Jan 94 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press This scuttlebutt is now also available in bits and bytes, on the Internet, without charge (and without illustrations), to members of The Hounds of the Internet, which is an electronic society for people who have computers and modems and telephones, or access to them and to the Internet. The society now has about 115 members, and it is easy to join (the list is maintained by Alan Block, and you can send an e-mail message to blocka@beloit.edu and state in the text: subscribe hounds). Robert F. Fleissner's essay "Did Not T. H. Huxley's 'Piece of Chalk' Leave Its Mark on the Canon?" discusses some possible connections between Huxley and Holmes, in the fall-winter 1993 issue of Clues: A Journal of Detection (Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press, Bowling Green, OH 43403; $7.50). "You Have Been in Afghanistan, I Perceive." is the title of Thaddeus Holt's intriguing article in the winter 1994 issue of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. Thad's conclusion is that the fatal battle of Maiwand provided Conan Doyle with the names of both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. And MHQ is far more than a magazine: each hard-bound issue offers 112 pages of fine articles and illustrations. $60 a year (back issues cost $20 each plus shipping); Box 597, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0597 (800-827-1218). More first day covers for the British "Sherlock Holmes" set are available, from Benham (A. Buckingham), Benham House, The Bayle, Folkestone, Kent CT20 1SD, England. A set of five single-stamp covers, with different postmarks and different full-color Granada photograph on silken fabric, costs L12.50, and the set of stamps is available on two different covers with postmarks honoring Granada, at L4.95 each (possibly still available signed by Jeremy Brett, at L8.99 each). Postage costs L1.00 extra, and credit-card orders are welcome. Mark Alberstat has a few copies left of his 1994 Sherlockian Calendar with illustrations from The Strand Magazine, and with William S. Baring-Gould's dates for the cases; 5 Lorraine Street, Dartmouth, NS B3A 2B9, Canada, and the cost (postpaid) is US$12.00. Baker Street Miscellanea began publishing in Apr. 1975, founded by William D. Goodrich, John Nieminski, and Donald K. Pollock (who modestly described themselves as "editorial staff"). Their stated goal was "a periodic unpre- tentious mini-anthology, the best of the new spiced with a goodly dollop of the old, the rare and the little known, each issue a diverting mixture of odds and ends which complement rather than duplicate the more substantial fare of senior publications in the field," and they certainly succeeded, as demonstrated by the fact that BSM now itself is one of the senior, as well as one of the best, Sherlockian periodicals. And Don Pollock, now formally the editor, has announced that BSM will cease publication soon, likely with issue #76, because it is becoming harder and harder to maintain a backlog of material that meets the high standards set by those who have contributed to the magazine over the years. And those standards have been high, as the readers of BSM know well, and as shown by the fact that its circulation of more than 450 makes BSM one of the half-dozen most-widely-read Sherlockian periodicals published in English. Don and his colleagues merit our thanks. Jan 94 #2 The birthday festivities in New York were (as always) enjoyable and entertaining, and the wintry weather less so (Richard Shull suggested at the Saturday cocktail party that the weather outside reminded him of the Donner Party, although the food was better) (and someone asked, "How do you know?"). Thursday's informal events included the annual Chris- topher Morley Walk arranged by Allen Mackler and Charlie Shields (this year with a guided tour of the Woolworth Building) and the Aunt Clara Sing at O'Lunney,s Steak House. Friday's schedule began with the lavish Mrs. Hudson Breakfast at the Hotel Algonquin and continued with the William Gillette Luncheon at Moran's Chel- sea, with honors paid to Gillette and Edith Meiser (with excerpts from her unfinished stage play "The Sign of the Four" performed by Paul Singleton, Sarah Montague Joffe, and Andrew Joffe). And the day continued with Otto Penzler's traditional hospitality (and Sherlockian books) at an open house at the Mysterious Bookshop. The Baker Street Irregulars gathered at 24 Fifth Avenue, where *The* Woman was Theresa Thomalen, who was toasted by Bill Schweickert during the pre- dinner cocktail party and then departed to dine at the National Arts Club with other ladies who have received that honor. The BSI's agenda featured the usual toasts and traditions, and Bruce Montgomery's melodic tribute to his grand-aunt Clara and to his father, and then focused on 60 years of BSI history, including George Fletcher's anecdotal history of The Baker Street Journal, a joint presentation by Susan Rice and Mickey Fromkin of some of the better Irregular poetry, Steve Rothman's discussion of the very early meetings of the BSI, and reminiscences of the annual dinners of the 1950s by David Weiss (who has been attending the annual dinners for more than 40 years). Bill Schweickert's own poetic birthday tribute to the Master ended the historic and historical festivities. Irregular Shillings and Investitures were given to Bruce Montgomery ("The Red Circle"), Peter J. Crupe ("The Noble Bachelor"), Mickey Fromkin ("The Missing Three-Quarter"), Ruthann Stetak ("The Camberwell Poisoning Case"), Geoffrey Stavert ("The Shingle of Southsea"), Bill Vande Water ("An Enlar- ged Photograph"), Don Izban ("Market Street"), Tom Joyce ("A Yellow-Backed Novel"), Hirotaka Ueda ("Japanese Armor"), Thomas Utecht ("Arthur Charpen- tier"), and Francine Swift ("The Wigmore Street Post Office"). Eleanor O'Connor was awarded the Queen Victoria Medal in recognition of her many years of assistance to the BSI at the annual dinners, and Don Redmond (who is almost ready to publish a new index to the Baker Street Journal updated through 1993) received the BSI's Two-Shilling Award. The Fortescue Symposium (sponsored by The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, The Priory Scholars of New York, and The Montague Street Lodgers of Brook- lyn), also was convened Friday evening, at the St. Moritz Hotel, moderated by Allan Devitt and Kate Karlson and with a program of toasts, songs, and presentations by Marilyn MacGregor on "Plumming Sherlock Holmes" (exploring Sherlockian allusions in the writings of P. G. Wodehouse), Patricia Guy on "Victorian Medicinal Imbibing" (and it was considerable), and B.J. Rahn on "Dorothy L. Sayers and Sherlock Holmes: The French Connection" (in which she revealed that Sayers was indeed the issue of a liaison between Sherlock and Irene). Jan 94 #3 And on Saturday morning the huckster room at the Algonquin (aka Covent Garden West) was well attended, as was the BSI's Satur- day-afternoon cocktail party at 24 Fifth Avenue, where the agenda included Jon Lellenberg and Clint Gould's "March of Time" report on the history of the BSI, a performance by Paul Singleton and Philip Brogdon of an excerpt from Jeremy Paul's play "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes", poetic reports by Al Rosenblatt and Marilyn McKay on the events of the previous evening, the award of an Irregular Shilling and Investiture to Catherine Cooke ("The Book of Life"), the usual fast-and-furious auction (raising a generous $380 for the Dr. John H. Watson Fund), and a warm tribute to Tom Stix delivered by Bob Thomalen. And the Chisholm Gallery stayed open after the party, so that visitors could view Steven Emmons' new Sherlockian posters. The Dr. John H. Watson Fund offers financial assistance to all Sherlockians (membership in the BSI or the ASH is not required) who might otherwise not be able to participate in the weekend's festivities. A carefully anonymous John H. Watson presides over the fund and welcomes contributions, which can be made by checks payable to John H. Watson and mailed (without return any address on the envelope) to Dr. Watson, c/o Thomas L. Stix, Jr., who will forward the checks unopened. Dr. Watson will acknowledge your generosity, and Tom's address is 34 Pierson Avenue, Norwood, NJ 07648. Other news from the birthday festivities: George A. Vanderburgh distributed (on behalf of a society called The Retired Colonels) a floppy-disk edition of Mark Twain's A DOUBLE-BARRELLED DETECTIVE STORY that contained more news of Ron De Waal's THE UNIVERSAL SHERLOCK HOLMES, which (as noted earlier) is scheduled to be published on May 22, 1994 (the deadline for orders is Mar. 15). The new information is that the bibliography will have a "selective concordance" with about 5,000 different words, and those words will include the last names of all the purchasers of the set; George also has asked for nominations (by Mar. 15) of your favorite words, to be included, with entry numbers, in the selective concordance. And George has announced that after May he will take orders for a second printing, that will be priced at least 50% more than the $100 cost (plus postage) of the first printing. George's address is: Box 204, Shelburne, Ont. L0N 1S0, Canada. And Julie and Al Rosenblatt will present a four-day mini-course on Sherlock Holmes at Vassar College on July 10-15, 1994 (Sunday evening through Friday morning counts as four days in the Hudson Valley). The mini-course is open to all, and additional information is available from Maryann Bruno, Vassar College, Conferences and Summer Programs, Box 77, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. And (plan ahead) the Third Occasional Sherlockian Cruise will sail on June 17, 1995, from Fort Lauderdale on the MV Zenith. Seven days, with stops at Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman Island, Cozumel, and Key West, and with a two-day Sherlockian symposium en route. Holmes at His Zenith (Box 96, Norwood, NJ 07648) is the contact, and enquiries are welcome. On Nov. 21 and 28, 1982, "The Jeffersons" on CBS-TV involved a "mystery- writers cruise" that included Sherlockian allusions. If you have an off- the-air videocassette of the second episode, please tell Jennie C. Paton (206 Loblolly Lane, Statesboro, GA 30458). And Jennie also would be glad to hear about any other Sherlockian episode of "The Jeffersons". Jan 94 #4 HOLY BLOOD: AN INSIDE VIEW OF THE AFGHAN WAR (Westport: Green- wood, 1993; 248 pp., $55.00) is Paul Overby's account of the most recent hostilities in that still-violent land, where he fought briefly on the side of the rebels, and he includes a passing mention of an earlier Afghan veteran: Dr. Watson. Peggy Nelson died on Sept. 20. She was toasted by the Baker Street Irregu- lars as *the* woman in 1967, to the delight of her husband, old Irregular Jim Nelson, and joined us again for the toast to all of *the* women at the BSI's cocktail party in 1989, and she will be missed by her many friends. "'Come, Watson, come!' cries Sherlock Holmes, 'the game is afoot' and so they leap into a hansom cab and rattle through foggy Victorian London to Paddington or Waterloo or indeed to No. 221B Baker Street, where the gaso- gene burns in the corner, a put-upon but devoted Mrs. Hudson prepares bacon and eggs and a mysterious visitor awaits them." From the flier prepared by the Folio Society last year to publicize their set of the short stories. I don't recall that anyone has wondered (at least in print) about that lovely description, but Alan Olding does now, in the latest issue of News from the Diggings. "The gasogene burns in the corner?" he asks. "Does the tantalus also sing in its little cage?" The Folio Society completes its version of the Canon with SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE NOVELS, a four-volume boxed set with illustrations by Francis Mosley and a binding uniform with the five-volume set of the short stories published in 1993. The set will be published in April at $149.00, but the Society offers a pre-publication price of $124.00 postpaid to its members and to readers of this newsletter if you order before Mar. 31. They take plastic, and their toll-free number is 800-688-6247, or you can order by mail from Folio Books at 2323 Randolph Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001; to qualify for the discount price, mention "Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press" and pay them $124.00. Tom Rieschick offers an illustrated flier for his attractive prints of Sherlock Holmes (as portrayed by Rathbone and Brett), and Watson and Moriarty, and Hercule Poirot, and others, and he accepts commissions; his address is 179 Gold Kettle Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. THE DISNEY VILLAIN, written by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas (New York: Hyperion, 1993; 232 pp., $45.00), is a well-illustrated book written by two of the "Nine Old Men" who were Disney's head animators for more than forty years. The excellent coverage runs from a surly wooden-legged pirate in the "Alice" series in the 1920s to Jafar in "Alladin", and does not neglect the infamous Ratigan in "The Great Mouse Detective". HarperAudio has issued THE STORIES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, VOL. 1 (with Basil Rathbone's fine reading of "The Speckled Band" and "The Final Problem") at $5.99. The cassette is a reissue of the 1963 recording from Caedmon, and it would be nice indeed if other Rathbone readings are reissued as well. Jan 94 #5 Further to earlier reports (Sep 90 #3; Jul 92 #4) on plans for an animated film of "Cats" (which one hopes would include the infamous Macavity), the latest issue of Anglofile reports that Andrew Lloyd Webber has decided to produce the film himself, and that the playwright Tom Stoppard has been recruited to write a screenplay. Anglofile is a monthly newsletter that offers detailed coverage of British entertainment; the cost is $12.00 a year (Box 33515, Decatur, GA 30033). Listen for Pleasure (EMI) offers boxed two-cassette sets of readings of the four long stories: "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Sign of Four" read by Tony Britton, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Hugh Burden, and "The Valley of Fear" by Martin Jarvis. The stories have been abridged to fit the two-hour format, but they are read well, with excellent voices; the first three are reissues, but Jarvis' "Valley" is newly recorded (1992). The Parallel Case of St. Louis have prepared a new cloisonne pin, similar to their 1991 Sherlock Holmes pin but showing Dr. Watson (patterned after Nigel Bruce). $13.00 postpaid from Joseph J. Eckrich, 914 Oakmoor Drive, Fenton, MO 63026. The Serpentine Muse is the quarterly journal of The Adventur- esses of Sherlock Holmes, and it is always of interest. The current issue (winter 1993) offers Dorothy K. Stix's thoughts on what it's like "Being Married to the Head of the BSI", and subscriptions cost $10.00 a year, from Evelyn A. Herzog, 360 West 21st Street #5-A, New York, NY 10011-3310. "The whole trouble in trying to write on any aspect of the Canon," Tupper Bigelow once suggested, in an early contribution to our literature, "is that in your reading of it, for the particular purpose you have in mind, you become so fascinated with the story (no matter how often you may have read it before) that unconsciously you forget what it is you are looking for, and before you know it, you have finished the story, having made no notes at all, and then have to go back and try to read it all over again with an attempted deliberate detachment that I have never yet found to be completely possible." THE BAKER STREET BRIEFS, by S. Tupper Bigelow (Tor- onto: Metropolitan Toronto Library, 1993), in 168 pages of selections from his Sherlockian writings, easily shows that he was far too modest about his scholarly skills. The cost is $15.95 postpaid, from George A. Vanderburgh, Box 204, Shelburne, Ont. L0N 1S0, Canada. What on Earth (2451 Enterprise East Parkway, Twinsburg, OH 44087) continues to offer Sherlockiana in their mail order catalogs, including a 20-oz hand- painted porcelain Sherlock Stein (item G1869) at $129.95. THE REALLY RAGGED