Sherlockian Memories - University of Minnesota Libraries

Transcription

bottle of Courvoisier plus one fifth of
New Jersey cognac, with the note: ‘Tell
the bartender to serve the Courvoisier
first. Then by the time the Sons get to
the New Jersey cognac, they may not
spot the difference’” (250). Today,
Lellenberg says of Starr, “I’m convinced
that Julian Wolff [who took over leadership of the Baker Street Irregulars under
the title “Commissionaire” after Smith’s
untimely death in 1960] would have
retired as Commissionaire sooner than he
did if Bill Starr had not died at a somewhat early age in 1976 and had been
around in the early ’80s to take over.”
the history of the scion mentioned earlier,
Thomas Hart reports that a publication
fund was established as early as 1952
(with the princely sum of $4.00.) Hart, as
treasurer of the Publication Committee,
goes on to apologize to the membership
for “his many exhortations for funds, and
many stern admonitions against failure,
made at meetings” over the years.
The physical book is an interesting
artifact in itself, featuring quarter binding with textured morocco-colored
endpapers of the same stock as the
covers.
Leaves from The Copper Beeches was followed up by a second volume, More
Leaves from The Copper Beeches, in
1976. The Sons are still flourishing as
an active scion society; perhaps someday we will be able to look forward to
a third volume.
John Bergquist, BSI
L
L
E
C
OF
March 2009
Volume 13 Number 1
T
“Your merits should be publicly recognized”
I
O
N
S
(STUD)
Francine and Wayne Swift
1
100 Years Ago
3
From the President
In Honor Of
Peter Blau
Fred Levin
From
Arthur E.F. Wiese Jr.
Cliff Goldfarb
In Memory Of
Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill
Joseph Gillies
Allen Mackler
Allen Mackler
Allen Mackler
Beatrice McCaffrie
E.W. McDiarmid
E.W. McDiarmid
E.W. McDiarmid
E. W. McDiarmid
Robert Pattrick
Jan Stauber
Jan Stauber
Tom Stix
Dr. Richard Sturtz
From
John Baesch and Evelyn Herzog
Thomas Drucker
Warren Randall
Michael Kean
Patricia Nelson
Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore
Philip Swiggum
John Lockwood
Michael Brahmey
Jim DeLeo
Jeffrey Klaus
Peter Klaus
Vincent Brosnan
Alexian Gregory
Francine and Richard Kitts
Karen Anderson
William Sturtz
4
8
of the wine to be donated and handled
all of the local organization in Napa. A
grand time was had by all!
Leslie Klinger, BSI
Musings
4
An Update from
the Collections
For any inquiries contact:
Timothy J. Johnson, Curator
612-624-3552 or
[email protected]
5
Recent Acquisitions
5
Sherlock Holmes Collections
Suite 111, Elmer L. Andersen Library
University of Minnesota
222 21st Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
To the Editor
6
Telephone: 612-626-9166
FAX: 612-625-5525
Mailing list corrections requested—
Because of the high cost of returned newsletters,
we would appreciate being informed of changes
of address or other corrections.
A Beacon of the Future
6
Remembrances
8
Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections
I
t has been said that marriages between two Sherlockians are the most permanent.
Many Sherlockians have found it easy enough to persuade a spouse to enjoy the
Sherlockian world, but when two people who already are Sherlockians marry they
will sooner or later merge their collections, as well as their lives. And there is no
custody battle, whether over the car, the house, the pets, or the children, that can possibly match the difficulty of dividing a collection that has no duplicates.
So for two Sherlockians it’s a matter only of the better, and never the worse. That certainly was true of Wayne B. Swift and Francine Morris, who were Sherlockians when
they met for the first time. Francine started her Sherlockian life in Texas, where she was
a librarian; she founded The Sub-Librarians Scion of the Baker Street Irregulars in the
American Library Association, and
was one of the founders of The
Practical, But Limited, Geologists at
an informal luncheon in the Zodiac
Room at Nieman Marcus in Dallas.
When she moved to Washington she
quickly became a member of The
Red Circle, and was one of the ringleaders in planning the society’s fullfledged costume party at the
National Press Club.
