I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Canonical Connections in Conan Doyle's "Our Midnight Visitor"

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<b>"which present strange and interesting features" [FIVE] </b></h4>
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“The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips” gives some of those tantalizing untold tales with which Watson loved to tease his readers:<br />
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“the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the British barque Sophy Anderson, of the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case.” </blockquote>
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The latitude and longitude of the island of Uffa has long puzzled Sherlockian scholars because it exists in no atlas. Robert A. Moss, in his article "In the Island of Uffa" (<i><a href="http://bakerstreetjournal.com/">The Baker Street Journal</a></i>, Vol 63, No 4, Winter 2013), lists some of the candidates to its possible location. Jay Finley Christ suggested—and Moss concurs—it was a portmanteau disguise by Watson of the islands of Ulva and Staffa in the Hebrides archipelago off the Scottish west coast. Julian Wolff, in his <i>The Sherlockian Atlas</i>, located it as Ufa in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Islands">Solomon Islands</a>.  <br />
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"Rolfe Boswell suggested that Uffa was a large mound constructed by King Uffa of East Anglia, circa 580 C.E. Darrell Schweitzer located it in the fen country of eastern England, where lakes and isles abounded before the fens were drained in the 1600s, leaving behind a great mound that was once the island of Uffa."</blockquote>
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August Derleth had Solar Pons and Dr. Parker solving the curse of the Grice Patersons east of the Isles of Scilly, off Cornwall. John Linsenmeyer in the Spring 2017 <a href="http://www.torontobootmakers.com/canadian-holmes/"><i>Canadian Holmes</i></a> (Vol 40, No 2) posits that Uffa is really the city of Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia. </div>
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They were all looking in the wrong place. They needed to check the <i>Temple Bar</i>. </div>
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<b>"Near the right temple?" [THOR]</b></h3>
<i>Temple Bar</i> was one of the leading literary magazines of the day and in the February 1891 issue appeared “Our Midnight Visitor,” the third and final story of Arthur Conan Doyle's that the magazine published. It is a very long short story, about 9,300 words, set on the fictional island of Uffa, two and a half miles off the western coast of Arran, although from the geography mentioned in the story, Doyle clearly meant the southern coast, about where the red x is on the map.<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Arran">Arran</a> is an island roughly twenty miles long by ten miles wide in the Firth of Clyde off the west coast of Scotland. In August or September 1877, Doyle and his sisters Lottie and Connie took a walking tour of the island. According to Andrew Lycett in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Created-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/074327525X">The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes</a></i>, </div>
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“Bounding over the craggy landscape that had inspired Walter Scott’s epic poem <i>The Lord of the Isles</i>, his [Doyle’s] imagination was fired by the Gothic potential of the misty west coast which he would later summon up in stories such as ‘The Mystery of Cloomber.’ His taste for travel and adventure was also sparked by the sight of colossal ocean liners making their stately progress through the waves between Arran and the Scottish mainland, en route to and from Glasgow. The young medical student was beginning to store up meaningful memories of his own.”</blockquote>
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“Our Midnight Visitor’ is a reminiscence of Archie McDonald:<br />
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"My father had been enabled to send me to begin the study of medicine at the University of Glasgow, and I had attended lectures there for two Winter sessions, but, whether from caprice or from some lessening in his funds, he had recalled me, and in the year 1865 I found myself cribbed up in this little island with just education enough to wish for more, and with no associate at home but the grim, stern old man, for my mother had been dead some years, and I had neither brother nor sister."</blockquote>
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Thus, "just before the equinoctial gales in the Spring," the sudden appearance of a mysterious stranger sets events into motion. Doyle gave an appreciable amount of space in the story to the history and geography of Uffa; the three families of the island, the McDonalds of Carracuil, the Gibbs of Arden and the Fullartons of Corriemains; the Roost of Uffa, the channel between Uffa and Arran with at-times dangerous currents; Carravoe where the McDonalds anchor their fishing boat; the Combera cliffs, the trysting place of Archie and Minnie Fullarton; Beg-na-sacher and Beg-na-phail, two rugged knolls in the center of the island. </div>
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It is not surprising when in May 1891 as Doyle came to write “The Five Orange Pips”, the island of Uffa was still fresh in his mind as a perfect setting for a “singular adventure” of Holmes and Watson he never intended to write.<br />
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<b><br /></b><b>"quite familiar to me" [FINA]</b></h3>
As there is a Doylean echo in “The Five Orange Pips” to a recently written Doyle story, there is a Canonical echo in “Our Midnight Visitor.” The visitor, Charles Digby, is a world traveler with scars on his body as souvenirs:<br />
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"This was a bullet," he said, pointing to a deep bluish pucker underneath his collar bone. "I got it behind the barricades in Berlin in eighteen hundred and forty-eight. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernhard_von_Langenbeck">Langenback</a> said it just missed the <b>subclavian artery</b>. And this," he went on, indicating a pair of curious elliptical scars upon his throat, "was a bite from a Sioux chief, when I was under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer">Custer</a> on the plains —I've got an arrow wound on <b>my leg</b> from the same party. This is from a mutinous Lascar aboard ship, and the others are mere scratches—Californian vaccination marks. You can excuse my being a little ready with my own irons, though, when I've been dropped so often." [<i>Ed. note: emphasis ours</i>]</blockquote>
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Subclavian artery wounds maybe more common than thought, although Digby could not have been “under Custer on the plains” as Custer went straight to the Civil War from West Point and he didn’t fight in the Indian Wars until 1866. As with "The <i>Gloria Scott</i>", Doyle seems to forget the story's internal chronology. It is a reminiscence of  Holmes's <a href="http://ihose.co/trifles37">college days</a> told to Watson at an unspecified later date, but presumably during 1881 to 1888, when Watson was a bachelor living with Holmes. Holmes' college days would have been in the 1870s. Yet when Judge Trevor's written confession to his son turns up, the events leading to the disappearance of the <i>Gloria Scott</i> are dated both as October 1855 and "thirty years ago". While the mid-1880s would be a fine date for Holmes to be relating the story to the doctor, it would not be for Holmes' university years. In the white heat of writing, such niceties as internal consistency were of less import to Doyle's popular works than dramatic impact.<br />
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I also don't think Doyle was doing something meta by connecting the world of "Our Midnight Visitor" to the world of Sherlock Holmes any more than I think he was connecting Professor Challenger in 1912's <i>The Lost World</i> ("The only other evidence which I can adduce is from the log of the <i><b>SS Friesland</b></i>, a Dutch-American liner, which asserts that at nine next morning, <i>Start Poin</i>t being at the time ten miles upon their starboard quarter, they were passed by something between a flying goat and a monstrous bat, which was heading at a prodigious pace south and west.")  to 1903's "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder" ("Our months of partnership had not been so uneventful as he had stated, for I find, on looking over my notes, that this period includes the case of the papers of ex-President Murillo, and also the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship <i><b>Friesland</b></i>, which so nearly cost us both our lives."). Doyle reused names often in his fiction and aside from the equinoctial gales with which "The Five Orange Pips" and "Our Midnight Visitor," stories Doyle wrote just months apart, open, the Uffa connection seems like an inside joke that he and only a few family members would get.<br />
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I was not the first to uncover this link and I didn't think I would be. In my research for this post, I came across this from <i>The Sherlock Holmes Journal</i>, Vol 14 No 2 (Issue 53) Winter 1979, Editorial Notes:<br />
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<b>Uffa Riddle Answered ?</b><br />
HERE is a truly scholarly discovery, one not previously made to our knowledge, for which congratulations are due to J. M. Gibson of Chi-Chester. Mr Gibson it was who came up with the Doyle-Ripper link in the last issue’s Notes: now it’s Uffa’s turn. I need hardly remind readers of the reference made by Watson in The Five Orange Pips -. . . the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa.” Where is that elusive island, though? The name has always sounded vaguely Gaelic to me, and many years ago Jay Finley Christ decided that a combination of the names Ulva and Staffa, off the west coast of Scotland, provided the key. I think we can now be certain, for there is corroboration in an almost unknown short story by Conan Doyle. Mr. Gibson has sent in a copy of a journal called <i>Temple Bar</i>: in its February 1891 issue there is a story by Doyle entitled “Our Midnight Visitor”, and the first sentence runs as follows: “On the western side of the island of Arran, seldom visited, and almost unknown to tourists, the little island named Uffa”. . . . There it is, settled! The story that follows is not especially distinguished, but when it appeared, Conan Doyle was only months away from seeing in print the first of his short stories where characterisation, atmosphere and creativity combined together to assure him immortality. A real find, Mr. Gibson, and we salute you!</blockquote>
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Since that citation, the "Midnight Visitor" connection still seems to be as "almost unknown" as the story itself.<br />
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The island of Uffa is sitting in <i>The Unknown Conan Doyle: Uncollected Stories</i> waiting to be explored. Pasticheurs will find a topography ready for them to use, others find a well-crafted and evocative story ("not especially distinguished" notwithstanding) by Doyle.<br />
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Canonical Connections in Conan Doyle's "Our Midnight Visitor"

