spr-sum 1985), and Walter P. Armstrong, Jr. ("The Rhetoric of Sherlock Holmes"); $4.95 postpaid from Magico Magazine, Box 156, New York, NY 10002. Joseph W. Zarzynski's article "Nessie's Movie Double" is accompanied by Jonathan Haddon's long critique of Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" in the inaugural issue of Strange Magazine, a new journal devoted to Fortean studies. Magazine address: Box 2246, Rockville, MD 20852; $3.95 (or $14.95 for four issues). The flood of pastiches and parodies has not hidden the Canon completely: the 1986 Golden Pen Awards (for the best in books for young adults), chosen by a committee of 12-to-18-year-olds at the Spokane Public Library, gave first place for mysteries to THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (with Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE in second place). Discovered by Jack Koelle: LION IN THE VALLEY, by Elizabeth Peters (New York: Atheneum, 1986) (New York: Tor Books, 1987; 310 pp., $3.95); an amusing mystery novel set in Egypt in 1895, featuring archaeologist Amelia Peabody Emerson in an adventure in which she encounters a lean, hawk-nosed, private investigator named (or who claims to be named) Tobias Gregson. Sep 87 #4 Leon and Leonie Holmes, proprietors of the Holmes Winery (P.O. Box 59, Mount Pleasant, S.A. 5235, Australia), have sent a flier offering their Sherlock Holmes Port and Dr. Watson Claret: $25.00 (U.S.) postpaid for one bottle of each wine, or $32.00 (U.S.) postpaid for a gift pack that also includes two wine glasses decorated with their S'ian emblem. Thirsty Canadians may wish to emigrate: "Unfortunately we are unable to post wine to Canada due to government regulations." Jack Koelle sends an item for the "nothing new under the sun" department (from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 30). Reported by Jerry Wachs: Holmes and Moriarty playing on the same team: they're both on the active list for this year's Kansas City Chiefs. Chris Caswell (Sherlock's Home, 4137 East Anaheim, Long Beach, CA 90804) offers a handsome 3" pewter pipe-tamper with a bust of Holmes (and it's an attractive display item for non-smok- ers); $20.70 including UPS shipping. The Press of Arden Park (861 Los Mol- inos Way, Sacramento, CA 95864) has announced the third in its series of S'ian miniature books. A CASE OF IDENTITY is 129 pp., 2.25 x 2.75 in., hardbound with two-color jacket, il- lustrations by Sidney Paget. $38.50 postpaid. Leah D. Frank, senior editor of Broadway Play Publishing (357 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011), writes that they would be interested in seeing unpublished Sherlock Holmes plays, suggesting that "we would prefer that any play have had a production and had the kinks worked out, but that is not absolutely necessary." Owners of The Folio Society's editions of THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1958) and THE LOST WORLD (1977) are already familiar with the Society's high standards for its books, and their new edition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES is no exception, with an enthusiastic Introduction by Julian Symons and cover decorations and six lino-cuts by British graphic artist Edward Bawden. The book costs $24.00 and is available only to members of the Society; membership requirements are four titles a year, from the current list or the lengthy back-list, and their address is 198 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013. The two-volume set of Conan Doyle's THE HISTORICAL NOVELS (BSJ Jun 87) is available at $17.95 in the latest mail-order catalog from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011). Sep 87 #5 Due in October: THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND, by Michael Hardwick, illustrated by Steranko (New York: Villard Books, 1987; 318 pp., $17.95); a new pastiche from the author of PRISONER OF THE DEVIL, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF DR. WATSON, and SHERLOCK HOLMES: MY LIFE AND CRIMES. This story is set in the summer of 1902, with Watson engaged to be married (for the third time), recuperating from the wound inflicted by "Killer" Evans, and joining Holmes in investigating the sudden appearance of a gigantic and ferocious hound on Hampstead Heath. The case eventually involves Oliver Cromwell and King Edward, with a climax at Highgate Cemetery, and the style is well up to Hardwick's standards. DIAGNOSIS AND DETECTION: THE MEDICAL ICONOGRAPHY OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Pasquale Accardo (Cranbury: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1987; 139 pp., $23.50), is based on the author's assumption that Conan Doyle was "a writer of mediocre talent who had the innocence and luck to combine certain mythic elements to produce a viable modern hero." Accardo, confessing to "an aversion for detective fiction," analyzes the "mythic structure" of the Canon and its relationship to earlier literary archetypes that range from Dupin and Lecoq to D'Artagnan and Don Quixote. He also suggests that "few modern versions of the Sherlock Holmes myth have come closer to catching the spirit of the original" than James Goldman's "They Might Be Giants". The city of Edinburgh has been derelict in failing to honor her famous sons, according to Councillor James S. Tait. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born at 11 Picardy Place, is honored only by a plaque erected by the owners of a hotel that stands near the site (another plaque, donated in 1949 by the Edinburgh Evening News, is now in a museum). 11 Picardy Place is now a traffic circle, due for alteration soon, and the Edinburgh District Council have decided to invite internationally famous sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi, another native son, to prepare a new design for the center of the traffic circle. Councillor Tait called on the council to ask Paolozzi to base his design on the "clear logic and subtle perspicacity of Sherlock Holmes as a tribute to Sir Arthur." "Case of the Sherlock Holmes Forgery Is Cracked" was the headline on the story in The Guardian (Aug. 1) about a copy of the first edition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, with original dust jacket, that was scheduled for auction later that month in London. Copies in dust jacket, according to the article, "are excessively rare and are worth perhaps L10,000." But the dust jacket on this copy was identified by Richard Lancelyn Green as a forgery: the color of both ink and paper were wrong, printing details were incorrect, and "the fake wrapper has been suitably though not expertly aged and torn, with corners singed and edges rubbed with sandpaper." SHERLOCK HOLMES IN DENMARK: A CHECK-LIST OF DANISH EDITIONS OF THE CANON AND THE WRITINGS ABOUT THE WRITINGS IN DENMARK, by Bjarne Nielsen (Copen- hagen: Antiqvariat Pinkerton, 1987; 66 pp., 100 Kr postpaid from the publisher, Nansensgade 66, 1366 Kobenhavn K, Denmark), demonstrates how popular Sherlock Holmes has been in Denmark, from the first translation of the Canon in 1893 through the present. There are 446 items listed, and annotated in English, of which 400 are "writings about the writings," and the book includes reproductions of illustrations by many of the Sherlockian artists in Denmark. Sep 87 #6 The Silver Blaze at Belmont went very well, thanks to Stephen and Kim Stix and Richard Wein and Cynthia Drottman, with more than 70 people on hand for drinks at The Players and luncheon at the track on Sept. 18. One lucky S'ian cashed two different daily double tickets, while others, as might be expected, managed not to win a single bet. And Bob Thomalen's "Autumn in Baker Street" at Bear Mountain on Sept. 19-20 was, according to all reports, a pleasant gathering, with special mention going to an *ad lib* and *ad hoc* song fest masterminded by Charlie Adams. Chris and Kate Redmond (125 Lincoln Road #1101, Waterloo, Ont. N2J 2N9, Canada) are planning "A Sherlockian Hallowe'en Weekend in a Victorian Village" at Chautauqua, N.Y., Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, 1987. Write for details (the deadline for reservations is Oct. 24). The Franklin Library (Franklin Center, PA 19091) is launching a series of "Mystery Masterpieces" at $17.95 each plus sales tax and $1.95 shipping. The first volume will be GREAT CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, 483 pp., with 19 cases and specially commissioned illustrations; apparently not a reissue of their 1977 collection THE BEST OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (D259b). Flier at hand from William S. Dorn (2120 South Monroe Street, Denver, CO 80210), announcing plans to publish BEETON'S CHRISTMAS ANNUAL 1987, price about $10.00, with contents including "The Blue Carbuncle" and two new pastiches, all with new illustrations, commentaries, and a glossary. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: ORIGINAL STORIES BY EMINENT MYSTERY WRITERS, edited by Martin Harry Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1987; 345 pp., $18.95), is a fine celebration of the centenary. The authors range from eminent to first-time-in-print, their stories include both pastiche and parody, prosaic and metaphysical, and only one of the pieces is a reprint. Some of the writers (such as Michael Harrison and John Gardner) are well known in the Sherlockian world, while others (such as Lillian de la Torre, Joyce Harrington, Dorothy B. Hughes, Stephen King, and Peter Lovesey) are new to the Sherlockian genre. The quality of the work is pleasantly high, and some of the authors have been thoroughly imaginative in their approach to the Canon. Recommended. "The Final Problem" was published in the Dec. 1893 issue of *The Strand Magazine*, triggering the now-well-known protests from readers. According to William S. Baring-Gould, in THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES (v. 1, p. 15): "There will be only a temporary interval in the Sherlock Holmes stories," the editors of the *Strand* rather hysterically hastened to assure their readers. "A new series will commence in an early number. Meanwhile, powerful detective stories will be contributed by other eminent writers." This is the only mention I've ever seen of such a rash promise. Can anyone cite when and where that statement was published? SHERLOCKIAN TRIVIA, by Dana Richards, presents an ingenious generic trivia supplement, with a box of Q&A cards in six categories (Characters, Plots, Geography, Holmes and Watson, Apocrypha and Beyond, and Miscellaneous) that can be substituted for those in your own Trivia game. $18.95 postpaid from Magico Magazine, Box 156, New York, NY 10002-0156. Oct 87 #1 Still more on the videocassette "100 Years of Sherlock Holmes" available from Publisher's Central Bureau at $19.95 (May 87 #1). Length: one hour. Contents: "The Case of the Screaming Bishop" (1944 cartoon), "The Limejuice Mystery" (1930 marionettes), "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" (1927 newsreel), trailers for seven Basil Rathbone films, lead-in for the Ronald Howard series (1954), trailer for the Peter Cushing "Hound" (1959), and "The Copper Beeches" (1912). "Born in New Jersey in the year 1858." The 200th anniversary of statehood for New Jersey was honored by a commemorative issued on Sept. 11. Forecast for next spring (from Books of Wonder, 132 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10011): THE WHITE COMPANY, by Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth; a facsimile of the 1922 edition published by the Cosmopolitan Publishing Co. Reported by Ron De Waal (both available from Blackwell's): SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEVIL'S FOOT: FURTHER CASES OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS DETECTIVE, selected and introduced by Peter Haining (London: Severn House, 1986; 117 pp., $11.26); five cases (Glor, Card, Devi, Chas, Lion). THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, with Introduction by P.G. (London: Collins, 1986; 252 pp., $6.40). Reported by David Galerstein: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES, published by Omega Books (see BSJ June 87, p. 122), is available for $20.00 postpaid from Roy Bloom Limited (attn: Steven Pagomenos), 81 Goswell Road, London EC1V 7ER, England. The book has all 60 stories, with all but "Stud" and "Sign" reprinted in facsimile from the Strand. THE BAKER STREET DOZEN: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S THIRTEEN FAVORITE SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES, EACH ACCOMPANIED BY AN ESSAY BY A PROMINENT SHERLOCKIAN, ALONG WITH VARIOUS INTERLUDES, CURIOSITIES & MISCELLANEA, edited by Pj Doyle and E. W. McDiarmid (New York: Congden and Weed, 1987; 354 pp., $16.95), is based upon the list of twelve best stories compiled by ACD in 1927 (with the addition of one more story for truly honest weight), and the essays range widely, from Bliss Austin's examination of the challenge presented by ACD to the readers of The Strand Magazine, to Dame Jean Conan Doyle's memories of life at Crowborough while the last of the Canon was being written. Two of the essays are of special interest to Sherlockian scholars: Derham Groves' discussion of a hitherto-unconsidered aspect of the architecture of Hurlstone, and Richard Lancelyn Green's discovery of the origins of the handwriting analysis undertaken at Reigate. The book also contains an up-to-date list of the Sherlockian societies. Reported by Bill Barton: the Chaosium game CTHULHU BY GASLIGHT (BSJ Mar 87) won the Gamer's Choice Award for Best Role Playing Accessory of 1986 at the GEN CON game convention in Milwaukee, and is one of three finalists for an award from the Society of Independent Game Manufacturers. And Bill has a new game, "GURPS Horror" ($11.95 postpaid from Steve Jackson Games, Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760); according to Bill, GURPS is the Generic Universal Role Playing System, and the game includes most of his old "Gamer's Guide to Victorian London" plus game statistics for Holmes and Moriarty. Oct 87 #2 The 1st Bangalore Pioneers have announced a "Crime Contest" open to all Sherlockians, inviting suggestions as to how Col. Sebastian Moran might have succeeded in his attempt to assassinate Sherlock Holmes, had he only chosen a different method. A copy of the rules and regulations is offered by the scion (4800 Kilpatrick Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76107); the deadline for entries is Nov. 30. Reported by Mel Ruiz: the Hal Roach Studio colorized versions of "Terror by Night" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" are distributed by Video Cassette Sales, 270 Oser Avenue, Happauge, NY 11788; Mel found them priced at $9.95 at K-Mart. THE OFFICIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES TRIVIA BOOK, by Richard T. Ryan (Boston: Quinlan Press, 1987; 205 pp., $7.95); an imaginative collection of quizzes, with the questions ranging from elementary to expert (and there are only a few minor errors), and with a section on artists and actors that is up-to- date through Frank Langella and "Sherlock's Last Case". Roger Lancelyn Green died on Oct. 8. His literary interests ranged widely, and his 1946 TELLERS OF TALES was the first serious treatment of children's stories as literature. He was one of the early members of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and shared his Sherlockian enthusiasms with his son Richard. A STUDY IN SOUTHSEA: FROM BUSH VILLAS TO BAKER STREET, by Geoffrey Stavert (Portsmouth: Milestone Publications, 1987; 192 pp., L9.95), is a carefully researched, well-written, and fully illustrated study of Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle's life and career in Southsea from 1882 to 1890, and his brief return visit in 1896. Stavert has lived in Southsea for 30 years, and he presents a fine picture of the city where Conan Doyle was both doctor and author, and of his family, friends, and associates. Available from the publisher (62 Murray Road, Horndean, Hants. PO8 9JL, England) for $16.50 plus $2.50 surface or $7.00 airmail); they take plastic. THE DOSSIER OF SOLAR PONS, by Basil Copper (Chicago: Academy Chicago, 1987; 278 pp., $15.95 cloth, $5.95 paper), a collection of six new stories first published in 1979 as a continuation of the Pontine Canon written by August Derleth. Copper has edited the text to remove some of the American usages that crept into the earlier edition, and the stories are pleasant tributes to both Derleth and Pons. BATS IN THE BELFRY: A JOYOUS EVOCATION OF ARCHITECTURAL ECCENTRICITY, by David Young (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1987; 104 pp., L6.95), is aptly described by its subtitle; the book