SHAW: BEING THE EXPANDED RAGGED SHAW (Dubuque: Gasogene Press, 1994; 161 pp., $16.95) is David L. Hammer's birthday tribute to John Bennett Shaw, offering splendid examples of the imagination and inspiration and humor to be found in the quizzes devised by the Sage of Santa Fe. John did not rest from his labors when THE RAGGED SHAW appeared in 1987 with 45 quizzes, and there now are 59 quizzes to bemuse and bedevil all who claim true knowledge of the Canon. The publisher's address is Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004. Recommended. Jan 94 #6 The August Derleth Society continues to honor the creator of Solar Pons (and many other fine works), most recently with A DERLETH COLLECTION (Sauk City: Geranium Press, 1993; 61 pp., $17.00 post- paid), which offers a variety of hitherto unreprinted material, including his comments in the July 1951 issue of the Unicorn Mystery Book Club News when THE MEMOIRS OF SOLAR PONS was one of the club's monthly selections. The book is available from the society, at Box 481, Sauk City, WI 53583. Nate the Great continues his sleuthing, deerstalkered and assisted by his dog Sludge, in the amusing children's series written by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and illustrated by Marc Simont, from the Delacorte Press. NATE THE GREAT AND THE PILLOWCASE (1993; 48 pp., $12.95) and NATE THE GREAT AND THE MUSHY VALENTINE (1994; 44 pp., $12.95) are the latest titles, suggested for young readers aged 6-9. IT WAS A DARK & STORMY NIGHT: A POP-UP MYSTERY WHODUNIT, designed by Keith Moseley and with pictures by Linda Birkinshaw (New York: Dial Books, 1991; $12.95), is an amusing children's book, with Inspector Derek Dog appearing in Sherlockian costume. The J. Peterman Co. (2444 Palumbo Drive, Lexington, KY 40509) offers its Owner's Manual #27, with a wide range of entertainingly-described items, one of which is the "most fiendishly intelligent hat ever designed" (an Irish tweed deerstalker) now discounted to $37.00. Spotted by Jennie Paton: SOCCER CIRCUS, by Jamie Gilson, with illustrations by Dee deRosa (New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1993; 177 pp., $12.00); an entertaining book for older grade-school readers, with Hobie Hanson and his soccer team attending a soccer tournament, which neatly happens to coincide with a meeting of WORMS (World Organization of Readers of Mysteries), which allows Hobie to meet a grandfatherly and deerstalkered mystery readers, and to help solve a mystery, and to impersonate a penguin. Those who know Michael Harrison only as an author of Sherlockian books and as a fine raconteur will learn much more about the man and his work in Tina Rhea's THE BOOKS OF MICHAEL HARRISON (Greenbelt: Firecat Press, 1994; 47 pp., $5.00 postpaid). This is an annotated bibliography of Michael's 64 published books, with comment and occasional tales-out-of-school by Michael and by Tina, and with a fine portrait of Michael by Stephanie Hawks. The book is available from Tina at 3-E Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770-1969. William Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes" will be performed from June 18 to Oct. 15 at the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario. The box office has a toll-free number (800-267-4759); they take plastic. The Bootmakers of Toronto and An Irish Secret Society at Buffalo are planning a theater party on July 2, with lunch, the play, and souvenirs; details are available from George A. Vanderburgh, Box 204, Shelburne, Ont. L0N 1S0, Canada. Al Rosenblatt has received a report that the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok has an "authors' residence" decorated with photographs of famous authors who have (allegedly) stayed at the hotel and found inspiration there. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of those authors. Along with Tolstoy, Gorky, and Dostoyevsky, and Gertrude Stein, and Victor Hugo, and other improbables. Jan 94 #7 Simon & Schuster's audiocassette THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES #23 ($12.00) offers two more of the fine old radio shows from scripts by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher, with new introductions by Harry Bartell (who was one of the announcers in the 1940s). "The Gunpowder Plot" (5 Nov 45) stars Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and is already avail- able on records and cassettes (with lower fidelity). The new-to-audio "The Babbling Butler" (27 Jan 47) has Nigel Bruce and Tom Conway (as Watson and Holmes, with top billing going to Bruce). A special Sherlock Holmes cover was issued on Jan. 8 at "Stamp Expo '94" in Long Beach, with a silhouette cachet and commemorative postmark. A few of the covers still may be available from the International Stamp Collectors Society, Box 854, Van Nuys, CA 91408; $4.95 postpaid. Recent Sherlockian comic books, reported by Ralph Hall and Jim Suszynski: Muppet Babies (Dec. 1993) from Harvey Classics, reprinting "The Strange Case of the Missing Mermaid Costume". Walt Disney's Donald & Mickey (Sept. 1993) from Gladstone, reprinting "Mickey and the Sleuth: The Case of the Wax Dummy"; (Jan. 1994) reprinting "The Case of the Pea Soup Burglaries"; and (Mar. 1994) reprinting "The Great Winks Robbery". Walt Disney's Comics & Stories (Feb. 1994) from Disney, with "Inspector Clew Gluesome: Synthetic Lightning". Roger Zelazny's A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER (New York: William Morrow/ AvoNova, 1993; 280 pp., $18.00) is an imaginative blend of fantasy, horror, and humor, with thoroughly appropriate illustrations by Gahan Wilson. The story is told by a dog named Snuff who, when he isn't involved in calculat- ing where the world will end, is a watch-dog for his knife-wielding master Jack not far from London, where they encounter an intriguing number of the more well-known characters from the various literatures that Zelazny knows so well. The Great Detective is one of those characters, otherwise unnamed but easily identified, both from his actions in the story and from the art- work (including Wilson's color portrait on the back of the dust jacket). Plan ahead: the fourth annual Mid-Atlantic Mystery Book Fair and Convention will be held at the Holiday Inn (Independence Mall) in Philadelphia on Nov. 4-6, 1994. Membership is limited to 400, full registration costs $40.00, and you can contact Deen Kogan at Detecto-Mysterioso Books, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147. Shots in the Dark ("Britain's only Crime Writing Convention") will be held in Nottingham on June 10-12. Nottingham also will host Bouchercon 26, from Sept. 28 through Oct. 1, 1995, with Colin Dexter and James Ellroy as guests of honour. More information is available from Broadway Media Centre, at 14 Broad Street, Nottingham NG1 3AL, England. It's always interesting to watch Sherlockian actors do other things. Ian Richardson (Sherlock Holmes) and Colin Jeavons (Insp. Lestrade) have been on display in "To Play the King" on "Masterpiece Theatre" on PBS-TV. And in the second episode (broadcast on Jan. 23), Jeavons (Tim Stamper) said, "I'm a notorious snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." Whom is he quoting? Jan 94 #8 Who claimed to be a "snapper-up of unconsidered trifles" before Colin Jeavons did? Not Sherlock Holmes, although it does sound like something he would have said, sufficiently so that I couldn't imagine why I wasn't able to find that phrase in Bob Stek's electronic Canon. The answer (with thanks to Jerry Bangham) is that William Shakespeare gave the words to Autolycus ("a rogue") in "The Winter's Tale" (Act IV, Scene iii). Vincent Starrett later put the phrase on the title page of his AUTOLYCUS IN LIMBO (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1943), a collection of poetry that includes his wonderful sonnet "221B" and other poems with Sherlockian allusions. Reported by Kevin Parker: John Peel, the author of WHERE IN THE U.S.A. IS CARMEN SANDIEGO? (Apr 92 #4), is now writing EVOLUTION, a novel in a soon- to-start DOCTOR WHO: THE MISSING ADVENTURES series. Tom Baker's Doctor and his companion Sarah Jane will meet Sherlock Holmes, and the book is due to be released in September (with Baker in Sherlockian costume on the cover). A Canadian edition has been reported of June Thomson's THE SECRET JOURNALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (McClelland & Stewart, CA$29.99). Also Nicholas Meyer's THE CANARY TRAINER (Penguin, CA$24.99) And THE OXFORD BOOK OF VILLAINS, edited by John Mortimer (Nov 92 #2) is now available as a paperback (Oxford University Press, $11.95); Prof. Moriarty is present, in a reprint of T. S. Eliot's poem "Macavity: The Mystery Cat". "Genius's residence" was the clue in the crossword puzzle in the N.Y. Times Magazine on Jan. 2. And the answer was: "Sherlock's home". Tim O'Connor reports that videocassettes with the edited two-hour versions of "The Leading Lady" and "Incident at Victoria Falls" (the 1992 television films starring Christopher Lee as Holmes) are now deeply discounted: $9.99 each (at EP speed) from Critic's Choice Video (800-367-7765). Dick Lesh reports that the 300-piece jigsaw puzzle showing "The Great Mouse Detective" issued by Western Publishing at $5.99 (Dec 93 #5) also is avail- able (but as "Poster Puzzle") for $7.99 (add $4.50 shipping) from Donavan Distributing, 732 Clinton Street, Waukesha, WI 53186 (800-236-7123). According to my not-always-infallible records, you all now should have my seasonal souvenir for 1994 ("CUSHLAMOCHREE!"), received during the birthday festivities in New York, or since, or with this mailing. If I managed to miss anyone, please let me know. And a few commercials: the revised 15-page list of Investitured Irregulars, Two-Shilling Awards, *The* Women, and the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes costs $1.10 postpaid. The 70-page list of 632 Sherlockian societies, with names and addresses for contacts for the 386 active societies, costs $3.55 postpaid. A run of address labels for 329 individual contacts (recommended if you wish to avoid making duplicate mailings to people who are contacts for more than one society) costs $10.25 postpaid. Checks payable to Peter E. Blau, please. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Telephone: 202-338-1808 Internet: pblau@cap.gwu.edu Feb 94 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press A new issue (#26) of The Tonga Times has arrived from Carol Wenk, who has reactivated The Mini-Tonga Society, which the late Dee Snyder founded for creators and keepers of Sherlockian miniatures. Membership costs $6.00 a year (with three issues of the newsletter, and back issues are available), and Carol's address is Box 770554, Lakewood, OH 44107. Oliver Smith died on Jan. 23. He was a co-director of the American Ballet Theatre for more than 35 years, and was best known as an award-winning set designer on Broadway, and in opera and films. His sets were an important feature of Broadway shows such as "West Side Story", "My Fair Lady", "Hello Dolly", "Camelot", and "Baker Street". Reported by Ralph Hall: ELEMENTARY DOCTOR WATSON! is a new CD and cassette starring country artist Doc Watson, issued by Sugar Hill Records; none of the tracks appear to be Sherlockian, and the contents are similar to, but not the same as, the phonograph record issued by Poppy Industries in 1972. Star Trek: The Next Generation #26 (Feb. 1994) has an interview with Alex Singer, director of "Ship in a Bottle" (which he compares to Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author"). The "Great Illustrated Classics" series from Baronet Press now includes THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, edited by Malvina G. Vogel and illustrated by Brendan Lynch (look for it on bookshop bargain tables); this is a reissue of the paperback from Playmore Inc. (Mar 85 #4). COOKIE MCCORKLE AND THE CASE OF THE CROOKED KEY and COOKIE MCCORKLE AND THE CASE OF THE MYSTERY MAP are the latest titles in Sharon Cadwallader's nice series of juveniles (ages 7 to 9) about a young girl who is fascinated by Sherlock Holmes, and has named her dog Moriarty, and solves mysteries; from Avon Books (Young Camelot), $3.50 each. The eighth volume of Beeman's Christmas Annual offers 32 pages of Sherlock- ian scholarship from past meetings of The Occupants of the Empty House; the cost is $11.00 postpaid, from the society (105 Wilcox, Zeigler, IL 62999). The BBC's six-hour dramatization of George Eliot's "Middlemarch" will air on "Masterpiece Theatre" starting on Apr. 10, according to the latest issue of Anglofile, and with some fine actors, including Robert Hardy and Patrick Malahide. Anglofile is a monthly newsletter that offers detailed coverage of British entertainment; $12.00 a year (Box 33515, Decatur, GA 30033). The third issue of Troy Taylor's The Whitechapel Gazette is at hand, with 58 pages of nicely illustrated articles on Conan Doyle and Houdini, Basil Rathbone's "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror", a possible identifi- cation of Cheeseman's near Horsham, and much more. Troy's address is 805 West North, Decatur, IL 62522, and the cost is $6.00 postpaid. Robert W. Wright, who is Branch Manager at the U.S. Colonial Office of the Franco-Midland Hardware Co., reports that the society is planning a meeting at the Gillette Castle in Hadlyme, Conn., some time during the summer. If you would like more information about the event, his address is R.R. 3, Box 401, Myerstown, PA 17067. Feb 94 #2 The winter 1993 issue of Scarlet Street offers tributes to the late Vincent Price, Richard Valley's discussion of Rathbone's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (with excerpts from alternate versions of the script), interviews with Ida Lupino and Terry Kilburn (both of whom were in the film), and David Stuart Davies' report on Granada's most recent work (with production stills from "The Red Circle" and "The Three Gables"). $20.00 a year (four issues), from Scarlet Street Inc., Box 604, Glen Rock, NJ 07452. David has reported in a later letter that Jeremy Brett is in the final stages of filming "The Cardboard Box", and that the new shows will be broadcast in Britain beginning Feb. 28. Eleri Arden's SHERLOCK HOLMES OBSERVED, OR WATSON TV TONIGHT is a 32-page guide to the Granada series, offering brief discussion of each program and notes on their Canonical anomalies, published in 1993 by the Teapot Press. Cheryl Hurd, the proprietor of the press, has herself written pamphlets on DRESSING UP VICTORIAN (36 pp.) and COME TO TEA! (40 pp.), both interesting guides for those who wish to sample or recreate turn-of-the-century life- styles. The pamphlets are available from Classic Specialties, Box 19058, Cincinnati, OH 45219; $6.00 each postpaid. Marina Stajic found a nicely Sherlockian sign on a door of the Institut de Police Scientifique et de Criminologie in Lausanne. Andrew Jay Peck reports for the completists that Nicholas Meyer's THE CANARY TRAINER, published at $19.95, is now available from the Book-of-the-Month Club at $16.95 (and when one adds in postage, there isn't much discount). David L. Hammer's investigation of THE 22ND MAN: IN RE SHERLOCK HOLMES: GERMAN AGENT (Jul 89 #5) has a sequel: THE QUEST: BEING THE SEARCH FOR THE TREASURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE 22ND MAN, by Angus Maclaren (Gasogene Press, 1993; 125 pp., $15.95). Maclaren, in a style remarkably similar to Hammer's, reports on his successful pursuit of Holmes' own case reports, which are scheduled for publi- cation later this year. THE QUEST is well-illustrated by photographs taken in Germany, England, and Switzerland, and is available from the publisher (Box 1041, Dubuque, IA 52004); $18.70 postpaid. The winter 1994 issue of Varieties of Ash is available, with Francine and Wayne Swift's explanation of the difficulties of preparing and displaying properly a flag that actually is a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes, and David R. McCallister's suggestion that the villains of half a dozen different stories were all members of an "invisible gang", and other Sherlockian scholarship. $12.00 a year (two issues), from Susan E. Dahlinger, 758 Third Street, Secaucus, NJ 07094. Frank