"which present strange and interesting features" [FIVE] “The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips” gives some of those tantaliz...

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by James C. O'Leary

Episode 128: Sherlockian Coin Collecting

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"a case of ancient coins" [3GAR] </h4>
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Dr. Watson was once on the receiving end of a rebuke by Baron Adelbert Gruner in "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client," Gruner upbraided Watson (who was incognito as Dr. Hill Barton, avid collector of Chinese pottery). When he admitted that he had not read Gruner's definitive book on the subject, he hid behind his profession:</div>
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“I am a very busy man. I am a doctor in practice.”<br />
“That is no answer. If a man has a hobby he follows it up, whatever his other pursuits may be.</blockquote>
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Well, Greg Ruby has certainly found time for his passion. Greg founded the group <a href="http://fourthgarrideb.com/">The Fourth Garrideb</a>, a Sherlockian society made up of those interested in coin collecting. He also developed a website to accompany it, with plenty of information for those so inclined.<br />
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We cover Greg's early interested in Holmes and coins, and then take the time to explore some of the mentions of coinage in the Sherlock Holmes stories. There's much to cover, so gather up your loose change and sit close to the electronic Victrola...<br />
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We end with a very special Editor's Gas-Lamp: Christopher Morley's own poem "The Sun's Over the Forearm," which inspired the medal for the Three Hours for Lunch Club.<br />
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<b>Sponsors</b></h2>
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<a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock128.mp3">Download</a> [Save As] | File size 28.6 MB, 1:02:18</h4>
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<b>Notes</b></h2>
1:32 Cha-CHING! Welcome<br />
2:34 Burt's grandmother was very generous<br />
4:23 What to do with your spare change<br />
6:52 Wessex Press<br />
8:07 The Breakfast of Ex-Champions<br />
9:04 Welcome Greg Ruby<br />
11:45 Don't take any Buffalo nickels<br />
13:15 The joy of meeting coin collectors<br />
18:23 Greg's first meeting with Sherlock Holmes was kismet<br />
21:07 Significant coins in the Sherlock Holmes stories<br />
27:00 Inconsistencies in coinage in the Canon<br />
29:02 The Gibraltar set from Pobjoy Mint<br />
33:25 The story behind the Three Hours for Lunch Club medal<br />
38:10 The origin of The Fourth Garrideb<br />
45:15 Chocolate Sherlock Holmes coins<br />
49:25 A future for Sherlockian challenge coins?<br />
53:15 Our own coin collecting pasts<br />
55:42 <i>The Baker Street Journal</i><br />
57:32 Gas-Lamp<br />
1:00:23 Your import/export assignment<br />
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<b>Links</b></h2>
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<li><a href="https://youtu.be/dgct3Jn8pFA?t=8s">Money can be exchanged for goods and services</a></li>
<li><a href="http://fourthgarrideb.com/">The Fourth Garrideb - Numismatics of Sherlock Holmes</a></li>
<li><a href="http://fourthgarrideb.com/2015/03/gibraltar-marks-the-return-of-sherlock-holmes-1995/">The Gibraltar set of Sherlock Holmes coins</a></li>
<li><a href="http://fourthgarrideb.com/2015/07/christopher-morley-and-the-three-hours-for-lunch-club-medal/">Christopher Morley and The Three Hours For Lunch Club Medal</a></li>
<li><a href="http://fourthgarrideb.com/2015/07/who-is-r-tait-mckenzie/">Who Is R. Tait McKenzie?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theconsultingdetective.com/shessay3.html">Coins in circulation during the era of the Sherlock Holmes stories</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/FourthGarrideb/?ref=br_rs">The Fourth Garrideb on Facebook</a><br />
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Transcript<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Transcript not yet released</span></span><br />
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Episode 128: Sherlockian Coin Collecting

"a case of ancient coins" [3GAR] Dr. Watson was once on the receiving end of a rebuke by Baron Adelbert Gruner in ...

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by Scott Monty

Baker Street Elementary — Knowledge of Chemistry

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"from amid the mad elements" [FIVE] </h4>
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At some point, we've all experienced the humorless, information-rich decorations of a classroom. From the instructive white and green cursive alphabet to the classic "<a href="https://yalealumnimagazine.com/uploads/images/2800028/1337795174/dinos_fullpeabody.jpg" target="_blank">Age of Reptiles</a>" mural from the Yale University Peabody Museum of Natural History.<br />
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But the grand-daddy of them all has to be the <a href="https://www.ptable.com/" target="_blank">Periodic Table of Elements</a>. That multi-column, multi-row chart with all of the known elements, grouped by metals / non-metals, then further by subcategories such as alkalais, noble gases, etc. For those of us who are not predisposed to appreciate the logical arrangement of the elements on the chart (or even the logic of their abbreviations), there's always Tom Lehrer's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFIvXVMbII0" target="_blank">The Element Song</a>" which sets the periodic table to the tune of "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General."<br />
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Meanwhile, at Baker Street Elementary, the boys seem to be having a gas...<br />
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>Baker Street Elementary</i></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at </span><a href="http://www.bakerstreetelementary.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #006f85; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;">www.bakerstreetelementary.org</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span></div>
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Baker Street Elementary — Knowledge of Chemistry

"from amid the mad elements" [FIVE] At some point, we've all experienced the humorless, information-rich decorations o...