has sections on architectural jokes, eccentric homes, follies, and other strange structures, including Richard Cabell's tomb at Buckfastleigh (with a brief discussion of its connection with "The Hound of the Baskervilles"). SLICKENSIDES, by John Buxton Hilton (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987; 164 pp., $13.95), is an interesting murder mystery set in Derbyshire in 1911; the detective, Inspector Brunt, sorts through the local suspects as well as two London outsiders who appear to be (but aren't) Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Oct 87 #3 "Baker Street on Delancey Place: One Hundred Years of Sherlock Holmes" is the title of the exhibit at The Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia, opening Dec. 1. One of the nicer items on display will be the manuscript of "The Empty House". THE RAGGED SHAW: THE MASTER SLEUTH QUIZBOOK, by John Bennett Shaw, with an entertaining (and not too libelous) Introduction by Ely Liebow (Dubuque: Gasogene Press, 1987; 112 pp., $16.95 postpaid from the publisher, Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004), is perhaps best regarded as a demonstration of the reason most Sherlockian quizzes are so boring: questions that can be answered by anyone who has a perfect memory are not really challenging. Something more is required. Imagination and inspiration and a sense of humor, not to mention an ability to match the quizmaster's pernicious word-play, are all essential for achieving the most modest scores in these quizzes, which have been collected from the archives of the workshops and society meetings whose participants have enjoyed these confrontations with the Sage of Santa Fe. Recommended. The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu has purchased James Ensor's "Entry of Christ in Brussels" (1888), described by the museum's director as "the museum's most important painting" and an important precursor of surrealism and expressionism. Ensor was a member of the XX Group at the time of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (when Watson noted that Holmes "was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters"). See H. R. F. Keating's SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE MAN AND HIS WORLD, 1979, p. 90-91, for more discussion of Ensor and the XX Group. Eugene and Eleanore Stovall (Olympic Pin Collectors, 3387 Jordan Road, Oakland, CA 94602) issued four diff- erent pins for the Stanford workshop, at $5.00 each; other designs are planned by the end of the year. Washington's PBS television station did not show "The Greek Interpreter" in the recent re-run of the Granada series (because there wasn't room in the Thursday "Mystery!" schedule for all of the shows before PBS networked the new "Strong Poison". WGBH has said that they do not intend to show "Gree" in the near future, and I would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who has a VHS standard-speed cassette of "The Greek Interpreter" that I can borrow. WGBH also reported that six episodes from the Granada series are now available on commercial cassettes, with more to follow. Reported by Jack Kerr: SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GRAPHIC NOVEL, by Bill Barry, is a reprint of the three stories that ran as newspaper comic strips in 1976. $8.95 plus shipping ($2.50 UPS or $1.00 USPS), from Bill Barry Enterprises, 329 Harvey Drive, Glendale, CA 91206. And THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, in full color, is planned for next spring. SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE LONDON ZOO MYSTERY, by W. Lane, with illustrations by Jeff Decker (New York: Magico Magazine, 1987; 56 pp., $15.95); a short pastiche involving P. T. Barnum and Jumbo, whose disappearance from the London Zoo in 1882 is investigated, and solved, by Sherlock Holmes. Oct 87 #4 The Oct. 1987 issue of The Tonga Times at hand from The Mini- Tonga Scion Society, with a long article on what must be the ultimate miniature: a reproduction by Julian L. Biggers, Jr., of three floors of 221 Baker Street at 1/144 scale (that's twelve feet to the inch). The newsletter costs $3.00 a year for two issues, and is published by Dee Snyder (8440 Nashua Drive, Lake Park, FL 33418). Glenn Close has received fine reviews for her performance in the new film "Fatal Attraction" -- and some of you may remember her from an earlier performance in a Sherlockian role. Which one? Graham Nown's ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON (BSJ Jun 87) was a recent dividend selection from the Book-of-the-Month Club. Donald K. Pollock (79 Paul Gore Street #1, Boston, MA 02130) has several extra copies of the recent edition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, with illustrations by Edward Bawden, published by The Folio Society, which he offers "to sell at cost, or better yet, to trade." Reported by Roger Johnson: a stone-and-resin Sherlock Holmes chess set offered by Michael and Mary Ernest (No. 9 Gifts & Games, 9 Steep Hill, Lincoln LN2 1LT, England); L60.75 plus shipping. The recommended board is L26.55 plus shipping. Glenn Close played Irene St. Claire in Paul Giovanni's play "The Crucifer of Blood" in its 1978 productions in Buffalo and New York. Cal Witt (1156 West Avenue #J-7, Lancaster, CA 93534) has a new sales list offering Sherlockian and Scotland Yard collectibles. Reported by John Bennett Shaw: Amye Rosenberg's SAM THE DETECTIVE AND THE ALEF BET MYSTERY (BSJ Mar 87) is available for $4.95 from Roth Booksellers, 9427 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90035. Flier at hand from Mel Wacks (Numismarketing Associates, 5189 Jeffdale Avenue, Woodland Hills, CA 91364) previewing their advertisement in the Dec. issue of the BSJ for a Sherlockian art medal created by sculptor Marika Somogyi in sterling silver ($99.50) or solid gold ($995.00). "Young Sherlock Holmes" will be broadcast on cable by The Movie Channel in November in its "VCR Theater" at 3:00 am. Check local listings for dates. Flier at hand for "Sherlock Holmes: A Centennial Symposium" at Indiana University in Bloomington on Dec. 12-13. Saturday speakers will include Michael Cox (executive producer of the Granada series), Don Gray (IU professor of Victorian Studies), Joel Silver (Lilly Library), Jack Tracy, Alvin E. Rodin, Steven T. Doyle (editor of The Sherlock Holmes Review, which is sponsoring the symposium), and Don Curtis (president of The Illustrious Clients); there will be a dinner on Saturday ($13.00) and a lecture and exhibit on Sunday at the Lilly Library. The deadline for registration ($15.00) is Nov. 30, and additional information is available from the Indiana University Conference Bureau, Indiana Memorial Union L-9, Bloomington, IN 47405 (812-335-4661). Oct 87 #5 The Christmas 1987 catalog from Historical Products (Box 220, Cambridge MA 02238) is dedicated to the centenary, but their product offers unfortunately still include only the Steele portrait of Holmes or the Sherlockian quotation, on T-shirts, sweatshirts, totebags, aprons, and calendars. Reported by John Bennett Shaw, from the Albuquerque Tribune: maze-running is the latest pastime in Japan, with hordes of Japanese lining up to pay about $3.00 to run through any of 18 commercial mazes around the country, including a Sherlock Maze in Osaka. Information available from the Japan National Tourist Organization, 630 Fifth Avenue #2101, New York, NY 10111. Also from John is letter-to-the-editor of the Royal Oak (Mich.) Daily Tribune (July 18, 1987). Non-Sherlockian, but too good not to reprint. Reported by Carole Naddeo: a stamp-size gummed label with a photograph portrait of Rathbone, at $2.00 for 150, from Micro, Box 38644, Los Angeles, CA 90038; they offer a long list of film, television, music, and sports stars. Reported by Ron De Waal: AT THE TRACK: A TREASURY OF HORSE RACING STORIES, edited by Richard Peyton (New York: Bonanza Books, 1986; $7.98 at Walden- books); contents include "Silver Blaze". "The Red-Headed League" (an adaptation by Nancy B. Thum), in Plays: The Drama Magazine for Young People, Nov. 1987 (120 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116). *Correction*: Ted Schulz reports that THE INVENTORY OF 221B BAKER STREET, LOCATED AT S. HOLMES, ESQUIRE (Sep 87 #1) costs $6.00 postpaid, from Charlotte Erickson, 571 Kingsley Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301; this