Darlington reports that the Johnson Smith Company (which has supplied generations of customers with sneezing powder, whoopee cushions, and rubber chickens, and other neat stuff) still offers woolen deerstalkers at $16.95 in their mail-order catalog (Box 25500, Bradenton, FL 34206). Feb 94 #3 David Rush has provided a copy of a flier received from Malcolm Payne about The Conan Doyle (Crowborough) Establishment's plans for a series of limited-edition commemorative covers honoring the birthday of Sherlock Holmes, the death of Conan Doyle, the birth of Conan Doyle, and the cricket match in which Conan Doyle bowled W. G. Grace. Information on prices and payment is available from Richard Greep, The Limes, Eridge Road, Crowborough, East Sussex, England. Claude Akins died on Jan 27. He made his movie debut in 1953 as a sergeant in "From Here to Eternity" and went on to specialize in supporting roles in films and television, most recently as Teddy Roosevelt in "Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls" (1992). W. K. Dolls (6641 Backlick Road #206, Springfield, VA 22150) offers a color flier showing six different Sherlockian dolls designed by William Knoth and priced at $500 each (or $2,500 for all six). Further to Frank Darlington's report (Nov 93 #5) that the Oxford University Press is holding a drawing for a set of THE OXFORD SHERLOCK HOLMES signed by the editors, Barbara Roden notes that Wallace Robson died before proof sets were available, and that her husband Christopher has signed his books only for members of his family, so it is rather dubious that a signed set actually exists. Barbara also notes that space is still available at the meeting of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society in Toronto on Apr. 29-May 1, and that additional information is available from the society, at Ashcroft, 2 Abbotsford Drive, Penyffordd, Chester, Cheshire CH4 0JG, England. Virginia Lou Seay (Calhoun Book Store, Box 24552, Edina, MN 55424) offers sales-lists of in-print and out-of-print Sherlockian and Doylean magazines, books, audiocassettes, comic books, etc. The new catalog from Barnes & Noble (126 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011) offers Barnes & Noble reprint editions of THE LOST ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Ken Greenwald (first published in 1989, with 13 stories adapted from the Denis Green/Anthony Boucher scripts for the Rathbone radio series) at $4.98 (item E104047); DEATH LOCKED IN, edited by Douglas G. Greene and Robert C. S. Adey (an anthology of locked-room stories first published in 1987, with "The Lost Special") at $9.98 (item 1954635); and 100 DASTARDLY LITTLE DETECTIVE STORIES, edited by Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz, and Martin H. Greenberg (an anthology of short fiction that Richard Wein reports has reprints of at least seven Sherlockian parodies and pastiches) at $7.98 (item 1858729). Ralph Hall notes that the Mar. 1994 issue of Sesame Street Magazine has an illustration of Sherlock Hemlock in "I Can Follow Clues", and that there is an approving report from London on The Sherlock Holmes Museum and its just- opened Hudson's Restaurant in Victoria Magazine (Mar. 1994). And Mystery Forum Magazine #8 has Retta West Whinnery's "Forensic Firsts", quoting from H. M. Robinson's SCIENCE CATCHES THE CRIMINAL (New York: Blue Ribbon Books, 1939): "When Sherlock Holmes whipped out his magnifying glass to examine a flake of Latakia tobacco found on the Smyrna rug in the 'Boscombe Valley Affair', he became not merely a very charming character in detective fic- tion, but an exponent of a whole new way of looking at life." Feb 94 #4 MEG MACKINTOSH AND THE MYSTERY IN THE LOCKED LIBRARY (Boston: Little Brown, 1993; 44 pp., $13.95) is the latest in Lucinda Landon's imaginative solve-it-yourself mystery series for young readers; this time Meg and her brother Peter are racing the clock to find valuable Sherlockian treasure hidden in, and almost stolen from, the local library. The Northern Musgraves continue to publish interesting scholarship in The Ritual (two issues a year) and in The Musgrave Papers (an annual); a fine example (in the 1993 annual) is Richard Lancelyn Green's report on Conan Doyle's initial plans to end the Memoirs with "The Naval Treaty" (with "The Final Problem" having been added somewhat later), and on just who it was who first noticed the dual appearance of the famous mind-reading episode, and called it to the attention of the author and the publisher. Membership costs $32.00 a year (with airmail to the U.S.), from David Stuart Davies, Overdale, 69 Greenhead Road, Huddersfield, W. Yorks. HD1 4ER, England. "Back to Baker Street" is the formal title for the ten-day festival planned by the Sherlock Holmes Society of London from May 20 to May 30, with a wide variety of events, all open to Sherlockians and the general public; anyone planning to be in London on any of those days will surely find something of interest in the schedule, now available from Pamela Bruxner, St. Cuthburt's Cottage, 23 North Street, Barming, Maidstone, Kent ME16 9HE, England. Steve Robinson has a small supply of the smaller (4" x 4") Sherlock Holmes cigar-box labels, available for $16.00 postpaid. His address is 6980 South Bannock Street #3, Littleton, CO 80120 (303-794-9709). Chris Redmond's THE TIN DISPATCH-BOX: A COMPENDIUM OF THE UNPUBLISHED CASES OF MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES, first published in 1965 (when a great deal of S'ian scholarship was published in multi-colored hectograph), has been reprinted; it's a well-researched 32-page pamphlet, with two full-page illustrations by Jon Wilmunen, and the cost is US$7.00 postpaid from the author (at 523 Westfield Drive, Waterloo, Ont. N2T 2E1, Canada). Roger Johnson reports that the script for the play THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, written by J. E. Harold Terry and Arthur Rose for Eille Norwood and produced in London in 1923, has been published by Ian Henry at $61.00 post- paid (20 Park Drive, Romford RM1 4LH, England). Philip Weller's ELEMENTARY HOLMES: A POCKET REFERENCE GUIDE TO THE WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is $15.00 postpaid from Sherlock Publications (6 Bramham Moor, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire PO14 3RU, England). Anne Jordan's I LOOKED IN AT MECCA (a mono- graph on Holmes' visit) costs $6.00 postpaid (payment in currency, please); Fairbank, Beck Lane, Bingley, West Yorkshire, BD16 4DN, England. Jon Lellenberg reports that John Barrymore's film "Sherlock Holmes" (1922), seldom seen in theaters and never broadcast on television, will be one of the films in a retrospective of MGM silent films at the Film Forum in New York. They will be showing a print supplied by Turner Entertainment, so it may well be from the vaults, rather than the print reconstructed some years ago from bits and pieces found in the archives at George Eastman House in Rochester. The film will be screened three times on May 3; the Film Forum is at 209 West Houston Street (just south of Greenwich Village), and their box-office telephone number is 212-727-8110. Feb 94 #5 Jim Suszynski has spotted another Sherlockian children's book: SHERLOCK HOUND AND THE CASE OF THE FOUL SMELL, illustrated by Scott Ross "from the case files of Dr. Bulldog Watson" (Morris Plains: Uni- corn Publishing, 1993; 40 pp., $6.95); if you can't find it at Waldenbooks or other bookstores, the publisher's address is 120 American Road, Morris Plains, NJ 07950. Later: there's a second title available: SHERLOCK HOUND AND THE CASE OF THE MYSTERIOUS MISSING PUMPKIN. Bob Burr reports in a supplement to the Mar. 1994 issue of Plugs & Dottles that Kendall J. Pagan, the mysterious leader of the Reichenbachian Cliff Divers, has been merely missing, rather than deceased, and that a new issue of The Reichenbachian Cliff-Notes will is due in April. Plugs & Dottles is an interesting monthly, and costs $10.00 a year from Robert C. Burr, 4010 Devon Lane, Peoria, IL 61614. William Allen (602 West Houstonia, Royal Oak, MI 48073) offers a Sherlock Holmes Mouse Pad (that's something used by some computerized Sherlockians) in blue Lexan (8 x 9.5 in.) with a white S'ian design, for $12.95 postpaid. Harold and Teddie Niver's A SHERLOCKIAN SONGBOOK, first published in 1982, is still available, offering thirteen turn-of-the-century songs, with new Sherlockian lyrics (such as "On the Trail of the Fearsome Hound" and "Yes Sir, That's My Sherlock"); $10.00 postpaid from Harold E. Niver, 29 Wood- haven Road, Rocky Hill, CT 06067. A new supply of lapel pins for the Men on the Tor (Mar 93 #5) also is available, in case your checks were returned when the original supply was exhausted (or in case you weren't reading this newsletter then); also $10.00 postpaid, from the same address. Chuck Kovacic (14383-B Nordhoff Street, Panorama City, CA 91402-1927) will be happy to send a copy of his new sales-list of Sherlockian pins, posters, photographs, press kits, and the like. A subscriber reports an addition to the list of homosexual pornography with a Sherlockian theme: EXPOSED, by Aaron Travis (New York: Badboy/Masquerade, 1993; 177 pp.; $4.95); it's a collection of Travis' stories, including "The Adventure of the Ragged Youth" (with Holmes and Watson being thoroughly un- Canonical). Masquerade Books (801 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017) has a toll-free number (800-458-9640); $1.00 extra for shipping. IRENE'S LAST WALTZ (New York: Tom Dougherty/Forge, 1994; 480 pp., $22.95) is the fourth book in Carole Nelson Douglas' imaginative series about Irene Adler Norton and her friend Penelope Huxleigh, who this time investigate a murder at the Parisian establishment of Charles Worth, the king of couture, and then return to Prague for a second encounter with the King of Bohemia. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson make an appearance, but as usual the story is Irene's, and it is well told. The Mid-Atlantic Mystery Book Fair and Convention (in Philadelphia on Nov. 4-6, 1994) will feature publication of THE MID-ATLANTIC MYSTERY COOK BOOK (with recipes for suspenseful beginnings, mysterious main meals, villainous vegetables, sinister salads, and deadly desserts). Interested readers and writers are invited to submit their recipes, by May 31, to Deen Kogan, at the Society Hill Playhouse, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147. Feb 94 #6 VICTORIAN DETECTIVE STORIES is the Oxford University Press's title for the paperback edition of VICTORIAN TALES OF MYSTERY AND DETECTION, which was edited by Michael Cox and published in 1992 (Oct 93 #5); the anthology has 31 stories, with one from the Canon, as well as Conan Doyle's "The Lost Special", and the trade paperback costs $12.95. NATMEET is what Sherlockians in Australia call their national meeting of Sherlockian societies, and this year's NATMEET will be held on Aug. 6-7 in Toowoomba in Queensland, celebrating "The Empty House" and featuring the third annual Toowoomba Silver Blaze Race Day. Travelers from afar will be welcome, and details are available from Michael Farrell, 86 Bridge Street, Toowoomba, Q. 4350, Australia. There certainly is no shortage of roses in the Canon, but doves seem to be few and far between (one candidate is the "sucking dove" mentioned in "His Last Bow"). Roses and doves were both featured on this year's "love" stamps. Cate Pfeifer, who presides over a Sherlockian society called The Nocturnal Journalists of 131 Pitt Street (their motto being "si hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades") has kindly sent the second issue of the society's newsletter The Midnight Oil, with an imaginative outline for a "Multiple-Choice Sherlock Holmes Story" (you can ask Cate for your a copy, and her address is 3939 North Murray Avenue #402, Milwaukee, WI 53211). It is unlikely that there are many Sherlockians who are not aware of the contribution that The Strand Magazine made to ensuring the fame of Sherlock Holmes, but it is possible that only a few Sherlockians know that there was once also The New Strand, launched in 1961 in hopes that it could be worthy successor. Unfortunately, The New Strand lasted only 15 months, but every one of those 15 monthly issues had delightful articles on "Baker Street and Beyond", written by Lord Donegall. Don was the 6th Marquis of Donegall (a Marquis ranks just below a Duke), a wonderful Sherlockian, an enthusiastic collector, the editor for many years of The Sherlock Holmes Journal, and a fine writer. The Westminster Libraries and The Sherlock Holmes Society of London have recently published BAKER STREET AND BEYOND: ESSAYS ON SHERLOCK HOLMES, reprinting all of Don's articles from The New Strand, and (in full color) his spectacular Sherlockian series of Christmas cards. The cost is $35.00 postpaid (checks payable to City of Westminster, please), and orders can be sent to the Sherlock Holmes Collection, Marylebone Library, Maryle- bone Road, London NW1 5PS, England. Jim Duval has reported a set of "Peanuts" trading cards issued by ProSport Specialties. Card #25 shows the comic strip from Oct. 16, 1979, in which Charlie Brown buys Snoopy a new book. "How thoughtful!" Snoopy says, "This is one I hadn't heard of: 'The Hound of the Beaglevilles'." Charles Schulz has been using Sherlockian references at least since 1962, when Snoopy was shown with a deerstalker and pipe, about to track down some rabbits. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Telephone: 202-338-1808 Internet: pblau@cap.gwu.edu Mar 94 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press "People used to kill for *noble* reasons--for revenge or honor or to usurp a throne. Today, everyone lets it 'all hang out.'" His lip curled around the phrase disdainfully. "You can't build a believable mystery around sim- ple *scandal* for its own sake anymore. Can you *imagine* trying to write *A Scandal in Bohemia* today? Instead of hiring Sherlock Holmes to retrieve that picture of himself with Irene Adler, the king would probably be trying to peddle the negatives to *The National Enquirer*." Sigrid laughed. "And would probably be turned down because both parties in the picture were ful- ly clothed." Spotted by Tom O'Day in CORPUS CHRISTMAS, by Margaret Maron (New York: Doubleday, 1989); p. 176-176. The new Granada series began on ITV on Mar. 7, with "The Three Gables" and a story by Adrian Furness in TV Times (Mar. 5) that noted that Jeremy Brett was diagnosed as suffering from heart failure after collapsing during work on the show. "I have bounced back like Bambi," said Brett. "I'm as fit as a fiddle, though still a little fragile." Brett also said that these would be his final six films as Holmes, and he wants to celebrate them: "I've got think of a way of publicizing this series. Perhaps I could streak naked across Lord's cricket ground with S and H painted on my backside..." The series continued with "The Dying Detective" on Mar. 14, and "The Golden Pince-Nez" on Mar. 21 (with Frank Finlay as Sergei), and "The Red Circle" on Mar. 28. Press reviews have been mixed, with some comment on overacting and on over-the-top directing, and some reviews welcoming the chance to see more fine Sherlock Holmes stories. And informal comment from British users of the Internet was generally enthusiastic. Charles Gray (as Mycroft) got high marks as Mycroft in "The Golden Pince-Nez" (apparently Granada did not tell the press that this was the first show filmed, and that Mycroft subbed for Watson because Edward Hardwicke was still working on the film "Shadow- lands"). Edward Hardwicke's daughter Emma appeared as Dora in "The Three Gables". And the latest news from Britain was an article in the Sun (Mar. 25) with the headline TV SHERLOCK IN A MENTAL WARD, reporting that Jeremy Brett had been admitted to London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after breaking down with severe depression. The story noted that he had collapsed from serious heart problems last November during filming of the current Granada series, and that he had been using lithium since his nervous breakdown in 1986. Granada confirmed that Brett was hospitalized on Mar. 16, and that doctors are readjusting his medication