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by Scott Monty

Trifling Issues in August

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"the observance of trifles [BOSC] </h4>
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<br />
If you frequent this site, you're certainly familiar with our <a href="http://ihose.co/ihoseshows">10 year-long show</a>, in which we interview notable Sherlockians who are doing their part to keep the memory of Sherlock Holmes green. I Hear of Sherlock has evolved over that decade, but we're on a steady cadence of long-form interviews on the 15th and 30th of every month.<br />
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Meanwhile, over on <a href="http://www.sherlockholmespodcast.com/">Trifles</a>, we're engaged in something different: we have short discussions of about 15 minutes in length every week in which we talk about one or two trifling issues that we've noticed within the Sherlock Holmes stories. It's an approach that we hope brings more people into our fold who are new to Sherlock Holmes and are fascinated with the details within the story.<br />
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Before we get to a recap of what we've been talking about, we wanted to take a moment to thank you. In July, we asked for your assistance in nominating our two shows for the <a href="http://podcastawards.com/">Podcast Awards</a>. Well, your generous support has paid off: of the hundreds of shows that were nominated, <i><b>Trifles was selected as a finalist for a Podcast Award in the Arts category!</b></i><br />
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Thank you for making this possible. And most of all, thank you for listening.<br />
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And now, on with the recap of <a href="http://www.sherlockholmespodcast.com/search/label/August">our August shows</a>.<br />
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<b>August Update</b></h3>
Our first show of the month was <a href="http://ihose.co/trifles32">Episode 32: A Return to Normalcy via Norwood</a> in which we discussed Watson's return to Baker Street following Holmes's return from the Great Hiatus. Holmes was behind the financing that made such a move possible. What was going on here?<br />
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Then we moved on to <a href="http://ihose.co/trifles33">Episode 33: Thumb Up for Engineers</a>. We took a few salient points from Bliss Austin's early work on some engineering irregularities in "The Engineer's Thumb." And a few of you pointed out the hilarity of the title of the episode.<br />
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Next up was an investigation of the "The Cardboard Box" - its introduction that was later recycled and its disappearance from the collected stories in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Hear what we discussed in <a href="http://ihose.co/trifles34">Episode 34: The Mysterious Box</a>.<br />
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And finally, in <a href="http://ihose.co/trifles35">Episode 35: The Real Greek Hero</a>, we picked apart the players in "The Greek Interpreter" and gave our opinion as to who was the true hero of the story.<br />
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We hope you enjoy these discussions. If you do, please subscribe to <a href="http://sherlockholmespodcast.com/">Trifles</a> via the podcast provider of your choice, or to the email updates.<br />
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And if you'd like to learn more about Tom Richmond, the talented artist behind the show's logo, check out <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose65">Episode 65: Art in the Blood</a>.<br />
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Trifling Issues in August

"the observance of trifles [BOSC] If you frequent this site, you're certainly familiar with our 10 year-long show , in which ...

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by Scott Monty

See Arthur Conan Doyle's Portable Writing Desk

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"your open desk" [SIGN] </h4>
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With the ubiquity of laptops and various thin and portable black mirrors (aka phones and tablets), there's no longer a need to have a single place from which to write.<br />
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But when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was writing Sherlock Holmes stories, he needed a place to place his paper as he ran the pen over it. There are many photographs of him at home in his study, where he authored so many of his works, from <i>The White Company</i> to "Lot 249," from "A Night Among the Nihilists" to <i>The Land of Mist</i>, and about recurring characters like Sherlock Holmes, Brigadier Gerard, and Professor Challenger.<br />
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There are tales of Conan Doyle writing on the train, at sporting events, and in other unlikely places, as the muse struck him. And as his fame and fortune grew, he was able to afford a luxury from a specialty retailer that could support his need to write during his travels.<br />
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It wasn't until 1925 that <a href="http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/arthur-conan-doyle-desk-goyard-salon-art-design">Sir Arthur Conan Doyle commissioned a travel writing desk</a> from the legendary trunkmaker <a href="http://www.goyard.com/">Goyard</a>. The luxury brand has <a href="https://www.purseblog.com/goyard/goyard-handbags-history/">a fascinating history</a>, including their willingness to accept special orders. <br />
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<h3>
"several trunks and cases" [3GAB]</h3>
As the Industrial Age continued into the 20th century, international travel became more popular—particularly as immigration laws changed and the travel industry realized that tourism could be very profitable. And the luggage industry changed to support it.<br />
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Until then, trunks were the mainstay of transporting belongings — some of them capable of containing seemingly an entire wardrobe. But with the expansion of cruise and then airline travel, trunks gave way to a variety of baggage that could be crafted to coordinate. For many more details and illustrations, see The Rake's <a href="https://therake.com/stories/style/carry-cruising-history-trunk/">A History of the Trunk</a>.<br />
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<h3>
"Engage a special" [FINA] </h3>
By 1925, Conan Doyle had made several transcontinental trips. To supplement his already significant writing income, he went on the lecture circuit, speaking about his friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes and of his growing fascination with spiritualism. And such long journeys would afford him the time and the ability to relax, read, and write.<br />
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But in order to be comfortable and efficient, and to avoid any interruption of his schedule when alighting in places that had no writing desk, Conan Doyle assured that he would always have a place to write through his commissioning of a writing desk trunk. According to <i><a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/arthur-conan-doyle-desk-goyard-salon-art-design">Architectural Digest</a></i>,<br />
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"He requested a custom-made trunk that would enable him to comfortably pursue his writing on his continuous worldwide forays. The solution that emerged from Goyard’s workshops was an amazing writing trunk, which was roughly the same size and weight as an ordinary travel trunk but was capable of transforming at will into an actual writing desk."</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulhEG-ke2NZJMey4-LVlLtV0iipQBCQYmHElZeM8z4Ei_qwV9eZhegcmXwjAXWWCO78U_TyxjmX5a57AvHnEFExoJM4T3dcwrE0sVykN-VubjlaDYu9dpJ62jJ06Gh20IGL1GNB0L26vV/s1600/ACD+writing+desk+light.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulhEG-ke2NZJMey4-LVlLtV0iipQBCQYmHElZeM8z4Ei_qwV9eZhegcmXwjAXWWCO78U_TyxjmX5a57AvHnEFExoJM4T3dcwrE0sVykN-VubjlaDYu9dpJ62jJ06Gh20IGL1GNB0L26vV/s640/ACD+writing+desk+light.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's writing trunk. Courtesy of Goyard.</i></td></tr>
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<br />And you can see the trunk desk in person; according to <i>Architectural Digest</i>, it is on display at the annual Salon Art + Design show in New York. <div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgryk-E5lwrv1TwUs0hhJ7CDGeVwAOdA1LbRr1W5T6CEuf9rYRe8kh7abE3kTsz7Syh8AMzaJViPYV9dBLOqvUomrw4ujbf2oh8lYZsyHQhP-6mjn-nEkPy_tm9Q5V8308l7Re56NAZMzm1/s1600/ACD+writing+desk+dark.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgryk-E5lwrv1TwUs0hhJ7CDGeVwAOdA1LbRr1W5T6CEuf9rYRe8kh7abE3kTsz7Syh8AMzaJViPYV9dBLOqvUomrw4ujbf2oh8lYZsyHQhP-6mjn-nEkPy_tm9Q5V8308l7Re56NAZMzm1/s640/ACD+writing+desk+dark.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Conan Doyle's writing desk. Courtesy of Maison Goyard.</i></td></tr>
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While such luxury may not be within most travelers' budgets today, there are other ways to pay an homage to times gone by. In fact, we noticed that the Spanish furniture brand JMM has a similar setup. Its <a href="https://www.fastcodesign.com/90133447/this-office-in-a-box-is-a-cubicle-you-might-actually-want-to-use">HO is a home office in a box</a>, at once a piece of furniture and a cubicle: a console that transforms into a workstation, complete with a file cabinet, shelves, LED task lamp, stool, and integrated power.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RthuzfNdq2hmsREdfgTIlJpU_dTY3JhyphenhyphenG4C8miXTGMMyZmTmqppHuPbzSKzYXlwFvPL0RidSTHJi9a5rLMu9ly6Oa59QHx01aHrJv3Prx-QJ3zdpHD2DUklkdRuowdqlkNJqdU-8O6YH/s1600/JMM-office-in-a-box-takes-a-cubicle-to-another-level.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="596" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RthuzfNdq2hmsREdfgTIlJpU_dTY3JhyphenhyphenG4C8miXTGMMyZmTmqppHuPbzSKzYXlwFvPL0RidSTHJi9a5rLMu9ly6Oa59QHx01aHrJv3Prx-QJ3zdpHD2DUklkdRuowdqlkNJqdU-8O6YH/s640/JMM-office-in-a-box-takes-a-cubicle-to-another-level.webp" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>JMM's HO design - office in a box</i></td></tr>
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It's not quite Goyard and not quite travel-ready, but if you placed your Royal typewriter and some foolscap, a pen, and a bottle of ink on its surface, you might feel a bit like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, even if only for a fleeting moment.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>January 2023 update</b>: <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2023/01/buy-arthur-conan-doyles-portable.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the desk is for sale</a></h4><div><br /></div><div>
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See Arthur Conan Doyle's Portable Writing Desk

"your open desk" [SIGN] With the ubiquity of laptops and various thin and portable black mirrors (aka phones and tablets), t...