Photo courtesy of The Sherlock
Holmes Collections
Illustration by H.W. Starr, captioned “The appeal
for the Publication Fund,” printed in Jon
Lellenberg’s Irregular Crises of the Late ’Forties
(New York, 1999)
2
Wayne was from Nebraska, an electrical engineer and a teacher, and an
Wayne and Francine Swift
early convert to the world of computers. When he moved to Washington he decided to take an adult-education course in
Sherlock Holmes at a local community college and soon attended his first Sherlockian
function, a running of The Silver Blaze (Southern Division) at Pimlico Race Track in
Maryland, where he and Francine quickly discovered they shared more than an interest
in Sherlock Holmes. They courted , and wed, and had many happy years together, sharing a multitude of interests, Sherlockian and otherwise.
Wayne became a member of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1978 (as “The Giant Rat of
Sumatra”). Francine became a member of The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes in
1977 (as “Hatty Doran”) and was honored by the BSI as The Woman in 1983, and
awarded her Irregular Shilling and Investiture in 1994 (as “The Wigmore Street Post
Continued on page 6
1
Sherlock Holmes
C
Elliot Kimball
O
L
L
E
C
T
I
Journal incorrect. Although he’s listed
as married, his wife isn’t listed at his
Clinton CT residence, but the census
does note his then-current occupation
as a writer for magazines and that he
had an extensive college education. He
also states he was living in New York,
NY in 1935.
If anyone has any additional information about Mr. Kimball, I’d love to
learn more.
C o n t e n t s
Julie McKuras, ASH, BSI
Sherlockian Memories
1
3
From the President
4
Acquisitions
4
Musings
4
In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have
made contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons.
In Honor Of
Rev. Henry T. Folsom
From
Julie McKuras
In Memory Of
Wayne Kalina
Don Robertson
From
Don Hobbs
Robert F. Cairo
612-624-3552 or
[email protected]
222 21st Ave. S.
Using the Collections
S
(STUD)
I
have just read Christopher Morley’s essay, “The Baker Street Irregulars,” which first
appeared in The New Yorker over seventy-five years ago (December 29, 1934) and
was later included under the heading of “Shouts and Murmurs V” in Morley’s Long,
Long Ago (New York: Macmillan, 1943). The spirit of the B.S.I., as I have come to
know it, is magically evoked by Morley in this essay. I recall that this same rollicking, pseudo-serious tone was somehow transferred intact to the gatherings of the Amateur Mendicant Society that I began attending in Detroit in the mid-fifties. That mood
was lovingly evoked by Russell McLauchlin and Robert Harris, the group’s leaders.
In 1956 I presented a paper to the Mendicants entitled, “A Final Illumination of the Lucca Code.” Russ McLauchlin liked it and suggested that I submit it for possible publication
in the Baker Street Journal, then edited by Edgar Smith. Smith wrote back that he wanted
it for the magazine, and I received a total of six two-cent postcards from him leading
up to the essay’s publication later that year. Smith was extremely friendly, outgoing and
encouraging, making me feel very welcome to the Journal’s pages, urging me to subscribe
and putting in a plug also for The Sherlock Holmes Journal. The following year he enthusiastically accepted a crossword puzzle that I had constructed, based on The Hound of the
Baskervilles.
When I moved from suburban Farmington, outside Detroit, to East Lansing in 1957 and
resurrected the Greek Interpreters of East Lansing, which Page Heldenbrand had founded
in 1945, I carried the style of the Mendicant gatherings with me and passed it on effortlessly to the faithful there who joined in our celebrations of Baker Street for a period of
more than two decades.
Continued on page 2
4
An Update from the
Collections
5
Telephone: 612-626-9166
FAX: 612-625-5525
Elliot Kimball
Remembrances
N
by Donald Yates, BSI
50 Years Ago
Remembrances
O
8
8
Photo courtesy of Donald Yates
ince the June issue of this
newsletter, containing an article about Elliot Kimball, was
published, the 1940 Federal
Census has become available.
The entry for Kimball verifies that he
was born in 1896 in California, making the obituary that ran in Poultry
8
O
50 Years Ago
A MAN OF QUITE REMARKABLE TALENT
S
C
C o n t e n t s
In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have made
contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons.
