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"As I turn over the pages I see my notes" [GOLD] 


The pages of the original 60 Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are filled with brief references to cases that Watson never managed to bring before the public eye. 

They represent a tantalizing glimpse of more aspects of an already legendary career, providing additional details that not only give us a better sense of Sherlock Holmes the detective, but of Sherlock Holmes the character as well. It's part of what led many to think of Sherlock Holmes as a real person, alive and practicing his career in late Victorian / early Edwardian London.

Dr. Watson himself wrote:
"Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-worn and battered tin despatch-box with my name, John H. Watson, M.D., Late Indian Army, painted upon the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to illustrate the curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had at various times to examine." [SUSS]

The January 1st special on BBC One and MASTERPIECE, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (which we're referring to as ABOM, in the style of Sherlockian scholar Jay Finley Christ), was inspired by one of the untold tales, as mentioned in MUSG, when Holmes had pulled his own tin box into the sitting-room and rifled through old notes to find "a full account of Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife."

But there have been over 100 cases that Watson or Holmes mentioned in passing, some of which have been dramatized for radio in the 1940s with Basil Rathbone as "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," and more recently by BBC Radio as "The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." [Related: our interview with BBC Radio head writer Bert Coules, Part 1 and Part 2.]

Even Arthur Conan Doyle's son Adrian got into the action together with John Dickson Carr when the two collaborated to write The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes as an extension to the Canon.

As an homage to Watson's Tin Box, more than one Sherlockian has attempted to capture the wonders in verse, which we previously chronicled in The Great Unrecorded Cases in Watson's Tin Box.

We once tried to make a list of the cases as we read the Canon the second time, but it seemed like an arduous task. Thankfully, there are other crazy dedicated Sherlockians who have done the same. Most notably, Stephen Clarkson, BSI ("Morse Hudson") in The Canonical Compendium and William Goodrich, BSI ("Alexander Holder") in The New Good Old Index. Online, Randall Stock, BSI ("South African Securities") created an entry on his site for the Best Untold Tales of the Canon, which show survey results from among Sherlockians.

Now we'll attempt to list all of the unrecorded tales mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes stories, which includes some that don't involve Holmes or that were mentioned in passing that may lack a proper name. All tales include the four-letter abbreviation (click the link to see the key to the code) of the stories in which they were mentioned. If you think we've missed any, please let us know.

Sherlock Holmes: The Unpublished Cases

The Abbey School [BLAN]
The Abergavenny Murder [PRIO]
The Abernetty family (depth which the parsley had sunk into the butter) [SIXN]
The mortal terror of old Abrahams [LADY]
The dramatic introduction of Dr. Moore Agar [DEVI]
The singular affair of the aluminum crutch [MUSG]
The Amateur Mendicant Society [FIVE]
The ancient British barrow (the Addleton tragedy) [GOLD]
The Arsworth Castle business [SCAN]
The tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee [SCAN]
Lord Backwater [NOBL]
The Bishopgate jewel case [SIGN]
Blackmailing one of the most revered names in England [HOUN]
The bogus laundry affair [CARD]
The Camberwell poisoning case (Holmes winding a dead man's watch) [FIVE]
Colonel Carruthers [WIST]
Run-ins with John Clay [REDH]
Coiner [SHOS]
The Conk-Singleton forgery case [SIXN]
The two Coptic Patriarchs [RETI]
Saving of Count Von und Zu Grafenstein [LAST]
The death of Crosby the banker [GOLD]
The cutter Alicia (never emerged from a small patch of mist) [THOR]
The Darlington substitution scandal [SCAN]
The Dundas separation case (hurling false teeth at wife) [IDEN]
The Dutch steamship Friesland [NORW]
Etherege [IDEN]
Mrs. Farintosh's opal tiara [SPEC]
The Ferrers documents [PRIO]
Fishmonger (letter from) [NOBL]
Mrs. Cecil Forrester [SIGN]
The French Government matter of supreme importance [FINA]
The giant rat of Sumatra (Matilda Briggs) [SUSS]
The Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa [FIVE]
The Grosvenor Square furniture van [NOBL]
Mr. Fairdale Hobbs [REDC]
Huret, the Boulevard assassin [GOLD]
The peculiar persecution of John Vincent Harden
Jew peddlar [STUD]
The King of Scandinavia ("My last client of the sort was a king.") [NOBL, SCAN]
The loss of the British bark Sophy Anderson [FIVE]
The Manor House case (Adams) [GREE]
The woman at Margate with no powder on her nose [SECO]
The matter of Marseilles [IDEN]
The colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis (Netherland-Sumatra Company) [REIG]
Merridew of abominable memory [EMPT]
The Molesley mystery [EMPT]
The unfortunate Mme. Montpensier [HOUN]
Morgan the poisoner [EMPT]
The most repellent man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist [SIGN]
The most winning woman (poisoned three little children)
The papers of Ex-President Murillo [NORW]
The Nonpareil Club card scandal (Colonel Upwood) [HOUN]
Old man [STUD]
The Paradol Chamber [FIVE]
The killing of Perkins [3GAB]
The madness of Isadora Persano (remarkable worm unknown to science) [THOR]
The disappearance of Mr. James Phillimore (umbrella) [THOR]
The politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant [VEIL]
Railway porter [STUD]
The red litmus paper [NAVA]
The repulsive story of the red leech [GOLD]
The reigning family of Holland [IDEN, SCAN]
Reigning houses of Europe [NAVA]
Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife [MUSG]
The Riviera robbery [MAZA]
Royal Family of Scandinavia [FINA]
The old Russian woman [MUSG]
The St. Pancras case (cap found beside dead policeman) [SHOS]
The Second Stain and Monsieur Dubuque, of the Paris Police [NOBL]
Services to the Crown for which Holmes refused a knighthood [3GAR]
The Smith-Mortimer succession case [GOLD]
The Spencer John gang [3GAR]
Archie Stamford [SOLI]
Henry Staunton [MISS]
Bert Stevens, the mild-mannered murderer [NORW]
The Sultan of Turkey [BLAN]
The Tarleton murders [MUSG]
The Tankerville Club scandal [FIVE]
Tidewaiter (letter from) [NOBL]
The Tired Captain [NAVA]
The sudden death of Cardinal Tosca [BLAC]
The Trepoff murder in Odessa [SCAN]
Two cases [VALL]
Vamberry, the wine merchant [MUSG]
Vanderbilt and the Yeggman [SUSS]
The Vatican cameos [HOUN]
Venomous lizard or gila (Remarkable case, that!) [SUSS]
Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder [SUSS]
Vittoria, the circus belle [SUSS]
Colonel Warburton's madness [ENGR]
Wilson, district messenger [HOUN]
Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer [BLAC]
Young girl [STUD]


That's quite an impressive list! But did we miss anything? Do let us know below.

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