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by Scott Monty

Elementary, She Read

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<span style="text-align: start;">"I have spent nearly all my time in...Canada" [HOUN]</span></h4>
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The closest high school to where I lived in Waterloo, Ontario, for many years is Kitchener Collegiate Institute, the alma mater of Margaret Sturm and Kenneth Millar. If those mentions don't ring a very loud bell, it may be that you know the two KCI grads under other names: <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Millar">Margaret Millar</a></b> and <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Macdonald">Ross Macdonald</a></b>, two of the significant figures of mid-20th-century American crime fiction. <br />
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I wish I could say "Canadian" crime fiction, but the duo, who married in 1938, spent most of their adult lives in California, and set the majority of their work there. (Millar did use Canadian settings on a few occasions, notably <i>The Iron Gates</i>, published in 1946.) Canada does its best to take pride in them, and I know I was not the only researcher to visit the KCI library to find a copy of the student literary magazine in which Millar's first short story appeared in 1931.<br />
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I said little about those two sort-of-Canadians in an essay about Canadian crime fiction that I wrote as a graduate student in 1973. The essay itself is lost somewhere in my archives, but I have many of my notes, as well as a practically illegible handwritten memo from the professor, who I suspect knew nothing about the subject, calling my work "scholarly."</div>
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I analyzed and classified about a dozen novels, and there's some evidence that I thought at the time those were all the Canadian mysteries there were. If I did, I was wildly wrong; even then, Derrick Murdoch, the first president of <a href="http://www.torontobootmakers.com/">The Bootmakers of Toronto</a>, was writing extensively about such fiction in the Globe and Mail, and later David Skene Melvin, BSI, would add to the literature with several anthologies, notably <i>Crime in a Cold Climate</i>, that offered samples of CanLit dating back to the 1880s. <br />
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A few of the Canadian novels I examined were actually set in Canada, such as Hugh Garner's 1970 <i>The Sin Snipe</i>. But more of the books were like those of Millar and Macdonald, essentially American even if the authors were nominally Canadian. For example, <i>The Long Way Down</i> is set in Virginia Beach, of all places, though it's the work of a Canadian, Douglas Hall, who's still at it four decades and two dozen mysteries later.<br />
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These observations are a prelude to what I want to say about <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Elementary-She-Read-Sherlock-Bookshop/dp/1683310969">Elementary, She Read</a></i>, the new novel by <b><a href="http://vickidelany.com/">Vicki Delany</a></b>, who lives not far from me in Prince Edward County, Ontario. I have not read any of Delany's previous books, and I am so clueless that I didn't actually know her name even though she has served as president of <a href="http://www.crimewriterscanada.com/">Crime Writers of Canada</a> and produced more than a dozen successful books. But I could no longer overlook her, of course, when she started writing about Sherlock Holmes.<br />
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<i>Elementary, She Read</i> is billed as "A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery," signalling that there are going to be more books with the same setting and central character. The character is Gemma Doyle, no known relation to Arthur Conan of that ilk, who has (and cleverly demonstrates in almost every chapter) a remarkable Holmes-like ability to observe and make deductions. The setting is a smallish town on Cape Cod in Massachusetts — not, obviously, part of Canada. Delany is, in fact, following in the footsteps of Millar, Macdonald, and the rest; and who can blame her for paying attention to where her potential market is to be found, something even ACD did in his later stories?<br />
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This book, published in spring 2017 by Crooked Lane Books, is squarely in the "cozy" mystery tradition. Its young woman narrator/sleuth who enjoys an on-again, off-again relationship with a hunky police detective will be familiar to readers of Joan Hess and, for that matter, Janet Evanovich. The author Delany's book most reminds me of, however, is Charlotte MacLeod (Alisa Craig) — who is, what do you know, another Canadian setting her action in (frequently) Massachusetts.<br />
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The most distinctive feature of <i>Elementary, She Read</i>, at least for you and me, is its setting in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, associated with Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room. I won't belabour the details, so let's just say that while most would-be-Sherlockian novels are a bit heavy-handed and tone-deaf (yes, even Graham Moore's <i><a href="http://ihose.co/ihose30">The Sherlockian</a></i>), Delany seems to get the Irene, <i>Beeton's</i>, <i>Strand</i>, and Speckled Band allusions exactly right. She also refers in a natural way to Cumberbatch collectibles… and to <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20418852-jewel-of-the-thames">Jewel of the Thames</a></i>, the first young adult novel by yet another Canadian author, Angela Misri. Oh, and there's a dog called Violet.<br />
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Elementary, She Read

"I have spent nearly all my time in...Canada" [HOUN] The closest high school to where I lived in Waterloo, Ontario, for many...

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by Chris Redmond

Episode 127: From Holmes to Sherlock

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"this is my special hobby" [STUD] </h4>
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Every once in a great while, a book with special significance is published in the world of Sherlock Holmes fans. When the Canon was completed and the stories appeared in the first version of <i>The Complete Sherlock Holmes</i>; when Vincent Starrett brought forth scholarship and fun in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes; when William S. Baring-Gould, BSI ("The <i>Gloria Scott</i>") took a stab at compiling research and chronologies in The Annotated Sherlock Holmes; and now as Mattias Boström, BSI ("The Swedish Pathological Society") has chronicled the rise of Sherlock Holmes in popular culture.</div>
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<i>From Holmes to Sherlock</i> looks not at Conan Doyle's life as a biography would, and does not look at the stories as scholars would. Rather, it shows how Sherlock Holmes was brought to life and how the character evolved over time through the many creators, actors and fans who have kept the interest going.<br />
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We talked with Mattias about the creative process, his inspiration, and his other major Sherlockian works. We hope you'll learn a few things along with us.<br />
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Information on sponsors, links, and notes available below.</div>
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<b>Sponsors</b></h3>
This episode includes our two longtime sponsors, plus a new addition. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/">Wessex Press</a>, publishers of <i><a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/html/newspaper.html">Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle in the Newspapers</a></i>.</li>
<li><a href="http://ihose.co/bsijuly50"><i>The Baker Street Journal</i></a>, where you can find the BSI Press International Series.</li>
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Would you care to become a sponsor? You can find <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/contact.html#.Vc1Qx7JViko">more information here</a>.<br />
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<b>Notes</b></h3>
1:35 Hi and welcome<br />
2:10 An astounding—even an amazing—revelation<br />
4:40 An obvious number<br />
6:40 Wessex Press<br />
8:31 Mattias Boström joins us<br />
10:42 Where the idea for the book was born<br />
14:13 Models for the unique style of the book<br />
22:29 Research materials and locations<br />
30:05 Vincent Starrett's visit to FDR's office in 1914<br />
33:02 Mattias' first meeting with Sherlock Holmes<br />
37:42 One of our earlier guests was a pen pal of Mattias during their childhoods<br />
44:35 <i>Scandinavia and Sherlock Holmes</i><br />
47:57 The Baker Street Journal<br />
50:42 The Parallel Holmes<br />
54:27 The most influential Sherlock Holmes<br />
57:55 <i>Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle in the Newspapers</i><br />
1:05:32 Churchill's<i> A History of the English-Speaking Peoples</i><br />
1:07:55 Our biggest surprise from the book<br />
1:10:32 Sherlock Holmes Brand Halloween Products</div>
1:12:40 A final plea<br />
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<b>Links</b></h3>
<ul>
<li><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3zg8ait" target="_blank">From Holmes to Sherlock</a></i></li>
<li>"<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/if-you-love-sherlock-holmes-youll-love-this-book/2017/08/16/2bf21cca-811d-11e7-902a-2a9f2d808496_story.html?utm_term=.17517819e04b">If you love Sherlock Holmes, you'll love this book</a>" - Michael Dirda's review of <i>From Holmes to Sherlock</i> in the <i>Washington Post</i></li>
<li><i><a href="https://bakerstreetirregulars.com/2006/12/29/scandinavia-and-sherlock-holmes/">Scandinavia and Sherlock Holmes</a></i> via the BSI Press</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2016/01/original-holmes-and-parallel-holmes.html#.WaZWq8h97b0">Original Holmes and Parallel Holmes</a>"</li>
<li><i><a href="http://www.wessexpress.com/html/newspaper.html">Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle in the Newspapers</a></i> from Wessex Press</li>
<li><a href="http://ihose.co/ihose80">Episode 80: The Great Detective</a></li>
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Episode 127: From Holmes to Sherlock