I (with the essential help of spouses/
significant others) co-organized our
one-off CIA-West Dinner with Sherlock
Holmes in 1998. Don arranged for all
DS
Sherlock Holmes
By Peter E. Blau, ASH, BSI
Leaves from The Copper Beeches was partially financed by contributions from
members of the Sons, who are listed in
the acknowledgments. In his memoir of
Remembrances
No mere scholar, Don proved himself to be a man of taste and a man of
“taste” when Michael Kean, Don, and
N
HE
50 Years Ago...Continued from Page 3
T
Sherlockian Memories Continued from Page 7
FR
IE
September 2012
Volume 16 Number 3
Donald Yates
1
100
100
library housed at the Harvard Club.
pating in each adventure, and so on.
I remember
with himpurposes.”
afterWhy table
I attacked
the Holmes
in
mobilestrolling
for “journalistic
of contents
for thisstories
224 page
wards as
far
as
Gramercy
Park,
where
this
way,
I
do
not
know.
I
suspect
that
Catling was active in the Institute of
illustrated book includes works by
he lived,
engaged and
in a traveled
long chatextensively
about
I had Alfred
become
alerted to such particuJournalists
Noyes, Arthur Morrison,
subjects Sherlockian. His gift that night
lar features of Holmes’s universe in
Canada,
the Middle the head
Rosamund
Marriott-Watson,
Eden
was to through
make meAmerica,
feel as an
equal among
notes (composed
by editor
East andIEurope,
including
France
Phillpotts,toJohn
Galsworthy,
F. Anstey
the luminaries
had rubbed
elbows
Fred Dannay)
the stories
that were
World War I. He served as a appearing
and Jerome
K. Queen’s
Jerome,Mystery
to name but a
Y Eof 1960,
A Rwhen
S I at-A G Owith atduring
So in January
the dinner.
in Ellery
delegate
to
the
Conference
of
the
few
of
the
contributors.
Page 20
tended that first Baker Street Irregulars
Magazine, which I had discovered
in feadinner in New York City, I discovered
When International
in 1982 Joanne
and I pulled
up
1943.tures
Another
possible
for this
Association
of Journalists
the poem
“Bysource
the North
Sea” by
The not
March
2008
issue of
this
— perhaps
to my
surprise
but
to newslet-stakes and
moved
from East
Lansing
to
fascination
withConan
the minutiae
of
thea short
at Berlin
in 1908,
and
later
as
Sir
Arthur
Doyle.
It
is
Caption: The 1902 first edition has the
ter
an
article about
The Flag, St. Helena in California’s Napa
Among
thefeatured
foreign
of The
my wonderment
—translations
a reverent
and
at
Valley,
Bakerpoem,
Street and
scene was Ellery Queen’s
President of the British
International
Paget
illustration
while the second
does not. there is a facsimile of the
published
in
1908,
which
benefitted
Hound
of the
Baskervilles
fromthat
Johnwas
the same
time
playful mood
we were
greeted
most
cordially
by
Ted
(Fred
Dannay’
s) as
anthology,
The
MisadSociety of Journalists during 1915. He
last stanza
written by
Conan
Doyle.
Bennett
Shaw’
s collections,
oneofatthe
Jackencountered
Club.the
One
identicalthe
to Union
that
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and
Mary
Schulz
of
San
Rafael
and
ventures
of
Sherlock
Holmes
(wonderful
Don Hobbs’
The
Galactic
Sherlock25, 1920. me by the first translator, who called
passed
away
on
December
that
wasentries
published
100
years
ago
has
in the
The
Flag
wasMendiSir Arthur
the gatherings
of
Detroit
were
welcomed
to theofgatherings
of San
title!),
published
infra1944,
along
with
the story
Hunden
Baskervilles.
This
Holmes
bibliography
foreign lanHer
cheek was
wet
with
North
Sea spray,
special
significance.
According
toDress
De –s
cants. We
met that
night
at Grey
Cavanaugh’
Francisco’
s
scion,
The
Scowrers
and
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other
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devoted
to
Holmes
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s
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appears
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conConan
Doyle’
s “The
title is established;
to thetide
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it comes
guage editions of the Canon has nine
We walked where
shingle
Waal
it was
a 2nd
withfrom
the ‘A Duet.’”Molly Maguires,
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258edition,
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s Profile
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anda includes
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Sherlock
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Watson:
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AndBaskerville
as we walked
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to me
The following year, in 1909, The Presscovers.bers come from the worlds of art,
in
his collection.
rewards
will be out of proportion. Old
In 1984,
Joanne and I founded the
book of Friendship,
both
also
published
But,old
forfriends
the
three
excelThat three
had
met
that day:
drama, law, literature, music or sci- than a family.