for the treatment of depression. MITIGATED BLEAT is the title of the latest collection of Sherlockian verse from the pen of John Ruyle and the metal-and-ink of his Pequod Press. The 41 quartets are his "observations on HIS LAST BOW," and the cost is $35.00 (cloth) or $15.00 (paper) postpaid; you can order from the author at 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707-1521. Vinnie Brosnan has issued a grand tenth catalog from Sherlock in L.A. (1741 Via Allena, Oceanside, CA 92056); packed with Sherlockiana old and new, and with interesting articles by Michael Boss and John Ruyle, and a reprint of Ben Abramson's flier promoting THE PAINFUL PREDICAMENT OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. Mar 94 #2 Tiger Books (Yew Tree Cottage, Westbere, Canterbury, Kent CT2 0HH, England) has published an ABBREVIATED BIBLIOGRAPHIC CHECK LIST OF A. CONAN DOYLE (60 pp., L16.50); the information is restricted to first appearances of his articles and stories in magazines and newspapers and to the first editions of his books, and relies to a great extent on the Green/Gibson bibliography. The checklist is certainly much handier for the collector to carry along to bookshops than the more detailed bibliography, but has one serious defect: there is no index, and magazines are reported chronologically according to the first appearances of Conan Doyle item, so anyone finding a run of Pearson's, for example, will locate the check list of ACD's contributions to the magazine only by searching a three-page table of contents. Tom Kowols notes in The Police Gazette (published by The Scotland Yarders) that the Laser Disc Newsletter reports that the entire Granada series has been released in Japan on twenty laserdiscs, each 104 minutes and priced at Y4,800 (about $45.00). The series is broadcast in Japan in English, with Japanese subtitles, and I expect the laserdiscs are the same. The west-coast branch of the Interna- tional Wizard of Oz Club sponsors the annual Winkie Conference, and the 1994 gathering will be held on July 8-10 in Pacific Grove, Calif., with L. Frank Baum's mystery novel THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ (1917) as its theme. Their pub- licity flier shows a portrait of Toto drawn by Frank Kramer for Jack Snow's novel THE MAGICAL MIMICS IN OZ (1946), and the conference events will include a presentation of Baum's play "The King of Gee-Whiz" (at the end of which a fat missionary called Willie Cook emerges from a cannibal kettle to de- clare that he is none other than Sherlock Holmes). Dick Rutter (long an enthusiast in the worlds of Oz and the Canon) is in charge of the program, and additional information about this year's Winkie Conference is available from Peter E. Hanff, 1083 Euclid Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94708. Stafford Davis reports that The Afghanistan Perceivers will celebrate their 20th anniversary on May 21 (Queen Victoria's birthday) as part of a three- day weekend that will include a picnic on Holmes Peak. Travelers from afar will be welcome, and details are available from Staff, at 2144 North Elwood Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74106-3632. Bob Burr reports that Nintendo's time-travel game "Star Tropics II" has an 1890s London segment featuring Sherlock Holmes. Bob also notes that those who do not subscribe to his newsletter Plugs & Dottles, and who do wish to receive a copy of the just-published four-page Aug. 1991 issue of Kendall Pagan's newsletter Reichenbachian Cliff-Notes, are invited to send a #10 SASE and $1.00 to The Lascarian Press, 4010 Devon Lane, Peoria, IL 61614. The lead story in the newsletter deals with an intriguing parallel between an event reported in "The Naval Treaty" and a recent criminous assault in Detroit that still echoes in the nation's headlines. Mar 94 #3 Roger Johnson has reported in the latest issue of The District Messenger that Robert Godfrey, the owner and publisher of The Sherlock Holmes Gazette, has died after a long illness. And Carolyn Senter of Classic Specialties reports that a new publisher has been found: he is Peter Harkness, and he hopes to have the next issue of the Sherlock Holmes Gazette off to press and into the mails soon. Roger Johnson has also noted that Sherlock Holmes Fine Ale (described as a "palatable brew") is now available at The Sherlock Holmes in Northumberland Street in London. Bob Mangler reports that the Book-of-the-Month Club is offering members THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES in an exclusive ("not available in any bookstore") nine-volume uniform hard-cover set priced at $44.95. This is not a reprint of THE OXFORD SHERLOCK HOLMES, but instead seems to have been produced from earlier editions: A STUDY IN SCARLET and THE SIGN OF THE FOUR probably were copied from a pirated edition first published by Orange Judd in 1907, and the other seven volumes were copied from the first American editions (from a quick examination of photocopies kindly forwarded by Bob Fritsch. BOMC's address is 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Ruth Brandon's THE LIFE AND MANY DEATHS OF HARRY HOUDINI (London: Secker & Warburg, 1993; 338 pp., L17.99) is a splendid biography of Houdini, drawing upon his correspondence and scrapbooks in collections such as those at the Library of Congress and the University of Texas, and examining the man and his family and friends in addition to his magic and showmanship. She does not neglect Houdini's relationship with Conan Doyle, but her discussion of that aspect of his campaign against Spiritualism is only one part of a fine portrayal of a man driven to create his own miracles. Geoffrey A. Landis' "The Singular Habits of Wasps" (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Apr. 1994) is a somewhat different Sherlock-Holmes-and-Jack-the- Ripper pastiche, with illustrations by Broeck Steadman (who obviously is a fan of Basil Rathbone). ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: EINE ILLUSTRIERTE BIBLIOGRAPHIE DER VEROFFENTLICHUNGEN IM DEUTSCHEN SPRACHRAUM, by Gerhard Lindenstruth, is an impressive 236-page review of all of Conan Doyle's work published in German in German-language nations, and in English in those nations. There are illustrations (some in color) of some of the more interesting book covers, a translation table of the bibliographic terms and abbreviations, and an appendix with the English translations of the German titles of books and stories. The bibliography can easily be used by collectors who are not fluent in German, and offers a splendid look at how well Conan Doyle's work has been presented in another language. The book is available from the publisher (Verlag Munniksma, Lin- dengasse 5, D-35390 Giessen, Germany) in paper covers at $35.00 (or L23.00) postpaid, and in cloth (with additional color illustrations) at $70.00 (or L46.00) postpaid. The late Isaac Asimov may not be the only Investitured member of The Baker Street Irregulars to have a school named in his honor, but he's the only one that I know of. Thanks to Pj Doyle for the news that Public School 99 in Brooklyn is now the Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature. Mar 94 #4 Visitors to Montreal may or may not wish to dine at Sherlock's, the first in North America of a chain Swiss-owned restaurants all with that name (there are more than 30 such restaurants in Switzerland land, according to a review in the Jan. 27 issue of The McGill Reporter, at hand from Chris Redmond). The "may not" involves the menu, which features nothing Sherlockian, or even British, except for the shepherd's pie. But you can get grilled buffalo steak, and they have mystery nights, a dance floor, and 14 "state-of-the-art" pool tables. Alex Jack, author (as "Hapi") of THE ADAMANTINE SHERLOCK HOLMES (1974), has returned to the S'ian genre with INSPECTOR GINKGO TIPS HIS HAT TO SHERLOCK HOLMES (Becket: One Peaceful World Press, 1994; 231 pp., $12.95). Gingko is a holistic detective who lives in Boston and follows the deductive prin- ciples (although not the diet) of Sherlock Holmes in attempting to recover the ceremonial headpiece of a high Tibetan lama, in a pursuit that takes him to London, the Reichenbach, and Nepal, with many Canonical echoes. The publisher's address is Box 10, Becket, MA 01223. As some of you know, The Red Circle's quizzes consist of questions devised by our members, with the Committee on Quizzes selecting the most malevolent questions for the quiz. One of the categories systematically rejected by the committee is "abstruse mathematical calculations," which explains why a question proposed by Brad Schaefer for this month's quiz on "Silver Blaze" was disallowed. But it deserves wider circulation. So: at the speed that Holmes calculated the train was going, how long would it have taken for the train to win the Wessex Cup? Book-hunting tourists in London should not neglect Ming Books, a mystery- specialist bookshop at 110 Gloucester Avenue in Primrose Hill, just to the north of Regent's Park (in which Holmes and Watson occasionally strolled, and in which Holmes visited the Zoo, and conveniently, because Baker Street is just to the south of the Park). The BBC's six-hour dramatization of George Eliot's "Middlemarch" will air on "Masterpiece Theatre" starting on Apr. 10, according to the latest issue of Anglofile, and with some fine actors, including Robert Hardy and Patrick Malahide. Anglofile is a monthly newsletter that offers detailed coverage of British entertainment; $12.00 a year (Box 33515, Decatur, GA 30033). Last year's river-boat Sherlockian convention "The Game's Afloat" was quite successful, and The Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn are now planning another one, on Oct. 8-9 (and hoping that the excitement of last year's flood will not be repeated this year). Additional information is available from Len Cleavelin, 35 St. Lawrence Drive, St. Peters, MO 63376. Mary Russell is a new addition to the list of Sherlockian protagonists, and she will be found in Laurie R. King's THE BEEKEEPER'S APPRENTICE (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994; 347 pp., $21.95). Russell, in her teens when she almost stumbles over Holmes in a field on the Sussex Downs in 1914, becomes his friend and student, and then his associate in war-time England, solving cases with him and telling her own story in a book that offers consistent character and voice. She has her own strengths, and weaknesses, and tells her story well. St. Martin's also offers credit-card sales (800-228-2131). Mar 94 #5 Plan ahead: four of the Sherlockian societies in New York have arranged a joint dinner meeting at 6:00 pm on Apr. 6 at the Old Garden Restaurant at 15 West 29th Street. Nicholas Meyer, author of books of Sherlockian interest, will be the guest of honor, and copies of his THE CANARY TRAINER will be available for purchase so that people can have them signed. Additional details are available from Dante Torrese of The Three Garridebs; his daytime telephone number is 914-965-4004. George Vanderburgh has issued an addendum to the first edition of S. Tupper Bigelow's THE BAKER STREET BRIEFS (Jan 94 #5), offering material that was omitted from the first edition; it is available to purchasers of the first edition for $0.50 (United States and Canada) or $1.00 (elsewhere). And the second (revised) edition of THE BAKER STREET BRIEFS is available, at $15.95 postpaid. And since many readers of this newsletter have enquired whether Ron De Waal's THE UNIVERSAL SHERLOCK HOLMES will be issued on floppy disks or CD-ROM discs, George wrote recently that he has "no plans to release De Waal in ASCII at any time." George's address is: Box 204, Shelburne, Ont. L0N 1S0, Canada. Forecast: MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: VOLUME 2 (due from Bantam Doubleday Dell audio in August, priced at $15.99 for a two-cassette set) will have four more stories from the BBC Radio series starring Clive Merrison and Michael Williams. And THE ADVENTURES OF THE DETECTED DETECTIVE: SHERLOCK HOLMES IN JAMES JOYCE, by William D. Jenkins, is due from Greenwood Press in April ($46.00). The Practical, But Limited, Geologists will meet for dinner on June 15, at the Denver Press Club, during the annual convention of the American Associ- ation of Petroleum Geologists. Geologists and Sherlockians (and visitors of either persuasion) are welcome to join us in honoring the world's first forensic geologist; you can make reservations with (and obtain additional information from) Steve Robinson, 6980 South Bannock Street #3, Littleton, CO 80120. Forecast in "Otto Penzler's Sherlock Holmes Library" in paperback reprints from Otto Penzler Books ($8.00 each): R. HOLMES & COMPANY, by John Kendrick Bangs (in April); SEVENTEEN STEPS TO 221B, edited by James Edward Holroyd (in June); MY DEAR HOLMES: A STUDY IN SHERLOCK, by Gavin Brend (in August); BAKER STREET BY-WAYS, by James Edward Holroyd (in October); and HOLMES AND WATSON: A MISCELLANY, by S. C. Roberts (in December). Also due in cloth ($21.00 each): SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MASQUERADE MURDERS, by Frank Thomas (in May, reprinting the now-almost-impossible-to-find paperback original published by Medallion Books in 1986; and THE ANGEL OF THE OPERA: SHERLOCK HOLMES MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, by Siciliano (in June). The reason why the paperback original of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MASQUERADE MURDERS is so difficult to find is that Medallion Books planned to sell its titles by subscription, and didn't distribute to bookstores, and went broke before word of the pastiche reached most Sherlockians. Much of their stock was sold to a discounter who shipped it off to Australia, where a supply of the pastiche was located and sent to me (that's at least 18,000 miles for a round trip), and in 1988 those well-traveled copies were offered at $6.00 postpaid in this newsletter and quickly sold out. Mar 94 #6 The Arthur Conan Doyle Society plans to publish a new edition of Conan Doyle's WESTERN WANDERINGS (an account of his visit to the United States and Canada in 1914); cloth-bound, 80 pp., with six photo- graphs and an introduction by Christopher and Barbara Roden, and the cost is L19.50 (or $33.00) postpaid, from the Society (Ashcroft, 2 Abbottsford Drive, Penyffordd, Chester CH4 0JG, England). A new third "fully revised and updated" edition of THE TELEVISION SHERLOCK HOLMES, by Peter Haining (London: Virgin Books, 1994; 255 pp., L14.99 or $19.95), is now available in Britain (there's no word yet on an American distributor); half of the book is a discussion of Sherlock Holmes and S'ian television pre-Granada, and the other half covers the Granada series. Both sections are profusely illustrated, with much color, and there's a new one- page foreword by Jeremy Brett, a new six-page introduction by Haining about the Granada series, and coverage of the series through the newest one-hour show (although the book went to press before cast lists were available for some of the programs). Fanatic completists may face some problems with the set of stamps issued by Britain last year in honor of Sherlock Holmes: Philip Weller has managed to find more than 50 different first day covers for the set. Some still are available, and offered in the latest issue of The New Baker Street Pillar Box, the quarterly periodical of The Franco-Midland Hardware Company. The issue's 42 pages also contain a wealth of British news and scholarship, and an 8-page booklet giving information about the society and its publications is available for $1.00 (currency please) from Philip (6 Bramham Moor, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire PO14 3RU, England). Dave Galerstein reports that Arthur and Joyce Liebman will offer "An Even- ing with Sherlock Holmes" at the New School for Social Research in New York on Apr. 22, from 8:00 to 9:30 pm; the New School's address is 66 West 12th Street, admission costs $10.00, and reservations aren't required (the phone number is 212-229-5600, if you want to check for a schedule change). Melanie Hughes has discovered William J. McGrath's review, in Newsday (Apr. 8, 1990), of READING FREUD: EXPLORATIONS AND ENTERTAINMENTS, by Peter