"this is my special hobby" [STUD] Every once in a great while, a book with special significance is published in...

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by Scott Monty

Baker Street Elementary — Quit Your Ribbin'

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"a certain unexpected vein of pawky humour" [VALL] </h4>
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English is a strange language. For many of us who first met Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on the printed page, we were exposed to words that were strange to us, either by their antiquated nature or because they were foreign. Some might even say <i>outré</i>.<br />
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For those who didn't have the benefit of family members or friends who spoke French, Latin or German, and who weren't yet exposed to broader subjects in school, the dialog and pronunciation existed only in our minds. So how is one to know what <i>recherché</i> sounds like? Or that pince-nez is not pronounced "pins-nez," but more like "pons-nay"? Or that Goethe does not rhyme with "both"?<br />
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Such are the pains of childhood.<br />
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So when we come into contact with fellow Sherlockians, we might surreptitiously learn for the very first time how certain words are pronounced. And the polite Sherlockian will not necessarily stop you and upbraid you for mispronouncing a word, but will simply use the word as part of the conversation, in something of a retort courteous, thereby demonstrating its proper pronunciation. They demonstrate rather than remonstrate.<br />
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But there is a certain familiar word in the Sherlock Holmes stories that, like so many other English words, has multiple meanings and pronunciations. Beware the dangers of homographs...<br />
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<b>Editor's note:</b></h4>
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The estimable Julian Wolff, BSI ("The Red Headed League") enjoyed mapping out various places in the Canon, and one of his illustrations for the layout of 221B Baker Street was the origin of our confusion concerning "His Last Bow." It was part of the end papers for a Franklin Library edition of Sherlock Holmes stories, and can be seen below. You may understand our confusion.</div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>Baker Street Elementary</i></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at </span><a href="http://www.bakerstreetelementary.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #006f85; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;">www.bakerstreetelementary.org</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: "verdana" , "geneva" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span></div>
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Baker Street Elementary — Quit Your Ribbin'

"a certain unexpected vein of pawky humour" [VALL] English is a strange language. For many of us who first met Sherlock Ho...