is a 12-page booklet of text and photographs describing the recreation of the sitting-room in San Francisco. Flier at hand from Willis G. Frick (32126 Via Viente, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675) announcing "Sherlocktron" (a computerized remote bulletin board for Sherlockians) at 714-661-2192. This is an electronic bulletin board with lists of societies, publications, and commercial offers, and a message section where people can leave messages with questions, comments, etc. You need a computer to participate, of course, and a modem (300 or 1200 Baud, 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit), and there is no system fee or access charge. You can reach Willis (rather than his computer) during west-coast business hours at 714-368-6914. Electronic bulletin boards are widespread in the world of computers -- in the world of business they are used for electronic mail (that's how Col. Oliver North and Adm. John Poindexter exchanged all those memos you heard about during the Iran/Contra hearings), in the world of computer freaks they are used for exchanging movie stars' telephone credit card numbers and access codes for breaking into corporate computers. Between those extremes the bulletin boards are used to exchange more mundane information. Oct 87 #6 John Ruyle has published A IS FOR ADLER, the latest in his series of S'ian alphabets ("in its pawky pages you will find old friends like Billy, Baron Dowson, and Harraway, and such exotic locales as Sumatra and Pernambuco"); $28.00 cloth or $13.00 paper, from John at 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707. Flier at hand from The Travel Group, 116A Park Avenue South, Winter Park, FL 32789, announcing "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' London" (including a tour of London led by Stanley MacKenzie, and a visit to Conan Doyle's home at Undershaw), Mar. 24-Apr. 1, 1988. Flier at hand from Thomas W. Campbell (The Bloombury Square Collection, 5701 Hedgemoor Drive, Raleigh, NC 27612) announcing a S'ian multi-color cloisonne pin commemorating the centenary. $8.95 until Nov. 15, and $12.95 after Nov. 15. Reported: a long article with color illustrations, on Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockians, by William Ecenbarger in the Oct. 15 issue of the American Airlines in-flight magazine American Way, Box 619616 (MD 3D08), Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, TX 75261. The 1989 commemorative stamp in the Great Americans Series will honor Johns Hopkins, the 19th century merchant, banker and investor, and philanthropist who gave $7 million to fund a hospital, university, and medical school in Baltimore. There is a Sherlockian connection (of course). Flier at hand from Scotland Yard Books, 556 Green Bay Road, Winnetka, IL 60093, offering a series of four note-card designs with Paget illustrations from "Silver Blaze". Reported by Delia Vargas: a recent issue (#37) of Grands Ecrivains devoted to Conan Doyle; all in French, and the address is 99 rue d'Amsterdam, Paris 75008, France. Chris Caswell (Sherlock's Home, 4137 East Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90804) had a book-signing party for Michael Hardwick, honoring his new THE REVENGE OF THE HOUND with signed copies, 500 of which have a commemorative bookplate issued for the occasion by Sherlock's Home. Copies may still be available, at $20.45 postpaid. The third British stamp booklet honoring Sherlock Holmes was issued this month, with an illustration of "The Speckled Band". Nov 87 #1 We will be celebrating Sherlock Holmes' 134th birthday on Friday, Jan. 8, with the now-traditional festivities, and a possible addition: "Sherlock's Last Case" (the Charles Marowitz play with Frank Langella as Holmes), may still be running at the Nederlander Theater (208 West 41st Street), and I recommend the play to anyone who is willing to accept considerable deviation from the Canon. The box-office telephone number is 212-246-0102, tickets cost $22.00 to $32.50 (they take plastic), and performances are scheduled Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00, Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00, and Sunday at 3:00. Mary Ellen Rich has found, and recommends, the Shoreham Hotel, at 33 West 55th Street; their rate is $59 (single), $72.00 (double), $96.00 (triple), and $120 (quad), and the telephone number is 212-247-6700. Also the Salisbury Hotel, at 123 West 57th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues); their rate is $69.00 per room, and the telephone numbers are 800-223-0680 and 212-246-1300. Another possibility is the Wellington Hotel, on 7th Avenue at 55th Street; their rate is $85.00 (single) and $95.00 (double), and the telephone number is 212-247-3900. Friday begins with the Martha Hudson Breakfast at 9:00 at the Hotel Algon- quin, at 59 West 44th Street; no reservations required. Then the William Gillette Luncheon at 12:00 at the Old Homestead, at 56 Ninth Avenue (Lisa McGaw, 15 Willow Terrace Apartments, Chapel Hill, NC 27514). And then the dinners for The Baker Street Irregulars at 24 Fifth Avenue, and for The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes at 6:00 at Garvin's Restaurant, at 19 Waverly Place, south of 8th Street and one block east of Washington Square Park (Evelyn A. Herzog, 235 West 15th Street, #4B, New York, NY 10011). Space is limited at the Gillette luncheon and the ASH dinner, and early reservations are requested. Otto Penzler's annual open house at The Mysterious Bookshop (129 West 56th Street) is also on Friday, from 11:00 to 6:00; all Sherlockians and their guests are welcome to attend, and there is as usual the possiblity that Sherlockian authors will be on hand to sign their books. On Saturday there is The Baker Street Irregulars' reception, open to all Sherlockians and their friends, from 2:30 to 5:00 pm, at 24 Fifth Avenue, at 9th Street. Open bar, with hot and cold hors d'oeuvres, and tickets cost $20.00 a person until Dec. 15 ($25.00 a person thereafter and at the door). Checks, payable to The Baker Street Irregulars, should be sent to Robert E. Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709. And, although not formally scheduled, it is likely that many Sherlockians will go on to dine on Saturday evening at Bogie's (249 West 26th Street). On Sunday, southbound travelers (and others) are welcome at the annual dinner of The Master's Class at 4:00 at the Franklin Inn Club at St. James and Camac Streets in Philadelphia (Victoria M. Robinson, 299B Summit House, 1450 West Chester Pike, West Chester, PA 19382). The exhibition on "One Hundred Years of Sherlock Holmes" (items on display will include the manuscript of "The Empty House") at the Rosenbach Museum & Library (2010 DeLancey Place) will be open from 11:00 to 4:00 on Sunday afternoon. Note: the museum may be crowded, since this will be the last day of their Maurice Sendak exhibit (which you might also wish to see). Nov 87 #2 The Sherlockian connection for Johns Hopkins, who will be honored by a commemorative stamp in 1989, was proposed by Christopher Morley in "Was Sherlock Holmes an American?" (SRL, July 21, 1934). "But all have wondered just what Holmes was doing between the time he left the university and his taking rooms in Montague Street," he wrote. "My own thought is that the opening of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1876, and the extraordinary and informal opportunities offered there for graduate study, tempted him across the water." Bouchercon XVIII ("Murder in the North Country!") in Minneapolis on Oct. 9-11 offered a Saturday-afternoon session devoted to Sherlock Holmes; according to the program, the agenda included "Nordiske film series: New Discoveries" (Bjarne Nielsen), "Dr. Arthur Doyle's Patients in Fact and Fiction" (Jack Key), "The Timeless Sherlock Holmes" (P.J. Doyle, E. W. McDiarmid, and Ely Liebow), "The Phenomenon of Sherlock Holmes: Societies, Collecting and Scholarship" (Philip Shreffler, Bjarne Nielsen, J. Randolph Cox, and Janice McNabb Cox), and "The Game Continues" (a slide presentation with Audrey Hammer). Copies of the program, with a fine tribute to John Nieminski, are available for $5.00 postpaid from Steven A. Stilwell (2333 Minneapolis Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55406). One of the Bouchercon souvenirs was JOHN NIEMINSKI: SOMEWHERE A ROSCOE, selected and edited by Ely Liebow and Art Scott as a tribute to John. The 61-page chapbook offers a fine selection (including some S'ian items) from John's literate and amusing contributions to DAPA-EM (that's the mystery- fan amateur press), and is available for $6.95 postpaid from Brownstone Books, 407 Jefferson Street, Madison, IN 47250. Brownstone has also published TAD-SCHRIFT: TWENTY YEARS OF MYSTERY FANDOM IN THE ARMCHAIR DETECTIVE, edited by J. Randolph Cox, with contributions by Sherlockian fans but no specifically S'ian content; $12.95 postpaid. Bouchercon XIX will be held in San Diego on Oct. 7-9, 1988, and sponsored by Phyllis Brown. To enroll on the mailing list, write to Bouchercon XIX, Grounds for Murder, 2707 Congress Street, San Diego, CA 92110. The Dec. 1987 issue of Playboy has a Sherlockian cartoon by Gahan Wilson (p. 210). Also a Potpourri item (p. 223) on THE ULTIMATE PIPE VIDEO (the world's first pipe-smoking-and-collecting VHS video tape), produced by Rick Hacker (Box 634, Beverly Hills, CA 90213); I haven't seen the cassette, but his earlier THE ULTIMATE PIPE BOOK had Sherlockian content. A new catalog at hand from Gallery Lainzberg (200 Guaranty Building, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401) (800-553-9995); they specialize in production cels from animated films, including "The Great Mouse Detective" ($195 to $225). SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GRAPHIC NOVEL, by Bill Barry (Glendale: CB Publications, 1987, 74 pp., $8.95), is a welcome reprint of the fine comic strip that ran in some papers in 1976 and 1977. There are three stories ("The Hound of the Baskervilles", "A Portrait in Red", and "A Study in Scarlet"), with a new and well-illustrated "Walking Tour of London". The book is available from Bill Barry Enterprises, 329 Harvey Drive, Glendale, CA 91206 (add $2.50 for UPS or $1.00 for book-rate mail. Nov 87 #3 Reported by Brian R. MacDonald: deerstalkered Goofy on box and in "Lonesome Ghosts" reel in MICKEY MOUSE & FRIENDS "gift set" with 3-D viewer and three reels ($6.95-9.95 at toy and discount stores). SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RALEIGH LEGACY, by L. B. Greenwood (St. Martin's Press paperback, $2.95). S'ian cartoon (twice) in GIANT CRACKED #47 (BOOK OF SHUT UPS!), winter 1988, $2.75. Julian Symons' "Did Sherlock Holmes Meet Hercule -----?" is in EQMM, mid-Dec. 1987 (reprinted from Illustrated London News, Apr. 1987). And Frank Langella is Sherlock Holmes on the cover of the Jan. 1988 issue. The computerized list of Sherlockian societies seems to be in pretty good shape (the query in the Sept. 1987 issue of the BSJ did not uncover any missing societies). There are now 432 societies on the list, including 217 active societies (153 geographical, 12 professional, and 52 other); the 41-page print-out for all societies is available from me at $2.50 postpaid, and we also offer mailing labels for the contacts for active societies for commercial use at $10.00 postpaid. Roger Johnson reports that "The Abbot's Cry" (the sequel to "The Masks of Death") will go into production next year, according to a letter from Peter Cushing, but with Ian Richardson as Holmes. Cushing has retired (the time has come to "nail my toupee to the wall," he wrote), but he is continuing his autobiography (the second volume, PAST FORGETTING, with much about Sherlock Holmes, will be published next spring). Roger also reports plans for another project, tentatively titled "Sherlock and Me", with Michael Caine as Holmes and Ben Kingsley as Watson. "The Endearing Cult of Sherlock Holmes" received a two-page tribute in the Nov. 16 issue of Maclean's (777 Bay Street, Toronto. Ont. M5W 1A7, Canada; $1.75), with photographs of four dignitaries: Rathbone, Langella, Conan Doyle, and Cameron Hollyer. Flier at hand detailing the Metropolitan Toronto Library's centenary cele- brations, which will include an exhibition ("Crime After Crime: Sherlock Holmes to Benny Cooperman") from Dec. 4 to Feb. 15, a series of lectures and films, a book-launching party in honor of Christopher Redmond's WELCOME TO AMERICA, MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES on Dec. 13, and a murder mystery game on Jan. 22. Write to MTL Public Relations, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ont. M4W 2G8, Canada. WELCOME TO AMERICA, MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES is a detailed account of Conan Doyle's first trip to the United States in 1894, to be published by Simon & Pierre (Box 280, Adelaide Street Postal Station, Toronto, Ont. M5C 2J4, Canada) at $19.95 (Canadian); no charge for shipping prepaid orders. "Sherlock Holmes in America" (excerpted from Andrew Malec's Introduction to the new Mysterious Press edition of THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) is in the winter 1987 issue of Mysterious News, the quarterly published by the Mysterious Press, 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019; no charge. And there is a section of in-print Sherlockiana in the latest catalog from the Mysterious Bookshop (same address). Nov 87 #4 "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was slightly Sherlockian in the episode broadcast on Nov. 7 (or thereabouts, since the series is syndicated), and videootapers can watch for the repeat of "Lonely Among Us" (the Enterprise, while escorting aliens to the planet Parliament, encounters an energy cloud that seizes control of the minds of the crew and alters their behavior). Discussing the mystery with Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) mentions "the immortal Sherlock Holmes" and Data then studies the Sherlock Holmes stories and begins smoking a calabash, leading to more discussion of Sherlock Holmes. Reported by Ron De Waal: I THINK I DON'T REMEMBER, by Art Buchwald (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1987; $16.95), with "The Crime of the Century" (p. 292-294), in which Holmes and Watson discuss the Iran/Contra affair. Micro (Box 38644, Los Angeles, CA 90038) offers "picture stamps" at $2.00 for 150, or $3.00 for 300 ("any star, any group, 21,000 in stock"), but their Basil Rathbone "picture stamp" isn't all that great. ROOM TWO MORE GUNS: THE INTRIGUING HISTORY OF THE PERSONAL COLUMN OF THE TIMES, by Stephen Winkworth (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1986; 263 pp., L10.95), is a fascinating study of the "agony column" from their origins in 1785 to the present day, with a chapter on the use of the personal column by Sherlock Holmes, and by Conan Doyle (who advertised in 1901 asking for the loan of officers' letters dealing with certain Boer War battles). THE QUEST FOR SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: THIRTEEN BIOGRAPHERS IN SEARCH OF A LIFE, edited by Jon L. Lellenberg, with a foreword by Dame Jean Conan Doyle (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987; 232 pp., $19.95), is an examination of how (and how well or how poorly) Conan Doyle and his biographers have described his life and career. The contributors are all knowledgeable about Conan Doyle (often more knowledgeable than those who wrote the biographies), and the book is recommended as an excellent guide to the many, and frequently unreliable, biographies. If the quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is, as the book's epilogue suggests, still incomplete, the commentaries collected here provide a fine summary of what we do know now. Available from the publisher (Box 3697, Carbondale, IL 62902); add $1.50 shipping per order, and they take plastic. The results of my bibliographic investigation of the Souvenir Edition of A STUDY IN SCARLET have now been published, in the summer 1987 issue of Baker Street Miscellanea, and I guess it is time to start investigating the next title. Owners of copies of the Souvenir Edition of THE SIGN OF FOUR are invited to request a copy of my one-page questionnaire listing the points of interest that will (I hope) identify the variants. SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE NOVELS AND STORIES, the two-volume Bantam edition with Introduction by Loren Estleman (BSJ Sep 87), is now available in a "deluxe gift-box edition" (in a rather flimsy box) at $9.90; the two volumes are second printings (the printing code at bottom of title-page verso ends with "2" rather than "1"). Nov 87 #5 