Album was published to aid the
Irregular Rex Stout will be the GasoNapa
Valley led
Napoleons
of S.H.,
a conin
1944.
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at the
ageI old
14 old
I was
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lent
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This
search
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The
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old
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C3542.
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Hunden fra
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admirers
that
to change
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lists eleven
books
by A. Chaplin,
Conan
Andit.”
love, which is as old as they.
such
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ved
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grey
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and
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Ustinov.
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is
cur“1892
with
a
gift
of
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late
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in 2004
when
I acquired
with — among
others
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of
ruckus the
before,
restaurants
whose other
ofedition
course,
for one
the
apThe 1911
was
in
a series
most
famous
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pearance
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indeed
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1981).
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wroteout
The
Album
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s Clubs
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Save
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of
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mann
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ously enjoyed
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Holmes Stories,”
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Africa:
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VII,
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at
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Christy
Allen, whoMemories
contributes
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translated
into all languages
to a more
intense level.
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an
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and
member
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Club.
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the
beginning
seventeen years ago, has Sutter
jacket. The series
Holmes: The Detective &
quentlythe
to dust
the ConanDoyle
(ACD) list
and wrote a preface for the Norwegian
the
winery’
s
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Mansion.
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was called H. Aschehoug
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the
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edition.
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Street
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ing
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1972, dinner.
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me —
a
the credentials
for the
recipient of(“The
the
Thomas
edited
TheasPress
Watson’
s optegnelser
“Another
example for
of the approximately
A
Google
search
revealed
a
1902
letter
student Album.
at Michigan
State
back
in
the
Now
for
a
look
back
at
my
own
beginInvestiture
of
“Mr.
Melas,”
I
said
to
myWhat
I
did
learn
was
that
it
25%
of
the
membership
who
were
Born September 23, 1838, he euphony-before-precision is the
Records of Dr Watson”), published was
written
by Samuel
L. founder
Clemensand
(Mark
mid-forties
—
as
the
movnings.
My
introduction
to
the
world
self
—
being
totally
unprepared
for
this
almost
certainly
written
when
Jean
Masons.
On
January
18,
1887,
The
1918.
Apart
from
a
missing
ABBE
this
translation
of
the
title
of
The
Hounds
of
worked
for Lloyd’s
Weekly
News,
Twain)
to
Brochmann
noting
thatGreek
she as a of Sherlock
ing force
behind
the short-lived
Holmes
came
in 1944
in
honor
—
”That
sounds
a lot
like(who
me.” was
was
pregnant
with
Denis
Savage
Club
Lodge
was
consecrated
at
is
a
reprint
of
the
same
title
published
the
Baskervilles.
Several
problems
exist
compositor,
writer, newshis
editor from
had
translated
Interpreters
of into
East Norwegian
Lansing. Since
the
Ann
Michigan,
when
myHenry
mother
so born
it containing
was.
when
the
Investiin 1905,
seven
here.Arbor,
For
instance
no
single
word
in IrvingAnd
inLater,
Marchthe
oflast
1909,
just one
Freemasons’
Hall
and Sir
1866
through
1884,
then
editor frombought
Sherlockian
pastiche
A
Doubled-Bargroup met
first
in 1945
it thus
qualifor
me
—
as
a
gift
on
the
octure
of
“The
Greek
Interpreter”
became
stories
from
The
Return
of
SH.
BrochNorwegian
suggests
a
large,
possibly
month
before
The
Press
Book
was
was
invested
as
Treasurer.
There
is
no
1884
through
1907.
The
Scoop
reled
Detective
Story.
fied as
the fourth
or The
fifth Lilly
suchLibrary
group
casion
of
my
graduation
from
Slauson
available,
Julian
Wolff,
at
my
request,
HOUN was re-published by the
ferocious
andadeadly,
canine;
hundbetween mann’s published).
longer
formal
connection
Manuscript
Collection
has
15
letters
to
Database,
subscription
biographical
to be established in the U.S. It was, in
Junior
High
School
— the
Doubleday
withdrew
“Mr
Melas”
bestowed the
same house
a last
timeand
in 1941.
means the
anyLodge
dog,
big
small.
what
andorthe
Club.And
her
from
English
authors
ofthe
British
and
Irish journal-edition
any (1900-1917)
casedictionary
the first of
many
academic
of Thethe
Complete
Sherlock
former title on me.
about “…of
Baskervilles.”