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by Scott Monty

What Was in Sherlock Holmes's Everyday Carry? Part 2

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<b>"transfixed by a jack-knife" [MUSG]</b></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLfY9R3bG-UgjhdVMS1U0sehpXhxZ9jAm2sgmwrISQ8yoZ9pzZcV4RiY4kk5VOd76Gbxes9Zop3dyMFto2kd6kpud-hjKdu-a_79S9GQWt9dj9bYFLfAb9OKOPxe0sZBQXyrEhafL37wI/s1600/ThornhillGrahamVR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="640" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLfY9R3bG-UgjhdVMS1U0sehpXhxZ9jAm2sgmwrISQ8yoZ9pzZcV4RiY4kk5VOd76Gbxes9Zop3dyMFto2kd6kpud-hjKdu-a_79S9GQWt9dj9bYFLfAb9OKOPxe0sZBQXyrEhafL37wI/s640/ThornhillGrahamVR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>In <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/08/what-was-in-sherlock-holmess-everyday.html" target="_blank">the first installment of this feature</a>, we began our investigation into the everyday carry habits of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.Having verified his use of the pocket notebook and pencil, the portable light source, and the compact fire kit, we continue with our examination of the great detective’s pocket knife. </i><br />
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With his knife, Holmes performs tasks as delicate as collecting samples of exotic poisons and as robust as assailing iron-barred shutters. If the same knife is used for both tasks, we may surmise that it has more than one blade. Such a knife would align with the thinking of leading outdoor writers of Holmes’s day like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Kephart" target="_blank">Horace Kephart</a>, who favored large jack-knives with two to three blades of varying sizes and shapes, the smallest of which, according to his <i><a href="http://scoutmastercg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/campingwoodcraft.pdf" target="_blank">Camping and Woodcraft</a></i> (1916), should be kept sharp and clean “for such surgery as you may have to perform.” (Needs must when the Devil drives.) For my part, I could be content with a four-inch spear- or clip-point main blade accompanied by a two-inch sheep-foot or Wharncliffe secondary blade.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn3jV4D2OZYqcX0HW_tBgiIq5HLzr_qYHFI3Y8PEB9xyCOsuoGKBZZ4qzjKiTRWjnTNocjqJlWkSrjKdUnbbLxPOIW2rfwrb3EIJ1J6pFnFChXVs9hCTQKUbMhJX6DSh6VY-MXzonqL1e/s1600/blade-shape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="302" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfn3jV4D2OZYqcX0HW_tBgiIq5HLzr_qYHFI3Y8PEB9xyCOsuoGKBZZ4qzjKiTRWjnTNocjqJlWkSrjKdUnbbLxPOIW2rfwrb3EIJ1J6pFnFChXVs9hCTQKUbMhJX6DSh6VY-MXzonqL1e/s400/blade-shape.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXemSSpRdUl5eCLO-a4Q0wOaBr6Fo1riVyc8y7GW98wI7_rLysjQDkr5GNVLAG2ZVYquCWLn40lQPZc3ZSZVsap1bCt35yXZHBEgi4oKjsyV3vugtG2w8SZ0nCmo8otx9zavjX_JjfaL2D/s1600/SHwharn1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="400" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXemSSpRdUl5eCLO-a4Q0wOaBr6Fo1riVyc8y7GW98wI7_rLysjQDkr5GNVLAG2ZVYquCWLn40lQPZc3ZSZVsap1bCt35yXZHBEgi4oKjsyV3vugtG2w8SZ0nCmo8otx9zavjX_JjfaL2D/s400/SHwharn1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Jeremy Brett's Holmes uses the classic English </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wharncliffe blade in Granada's "The Devil's Foot."</span></td></tr>
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We might infer a few more features of Holmes’s knife. Take, for example, this much-debated passage from “The Abbey Grange”:<br />
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“This bottle was opened by a pocket-screw, probably contained in a knife, and not more than an inch and a half long…. When you catch this fellow you will find that he has one of these multiplex knives in his possession.”</blockquote>
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One of “these” multiplex knives, not one of “those” multiplex knives: does the phrasing indicate that Holmes has drawn an example of such a knife from his own pocket while speaking? Perhaps a visit to Dartmoor will prove instructive...<br />
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<b>The Man on the Tor, or, Camping with Sherlock Holmes</b></h4>
In the eleventh chapter of <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i>, Dr. Watson tracks down the mysterious watcher who has been lurking among the stone huts of ancient man that stand upon the moor, and who turns out to be (<b><i>SPOILER ALERT</i></b>) Sherlock Holmes. Watson’s reconnoiter of Holmes’s campsite may lead us to one or two conclusions about Holmes’s pocketknife:<br />
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“The ashes of a fire were heaped in a rude grate. Beside it lay some cooking utensils and a bucket half-full of water. A litter of empty tins showed that the place had been occupied for some time, and I saw, as my eyes became accustomed to the checkered light, a pannikin and a half-full bottle of spirits standing in the corner. In the middle of the hut a flat stone served the purpose of a table, and upon this stood a small cloth bundle…. It contained a loaf of bread, a tinned tongue, and two tins of preserved peaches.”</blockquote>
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Thus, I deduce three more features of Holmes’s knife: a saw, a can opener, and a corkscrew. At the risk of stating the obvious, fire needs fuel, and fuel must be processed; of the likely sources of fuel for the fire in Holmes’s rude grate – peat, coal, or wood – foraged deadwood is the most likely. A peat shovel would surely have caught Watson’s eye as he surveyed the contents of the hut, and coal would need to be packed in by Holmes’s assistant, young Cartwright. Yet we are told throughout the novel of the ready supply of wood at every turn; indeed, Watson notes a log-fire burning at Baskerville Hall itself.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8VlzAwphigtQLc3qefMycVbPfj4ijHPg02GwAAYRpM2IbUafxn3L3Cv13YtUU1pRdSn4DTWtGA3FcWJDd0IdyBAyFsA5TlGtD8oDleAu2fSqqmt6mMUtwe1hML4nReAQdmK43k_5ly98/s1600/Rodgers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="640" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8VlzAwphigtQLc3qefMycVbPfj4ijHPg02GwAAYRpM2IbUafxn3L3Cv13YtUU1pRdSn4DTWtGA3FcWJDd0IdyBAyFsA5TlGtD8oDleAu2fSqqmt6mMUtwe1hML4nReAQdmK43k_5ly98/s640/Rodgers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Victorian camp knife with robust saw by Joseph Rodgers</td></tr>
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Furthermore, tins need opening, if one is to enjoy a delicious (?) meal of peaches and tongue, and that requires a tin opener. True, the opener might be among the “cooking utensils” mentioned, but it seems like a superfluous thing to bring along when it so handily fits into a knife, and the backpacker's maxim always applies: "Laugh about ounces; cry about pounds." It is likewise true that one may open a can of peaches (or a can of tongue, for that matter) with the blade of a knife, opener notwithstanding, but we know Holmes takes better care of his equipment than to do such a thing.<br />
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Now to the controversial corkscrew: prior to the invention of the bottle cap in 1892 Baltimore, almost all bottles were corked, and spirits were shipped with driven corks, as were wines, so a corkscrew was required to open the bottle. (See period literature, such as <i>Life and Liberty in America</i> by Charles Mackay; or, consult <i>World Whiskey</i>, edited by Charles MacLean.) And what do we find in the stone hut upon the moor? Sherlock Holmes is camping in rough conditions far from home, but among the few comforts to be seen is a half-full bottle of spirits. If not conclusive, it is at least suggestive.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPpcKtcHYp8lta37rRu4k1F344okMWekV4eNDLva0eSALHbbj-adcrNj6oWG0SEeP5Lnck3pzWkydE5hyphenhyphen_ImPWfz1SV3-Bq5nz6ocaan46Rc9Gs3oRvzRzfuzaa8nnwW4yH6TdGeapeux/s1600/1880sWusthofSolingen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="400" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPpcKtcHYp8lta37rRu4k1F344okMWekV4eNDLva0eSALHbbj-adcrNj6oWG0SEeP5Lnck3pzWkydE5hyphenhyphen_ImPWfz1SV3-Bq5nz6ocaan46Rc9Gs3oRvzRzfuzaa8nnwW4yH6TdGeapeux/s640/1880sWusthofSolingen.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">1880's Wusthof pocket knife, made in Solingen. Note large </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">and small blades, pen blade with custom screwdriver tip, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">saw, (damaged) scissors, tin opener, awl, and corkscrew.</span></div>
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Where and when would Sherlock Holmes acquire such a knife? His scamper through Switzerland in May of 1891 takes him near the heart of the emerging and soon-to-be global phenomenon of the Swiss Army Knife, but Karl Elsener’s firm delivered the first order of his soldier’s knives to the Swiss government in October of that year, and corkscrews began to appear on Victorinox SAK’s only in 1897. At any rate, even Sherlockian chronologists agree that the Baskerville business predates the Reichenbach ruckus, so we must look elsewhere for Holmes’s wonder-knife. We must look back home, perhaps no farther than one block south of the Wigmore Street Post Office and just around the corner from Watson’s tobacconist in Oxford Street, to the firm of <a href="http://www.antiquebox.org/thornhill/" target="_blank">Thornhill & Co.</a>, in New Bond Street, purveyors of the world-famous Sheffield cutlery since 1734.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyh0PeHxEIdvarhyH2yrZwhAAufliqYT4c7BwQyirUYYsUierGkJBLo4Fr9h8TwFDqYW6oaEC1ulqCfsYR2idm6NVpLXrTtA18EiDjxP5UF0LTJSl9lZ882YeJLWLcKvSGQQ06rZASNzyS/s1600/Thornhill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="640" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyh0PeHxEIdvarhyH2yrZwhAAufliqYT4c7BwQyirUYYsUierGkJBLo4Fr9h8TwFDqYW6oaEC1ulqCfsYR2idm6NVpLXrTtA18EiDjxP5UF0LTJSl9lZ882YeJLWLcKvSGQQ06rZASNzyS/s640/Thornhill.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thornhill's eminently Sherlockian trademark</td></tr>
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Along with Joseph Rodgers, George Wostenholm, and a few others, the Thornhill firm made up the front rank of the Sheffield knife industry, famous since the time of Chaucer; they had few rivals for quality in the world, outside the German town of Solingen, with its own famous names like <a href="https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/catalog/6417-gust-haker-solingen-germany-pearl-corkscrew-knife" target="_blank">Haker</a> and <a href="http://www.wuesthof.com/germany/index.jsp" target="_blank">Wusthof</a>. The Sheffield houses had been producing multiplex knives, often on a bespoke basis, for over a century by Holmes’s time; the existence of such knives is noted by Herman Melville in <i>Moby-Dick</i> in 1851 when he compares the <i>Pequod's</i> carpenter to one of those highly useful<br />
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"Sheffield contrivances, assuming the exterior - though a little swelled - of a common pocket knife; but containing, not only blades of various sizes, but also screw-drivers, cork-screws, tweezers, awls, pens, rulers, nail-filers, [and] countersinkers."</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzpxMAKnnBldm93aUxbZj28NaD3MMV-vhGxnP59CoeCqHjlH-pLFgKK45y7djdIz2KL2KQZ9aXFqol06-eZL-5cxwoGl_ZfkdDL2h0cDiuXiGolkkwSxKvlyZkTPHXC7P-2oyhRO0c7lF/s1600/WostenholmIXLcoachknife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAzpxMAKnnBldm93aUxbZj28NaD3MMV-vhGxnP59CoeCqHjlH-pLFgKK45y7djdIz2KL2KQZ9aXFqol06-eZL-5cxwoGl_ZfkdDL2h0cDiuXiGolkkwSxKvlyZkTPHXC7P-2oyhRO0c7lF/s640/WostenholmIXLcoachknife.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheffield knives could be had for virtually any need, like this Wostenholm coachman's knife, sporting the "IXL" trademark ("I excel") and a wraparound hoof pick.</td></tr>
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In our upcoming and <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2018/01/what-was-in-sherlock-holmess-everyday.html">final installment</a>, we shall examine the remaining items of Holmes's everyday carry and consider the contemporary Sherlockian's EDC options.</div>
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What Was in Sherlock Holmes's Everyday Carry? Part 2

"transfixed by a jack-knife" [MUSG] In the first installment of this feature , we began our investigation into the everyday ...