Sherlockian pianists might wish to consider owning a Sherlock Manning piano (available from Sherlock's Music, 976 Silas Deane Highway, Wethersfield, CT 06109). Tyke Niver reports that the pianos are above average in quality, and priced at about $2,700 (plus shipping and handling), and he welcomes enquiries. BEETON'S CHRISTMAS ANNUAL 1987 (Denver: Pencil Productions, 1987) is an 80-page tribute to the original, with a reprint of "The Blue Carbuncle" and two new pastiches by Ian Malcolm Earlson, plus brief commentaries and a glossary, and new illustrations by C. Woolery. In the new stories, Holmes uses a Babbage cacluating engine to fail Moran, and investigates a forged accusation against Charles Parnell. Available from William S. Dorn (2120 South Monroe Street, Denver, CO 80210) for $11.95 postpaid. Thomas W. Campbell (The Bloomsbury Square Collection, 7474 Creedmoor Drive #221B, Raleigh, NC 27612) writes that the deadline has been extended to Dec. 31 for ordering his S'ian multi-color cloisonne pin at the issue price of $8.95 postpaid. Volume discounts are also offered in his flier. Guernsey's (236 East 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021) (212-794-2280) will be auctioning "a great portion" of Forrest J. Ackerman's collection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror on Dec. 12-13 (the catalog costs $20.00 postpaid). I visited Forrie this year, and his collection is truly spectacular. I saw nothing of Sherlockian significance, but he has many stills and other print material from the two film versions of "The Lost World" and one of the flying-reptile models created by Willis H. O'Brien for the 1925 version of "The Lost World" (and a similar model from "King Kong"). The flying reptile could, of course, be of S'ian significance in view of the appearance of the Dutch steamship Friesland in both THE LOST WORLD and "The Norwood Builder". The musical "Baker Street" is experiencing a modest revival, with at least three productions in the last year or so, the most recent being at the Gonzaga College High School in Washington this month. The show is licensed by Tams-Witmark Music Library (560 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022), in a version somewhat less elaborate than the one presented on Broadway (as might be expected), but it is thoroughly enjoyable when presented by an enthusiastic and competent cast and crew, as it was here. It is well worth recommending to any local theatrical group that does musicals (and of course that's the only way the current generation of Sherlockians will get to see it). Reported by Herb Tinning: "Silver Blaze" (the 1977 television film starring Christopher Plummer) is now available on videocassette, from Coronet/MTI Film & Video [distributors for Learning Corporation of America], 108 Wilmot Road, Deerfield, IL 60015 (800-621-2131), priced at $99.00 (obviously aimed at institutions rather than individuals). The Nov. 20 catalog of discount and remainder books from Edward R. Hamilton (Falls Village, CT 06031) includes THE GREAT DETECTIVES: SEVEN ORIGINAL INVESTIGATIONS, by Julian Symons ($10.95); THE SHERLOCK HOLMES SCRAPBOOK, by Peter Haining ($6.95); and THE SUPREME ADVENTURE OF INSPECTOR LESTRADE, by M. J. Trow ($3.95). Nov 87 #6 At hand from John Bennett Shaw is Raleigh Trevelyan's article on "Life Among the Lifers: Return to the Andamans After 59 Years" (Country Life, May 28, 1987). Trevelyan, who was born at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, where his father was in command of the garrison, returned to find that "the Andamanese are now reduced to a pathetic 24, having been decimated long ago by syphilis and measles." The Jarawas are still dangerous, however, and "one splendidly defiant offshoot on North Sentinel Island greets intruders with showers of poisoned arrows." The Onges are also dwindling in numbers: "they chew leaves that make their breath so fearful that even bees flee in terror." Reported by Brad Keefauver: 1985/1986 MOVIE SONGBOOK (Columbia Pictures Publications, $7.95) includes the love theme from "Young Sherlock Holmes" and has the movie logo on the cover. Local posts are among the more interesting of philatelic sidelines. Once allowed to carry mail only where the U.S. post office didn't, they are now free to operate anywhere, and some of them have issued Sherlockian labels from time to time. The Yeti Post, founded in May 1965, commemorated the centenary with a Sherlockian issue on Jan. 8, and you can obtain Yeti Post service (with one of the labels) by sending a SASE to G. H. Palmer, 111 Apache Avenue, 1000 Oaks, CA 91362. According to the January 1988 issue of Playboy (p. 227), Dunhill of London have celebrated the centenary with a limited-edition briar calabash-style pipe with sterling-silver mounting, in a leather-covered bookcase. $750. P. Moran (Harpies Bizarre, Box 854, Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02142) offers "The Women's Holmes Companion" (a calendar for 1988, featuring Holmesian and Victorian women of note and notoriety); $10.00. Roger Johnson reports SUPERNATURAL STORIES OF SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, edited by Peter Haining (Foulsham, L12.95), and THE CASE OF THE FINAL CURTAIN, by Arthur Conan Doyle (Longman, L1.10), and paperback editions of THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA, by Richard L. Boyer (Grafton, L2.95) and EXIT SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Robert Lee Hall (Grafton, L2.95). Reported by Jack Kerr: IN THE RING: A TREASURY OF BOXING STORIES, edited by Martin H. Greenberg ($8.98 at Waldenbooks); contents include Conan Doyle's "The Croxley Master". Dana Richards reports "The Lost Special" included in DEATH LOCKED IN, a collection edited by Douglas G. Greene and Robert C. S. Adey (New York: International Polygonics, 1987). DEATH AT APPLEDORE TOWERS, by Gerald Lientz (New York: Berkley Books, 1987; $2.95) is the third in the "Solo Mysteries" series. The mystery will not present any difficulty for anyone who already knows who did what to Charles Augustus Milverton, but for those who don't, there is a challange: this time it is possible to fail to solve the case. Demographic Systems Inc. (325 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013) uses S'ian artwork in its promotion for "Sherlock" (a multi-level merge/purge system). Dec 87 #1 Further to my query (Sep 87 #6) about the statement by the editors of the Strand that "there will be only a temporary interval in the Sherlock Holmes stories," Richard Lancelyn Green notes that Eric Quayle (THE COLLECTOR'S BOOK OF DETECTIVE FICTION, 1972, p. 67-68) quotes a similar statement from page 82 in the July 1892 issue, when the editors reported that "we are glad to be able to announce that there is to be only a temporary interval in the publication of these stories," and that "Mr. Conan Doyle is now engaged upon writing a second series, which will be commenced in an early number." But: this was at the end of the Adventures, not at the end of the Memoirs. Baring-Gould and Quayle indicate that they are quoting, not paraphrasing, a statement by the editors; Quayle has the July 1892 date, but Baring-Gould does not. Flier at hand from Dan and Ann Brasier (Holmes by Hall, Box 221B, Flushing, MI 48433) for a new "Master Sleuth Teapot" (from the Hall China Co., in porcelain, 12 inches high), priced at $79.95 plus $4.00 shipping. Irene Handl died on Nov. 29; she played Mrs. Hudson in the movie "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970). Sherlock Holmes is mentioned in passing in John S. Rapp's article on "Forensic Geology and a Colusa County Murder" in California Geology, July 1987 (address: 1516 Ninth Street, 4th floor, Sacramen- to, CA 95814; $1.00). Ron De Waal reports: a new edition of THE ILLUSTRATED SHERLOCK HOLMES TREAS- URY (New York: Chatham River Press, 1987; 808 pp., $12.95, in "genuine bonded leather"); first published by Avenel Books in 1984. And: TUNE IN YESTERDAY ON CASSETTE: SHERLOCK HOLMES (New Rochelle: Great American Audio Corp., 1987); five cassettes in a box, with four Sherlock Holmes programs ($17.95 at Waldenbooks). And: VCR 221B BAKER STREET (Clarksdale: VCR Enterprises, 1987; $45.95 at Waldenbooks); this is a video version of the board game 221B BAKER STREET, with a ten-episode videotape (with Stuart Devenie as Holmes and Gerald Bryan as Watson) and