If Holmes.
literincluding
Anstey
of the
24 – 1950, I read through it, assiduously underAccording to Doyle’s own corresponscions founded
thereafter.
istsF.from
the(one
period
of 1800
I can certainly tell you that Brochally translated
into
my language
the
After
his
retirement
from
Lloyd’s
authors indicates
along with
ACD
of
The
Fate
of
dence
(fromof
AHOUN
Life in Letters),
significant
passages, making
Imann’
havesmade
many
contributions
he extended the circulation lining
translation
and to
thatthis
title would
be Bakervilleslektens
hund,
Fenella,
1892)
and Jeromethat
K. Jerome.
Weekly
News,
Catling
undertook
the
I had a long
conversation
evening
marginal
notes,
keeping
track
of
all
of
Sherlockian
magazines
—
poetry,
eswas
a
worrisome
time.
Jean
was
of the paper beyond London and was which is not only clumsy but–even
very 1911 edition has played a decisive
Iwith
wasEarle
able to
examine the
letters
while
editing
task
for
The
Press
Album.
The
Walbridge,
who,
it
turned
Holmes’
s
disguises,
all
the
unrecorded
says,
articles,
scion
reports,
obituaries
pregnant
with
her
first
child
at age
part in my life. It was the first Holmes
worse—suggests a story about a pet:
reputed
to be the
first III
to use
attending
thecurator
Gillette
Brett
con-the auto-cases, the official police figures particiout, was the
oftothe
magnificent
and
At was
the
B.S.I.
dinners
34 reviews.
and
Doyle
worried
storybook
I ever
read,
and
it hooked
meabout her
The Dog of the Baskervilles Family.
ference at Indiana University.
on the Master. I must have been 10 or
Actually the decision was made for
Continued
on page
Continued
on page
6 7
Continued on page 7
Sherlockian
Memories
100
Continued fromContinued
Page 2 from Page 6
100Years
YearsAgo
Ago...
Continued from Page 2
New Directions in 1962. Not long after
I wrote Smith about the Intrepreters’ resuscitation dinner, and he wrote again,
indicating that “As representing a fullfledged Scion, you are now eligible to
send a delegate to the Annual Dinner.”
Of course I went.
2
2
A G O
the book
was published, Don “went to
The Orphanage
Argentina
forearlier
the first
time, metwhich
Borges,
in an
translation
I
and began
a friendship
with him that
revised
quite
heavily.
When, ere the tangled web is reft,
lasted for many years.” On another
The kid-gloved villain scowls and sneers,
Guggenheim
website
Don writes
of “the
main
difference
between
AndThe
hapless
innocence
is left
fiftieth anniversary
ofEB’
the
publicationI
my
own
and
s
translation
With no assets save sighs and tears,
of Labyrinths
by
New
Directions.
Half a
stems
from
the
’Tisthink
then, just
then,
that
in fact
therethat
stalks
centurythey
is a long
life
for
a
book,
and
to of
different
ages. its
As
The hero,belong
watchful
her needs,
readership,
moreover,
has
not
declined
know,
Danish
for
number of appearances in various jourHe you
talks!may
Great
heavens,
how was
he talks
those
years. But official
Borges, of course,
Also,
that they were expect- over But
centuries
nals held
bythe
Thefact
Collections.
we forgivethe
him, for hiswritten
deeds. lanis
for
the
ages.”
guage
of
Norway,
and although
ing their first child may have
1911
had begun
Very modestly,
hasn’t
included
his
influencedDon
Doyle’
s decision
to conLifeNorwegian
is the dramainhere
to-day
Don hassplitting
served as
a reviewer
for
away,
theof influence
own intriguing
TheinJohn
And Death the
villain
the plot.
tribute to biography.
The Press Book
the
translated
Spanish
American
works
and
from
Danish
was
still
strong.
It’s
Simonfirst
Guggenheim
Memorial
It is a realistic play;
place. Being
a father Foundahimself, I’m has translated
the works
of numerous
a
complicated
story
but
actually
Scan webpage
courtesy ofprovides
the University
of
Minnesota
Libraries
tion
the
reader
with
Shall it end well or shall it not
sure he could easily empathize with Argentine
writers.