Gay (Yale, 204 pp., $14.95), which notes that one of the essays in the book is titled "The Dog That Did Not Bark in the Night" and discusses the question of whether Freud had an affair with his sister-in-law Minna Bernays. Some 65 letters written when the affair would have occurred are missing from the Freud-Bernays correspondence, but Gay is not concerned, and believes there was no love affair, and states that "The missing letters are like Sherlock Holmes' famous dog that did not bark in the night ... there are times when dogs do not bark because they have nothing to bark about." THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF HISTORICAL WHODUNNITS, edited by Mike Ashley (London: Robinson, 1993; 522 pp., L5.99) (and New York: Carroll and Graf; $9.95), is an interesting anthology of stories that (almost all) fit the editor's rule that a tale be set in a time earlier than its author's birth. The contents include reprints of Adrian Conan Doyle's "The Case of the Deptford Horror", Edward D. Hoch's "Five Rings in Reno" (as by R. L. Stevens, and about Conan Doyle), and Elizabeth Peters' "The Locked Tomb Mystery" (S'ian deduction by the sage and scholar Amenhotep Sa Hapu, assisted by his friend Wadjsen). Mar 94 #7 Readers of TV Guide may recall being asked to participate in an annual reader poll last summer. Victoria Robinson has kindly sent a copy of the poll that appeared in the Canadian edition of TV Guide on June 26, with (in some cases) different questions and proposed choices. In the U.S. and Canada, readers were asked to vote on the best drama actor, with a list that included (in Canada only) Jeremy Brett (Sherlock Holmes). And in Canada only, readers were asked to choose the sexiest TV actor, from a list that included Jeremy Brett. Alas, Jeremy Brett didn't make the top three in either category: Canadian readers selected Patrick Stewart, Tom Skeritt, and Michael Moriarty as best drama actors; and Joe Lando, Patrick Stewart, and Ted Danson as sexiest TV actors. Barbara Roden has reported from England that the hard-cover edition of THE OXFORD SHERLOCK HOLMES is now almost sold out; the set will be published in paperback this fall at L3.99 per volume, with Owen Dudley Edwards' correc- tions of some errors in the Notes and Introductions. The wide variety of Sherlockian societies in the broad category described as "other" includes The Sherlock Holmes Wireless Society, whose members are licensed amateur radio operators who are known to each other by mysterious code names such as WA2PXM or W6NKE or WD8NUK or N9RGW. Or KX1W (Ron Fish), who edits their newsletter (The Log of the Canonical Hams); his address is Box 3382, New Haven, CT 06515-3382. Don Hobbs notes that Greek translations of five of the nine volumes of the Canon are available from G. C. Eleftheroudakis SA, International Bookstore, 4 Nikis Str., Athens 105 63, Greece. Tom Stix reports that Gruntal & Co. (stockbrokers) have discovered Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., a company that makes and sells off-patent (generic) drugs. There is no information on whether a descendant of John H. Watson is president of the company. Noted by Gary Westmoreland: Michael Howard's review, in the Times Literary Supplement (Feb. 11), of Martin Walker's THE COLD WAR AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN WORLD (Fourth Estate, 404 pp., L18.99), in which Walker writes that "the costs of the Cold War, and the distortions inflicted upon the social systems of what had been the world's most powerful economies, suggests that the superpowers had become superlosers during the Cold War's final decade final struggle, plunging over the Reichenbach Falls together in a deadly embrace, then the USA was left clinging perilously and exhausted to the rim while the Soviet Union crashed down to the rocks below." Cathy Childs (1510 Lake Drive, Grand Island, FL 32735) offers a new sales- list, with reduced prices for her Sherlockian artwork, portraits of Jeremy Brett and other actors in the Granada series, and cartoon material. Further to an earlier report (Nov 93 #3) that "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) was scheduled for release in letterbox format on laserdisc, Jim Dooley has reported to the Hounds of the Internet that the release has been delayed while work continues on putting the pieces back together. And it would appear that the laserdisc version may have some (but possibly not all) of the footage that was edited out before the film was released. Mar 94 #8 Spotted by Al Rosenblatt in Richard Jenkyns' review in the New Republic (Jan. 31) of Catherine Peters' THE KING OF INVENTORS: A LIFE OF WILKIE COLLINS: "Count Fosco is one of the most splendid villains ever imagined. With his megalomania tempered by intellect, courtesy, and an almost feminine delicacy, he is an ancestor of Professor Moriarty and those world-domination baddies in the James Bond books, though he is vastly superior to these descendants." Television ratings. The Wednesday-night Nielsen rating for the half-hour in which Tonya Harding skated during the Winter Olympics was 50.5 (that's 47.6 million television households) with a 64 share (that's 64 percent of all households where the sets were turned on). And for the half-hour when Nancy Kerrigan skated, the rating jumped to 53.4 with a 70 share. Friday night, which is sometimes called "baby-sitters night" (and when there was less suspense), the rating was 44.2 with a 63 share. The record-holder for highest-rated network program is the final episode of "M*A*S*H" (broadcast in 1983) with a rating of 60.2 and a 77 share. And the highest-rated Sher- lockian broadcast recorded in my notes is the television film "Hands of a Murderer" (with Edward Woodward as Holmes, on CBS-TV in 1990), which had a rating of 9.5, with a 15 share. Maxine Reneker reports that her daughter Sarah, recently in Vietnam, found a Vietnamese translation of some of the Sherlock Holmes stories, published in Hanoi in 1993. The title is NHU'NG CUOC PHIEU LU'U CUA SHERLOCK HOLMES (with accents here and there that my computer won't reproduce), and there are six stories (Danc/3Stu/Dyin/Lady/RedH/Blue) presented on the even pages in English and on the odd pages in Vietnamese. Readers who are planning to visit Vietnam are invited to find a convenient bookstore and to bring back more copies, since Vietnamese apparently is not (until now) on the list of languages into which the Canon has been translated. The Barnes & Noble reprint edition of Ken Greenwald's THE LOST ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Feb 94 #3) also is available at other chain bookstores at $4.98; it's a minor variant, since the order of the last two stories has been reversed. The book is a collection of short-story adapations of radio scripts from the Rathbone/Bruce series. Video-taper alert: "The Deadly Bees" (1967) will be broadcast by USA cable at 2:30 am on Apr. 21. Robert Bloch's screenplay is based on H. F. Heard's novel A TASTE FOR HONEY, but Bloch told me that a British writer [Anthony Marriott] took "some vast liberties" with Bloch's version (which did have Mr. Mycroft as a character). Bloch was informed that the script was to be juiced-up to include more horror, and suspected (correctly) that the gentle Mr. Mycroft had vanished from the screenplay (and Bloch refused to see his "deformed offspring"). "Autumn in Baker Street" will be held on Oct. 22-23 at the Tarrytown Hilton in Tarrytown, N.Y. This annual gathering is always well-attended, and the agenda interesting, and additional information is available from Robert E. Thomalen, 69 Glen Road, Eastchester, NY 10709. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Telephone: 202-338-1808 Internet: pblau@cap.gwu.edu Apr 94 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Well, yes, I didn't give the answer to the question Brad Schaefer submitted for The Red Circle's quiz on "Silver Blaze", just in case there are readers who didn't want me to spoil their fun. The question was: at the speed that Holmes calculated the train was going, how long would it have taken for the train to win the Wessex Cup? Eugene Ionesco died on Mar. 28. He was widely recognized as the inventor of the "theater of the absurd" and was famous as a writer of plays such as "The Bald Soprano" (1950) and "Rhinoceros" (1959). Zero Mostel starred in the film of "Rhinoceros" and did a magnificent job of turning into a rhino- ceros without using makeup. And "The Bald Soprano" has a scene in which a man and woman deduce that because they live on the same street, and in the same house, and share the same bed, they must be married. But it is the family's maid who declares, "I am Sherlock Holmes." This obviously is the year for German bibliography. Gerhard Lindenstruth's ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: EINE ILLUSTRIERTE BIBLIOGRAPHIE DER VEROFFENTLICHUNGEN IM DEUTSCHEN SPRACHRAUM (Mar 94 #3) has excellent coverage of all of Conan Doyle's work published in German in German-language nations, and in English in those nations, and now Michael Ross and other members of Von Herder Air- guns Ltd. have produced JUBILAUMSBIBLIOGRAPHIE DEUTSCHER SHERLOCKIANA 1894- 1994. This centenary bibliography celebrates the appearance of SPATE RACHE in German in 1894, and offers excellent coverage of a hundred years of the Canon, pastiches, parodies, scholarly articles, journals, and games. The annotations are in German and English, and there is glossary explaining the abbreviations, and the bibliography's 290 pages provide a splendid view of German Sherlockiana, both original and in translation. The book is avail- able for DM 40.00 ($24.00) from Michael Ross, Bendheide 65, D-47906 Kempen, Germany; U.S. dollars in currency only, please. Forecast: SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE, by Fred Saberhagen (from Tor Books in May); "When Sherlock Holmes disappears, evidently abducted by malign powers while investigating a seance, Dr. Watson knows that it is up to him to perform the distasteful ritual of summoning the only one who might be able to help: Holmes' vampire cousin, Prince Dracula himself." "Otto Penzler's Sherlock Holmes Library" continues to reprint fine older Sherlockiana (and covers that show Frederic Dorr Steele's artwork in full color) in a paperback format that will make the books available to people who have not been able to find them (and who in some cases may never have known they existed). Vincent Starrett's 221B: STUDIES IN SHERLOCK HOLMES ($7.95) was published in 1940 and was the first anthology of Sherlockian fiction and scholarship to be published in the United States; it offers a grand example of how well the Sherlockians of the 1930s played our Grand Game. John Kendrick Bangs' R. HOLMES & CO. ($8.00) offers ten stories that appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1905 and were collected in a book in 1906; Bangs offered apologies to both Conan Doyle and Hornung for "the remark- able adventures of Raffles Holmes, Esq., Detective and Amateur Cracksman by Birth" (the collection includes an explanation of how Raffles Holmes had a detective father and an amateur-cracksman grandfather, and tells some tales of how he followed in their footsteps, in New York rather than London. Apr 94 #2 And for the readers who didn't want to calculate the answer to the question (at the speed that Holmes calculated the train was going, how long would it have taken for the train to win the Wessex Cup), it would have taken 109.3 seconds to win the race (the distance was 1.625 miles, the velocity was 53.5 miles per hour, and the formula is D/V=T). Patricia Dalton died on Apr. 6. She was Patsy to her friends, and she had many of them in The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, which she joined in 1966, and which she served in many ways, as a member of its Council, as its chairman from 1980 to 1983, and as co-editor of The Sherlock Holmes Journal from 1982 to 1983. "Brief Writing and Oral Argument in Appellate Practice", by the Honorable Albert M. Rosenblatt, was published in the fall 1993 issue of Trial Lawyers Quarterly (the official journal of the N.Y. State Trial Laywers Institute), and uses Canonical names in examples of what to avoid. Such as: "While in front of her home at Grosvenor Square in the Town of Brewster, on March 15, 1987, the seven year old infant plaintiff herein, Isadora Klein, was struck by a vehicle having been driven by defendant third-party plaintiff, Grice Patterson." Al not only has to read this sort of thing, but is supposed to understand it, and deserves our sympathy. The Institute's address is 132 Nassau Street, New York, NY 10038. Jennie Paton has forwarded an item in the Library Journal (Mar. 15), about Mark Frost's novel THE LIST OF 7 (Sep 93 #4): "Morrow put plenty of time, money, and energy into promoting this book, and though it didn't break out as expected, the estimated sale of 40,000 copies is nothing to regret." Avon will issue the book soon in paperback. Jennie also spotted Christopher Morley's essay about Walt Whitman in the Jan. 25, 1953, issue of the N.Y. Times Book Review (the editors noted that "Mr. Morley has largely taken the place of Walt Whitman on Long Island"). Morley suggested that "Some innocent (or well-trained) mortal ingredient was lost in Walt's makeup. At bottom he was tellurian, telluride, whatever the word may be. See Conan Doyle's gorgeous burlesque, 'When the Earth Screamed.' You can take that tale (which Walt would have called 'cute') as a quite unconscious parable of 'Leaves of Grass.' The description of the palpitant earth-jelly, uttering its appalling yell of outrage (and spatter- ing the inquisitive pressmen with grievous muck) is a neat precis of the career of the 'Leaves.'" The U.S. has issued a set of ten stamps showing Al Hirschfeld's caricatures of stars of the silent screen. Some of them appeared in Sherlockian roles, including Charlie Chaplin (as Billy in William Gillette's plays "Sherlock Holmes" and "The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes") and Buster Keaton (in the film "Sherlock Jr."). Can you identify another one? Apr 94 #3 There was some interesting Conan Doyle manuscript material in an auction at Sotheby's in New York on Dec. 10, 1993. The lots and prices (including the 15% buyer's premium): four letters, with one to Greenhough Smith about "The Man with the Watches" ($2,070); the poem "The Ballad of the Eurydice" (3 leaves) (unsold); "A Shadow Before" (14 leaves) ($3,738); "The Home Coming" (17 leaves) ($3,738); "The Last Galley" (10 leaves) ($3,163); "The Last of the Legions" (9 leaves) ($3,738); "The Vital Message" (67 leaves) ($6,900); and "The Bully of Brocas Court" (27 leaves) ($7,475). According to the catalog, the material was the "Property of a California Collector." Lawrence E. Spivak died on Mar. 9. He founded and produced and served as a panelist on "Meet the Press" (the longest-running program in the history of television); the program debuted on Nov. 6, 1947, and still is one of NBC's most important news shows. Jon Lellenberg has reminded me that Spivak was at the annual dinner of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1943, and it was not merely as a curious onlooker. Spivak had been the publisher of The Ameri- can Mercury since 1939, and the Mercury Press was the publisher of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine from its first issue in 1941 until 1954, when he decided to work full-time on his television series. The Mystery Writers of America gave him their Raven award in 1981 for launching EQMM. The third silent-screen star who appeared in a Sherlockian role is Harold Lloyd, who played Tonga on stage in "The Sign of the Four" in 1912 (in a stock-company production of Charles P. Rice's play at the Grand Theatre in San Diego). Don Hobbs reports that a set of THE CROWBOROUGH EDITION is available from Barber's Book Store, at 215 West 8th Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102 (800-327- 5471). Brian Perkins is the proprietor of the store, and the set and its dust jackets are in very fine condition, and the price is $2,000. The set is the last "authorized" collection of Conan Doyle's works, in 24 volumes published in 1930, and the first volume was signed by the author (and in 1930 you could have bought the set from the publisher for $240). And if you call or write, Brian Perkins would like to know you read about it here. Jim Vogelsang reports that Beethoven and Sarah Rose Karr (stars of the film "Beethoven's 2nd") are wearing deerstalkers on the cover of FT Magazine #1 (which has minor Sherlockian content in its puzzles-for-kids, and may still be available free at McDonald's). Graham Sudbury has proposed creating a society called SKIRMISH (an acronym for Sherlockians Keen to Inhibit and Rectify Mendacious Identifications of Sherlock Holmes) for those who would like to join in identifying and gently exposing "obvious misstatements" about Holmes, such as a suggestion in the Boston Sunday Globe's review of THE CAVEMAN'S VALENTINE that author "George Dawes Green has invented just about the most original amateur sleuth since Sherlock Holmes." Graham's address is Box 52062, Tulsa, OK 74152. The latest issue of The Sherlock Holmes Review features a long interview with Nicholas Meyer, and "Some Thoughts on Holmes and Raffles" by Edward and Karen Lauterbach, and costs $6.00 postpaid from Steven T. Doyle, Box 583, Zionsville, IN 46077 (subscriptions cost $20.00 for four issues). Apr 94 #4 It has been a while since I mentioned a fine catalog of Bargain Books from Edward R. Hamilton (Falls Village, CT 06031-5000). One book still available at a bargain price, I'm reminded by Gordon Kelley, is William S. Baring-Gould's THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES in a one-volume edition published by Outlet Books in 1992; it's item 83744X, and the price is $19.95 (plus $3.00 shipping per order). And Hamilton's catalogs always are packed with other bargains. Thanks to Kevin Reed for the report on the imagi- native promotion of the Santa Anita Derby on Apr. 9. Fans could wear buttons proclaiming that they liked one of the three favorites: Brocco, Valiant Nature, and Tabasco Cat. Brocco was the winner, with Tabasco Cat second and Strodes Creek third. And Valiant Nature wasn't even there, having been withdrawn and shipped east for the Bluegrass and the Kentucky Derby (the latter on May 7). Cherie Jung reports that the May issue of her magazine Over My Dead Body will have a story on the Sherlock Holmes pub and a short profile of Jeremy Brett. Box 1778, Auburn, WA 98071, is the address; $5.00 (or $12.00 for four issues). Ellery Queen's THE MISADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1944) quickly achieved almost legendary status, for two reasons: one being that Adrian Conan Doyle managed to force Frederic Dannay to stop publication of the book after only five printings (making the book difficult to add to one's collection), and the other being that it was such a splendid anthology, of material selected with expertise and enthusiasm and ably presenting a wide range of excellent Sherlockiana. And Marvin Kaye's THE GAME IS AFOOT (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994; 512 pp., $24.95) is in many ways a better anthology, and not just because Kaye has been able to select material from an additional fifty years. Kaye also has included some of the best Sherlockian scholarship (or pseudo-scholarship), and has found a publisher that will see that the book is widely distributed. As it deserves to be: it is packed with wonderful writing and grand fun, and offers new material as well as reprints of old favorites. And while Kaye has not included everything that he might have, that's only because he hopes to edit a second anthology, which is nice news indeed. Recommended. John Brunner's MUDDLE EARTH (New York: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1993; 275 pp., $3.99) offers a look at "the most unlikely place in the known and unknown universe" and includes among its characters "the adolescent Sherlock Holmes and his Biker Street Irregulars." It's an amusing fantasy, full of awful puns and some really weird characters, few of whom are what they seem to be (or even what they seem to think they are). G. C. Burner's short Sherlockian pastiche "The Puzzle of Graceland Manor" (first-place winner for Elvisian prose) was published in the first issue of The International Journal of Elvisology and the Elvisian Era, published by the Florida First Coast Writers' Festival and the Florida Community College at Jacksonville. You can request a copy of the 8-page journal from Howard Denson, FCCJ North Campus, 4501 Capper Road, Jacksonville, FL 32218. Apr 94 #5 The latest issues of The Parish Magazine (semi-annual) and ACD (annual) are at hand from The Arthur Conan Doyle Society, with interesting articles and essays, and reports. ACD's contents include Conan Doyle's "The Wild Geese: The Story of the Irish Brigades in France" (a fas- cinating lecture published only once before, in an Irish newspaper in 1954) and Cameron Hollyer's detailed article about the play "Angels of Darkness" (Conan Doyle's own dramatization, without Holmes, of "A Study in Scarlet"). Society membership costs L14.00 (or $27.00) to U.S. addresses (or L19.00/ $35.00 airmail); the address is: Ashcroft, 2 Abbottsford Drive, Penyffordd, Chester CH4 0JG, England. Paul Giovanni's play "The Crucifer of Blood" is on the summer schedule of The Phoenix Theatre at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College in Westchester County, from July 20 through Aug. 7. Discount rates are avail- able to groups of ten or more, and the group sales director is Jane Katz, at 5 Barker Avenue #407, White Plains, NY 10601 (914-681-9398). Andy Peck reports that the Mystery Guild is offering its members a Sherlock Holmes key chain ($7.95) and a Sherlock Holmes letter opener ($14.95). The picture of the letter opener is too dark to reproduce here; the Guild's address is Box 6325, Indianapolis, IN 46206. Further to the report on plans for a meeting of The Practical, But Limited, Geologists on June 15 at the Denver Press Club (Mar 94 #5), the contact for more information about the meeting (honoring the world's first forensic geologist) is Guy Mordeaux, 705 Forth Street, Castle Rock, CO 80104. Comic books are getting to be extremely strange. THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE is a sort-of-related set that tells a series of stories that (at the beginning and the end, at any rate) involve two dead boy-detectives who are influenced to some degree (although not really all that much) by Sherlock Holmes. There are seven comic books in the series, which is published by Vertigo/DC, and they cost $3.95 each. The latest news about Jeremy Brett is that the Daily Mail reported on Apr. 11 that he was out of hospital to attend a party in Manchester marking the tenth anniversary of the Granada series, having lost 49 pounds and feeling much better, and planning to go into a mental home for a week or ten days. If you would like to know why lithium can be dangerous, take a look in the PHYSICIANS' DESK REFERENCE at a library or a your doctor's office, to see what the book says about lithium carbonate in the sections on WARNING and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION and ADVERSE REACTIONS. If you don't want to wait until 1985, or whenever WGBH-TV decides to broad- cast the newest one-hour Granada shows on "Mystery!" here, and if you are willing to wait in line, so to speak, Jennie C. Paton has added "The Three Gables" and "The Dying Detective" (and possibly more of the six new shows, by the time you receive this newsletter) to her video lending library, and is now accepting reservations. You can write to Jennie for additional in- formation (please enclose a #10 SASE) at 206 Loblolly Lane, Statesboro, GA 30458; her e-mail address is . Apr 94 #6 Mel Hughes has spotted a report that "Return to the Lost World" is available on videocassette from WorldVision at $59.95 (and it is likely that "The Lost World" also is available). The two shows were produced in 1991 by Harmony Gold (the company that made the two mini-series with Christopher Lee as Holmes and Patrick Macnee as Watson), and were in- tended for similar syndication on television, but were overtaken by the far more spectacular dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park" (Harmony Gold pretty much had pieces of life-size models, with feet thumping through the underbrush, and heads poking through the trees). The Harmony Gold series stars John Rhys- Davies as Challenger and David Warner as Summerlee (they're the only name actors in the casts); I've seen both of the shows on preview cassettes, and they're worth renting, if only to see what dinosaurs films used to be like. Bill Vande Water reports an article by John Devonport about the Battle of Maiwand (with mention of Conan Doyle) in Military History (June 1994); the magazine's address is 602 South King Street #300, Leesburg, VA 22075. Richard M. Nixon died on Apr. 22. His first known contact with the world of Sherlockians was the telegram of greetings he sent to the annual dinner of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1956, and which was noted with disdain by Rex Stout in the June 1961 issue of The Baker Street Journal. The investi- gation of Watergate launched a flood of Sherlockian allusions in editorials and in editorial cartoons. But Nixon did know about Sherlock Holmes: Julie Baumgold reported in New York (June 9, 1980) that he had told her, "I don't care for novels, and mysteries bore me except on TV, and since Holmes is off, what is there?" He also found an appropriate context for a mention of "Sherlock Holmes's dog that did not bark" in his book 1999: VICTORY WITHOUT WAR (1988, page 76). The Scowrers and Molly Maguires will hold their workshop/playshop/confer- ence/seminar/funfest (that's Ted Schulz's cover-all-the-bases description) at Stanford University on Aug. 3-7. Details are available from Charlotte A. Erickson, 1029 Judson Drive, Mountain View, CA 94040-2310. A man in Sherlockian costume is shown swinging on a bordello chandelier on the cover of Spider Robinson's LADY SLINGS THE BOOZE (New York: Ace Books, 1993; 257 pp., $4.99); there was an Ace Books hardcover edition in 1992, possibly with the same artwork on the dust jacket. Holmes isn't a charac- ter in the book (although Ralph von Wau Wau is), but there are occasional Canonical allusions in an amusing story set in the best little whorehouse in the universe. Dave Galerstein and Bill Nadel have reported that the Walter Reade Theater (apparently at or near Lincoln Center in New York) will screen Rathbone's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (1939) on May 19 (2:00/5:15/8:30) and Brook's "Sherlock Holmes" (1932) on May 24 (5:05/8:05). Admirers of fine actors who have portrayed Moriarty well have rated Ernest Torrence highly, and properly, since he glowered just as well as Lyn Harding or Eric Porter ever did, and Torrence does his glowering in "Sherlock Holmes" (and George Zucco is a nicely suave Moriarty in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"). The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Telephone: 202-338-1808 Internet: pblau@cap.gwu.edu May 94 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press The "Sherlock Holmes" series of briar pipes launched in 1987 by Peterson of Dublin is still available, and at discount prices. There are seven differ- ent shapes, and various finishes, and a pipe-rack, and a flier is available from Gideon D. Hill . Jon Lellenberg has supplied a copy of Godfrey Smith's column in the Sunday Times (Apr. 10), reporting that Kevin Charles, now Sherlock Holmes' secre- tary at Abbey National, receives and answers about 20 letters a week, and has occasional visitors, with whom he is happy to shake hands ("often, he says, emotional Japanese fans are overcome by the honour"). This month's contribution to Canonical philately offers more roses, on one of the stamps in our new booklet showing summer garden flowers. Queen Elizabeth II and President Francois Mitterand officially inaugurated the Channel Tunnel on May 6. The 31.4-mile tunnel cost $16 billion to build, and it has been 81 years since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle voiced support for the project ("The matter seems to me to be of such importance that I grudge every day that passes without something having been done to bring it to realization," he suggested in a letter published in The Times on Mar. 11, 1913). At least four more months will be needed before regular traffic begins between Folkestone and Calais on the Eurotunnel car trains (passengers will remain in their cars during the 35-minute trip, which will cost from $330 (in winter) to $460 (in summer). The spring 1994 issue of Scarlet Street offers the usual interesting mix of mystery and horror, including a long interview with Edward Hardwicke, and David Stuart Davies' fond farewell to the Granada series (he was there when they demolished the Baker Street rooms). $20.00 a year (four issues), from Scarlet Street Inc., Box 604, Glen Rock, NJ 07452. The spring-summer catalog from The Mysterious Bookshop has three pages of in-print Sherlockiana, and other items such as the special edition of THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES (published by Doubleday in 1953 with Conan Doyle's signature ($2,750) and a sketchbook with scores of non-Sherlockian sketches by Sidney Paget ($350); 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019. And the spring 1994 issue of The Armchair Detective includes an interesting article by Gary Lovisi proposing that the first hardboiled detective ("this most American of all characters") can be found in a book written by a Brit- ish author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the detective being Birdy Edwards, in THE VALLEY OF FEAR. Quarterly ($26.00 a year); same address. "A hobby is only really amusing when it becomes an obsession," according to H. Rider Haggard (quoted recently by John Ruyle). John also reports that he has now completed his verse exegesis of the Canon, with THE AGENT'S LAST BOW: THE 'CASE-BOOK' RE-CASED. There are 53 verses in the latest pressing from Pequod, which costs $40 (cloth) or $18 (paper), from John Ruyle, 521 Vincente Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707-1521. May 94 #2 LEAVES FROM THE COPPER BEECHES (1959) and MORE LEAVES FROM THE COPPER BEECHES (1976) are among the best of the anthologies of scion-society scholarship, and they are still in print from The Sons of the Copper Beeches. The second issue of LEAVES (in paper covers) costs $5.00, and the first issue of MORE LEAVES (in boards) costs $15.00 (prices include postage), from James G. Jewell, 1012 Waltham Road, Berwyn, PA 19312. David Langton died on Apr. 25. He was best known for his portrayal of Lord Bellamy in the television series "Upstairs, Downstairs" from 1971 to 1976, and he was seen as Sir Charles Baskerville in Ian Richardson's "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1983) and as Sir James Damery in Granada's version of "The Illustrious Client" (1991). Stephen F. Rosenberg (3 Greenwood Place #307, Pikesville, MD 21208) offers a Sherlock Holmes lapel pin, in black plastic outlined in gold; $4.00 postpaid. Basil Copper continues to add to his series of Solar Pons pas- tiches, with THE EXPLOITS OF SOLAR PONS (Minneapolis: Fedogan & Bremer, 1993; 239 pp., $24.00). The book has four new novellas that pay skillful tribute to August Derleth's style, and an attractive dust jacket and four full-page illustrations by Stephanie Hawks; the publisher's address is 700 Washington Avenue #50, Minneapolis, MN 55414 (a limited edi- tion also is available, priced at $60.00). The busts of four different people are mentioned in the Canon. Try naming those four different people. Michael Ross reports that there's an amusing Sherlock Holmes figurine in the German "playmobil" series (the most popular series of toys for some 25 years, and on sale throughout Europe); the figurine is 7.5 cm high, made of plastic with movable limbs, and available from Michael Ross (Bendheide 65, D-47906 Kempen, Germany) for DM 10.00 (or $6.00) sent by surface mail (U.S. dollars in currency only, please). And Michael reports that Sherlockiana continues to appear in German: M. J. Trow's LESTRADE UND JACK THE RIPPER [LESTRADE AND THE RIPPER] (Rowohlt, DM 12.90 paperback); Mark