accessories for playing the game. And: MASTER DETECTIVE SET (Rockaway, Natural Science Industries, 1987; $20.95); police ident-i-kit, fingerprint kit, real 110 camera, secret messages and codes, disguises, and instructions (by John H. Watson, M.D.), with a photograph of Sherlock Holmes on the cover. And: SELECTIONS FROM THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (New York: Chatham Audio Classics, 1987; $15.95 at B. Dalton); four stories (Scan, RedH, Five, Blue) narrated by Ed Simone on three cassettes, plus a booklet. Alas -- Frank Langella closed "Sherlock's Last Case" on Dec. 6. According to my count, there were 13 preview and 124 regular performances. I've been told that toward the end of the run the theater was selling less than 45 percent of capacity. Dec 87 #2 The Torists International, S.S., one of the newer societies, is celebrating its first anniversary, and offers its Sherlockian- silhouette insignia on baseball and ski caps, jackets, lapel pins, tie bars, money clips, and key rings. A flier is available to anyone sending a SASE to Anthony J. Citera, 6625 North Crawford, Lincolnwood, IL 60646. Wilton M. Krogman died on Nov. 4. He was a noted anthropologist, and wrote on "Sherlock Holmes as an Anthropologist" (Scientific Monthly, Mar. 1955) and on "Anthropology in THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES" (BSJ, Sept. 1970). Reported in Coin World (Nov. 18): an "overstruck cent" commemorating the centenary, available from Larry Hall, Box 771, Morgan, UT 84050; two for $1.00 and a SASE. I THINK I DON'T REMEMBER, by Art Buchwald (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1987; 350 pp., $16.95), has reprints of two of his Sherlockian columns: "Magnificent Obsession" (pp. 103-106, reprinted from Mar. 27, 1986) with an illustration by Steve Mendelson, and "The Crime of the Century" (pp. 292- 294, reprinted from Dec. 16, 1986). David L. Hammer reports that the Dunhill of London commemorative pipe (Nov 87 #6) has been offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd. (attn: Michael Silverman, 2 Sackville Street, Piccadilly, London W1X 2DP, England) at L324.50 plus postage. A bit cheaper than the $750 price in Playboy). Discovered by Al Rodin: POCKET COMPANION QUOTATION GUIDE (Harlow: Longman Group, 1983), with four annotated quotations from the Canon, and one from Eliot's "Macavity: The Mystery Cat". WILDERS WALK AWAY (New York: International Polygonics, 1987; 219 pp., $4.95), was Herbert Brean's first mystery novel, first published in 1948, and it is a fine story (with quotes from the Canon as chapter headings) about a Vermont family whose members have been vanishing into thin air since the days of the Revolution. Catalogue Five from The 19th Century Shop (1047 Hollins Street, Baltimore, MD 21223) offers (and reproduces) a pencil-on-paper portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Rene Magritte ("related to Magritte's well-known cover for the London Gallery *Bulletin*, done in 1938"); price $12,500. Cox & Co. of New England offer a new lapel pin, showing (appropriately) the battered tin dispatch-box, in silver, gold, and white. $6.00 postpaid from James O. Duval, 72 Merrimack Street, Penacook, NH 03303. "Mr. Rossi's Dreams" is a 76-minute Italian animation (c1983 by Bruce Bozzetto Film), broadcast earlier this year on the Disney Channel. If you see it listed again, it's worth taping: Rossi imagines himself as a series of heroes such as Tarzan, an astronaut, Zorro, and Sherlock Holmes (in a 9-minute sequence about "The Case of the Murderous Milkman"). Reported by Andrew Jay Peck: THE RAG DOLL MURDER, by H. Paul Jeffers (New York: Ballantine Books, 1987; $2.95) has many Sherlockian references, with a major clue being a dog that did nothing in the nighttime. Dec 87 #3 Reported by Ron De Waal: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (San Francisco: The Mind's Eye); a reissue of the 1975 Jabberwocky audiocassette (D4702b) with Richard Lewis as Holmes ($5.95 at B. Dalton). August Derleth's "The Adventure of the Red Leech" reprinted in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S THE SHADOW OF SILENCE (New York: Davis Publications, 1987; $3.50); Alfred Hitchcock's Anthology #24. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (San Francisco: The Mind's Eye); six audio cassettes, each with two of the Gielgud/Richardson radio shows ($5.95 each at B. Dalton). Larry D. Hall (Box 771, Morgan, UT 84050) offers overstruck cents honoring the centenary, priced at two for $1.00 and a SASE (four coins can be mailed for 22 cents postage). New dies have been used to over- strike the front and back of new pennies, and they make attractive souvenirs. Further to the report (Sep 87 #5) of the attempt by District Councillor James Tait to commemorate Conan Doyle in Edinburgh, a plaque (inscribed "Arthur Conan Doyle lived here 1876-1880") was unveiled at 23 George Square on Nov. 20. Dean Morrissey's full-page color illustrations are a fine enhancement to the "Night Lights" edition of THE SPECKLED BAND (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987; 32 pp., $6.95); an element in each of the illustrations has been overprinted with phosphorescent ink. Granada has begun production on another series of programs in "The Return of Sherlock Holmes", beginning with "Silver Blaze" (filmed on location in Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Bangor-on-Dee) and "The Devil's Foot" (filmed on location in West Cornwall). It is in Granada's "The Devil's Foot" that Holmes abandons cocaine: "We have decided, with the blessing of Conan Doyle's daughter, that he should kick cocaine," Jeremy Brett told a newspaper reporter, "I am seen dropping the syringe into the sea at Kynance and covering it with sand." According to another reporter, Brett has announced that he has commissioned his own play involving Sherlock Holmes, which he intends to take on a world tour next year, with the first stop in New Zealand. The Glasgow Herald was "the first paper of note" to review "A Study in Scarlet", according to a report by Ken Wright in (of course) the Glasgow Herald (Oct. 24, 1987). On Dec. 17, 1887, their reviewer wrote: "He is a wonderful man is Mr. Sherlock Holmes." Visitors to Clyro in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) are welcome at The Baskerville Arms (formerly The Swan until, as legend has it, Conan Doyle stayed in the village while writing "The Hound of the Baskervilles"); the hotel owners are also proud of Sooty, their Great Dane "of ferocious and terrifying aspect but, thankfully, daft as a brush with customers." Dec 87 #4 As has been reported widely, HOLMES is now providing invaluable assistance to the British police (this HOLMES, of course, being a computer called the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System). According to Computer Weekly (Sept. 24, 1987), HOLMES is now "old technology" and plans are afoot for a successor, to be named in honor of Sherlock Holmes' brother. But so far they have not been able to devise a suitable name for which MYCROFT is an acronym. Any suggestions? Further to the report (Nov 87 #3) of the new film starring Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley, ITC Entertainment has started shooting in the Lake District on a "clever comedy" called "The Imposter of Baker Street" (or "Sherlock and Me", depending on the newspaper). Michael Caine plays a little-known actor hired by Dr. Watson to play the part of the Holmes inadvertently created by Watson, who has attributed his own successes in crime detection to the fictitious sleuth, and finds himself forced to take desperate measures when the Queen's Envoy insists that Holmes be enlisted to prevent the dastardly Moriarty pulling off a scheme that threatens the very existence of the British Empire. Nigel Davenport and Peter Cook also appear in the film, which is budgeted at $10 million and scheduled for release at the end of 1988. Caine will also play Inspector Frederick Abberline next year in a television program to be produced by Thames TV. And yet another news item from Britain: Sue Brown has retired from her post as Sherlock Holmes' secretary, after five years on the job. Nikki Caparn is the new secretary, and in her spare time is communications assistant in the public relations department of the Abbey National Building Society. The first (summer 1987) issue