He
writes,
“I have
Norwegian
onthe
thehero’
printed
a morethe
complete
listchildren
of Dr. Yates’
s other
The hero? Oh,
s part page is
fatherless
which
would
rarely
translated
anything
by
an
author
11
years
old
at
the
time,
which
makes
as
different
from
Ibsen’
s
time
accomplishments, (http://www.gf.org/
Is vacant—to be played by you. to the
benefit
from
the
sale
of
the
volume.
it 1952 or ’53. I think it was given
present
Shakespeare
froms presThenasact
it well! An is
orphan’
heart
to me by friends of my parents who
ent day
At theifsame
time I did
MayEnglish.
beat the lighter
you do.
Doyle
wroteinadetective
poem about
knew Finally,
about my
interest
go for a “conservative” style, hoping
stories.
Anyway,
it was
a revelation.
it would read to modern day Norweorphans
which
was
published in
Christy Allen and Julie McKuras
I’ve still
gotofit,the
title
pagejust
missing
gian readers as Conan Doyle reads to
Songs
Road,
a few and
pages
slightly
the“By
worse
wear,
yetItone
English-speaking
readers of today.
after
the for
North
Sea.”
wasof
References:
my dearest
possessions.
But
very
few
http://www.scoopcalled “The Orphanage” and is reprodatabase.com/bio/catling_thomas
of the stories were available in my own
Since
1971 my translation of HOUN
duced
below.
language
then,
so I had to wait until I
hashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Club
been
reprinted over a dozen times
http://www.savageclub.com/
learned English to pursue my interest
by various publishers, by Aschehoug
I wonder, perhaps, if he was thinkin Holmes.
and Norild as well as Gyldendal, and
ing of the Orphan’s Fund when he
I’ve also read it as an audio book. It
this?
As EB’wrote
s HOUN
was more or less my
was included in the first ever collected
favourite boyhood reading I tend to be
Sherlock Holmes edition in Norwegian,
uncritical, but I think it was for its time
which I edited and part-translated
an excellent translation, less error-ridden
(wanted to do all but didn’t have
and less inclined to take liberties than
time), published in 10 volumes by Den
contemporary Swedish or Danish transNorske Bokklubben (“The Norwegian
lations. It’s a long time Jorge
sinceLuis
I’veBorges
re-read
Book
in 1980.
and Donald
Yates,Club”)
1968, Buenos
AiresThe tenth volume
it but it is my impression Continued
that EB was from Page
was a4collection of pastiches and essays.
especially good at maintaining the poetic
In the 1990s all ten volumes were rewhom
I wholesale
have
not known
personally.”
stuffed
rat now
adorn
the
Collections.
neverofthe
for Francine;
shewe
qualities
thesame
original.
I’m still and
haunted
printed
by a short-lived
pubfellows/16171-donald-a-yates)
His
translated
detective
short
stomissed
sharing
their
interests
and
most
Our
thanks
go
to
Peter
Blau,
not
only
by
the
descriptions
of
the
moor
as
I
read
lisher called LibriArte. I’ve done
minor
summarize the article here.
ries
were
published
in
1972
as
Latin
them
almost
60
years
ago.
of
all,
she
missed
his
companionship.
for
writing
about
his
friends
Wayne
revisions
to
the
text
over
the
years,
but
Don studied Spanish while attending
Blood:
Best
Stories
of Spanish
a major
one
forCrime
another
Bokklubben
when
sheSchool
passed1945-1948
away, their
and The
Francine
but
also
for
helping
with
AnnAnd
Arbor
High
America, about
whichtwo
Don writes, “It
As for
my own
translation
itforwas
edition,
in is
and
pursued
those
studies
hisas
A.B.
the packing
andin
mailingvolumes,
of the many,
friends
had
the same
reaction
people complete
to
dateThe
the most
only anthology
of Spanish
actually
published
forBurns
the
time
2002.
recent reprint
is in a
degree
the University
offirst
Michigan
hadatwhen
George
died;
hisinpass- American
many
boxes.
detective
fiction.
Given my
1971.