Frost's SIEBEN [THE LIST OF SEVEN] (v.g.s., DM 44.00 cloth); SHERLOCK HOLMES [a German version of Gibson's card game with Paget artwork] (Schmidt Spiele, DM 30.00); and an inexpensive nine-volume edition of the Canon, in a faithful translation and with annotations (Haffmans, DM 49.80). Michael can also supply these, but warns that additional postage costs could be expensive. Robert C. Hess (559 Potter Boulevard, Brightwaters, NY 11718) offers a new sales-list of Sherlockian collectibles, including a just-released pair of Holmes-and-Watson bookends from Rohn Porcelain ($185.00 including shipping and insurance) and other interesting posters, pins, advertising, etc. Reported: Barnes & Noble have published their own edition (with a new dust jacket) of A SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPENDIUM, edited by Peter Haining ($7.98); the book was published by W. H. Allen in 1980, and by Castle Books in 1981, and is an interesting anthology of reprinted Sherlockiana. May 94 #3 As for those four different people whose busts are mentioned in the Canon, they are: Sherlock Holmes (of course) and Napoleon (of course) and Athene (Milverton's bookcase had "a marble bust of Athene on the top") and Brenda Tregennis (the photograph "showed the bust and face of a very beautiful woman"). David McCallister spotted an advertisement in The New York (May 2) for a reproduction of a bust of Pallas Athena (from an original in the Louvre) offered (for $260 postpaid) by Eleganza, 3217 West Smith #145, Seattle, WA 98199. The advertisement notes that Pallas Athena was the protectress of heroes who fought against evil, which makes her an interesting choice to decorate Milverton's study. And if you are now wondering about Brenda Tregennis' bust, please keep in mind that our language has changed a bit from what it was in Victorian and Edwardian times. Further to earlier reports (Nov 93 #3 and Mar 94 #7) on plans for a laser- disc version of "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970), Jennie Paton reports that her copy has arrived, with the film letterboxed on two discs, and offers some (but not all) of the sequences cut from the film, and music and other nice material. The set costs $55.48 postpaid from Crane's Laser- disc, 15251 Beach Boulevard, Westminster, CA 92683 (800-624-3078); or you can pay $59.95 (plus shipping) from Movies Unlimited, 6736 Castor Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19149 (800-523-0823). Spotted by Mel Hughes: a report in Daily Variety (May 5) on recent rulings by the Classification & Ratings Administration of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, which assigned "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (issued by MGM/UA Home Video) a PG-13 rating ("for brief drug-related plot material"). Forecast: THE PILTDOWN CONFESSION, by Irwin Schwartz ("a mildly entertain- ing yet ill-conceived fictional solution" to the Piltdown hoax, with Conan Doyle as a major character, but apparently not as the culprit), from Wyatt/ St. Martin's in July ($20.95). The Folio Society has completed its version of the Canon: SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE COMPLETE NOVELS is a four-volume boxed set with illustrations by Fran- cis Mosley, and an interesting Introduction by Michael S. Cox (producer of the early programs in the Granada series). Cox discusses the novels, and offers some intriguing insights into the series (which he had hoped would begin with "The Sign of Four"). In his comments on "The Hound of the Bas- kervilles" he suggests sadly that their version "limps home in third place" behind the films made by Basil Rathbone (1939) and by Peter Cushing (1959). Both boxed sets presumably are still available (but at $149.00 each) from Folio Books, 2323 Randolph Avenue, Avenel, NJ 07001. The Great Detective and The Prince of Darkness were allies in Fred Saber- hagen's THE HOLMES-DRACULA FILE (1978), set in 1897, and his SEANCE FOR A VAMPIRE (New York: Tor Books, 1994; 285 pp., $21.95) brings them together again in 1903; the story is told by both Dracula and Watson, and involves pirates, mesmerism, executions by hanging, stolen treasure, murder, kidnap- ping, revenge, seduction, women taken by force, and attempts to materialize the spirits of the dead. "I know what you are going to say," Dracula sug- gests, "everything in the above list is a bit out of the ordinary." May 94 #4 Sherlockians who were impressed by that Sherlockian caricature of Valiant Nature (Apr 94 #4) did well only if they didn't bet on him in the Kentucky Derby on May 7. The winner was Go For Gin, followed by Strodes Creek and Blumin Affair. Valiant Nature "gave way readily" and was 13th, finishing 15 lengths back. Noted by Pat Ward: an excellent still from "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1939) in HOLLYWOOD DOGS, edited by J. C. Suares (San Francisco: Collins, 1993). And Laurie Langbauer's long article on "The City, the Everyday, and Boredom: The Case of Sherlock Holmes" in Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 5.3 (1993) 80-120; noting discussion by others of how many wives Watson had, and how many times he was wounded, she suggests that "the connection here between women and wounding goes without saying, but what is worth comment is the uncertainty that attends it: through it, Doyle seems to be at least acknowledging that such misogyny (even as he practices it) is actually an unsuccessful attempt to pin down and contain vague threats, to ground amorphous categories." The "Rache Road Rally" from Racine to Sheboygan, planned by The STUD Sher- lockian Society for May 1, has been postponed until Oct. 9 to coincide with their celebration of Sherlock Holmes' birthday. Additional information is available from Donald B. Izban, 5334 Wrightwood Avenue, Chicago, IL 60639. Don also reports that the third annual Watsonian Weekend (celebrating Dr. Watson and the Battle of Maiwand) will be held in Arlington Height, Ill., on July 8-10, featuring a horse race, a dinner, a collegium, and a pistol competition; additional details are available from Robert W. Hahn, 2707 South 7th Street, Sheboygan, WI 53081. Some interesting Sherlockiana is available from The Sherlock Holmes Society of London: neckties, scarves, back issues of The Sherlock Holmes Journal, recent handbooks, and (from this year's "Back to Baker Street" celebration) mugs and coasters; a sales list is available from Mrs. Lynne Godden, Apple Tree Cottage, Smarden, Ashford, Kent, TN27 8QE, England. The Williamstown Theatre Festival (in Williamstown, Mass.) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this summer, and Hugh Leonard's "The Mask of Moriarty" is scheduled for July 6-17. Described as a "wonderful send-up of the Sher- lock Holmes legend," the play premiered in Dublin in 1985, with Tom Baker as Holmes, and was done in Leicester in 1987 and Kenilworth in 1993. This is its American premiere (cast not yet announced), and the box-office phone number is 413-597-3400. Gordon E. Kelley has long been interested in Sherlockian films, radio, and television, and his new SHERLOCK HOLMES: SCREEN AND SOUND GUIDE (Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1994; 316 pp., $37.50) offers a splendid look at the long history of Sherlock Holmes in all those areas, and on records and tapes and computer disks. The coverage is up-to-date, and the entries often include detailed lists of casts and credits. It can be frustrating to see how much one has missed, not only older material but also recent television programs that have come and gone (but of course many of them may return on all those cable-channels-to-come). The publisher's address is Box 4167, Metuchen, NJ 08840 (800-537-7107); $40.00 postpaid, and they take plastic. May 94 #5 The Sixth International Holmes Games will be held in Vancouver this year, on Sept. 17-18. The events have not been announced, but in years past have included "the pursuit of a chaste yeoman's daughter across the moor," and there will be a dinner, a formal debate, and other festivities; more information is available from Elsa Haffenden, 1026 West Keith Road, North Vancouver, B.C. V7P 3C6, Canada That very nice copy of the first edition of THE LOST WORLD, inscribed by Conan Doyle to his wife Jean, once owned by Richard Manney, and auctioned at Sotheby's in New York in Oct. 1991, is on the market again, offered by The 19th Century Shop, 1047 Hollins Street, Baltimore, MD 21223 (410-539- 2586) for $9,500. The buyer at the auction paid $4,950 for the book. Don Hobbs reports a new (1993) addition to the Canonical series issued by the Reader's Digest Association: THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, with excellent illustrations by David Johnson and an Afterword by Philip A. Shreffler (the contents consist of HIS LAST BOW and four of the apocryphal tales). Other volumes in the series are worth looking for in book sales: A STUDY IN SCARLET/THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1986), THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1987), THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1988), and THE RE- TURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1991). Victoria Gill reports: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE RAILWAY MANIAC, a pastiche by Barrie Roberts (London: Constable, 1994; L14.00). DR. SHERLOCK HOLMES V CECHACH, by Rudolf Cechura (Prague: Nase Vojsko, 1993; 42 kr); pastiche (in Czech). 2ND CULPRIT, edited by Liza Cody (London: Chatto & Windus, 1993; L12.00); with a reprint of Peter Lovesey's pastiche "The Curious Computer". CREEPERS: BRITISH HORROR AND FANTASY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, edited by Clive Bloom (London: Pluto, 1993; L9.00); with Victor Sage's essay on "The Speckled Band". John Aidiniantz is still pursuing his campaign to control 221B Baker Street (according to an article in the Daily Telegraph on May 10). The Sherlock Holmes Museum (at 239) now argues that refusing to allow the Museum to use the 221B address is threatening jobs: a mail-order business, gaining extra credibility from the address, would eventually create 400 jobs, the Museum claims. But the Westminster Council opposes a change, and Abbey National is "determined to hold on" (chairman Lord Tugendhat is a great fan of the detective). The latest catalog from Cerebro (Box 327, East Prospect, PA 17603) is full of cigar-box labels, including the colorful "Sherlock Holmes" outer label (about 4" square) at $18.00. Their telephone number is 800-695-2235, and they take plastic. I've been told that MY DEAREST HOLMES, by Rohase Piercy (London: Gay Men's Press, 1988; 142 pp., L3.95) is still available from Alyson Publications, 40 Plympton Street, Boston, MA 02118 ($7.95). As reviewed earlier (Apr 88 #1), the book is homosexual in its intellectual and emotional approach, but it is neither erotic nor pornographic; it is a two-part pastiche, with the first half presenting Watson's account of a new case in 1887, and the sec- ond offering a thoroughly revised report on the events that preceded and followed the fateful journey to the Reichenbach. May 94 #6 Ardent Sherlockians need not be told how important film preser- vation is. And it's nice indeed that the UCLA Film and Televi- sion Archive has assigned priority status to the 12 Sherlock Holmes films made by Universal in the 1940s (the nitrate masters are now on the verge of deterioration). Lab costs are about $15,000 per film (that's $180,000 for the series), and your donations, large or small, are welcome. The develop- ment officer is Cornelia Emerson, UCLA Film and Television Archive (FX48), 302 East Melnitz, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1323. Warren Randall notes that A BOOK OF DAYS FOR THE LITERARY YEAR, edited by Neal T. Jones (published by Thames and Hudson) has entries for Holmes and Watson and Conan Doyle (and it's a perennial, so you don't need to buy one every year). And FODOR'S TORONTO 1993 recommends the Metropolitan Toronto Library as housing "the finest public collection of Holmesiana anywhere." A brief report, extracted from a longer report by Chris Redmond, on events at the end-of-April meeting of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society in Toronto, organized by Christopher and Barbara Roden, with about 80 people on hand, including two members of the Conan Doyle family: Georgina Doyle (widow of the Brig. John Doyle, son of ACD's brother Innes) and Charles Foley (grand- son of ACD's sister Ida). Speakers spoke on Doylean subjects, and Michael Coren discussed the 250,000-word biography he is writing about Conan Doyle, with publication planned for the fall of 1995, with a press run of 120,000 copies in eight languages; asked about his opinions of Conan Doyle, Coren called him "the best of Empire" and spoke of his "basic decency". One session, led by the Rodens, traced the Society's history and offered enthusiastic comment on its future. A member of the audience asked whether (and if so, why) there was animosity between the Society and the Sherlock- ian world; Catherine Cooke (a member of the council of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London) said firmly that she thinks there is no such hostility, apart perhaps from a few misguided individuals, and Christopher Roden spoke of last year's controversy in print over remarks he was said to have made about Sherlockians' preferring for food and drink over scholarship (he said that an intervention into that debate from the head of the Baker Street Ir- regulars was particularly unfortunate). Three publications were issued at the meeting: WESTERN WANDERINGS (articles by ACD about his trip to Canada in 1914) costs L17.00 (or $29.00); and THE FUTURE OF CANADIAN LITERATURE (a lecture delivered during that trip) costs L8.00 (or $13.00). DR. DOYLE OF UPPER WIMPOLE STREET (presenting evidence that ACD's ophthalmological office was not, after all, in Devonshire Place, but rather in Upper Wimpole Street) may also be available (price unknown). Prices postpaid, from Christopher Roden, 2 Abbottsford Drive, Penyffordd, Chester, Cheshire CH4 0JG, England. "The famous detective solves crimes while concealing her true sexual iden- tity" in Therese Lentz's new play "221 B Baker Street" now playing (through June 19) at the Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Holly- wood, Calif.; the box-office telephone number is 818-769-7529. The Spermaceti Press, 3900 Tunlaw Road NW #119, Washington, DC 20007-4830 Telephone: 202-338-1808 Internet: pblau@cap.gwu.edu Jun 94 #1 Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press Simon & Schuster's audiocassette THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES #24 ($12.00) offers two more of the grand old Rathbone/Bruce radio shows, from scripts by Denis Green and Anthony Boucher, with new introductions by Sarah Marshall (daughter of Herbert Marshall and Edna Best, one of the producers of the series). "The Accidental Murderess" (26 Nov 45) has been available on records and cassettes (with lower fidelity), but "The Blarney Stone" (18 Mar 46) is new to audio. K.C. Berger offers an autograph letter signed by Conan Doyle, written from 15 Buckingham Palace Mansions to a Mr. Bligh Bond (likely his fellow-spiri- tualist Frederick Bligh Bond), for $1,150. For full details, send her an SASE (1555 Belford Road, Reno, NV 89509-3097). Michael Ross reports that the first edition of the JUBILAUMSBIBLIOGRAPHIE DEUTSCHER SHERLOCKIANA 1894-1994 (Apr 94 #1) sold out quickly; if you have not ordered already, don't. Von Herder Airguns are preparing a supplement, and an expanded second edition for those who missed the first edition. The Brothers Three of Moriarty will convene at the Albuquerque Press Club on July 16, for their traditional Col. Sebastian Moran Memorial Trap Shoot, an event which may or may not mark the end of Moran's extended term in prison. The Parole Board will award a prize for the best letter or speech offered supporting a parole for Col. Moran; John Bennett Shaw is chairman of the parole board, and letters should be sent to C. Bryan Gassner, P.O. Drawer G, Corrales, NM 87048-0178. C. Bryan Gassner also presides over The Shadows of the Elm at the Arroyo del Oso Elementary School in Albuquerque, continuing to help her