of Baker Street Gazette at hand from Baker Street Publications (Box 994, Metairie, LA 70004; $3.00 an issue, or $10.00 a year for four issues). It's a 78-page magazine with reprints from the press, pastiches, advertisements for S'ian collectibles, and contributors that include Susan Beasley (on collecting), Michael B. Murphy (on the propaganda aspects of the war-time Universal films), Walter P. Armstrong (on the official entry of the word "grimpen" into the language), and Rick Lai (on Canonical echoes in John Buchan's works). Historical Products (Box 220, Cambridge, MA 02238) now offers their Steele portrait of Sherlock Holmes (as well as their other historical notables) on buttons and magnets at $3.25 each (minumum order of three) plus $1.50 for shipping; plastic accepted. Color flier at hand from Bob Hess (559 Potter Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718) offering three new 13-inch figurines of Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty ($69.00 each in hand-painted clay, or $59.00 each in unpainted white bone china); commissioned by Sleuth Publications Ltd. in Liverpool. Reported by John A. Hogan, editor of The Crimson Circle (the newsletter of The Edgar Wallace Society): EDGAR WALLATZE: DER FROSCH MIT DER GLATZE, by Wolfgang G. Fienhold (Munchen: Goldmann Verlag, 1986; 90 pp., DM 7.80); a parody (loosely based on "The Fellowship of the Frog"), featuring Sir Edgar (head of Scotland Yard), with an appearance by Alfred Holmes, of Manderley Manor, Baskerville (where are found the frozen bodies of "Mary Shellby, Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, Doyle, Chandler, Poe..."). Dec 87 #5 Discovered by Jon Lellenberg: BRITAIN: THE QUEEN, CRICKET, SHERLOCK HOLMES, AND OTHER THINGS INDUBITABLY BRITISH (Phil- adelphia: Running Press, 1987; 175 pp., $22.50); edited by Norman Kolpas and profusely illustrated, with most of the photographs in full color. Sherlock Holmes appears in Tim Heald's two-page article on "Unconventional Sleuths". Available for $24.00 postpaid from the publisher (125 South 22nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103). Quotations from the Canon appear as chapter headings in the TSO EXTENSIONS PRIMER published by IBM in Sept. 1987. This is a 156-page explanation of IBM's Time Sharing Option Extensions (described by IBM as "an option of the MVS operating system that allows users to interactively share computer time and resources"). Completists can consult their IBM representatives to see about getting a copy of the primer (and, presumably, a computer system on which to interactively share computer time and resources). Keith Paulison ("Mr. John Scott Eccles") died on July 20. He was one of the early members of The Scandalous Bohemians of New Jersey. Sean M. Wright and The Non-Canonical Calabashes of Los Angeles suggest that you plan ahead, for a tour of England to celebrate the centenary of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES in Sept. and Oct. 1989. THE LADIES HOLMES COMPANION: A CALENDAR FOR 1988 has arrived from Harpies Bizarre. Compiled by Pat Moran, Evelyn Herzog, Mary Ellen Rich, and Linda Patterson (and available for $10.00 postpaid from the publisher, Box 854, Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02142), the calendar honors ladies Canonical and non-Canonical, ranging from Fanny Brice ("I may be a bad woman, but I'm awful good company") to Mrs. Patrick Campbell ("marriage is the deep, deep peace of the double bed after the hurly-burly of the chaise longue"). More news from Phyllis Brown about Bouchercon XIX, scheduled for Oct. 7-9, 1988, in San Diego. The guest of honor will be Charlotte MacLeod, the toastmaster will be Robert Barnard, and the fan guest of honor will be Bruce Taylor. There will be three-track programming, and the dealer room (30 dealers at 48 tables) is already sold out. Early registration (through Feb. 15) is $25.00 (then $30.00, and $35.00 at the door if registration has not been closed); supporting membership is $10.00 (you receive the program book, signed by guests of honor and many of the participating authors). Write to Bouchercon XIX, c/o Grounds for Murder, 2707 Congress Street, San Diego, CA 92110. THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY MAP (Los Angeles: Aaron Blake, 1987; $4.95) is nicely done: the 26-by-21-inch folded sheet displays maps of England and London, Canonical illustrations by Jim Wolnick, all in color, and a border message in dancing men (with one minor error). The map is part of a series that includes THE RAYMOND CHANDLER MYSTERY MAP OF LOS ANGELES, THE ERNEST HEMINGWAY ADVENTURE MAP OF THE WORLD, and THE IAN FLEMING THRILLER MAP. The publisher's address is 9854 Vidor Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90035. Reported: CRIME AND MYSTERY: THE 100 BEST BOOKS, by H.R.F. Keating (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1987; 219 pp., $15.95); not yet seen, so I don't know which (if any) of the Canonical titles are included. Dec 87 #6 The French have not neglected the centenary: Le Monde published a long article by Christilla Pelle-Dou‰l on Dec. 18 celebrating "L'homme qui tua Conan Doyle" with an interview with Anthony Howlett and a discussion of Sherlock Holmes' world-wide admirers. "'Les Americains sont un peu trop fanatiques,' soupire M. Howlett, qui pleure encore l'adhesion de Winston Churchill aux Baker Street Irregulars, bien avant l'apparition de la societe anglaise." The article also lists many of the Sherlockian societies, including "la Societe des patients negliges du docteur Watson," "Le Tra-la-la-lira-lira lay," "les Aristocrates celibataires," "la Societe des femmes qui attendent un mari holmesian," "les Plongeurs de la falaise de Reichenbach," and "le Club des violons de cremone," most of which seem to sound much more dignified in French. Just issued in Britain by That's Entertainment Records: SHERLOCK HOLMES, an evocative recording of music composed and conducted by Patrick Gowers for the Granada television series. There are 19 tracks (including "Old Sherman's Dog Toby" and "River Chase" from "The Sign of Four"), and the album jacket is nicely decorated with color scenes from the series. The recording is available on a stereo record (TER 1136), compact disc (CDTER 1136), and cassette (ZCTER 1136). No word yet on an American distributor, but it's well worth tracking down from your British correspondents. Herman Beerman has given his Sherlock Holmes collection to the Athenaeum of Philadelphia (on East Washington Square); the Athenaeum will have a S'ian exhibition from Jan. 4 to Feb. 4. The BBC had much to say about Sherlock Holmes in December, with six pages of articles accompanying a fine Sherlockian cover on the Dec. 5-11 issue of Radio Times, which included a "Sherlock Holmes Competition" offering five first-prize six-night Swiss holidays "at the comfortable Sherpa Hotel at Meiringen close by the infamous falls" to those who answer correctly six rather elementary questions (including one about Holmes and one about Conan Doyle) and who provide the best answers (no more than 20 words) to the tie- breaker: "If Sherlock Holmes were practising today, which 20th century invention would help him most, and why?" On Dec. 6, BBC Radio 4 rebroadcast Susan Marling's 40-minute report on The Sherlock Holmes Society of London's tour to Switzerland. On Dec. 8, the BBC-2 television series "Food and Drink" featured an interview with Mrs. Hudson, who demonstrated Sherlock Holmes' favorite recipe for plum duff. On Dec. 11, BBC-2 aired Basil Rathbone's "The Hound of the Baskervilles", and their television series "Out of Court" had Holmesian touches ("*The Hound of the Baskervilles* may be fictional, but for more than 300 children mauled by savage dogs every year, the horror is all-too-real"). And the 70-minute documentary "The Case of Sherlock Holmes" was broadcast by BBC-2 on Dec. 10, produced by David Pearson and narrated by Tim Pigott- Smith, with discussion of the world-wide devotion exemplified by the annual re-dedication (if that's the proper term) of the Memorial Moriarty Manure Pile. This marked the 16th annual assembly in Moriarty; according to American press reports, Keith Jameson was unable to supply droppings from his pet iguana, but there was enough exotic excrement from the coyote and longhorn steer to bid farewell to the spirit of Professor Moriarty.