In He
1966
I had been
inM.A.
a TVand
quiz
2011
Bokklubben
volume
Sherlock
in
1951.
completed
his
ing meant that he was together with
interests,
it is a book
that I(“Selected
am inordishow, in
winning 10,000
for my
Holmes Mysterier
i utvalg
Ph.D.
at thekroner
University
of
Johnproud
Bergquist
with a
GracieSpanish
again.
nately
of.” has provided
knowledge
Holmes,
I was
considMysteries”),
containing
STUD, us
HOUN
Michigan,
inof1954
and so
1961
respeclook
at
Leaves
from
The
Copper
Beeches,
ered
quite
the
local
Sherlock
Holmes
and The Adventures—all translated
tively, after serving two years in the
Don
has
a number
of
tribitsreceived
interesting
authors
and
editors,
Francine
Morris
Swift,dissertation…
ever
the librariexpert.
In 1969
Gyldendal,
Norway’
s
byand
yours
truly.
If you’re
interested,
I’ll
U.S.
Army.
His
“doctoral
utes,
including
the
London
Society
an,
planned
to
donate
her
Sherlockian
published
50
years
ago.
I’d
like
toof
largestwith
publishing
house, had
started a
be happy to send you a copy for your
dealt
‘The Argentine
Detective
Authors
ofproviding
Labyrinths
paperback
series
called
“The
thank 2008
Christy
Allen
for
collection
toaThe
Sherlock
Holmes
collection.
Andselection
to
complete
the story: I
Story’.”
He mystery
was
Fulbright
Scholar
and
as
one
of the “fifty
outstanding
translaBlack
Series”
(inspired
by death
theLiterature
French
also
adapted
and
translated
a Swedish
Collections.
Sadly,
her
in
information
about
Conan Doyle’
s poetvisiting
lecturer
in American
tions
from
the
last
fifty
years”
and
the
“LaArgentina
Série Noire”)
and
asked
me
to do
radio
of the
in
in 1962–63,
1964–65,
ry asdramatisation
featured in our
100book
Yearsand
Ago
October
2007
meant
her
collection,
City
of
Buenos
Aires
award
of
the
title
a1967–68,
selection
of
Sherlock
Holmes
stories.
produced
it
as
a
six-part
serial
in
1977.
1970. with her beloved
which and
she amassed
column.
Sveum
updates
us on the
of
“VisitanteDick
Ilustre.”
Hemy
continues
There
had then been no Holmes books
I sometimes
think
that
main
motive
Wayne, was ready to move to
status
of
the
drive
for
the
E.W.
to
on hisabiography
of Borges,
in Norwegian
sincethe
1941.
I did
in fact
forwork
becoming
radio drama
producer
He
began
reading
works
of
Jorge
Minnesota.
Boxes of books,seven
pho- stoMcDiarmid
Curatorship.
which
is going
callstory
Magical
Jourdo two
selections,
was
thehewish
to
dotothis
on radio,
Luis
Borges
inephemera
1954containing
andand
decided
that
It’
s
gratifying
to
receive
notes
from
tographs,
even
a
giant
ney:
Borges’s
Life
in
Letters.
riesmight
each. be
Wesuccessful
then decided
that I would
the medium it is perfectly suited for.
he
in translating
translate
HOUN.
I usedSelected
EB’s version
And, ah yes, 2009 saw the first ever
the
stories.
Labyrinths:
WritJulie McKuras,
ASH,
(andofalso
several
Danishwhich
and Swedish)
“nynorsk” translation
of HOUN,
by BSI
ings
Jorge
Luis Borges,
was
as reference,
but avoided
copying
Ragnar Hovland but relying I suspect a
the
first collection
of Borges’
s workit.to
SIGN was
also included
in the series,
good deal on mine. Continued on page 8
appear
in English,
was published
by
health during and after the pregnanDr. Yates
has given
us a would
wonderful
cy. This
certainly
explain the
glimpse
into his Sherlockian
Wepoem.
desomewhat
sombre tonelife.
of the
cided The
that use
his essay
in “lady”
keeping
of thewas
word
inwith
the last
our goal
of highlighting
the holdings of
stanza
seems to strongly
The Sherlock
Holmes
Collections
as we
suggest that it was written to/for
feature the authors of many memorable
works.Lady
Don’Jean.
s publications include a
Y E A R S
DONALD YATES
Musings...
The Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections
is a quarterly newsletter published by the
which seek to promote the activities, interests and needs of the Special Collections
and Rare Books Department, University of
Minnesota Libraries.
Mail editorial correspondence c/o:
Editor
Julie McKuras
13512 Granada Ave.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-431-1934
[email protected]
Editorial Board
John Bergquist, Timothy Johnson,
Jon Lellenberg, Richard J. Sveum, M.D.