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by Tim Greer

Sherlock Holmes & the Green Lama: The Heir Apparent - A Review

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b>"an inheritance with a vengeance" [HOUN]</b></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdi593g3igvZ6kXwU5FTCf9jXAypzUFoIPujjLiGEwPAksUoiaciW7M3p_wOCTlXqDtMyfc-vKe1cLAVUocM7c7pm3tlTq7p-HTaiW5DsADLAeYESGEmuQhManmA0UsSeCReaatBZ1LTO/s1600/Green+Lama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1095" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTdi593g3igvZ6kXwU5FTCf9jXAypzUFoIPujjLiGEwPAksUoiaciW7M3p_wOCTlXqDtMyfc-vKe1cLAVUocM7c7pm3tlTq7p-HTaiW5DsADLAeYESGEmuQhManmA0UsSeCReaatBZ1LTO/s640/Green+Lama.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Writing team-ups involving Sherlock Holmes and other Victorian-era characters and concepts seems natural, especially since many of those characters and concepts are in the public domain. Often, Sherlock Holmes has teamed with better known fictional characters (like Batman in <b><a href="http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Detective_Comics_Vol_1_572" target="_blank">Detective Comics # 572</a></b>) with often mixed results. So having Sherlock Holmes team up with a classic pulp character might seem a bit out-of-place....<br />
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But Adam Lance Garcia's <b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Green-Lama-Apparent/dp/1944017100" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes & the Green Lama: The Heir Apparent</a></i></b> not only succeeds in combining two disparate characters, he manages to channel the spirit of Conan Doyle within the context of a more modern character. <br />
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Published by Moonstone Books, <b><i>The Heir Apparent</i></b> takes place within the Green Lama "universe," but does not require prior knowledge of the character. In short, the story takes the form of a "lost" document by Jethro Dumont, the secret identity of the Green Lama. He serves as our honorary Watson, relating a tale that takes place in the latter part of Holmes's career involving kidnappings, death, and one person's quest for vengeance. It's a brisk, brief tale that balances the extraordinary spirit of classic pulp tales with the breathless atmospherics of Conan Doyle's canon.<br />
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In short, if you are seeking a straightforward Holmes pastiche, <b><i>The Heir Apparent</i></b> doesn't fit the bill....but transcends it. Adam Lance Garcia does the near impossible: he channels Conan Doyle's prose style while telling a more modern, streamlined pulp action tale. In short, it feels like Conan Doyle ghostwriting a pulp story involving Sherlock Holmes yet keeping it firmly within the bounds of traditional Holmesian storytelling.<br />
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Many great Holmesian pastiches are available for your reading pleasure, but Adam Lance Garcia's <b><i>The Green Lama/Sherlock Holmes: The Heir Apparent</i></b> is not just another pastiche; it's a seamless blending of two disparate styles that make for a uniquely engaging tale. Whether you are looking for traditional Holmesian fare or a slightly more modernized equivalent, <i><b>The Heir Apparent</b> </i>provides plenty to entertain Sherlockians of both types.<br />
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This is one book to place on your Sherlock Holmes must-read list.<br />
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<i>(A complimentary electronic copy was provided for purposes of review)</i><br />
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<i><br /></i>

Sherlock Holmes & the Green Lama: The Heir Apparent - A Review

"an inheritance with a vengeance" [HOUN] Writing team-ups involving Sherlock Holmes and other Victorian-era characters and co...

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by Gordon D

Curse of the Deadly Dinosaur - A Review

<h4 style="text-align: center;">
"...the education of two young
children" [THOR]</h4>
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<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Dinosaur-MacDougall-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/1519173385" target="_blank">Curse of the Deadly Dinosaur</a></i> is the third book in Derrick Belanger's The MacDougall Twins Mysteries with Sherlock Holmes series, and it serves up the same action that fans of the first two books enjoyed.  This series is meant to appeal to younger readers, with its ten-year old protagonists, accessible text and a story format that will introduce middle grade readers to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.<br />
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This installment of the series starts off with the twins Jimmy and Emma MacDougall decorating their home at 222 Baker Street for Christmas when Mycroft Holmes knocks on their door.  Although their mother doesn't like the idea of her children being detectives and participating in adventures with Sherlock Holmes, she allows the twins to go with Mycroft to meet a client that is currently with Sherlock and Dr. Watson at 221B Baker Street.<br />
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Once there, the story falls into a familiar canonical pace.  The twins make deductions about Holmes's client, Mr. Bogswell, and hear his story of a dinosaur that is terrorizing the local livestock in his country town.  Of course, the neighbors don't believe his story and have shunned the family, one lady going so far as to having put a curse on his household.  Bogswell's hope is that Sherlock Holmes can clear the mystery, and is quickly won over to the idea of Holmes's two junior partners coming along to Surrey to help in the investigation.<br />
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The story really takes off when Holmes, Watson, and the MacDougall family arrive in Surrey.  From there, the story rockets through the investigation, while allowing for some comic relief as Jimmy MacDougall chafes under the over-protectiveness of his mother.  The later chapters of the book are bursting with action that will have kids turning the pages to find out what happens next.  More than two dozen illustrations are scattered throughout the 123-page book which will also appeal to readers.<br />
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But Belanger knows that not just children will be interested in his tales of the MacDougall twins and Sherlock Holmes.  Throughout the story are small nods to the fans of Conan Doyle's original stories and those of us that continue to read the writings about the writings.  Young or old, seasoned Sherlockian or new arrival, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Dinosaur-MacDougall-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/1519173385" target="_blank">Curse of the Deadly Dinosaur</a></i> is a book meant to please.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS5YEfbCpkCFDV0DITgCQRuYd1M8-DKFhfIN3CDvk1k_7ZJY_IDwx7CW5pp_lFew9uLO0Ztb7sXsn_WpPzCuaPAySordjwYAAPpcDiuP5xNniWU1hYLJDlHoHrwfaJ6C64w6xxjKfyNyC1/s1600/Deadly-Dinosaur-8-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS5YEfbCpkCFDV0DITgCQRuYd1M8-DKFhfIN3CDvk1k_7ZJY_IDwx7CW5pp_lFew9uLO0Ztb7sXsn_WpPzCuaPAySordjwYAAPpcDiuP5xNniWU1hYLJDlHoHrwfaJ6C64w6xxjKfyNyC1/s320/Deadly-Dinosaur-8-2.jpg" width="240" /></a>  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPe7hDA0JGLJOHTmHNytMiGMQSrVnhV6Tqzpy8aT4ONOPoOhqjHDjR04Yimz4fvnMS08IDXkB6VY-Av2RTgGKYVwm3SbE3Mh1lncOE-t-0iyOd-aJVJJFJAqqg8kZpyAaYVCDXG6A5AepT/s1600/Deadly-Dinosaur-9-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPe7hDA0JGLJOHTmHNytMiGMQSrVnhV6Tqzpy8aT4ONOPoOhqjHDjR04Yimz4fvnMS08IDXkB6VY-Av2RTgGKYVwm3SbE3Mh1lncOE-t-0iyOd-aJVJJFJAqqg8kZpyAaYVCDXG6A5AepT/s320/Deadly-Dinosaur-9-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Curse of the Deadly Dinosaur - A Review

"...the education of two young children" [THOR] Curse of the Deadly Dinosaur is the third book in Derrick Belanger's The...