students in presenting half-hour dramatizations of the Canon. This year's story was "The Copper Beeches", and it was videotaped. A cassette is available (with a selection of out-takes titled "May God Save Us from Colour and Life") for $8.00 postpaid from Mrs. Gassner at the same address. WHO'S WHERE: A HANDY REFERENCE GUIDE TO PERSONS IN THE HOLMESIAN CANON (52 pp., spiral bound) is available for $6.50 postpaid from Benton Wood, Box 740, Ellenton, FL 34222. Ben also offers $5.00 face value of old commemor- ative postage stamps to use on your mail, for $5.50 postpaid. The Mini-Tonga Scion Society now has 72 members, and will meet informally on Aug. 3, during the N.A.M.E. national meeting in Anaheim. Calif. Issue #27 of The Tonga Times offers eight pages of news (including instructions on making a miniature dark lantern); membership costs $6.00 a year (with three issues of the newsletter, and back issues are available), and if you would like to have more information about the society, send a #10 SASE to Carol Wenk (Box 770554, Lakewood, OH 44107). Cleadon Hall Collectibles (31-A Maple Avenue, Barrie, Ont. L4N 1R7, Canada) has sent a sales-list announcing that they are the exclusive distributors for the commemorative Sherlockian plate and the Reichenbach jug designed by Deirdre Keetley at her Studio Gallery in London. Other S'ian collectibles (mugs, thimbles, bells, etc.) are available in quantities of 12 or more. Jun 94 #2 In his new book THE CATS OF THISTLE HILL: A MOSTLY PEACEABLE KINGDOM (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994; 236 pp., $22.00), Roger A. Caras tells many amusing stories, including one about the late cartoonist Charles Addams. Caras and Addams once were among the judges at a charity pet show for children, where Addams whispered that he wanted "to give first prize to that ugly little boy with the ugly little turtle" be- cause "they look just alike." Caras pointed out that they shouldn't, since the turtle was an Eastern box turtle, a threatened species that was locally endangered, and it was illegal for the ugly little boy to have it. Addams thought for a moment; then his face brightened, passing quickly from con- templation to enlightenment. "If it really is illegal for him to have it, let's give him first prize, and then hang him." Jerry Devine died on May 20. He was an actor-producer whose film career started in silent films, and he played Billy in John Barrymore's Sherlock Holmes" (1922). He later turned to writing, and had two plays produced on Broadway, and then wrote for radio, contributing to "Mr. District Attorney" and producing and directing "This Is Your FBI". The 24nd running of The Silver Blaze (Southern Division), at Pimlico on May 28, was won easily by the appropriately-named Gotcha Cornered, who finished nine lengths ahead of Every Nuance. Lynda Blankenship, of The Giant Rats of Massillon, awarded the trophy on behalf of the Washington and Baltimore scions; The Silver Blaze was the first race she had attended or bet on, and by nice coincidence she had bet on the winner. Richard Hughes, one of the grand old men of journalism in south-east Asia, and founder of The Baritsu Society in Tokyo in 1948, appeared as two diff- erent characters in books by two different authors (as Dikko Henderson in Ian Fleming's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and as Bill Craw in John le Carre's THE HONOURABLE SCHOOLBOY). There are many other stories told about him, some by himself in his autobiography FOREIGN DEVIL (London: Andre Deutsch, 1972) and others by Norman McSwan in THE MAN WHO READ THE EAST WIND (Kenthurst: Kangaroo Press, 1988). And there's a new one told by his son Dick Hughes, in his autobiography DON'T YOU SING (just published in Australia, according to a story in the Washington Times on May 27): in the early 1950s Richard Hughes was reporting to The Sunday Times from Tokyo, and was contacted by the Soviets, who asked him to obtain information for them; Hughes reported this to Ian Fleming, who informed MI6 (Britain's foreign intelligence ser- vice) and for some time Hughes sold the Soviets misinformation prepared by MI6. And Hughes used the code name "Altamont". The International Stamp Collectors Society (Box 854, Van Nuys, CA 91408) is offering older Sherlockian postal material, such as the four stamps and one souvenir sheet from Turks & Caicos Islands (1984) for $24.95; and the set of four booklets from Great Britain (1987-88) with S'ian covers designed by Andrew Davidson (who also designed the recent set honoring Sherlock Holmes) for $39.95. Write for their illustrated fliers. Arthur and Joyce Ann Liebman will guide their 14-day tour "In the Footsteps of Sherlock, Dracula, and Agatha" in England on Aug. 6-20, according to a flier forwarded by Gordon Kelley. Their phone number is 516-621-6008, or you can contact Contemporary Tours, 580 Plandome Road, Manhasset, NY 10030. Jun 94 #3 Cliff Goldfarb notes that the Quality Paperback Book Club sum- mer selection is THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, in three volumes at CA$23.95 (members in the U.S. will likely pay about $17.50). The club de- scribes the volumes as "definitive editions" with illustrations by Sidney Paget, and the club's "own guide to Holmes' world." The covers reprint the Frederic Dorr Steele portrait of Holmes that was used in 1904 on the covers of CONAN DOYLE'S BEST BOOKS (D673a) in 1904. The club is for members only, but it's easy to join; the address is: Camp Hill, PA 17011-9902. Sorry about that: the title of Barnes & Noble's reprint of Peter Haining's book (May 94 #2) is A SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPANION (as Don Izban has noted). The book was published as A SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPENDIUM in 1980 and 1981, and a different title was used for new reprint, possibly chosen by someone who didn't know or didn't care that A SHERLOCK HOLMES COMPANION also is the title of a book by Michael and Mollie Hardwick. And no, book titles cannot be protected by copyright. Jack Tracy has completed his westward trek, and is now at 2809 Wilmington Way, Las Vegas, NV 89102, will have Gaslight Publications unpacked soon. "Cut out the poetry," Sherlock Holmes once said (severely), and it may well be that modern Sherlockians are heeding his advice, since we don't see that much new S'ian poetry. One recent (and interesting) exception is "Watson", one of six poems in Henry Knight's collection SUSPICIONS (Toronto: Childe Thursday, 1994; 102 pp., US$9.35 postpaid). The publisher's address is 29 Sussex Avenue, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1J6, Canada. Russia now has an active Sherlockian society, and it is active indeed: The Ural Holmesian Society has dinner meetings, and a journal (Elementary, Wat- son!), and has published two volumes of THE ADVENTURES OF THE GREAT DETEC- TIVE SHERLOCK HOLMES (not reprints from the Canon, but rather anthologies of S'iana translated into Russian, and Russian scholarship, pastiches, and parodies), and they are now at work on a four-volume edition of the Russian misadventures of Sherlock Holmes. All in Russian, of course, and with fine illustrations, old and new. The society contact is Alexander Shaburov, Ul. Cherepanova 4-334, Ekaterinburg 620034, Russia. "Enter the world of Norbertina Ninja Nanny, a mischievous cow in search of answers to the riddles of her past and Sleuth Sherrloch Sheltie, a budding computer criminology from Loch Sherr, Scotland." That's the blurb for "No. 11 Downing Street", a new CD-ROM disc game published by Silicon Alley and offered for $49.95 by CD-ROM Warehouse, 1720 Oak Street, Lakewood, NJ 08701 (800-237-6623), and reported by Jerry Bangham. They offer a double-speed CD-ROM drive for $199.00, and more CD-ROM discs than you can shake a panic button at. Northstar/Arpad published the two issues of the comic book SHERLOCK HOLMES: TALES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE in 1992 (Aug 92 #3 and Nov 92 #5), and there was a third issue in Mar. 1993 that was unreported along the Sherlockian grapevine. The third issue (with Joe Gentile's story "The Sequestered Spy" and artwork by Eric and Kevin Masi) is available for $5.00 postpaid from Joe Gentile, 47 East Lincoln Highway, Frankfort, IL 60423. Jun 94 #4 Philip Weller (6 Bramham Moor, Hill Head, Fareham, Hants. PO14 3RU, England) offers some new publications: ALPHABETICALLY, MY DEAR WATSON (a pocket reference book listing all the Canonical characters, with brief details and citations), $13.00 (surface)/$15.00 (air); THE COM- PANY CANON: THE EMPTY HOUSE (a pocket edition, with the text of the story and almost 200 annotations), $7.00/$10.00; and THE HAMPSHIRE PAPERS (loose- leaf reprints of Hampshire newspaper articles by and about Conan Doyle), $8.00/$10.00. Payment in currency, rather than checks, please). John Aidiniantz has not abandoned his campaign to control mail that is sent to Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street, according to an article by Stephen Ellis in the Sunday Times (June 5). Aidiniantz insists that his museum, at 239 Baker Street, is the "real" 221B, and want to sell memorabilia to those who write to Holmes. Abbey National's press spokesman noted that: "We have taken on the role of answering the letters to Sherlock Holmes, and do not plan to give it up without a fight. The people at the museum want to capi- talise on them, while we just like the goodwill it creates." And the Post Office continues to agree with Abbey. Jeremy Brett is alive and well and working, according to a report at hand from Melanie Hughes. Stuart Wavell noted in the [London] Sunday Times (May 22) that Brett is working with Joss Ackland and Elizabeth Hurley on a new television film "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" (scheduled to begin shooting in London this month). Victoria Gill notes that Colin Dexter's collection MORSE'S GREATEST MYSTERY AND OTHER STORIES (London: Macmillan, 1993; L15.00) includes a reprint of his amusing pastiche "A Case of Mis-Identity" (first published in WINTER'S CRIMES 21, 1989). Marilou Trask-Curtin is writing a biography of William Gillette, and would like to hear from people who knew him or saw him perform (or, since there aren't that many such people surviving) from people whose family or friends knew him or saw him perform. Her address is: R.D.4, Box 523, Oneonta, NY 13820 (607-432-8145). Reported: MORIARTY'S RETURN: A GAME OF GLOBAL PURSUIT (for people who drive Macintosh computers), available at software stores (price unknown); you get to join the Diogenes Club Irregulars (an organization that was funded by a bequest in Mycroft Holmes' will) and use deductive reasoning while pursuing modern criminals; the game is made by Mysterium Tremendum (909 North Negley Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206). New sales-list at hand from Classic Specialties (Box 19058, Cincinnati, OH 45219), with summer specials: new Sherlockian sport-shorts, sweat-shirts, golf towels, and sports towels. 3RD CULPRIT: AN ANNUAL OF CRIMES STORIES, edited by Liza Cody, Michael Z. Lewin, and Peter Lovesey (London: Chatto & Windus, 1994; 263 pp., L11.99), is the latest anthology of stories written by members of the Crime Writers Association; with an amusing Sherlockian allusion in H.R.F. Keating's story "Mr. Idd" and a delightful Sherlockian caption for one of the drawings con- tributed by "Clewsey" to the CWA's monthly newsletter Red Herrings. Jun 94 #5 Further to the reports (Jun 93 #5 and Jul 93 #5) on the retro- spective exhibit in Los Angeles of Mark Tansey's paintings, the show is now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. And this time the show's keynote painting, displayed on a large banner outside the museum and on the exhibition's poster, is "Derrida Queries De Man" (which owes a great deal to Sidney Paget's illustration of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach). One art critic has suggested that the two figures in Tansey's painting are "locked in eternal combat over the meaning De Man gave to the meaning that Derrida gave to Rousseau." Bruce Parker, who saw the show in Los Angeles, has reported that the figures seem to be dancing, rather than fighting, and that the words dimly seen on the rocks consist of phrases and clauses from deconstructionist critical works by Derrida and De Man. Henry Mancini died on June 14. He called himself simply a composer (and he titled his autobiography "Did They Mention the Music?"), and by the end of a career that began in 1952 he had won four Oscars, twenty Grammies, and many other awards. His Sherlockian films were "The Great Mouse Detective" (1986) and "Without a Clue" (1988), and in an interview that appeared in Holmes for the Holidays (Mar.-Apr. 1993) he recalled growing up with Sher- lock Holmes, at the movies in the early 1940s. The film based on Mark Frost's Conan Doyle pastiche THE LIST OF SEVEN isn't in production yet, but an item in Daily Variety (May 24) spotted by Melanie Hughes reports that the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro has been signed by Universal to rewrite Frost's script (and is likely to direct the film). Meanwhile, Frost is completing a sequel to his book, to be set in the U.S. early in this century and called THE SIX MESSIAHS. Here's a smaller (the original is 19 x 40 in.) black-and-white reproduction of Steven Emmons' colorful pencil-ink-and-watercolor tribute to the BSI (in an edition of seven copies at $2,550.00 each). And his catalog (with color photocopies) of other available Sherlockian original art and printed post- ers costs $12.00. His address is 70-A Greenwich Avenue #206, New York, NY 10011 (212-627-4889). Jun 94 #6 Reported by Peter Calamai: THE CASE OF THE ALL-CONSUMING FIRE, by Andy Lane (London: Virgin Books, 1994); a cross-over novel, in which Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes investigate the disappearance of books from the most secret library in the world: the Library of Saint John the Beheaded in London. A good source for Virgin's "Doctor Who" series is Who Enterprises, Box 399, Station A, Toronto, Ont. M4G 4C3, Canada; Lane's book costs CA$10.91, or about US$10.20. The Practical, But Limited, Geologists met for dinner at the Denver Press Club on June 15, honoring (as usual) the world's first forensic geologist, and some of the visitors who were attending the annual meeting of the Amer- ican Association of Petroleum Geologists were warmly welcomed by members of Dr. Watson's Neglected Patients. Bill Dorn showed slides of the geology of Dartmoor (well, there were rocks in many of his pictures), but did not have any petrological specimens as souvenirs. The Practical, But Limited, Geol- ogists will meet next in Seattle on Oct. 25, and in Houston in March 1995. "Sherlockians who have been President of the United States" is of necessity a limited number. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman both were members of The Baker Street Irregulars, but otherwise one settles for what one can get, such as memories of childhood reading (and that's how Ronald Reagan made the list). Now Andy Peck reports a letter sent by Bill Clinton in April to a Mystery Writers of America symposium and workshop on "Mystery Writing is Murder". "Mystery novels have been one of my favorite forms of literature since I was a child," President Clinton said. "Sherlock Holmes' brilliant logic inspired me throughout my young adulthood." A splendid collection of Conan Doyle letters and memorabilia was offered at auction at Sotheby's in New York on June 10: over 190 letters and cards to people such as Bram Stoker, Sir Henry Irving, Charles Frohman, and his pub- lishers, and a signed photograph, a prescription that he wrote in 1898, and a signed menu from the Ladies Dinner given by the Authors Club (with Conan Doyle as chairman) in May 1901. Sotheby's estimate was $125,000-175,000; the highest bid was $70,000, and the lot was not sold. The Mystery Writers of America held their annual dinner in New York on Apr. 27, and presented their Ellery Queen Award (for writing teams, editors, and publishers who have made an outstanding contribution to the mystery genre) to Otto Penzler. And the nominees for Edgars included "1994 Baker Street" (for t