+ Read more »

by Rob Nunn

What Was in Sherlock Holmes's Everyday Carry? Part 1

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<h4>
<b>"here in my secret pocket" [MAZA]</b></h4>
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If the response of manufacturers is any indication, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyday_carry">everyday carry</a> movement is flourishing.<br />
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The phrase "everyday carry,” or EDC, refers to those items one carries on a constant basis and would feel naked without; it also denotes a philosophy that encourages us to think in an efficient and utilitarian way about the objects we carry daily. Bernard Capulong at <a href="http://everydaycarry.com/" target="_blank">everydaycarry.com</a> gives an overview of the lifestyle in <a href="http://everydaycarry.com/posts/5827/what-is-edc-the-beginners-guide-to-everyday-carry" target="_blank">this post</a>.<br />
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A video rundown of Adam Savage’s EDC gear is presented <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bypi7h6WOGg" target="_blank">here</a>:<br />
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Most of us can readily name three essential components of our 21st-century EDC’s: keys, wallet, and the ever-present mobile phone. Beyond that point our paths will likely diverge, but a list of the most popular items in a serviceable everyday carry assortment includes some or all of the following:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Watch</li>
<li>Handkerchief</li>
<li>Pen</li>
<li>Pocket notebook</li>
<li>Flashlight</li>
<li>Lighter</li>
<li>Knife</li>
<li>A multi-tool</li>
</ul>
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Keeping such items small, flat, and light enough to be convenient, yet robust enough to be useful, has been the challenge that designers and manufacturers have eagerly tackled in courting the patronage of the EDC community.<br />
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Members of the Cult of Phone are no doubt already saying to themselves that a phone can serve as a watch, a notebook, a flashlight, a GPS, and even a compass, so there’s no need for all that pocket clutter. For that matter, if the phone has the proper battery, it can, with a little MacGyvering, serve as a rudimentary lighter. For all its many beauties, though, the mobile phone has a hard time serving as a writing utensil, a cutting tool, or a screwdriver. What to do? Turn to the Canon for instruction, of course.<br />
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<h4>
<b>The Valley of Gear</b></h4>
Sherlock Holmes, as we shall see, had a well-considered everyday carry system in place from the earliest days of the agency. As we ponder the EDC of Sherlock Holmes, we should employ a few ground rules, examining only:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Items that are multi-use ("railway tickets" may appear often, but a particular ticket only once)</li>
<li>Items that are plainly shown to be produced from Holmes’s pockets</li>
<li><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;">I</span>tems that are produced in various adventures</li>
</ul>
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Holmes, like us, can quickly account for the popular choices: the watch, the keys, the handkerchief, and the wallet, or “pocket-book,” as the Canon puts it. He would surely have made use of the mobile phone had it been available. But what of the other leading selections? Allowing for technological changes, and focusing less on the gear and more on the job it performs, we arrive at this list:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Something to write with</li>
<li>Something to write on</li>
<li>A light source with a beam</li>
<li>A way to make fire</li>
<li>A versatile blade</li>
<li>A pocket tool set</li>
</ul>
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Immediately, the Sherlockian bells are ringing. Holmes uses a portable writing utensil, likely a pencil, on at least four occasions; he sports a pocket notebook in 17 separate adventures, and rather ingeniously augments his notebook's versatility by including blank envelopes which he uses sometimes for note-taking and sometimes for evidence-gathering, as necessity dictates. If Sherlock Holmes is so committed to the multi-functional pocket notebook as part of his EDC, we should at least consider one ourselves. Ed Jelley makes the case for <a href="http://everydaycarry.com/posts/4405/why-you-should-carry-a-pen" target="_blank">carrying a pen</a>, while Brett and Kate McKay stump for <a href="http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/08/23/the-manly-tradition-of-the-pocket-notebook/" target="_blank">the notebook</a>. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J535NN2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1" target="_blank">Rite in the Rain note-books</a> are waterproof, pages and all. Take that, tempestuous London weather!<br />
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On those moonless adventures when note-taking is difficult, Holmes makes good use of his pocket lantern, a diminutive version of the more familiar bull's-eye lantern. Likely a Dietz traveler’s lantern built on the Stevens patent of 1875, this handy gadget illuminates both <i>The Sign of Four</i> and "Wisteria Lodge," and is the distant ancestor of your author’s favorite EDC light, the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-MicroStream-Ultra-compact-Aluminum-Alkaline/dp/B00143JZ08/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1500396544&sr=8-3&keywords=streamlight+microstream" target="_blank">Streamlight Microstream</a>. If you crave a hands-free option, the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06W54SBSL/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1" target="_blank">Black Diamond Spot Headlamp</a> is a worthy choice.<br />
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Unlike the Streamlight, the pocket lantern must be lit with a flame, and Holmes’s favorite approach to fire-making seems to be matches, which he often has occasion to use in the Canon, whether for starting a lantern or a campfire; igniting his pipe, cigar, or cigarette; or striking a quick light to look for clues or snakes. A favorite fire source for today’s EDC’er is the humble <a href="https://goo.gl/rqn2A2" target="_blank">Bic mini lighter</a>. It holds fuel longer than almost anything else, and even when it does go empty, it still has an effective sparking device on top. No tinder? No worries. Use your knife to scrape a pile of shavings from your empty Bic’s plastic casing, slowly roll the wheel around a few times, and, with a little know-how, you’re ready to start an old-fashioned <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4UZN-Q3p0k" target="_blank">spark-and-tinder fire</a>.<br />
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When it comes to knives, Holmes seems to own and carry quite a few; Watson once notes a “litter” of them on his friend's mantel. Holmes's blades are variously described as penknives, jack-knives, pocket-knives, and so on, and he uses them for everything from evidence handling to emergency medical procedures. Holmes’s everyday knife is most likely a folding pattern with a blade approximately four inches in length, an exceedingly practical arrangement. Many enthusiasts maintain that the pocket knife is the most useful single item in one’s EDC, and thus, with the possible exception of the mobile phone, should be the most expensive investment in the lineup, especially if that knife also serves as a multi-tool.<br />
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Sherlock Holmes with a multi-tool? Stranger things have happened. At various times, from a jumble of sandwiches, flasks, cigar-cases, tobacco pouches, and pipes, the following items appear from Holmes's pockets: a jemmy, screwdrivers, a compass, a measuring tape, a magnifying lens, and, by implication, even a can opener and a corkscrew.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2017/08/what-was-in-sherlock-holmess-everyday_25.html#.WkyI6d-nHb0" target="_blank">Part 2 of “The EDC of Sherlock Holmes,”</a> we shall investigate the great multiplex knife tradition of Sheffield, follow the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes through 1890’s Switzerland, and attempt to envision the ultimate Sherlockian pocket tool.<br />
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