Copyright © 2006
University of Minnesota Library
Copyright © 2012
2011
Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
The University of Minnesota is an Equal
Opportunity Educator and Employer.
FOR DON
Aschehoug in EB’s time was Doyle’s
main Norwegian publisher, but unfortunately
they didn’t
follow itYates
up—there
Wenocount
Donald
readers
and other
interested
were
translations
of VALL parties,
or The
and
this issue
features
those:
Case-book,
and
only four
ofofthe
stories
’mongst
Holm’
stwo
ian
greats,
author
of Out ofinthe
inGeorgina
His LastDoyle,
Bow were
published
and should
you
Norway,
inThe
a book
called
Shadows:
Untold
StorySpioncenof Arthur
tralen,
1919.
I’ve
been
veryread
fortunate,
Conan
Doyle’s
First
Family,
Dick
crave
a Clerihew,
both
in
Gyldendal
that
they
wanted
Sveum’s article from December
2008to
give
Holmes
hiseye
due
place
a prestige
he’ll
craft
one,
or incorrected
two!
with
a careful
and
has
a
series of modern and classical mystery
date. Soren Eversoll, an honored visitor
stories and bringing him back into
to theand
Collections
last year,
continues
print,
in Den norske
Bokklubben
You
toointocan
glean
his
interest
Sherlock
Holmes,
for
deciding
do the
first
ever comaccording
a note
sentme
by ahis
mother.
plete
edition
giving
free
rein
what’
s toaand
Mondegreen
to present Sherlock Holmes as I think
he
should
be.to as
So
it’s business
usual at The
thanks
Joanne,
Sherlock Holmes Collections, for
his
queen.
So
the 1911
second
edition was what
which
we are
all thankful.
got Nils Nordberg hooked on Sherlock
Holmes. In his translation he kept
McKuras,
ASH, BSI
George Julie
Fletcher,
BSI
Elizabeth
Brochmann’
s title,
and he was
a good friend of John Bennett Shaw. As
a Norwegian-American and Sherlockian, I appreciate all the connections.
Richard J. Sveum, MD, BSI
7
7
I have offered toasts and read papers
and poetry composed for the occasion. And over the years I have enjoyed
lasting friendships with many Sherlockians, one of the earliest of which
(and most fondly remembered) was my
acquaintanceship with Vincent Starrett
of Chicago, whom I visited on numerous occasions when my travels took me
to that city. Cherished mementos of my
decade-long association with him, one
of the last great bookmen of the century past, are his handwritten letters,
a signed photograph and a holograph
transcription of his immortal sonnet,
“221B,” with a dedication to me. It
stands alone as the most prized and
meaningful symbol of the pleasure I
have taken from a life-long and unflagging admiration for Sherlock Holmes
and enduring devotion to the saga of
Baker Street.
ing, I wrote a short story using as its
setting the previous 2009 goose dinner
and discussion of “The Blue Carbuncle”. I imagined a genial local chief of
police and threw in speaking parts for
a handful of identifiable Napoleons and
put together a story that had the chief
describing the details of a St. Helena
murder case and, withholding the solution, challenged the group to solve the
crime. I called the story “A Study in
Scarlatti,” the latter being the name of
the stabbing victim who was discovered murdered in the guest home of an
estate winery.
I would like to describe what was
for me a memorable — and possibly
unique — occasion of Holmes-inspired
theater that took place recently in St.
Helena, the spiritual home of the Napa
Valley Napoleons. For five years we
have met at the Silverado Restaurant
and Brewery on the second morning
after Christmas to dispatch an appropriate goose dinner and commemorate
the events of the Holmes adventure
titled “The Blue Carbuncle”. Long in
advance of the December 2010 gather-
Janet Hutchings, editor of Ellery Queen’s
Mystery Magazine, liked the story and
agreed to run it in the next February
issue (2011), which traditionally always
carries some Holmes-related material.
That issue was released in December in
time for me to have some three-dozen
copies sent for distribution at the dinner. Beforehand, I assigned the speaking parts to willing participants, so that
that year’s meeting featured a dramatic
reading of a story that had as its setting
the very circumstances in which it was
being read. In its way, it was a very
strange and dizzying experience. The
non-speaking Napoleons enthusiastically joined in with appropriately timed
gasps and applause, and we all agreed
that we had felt a very curious sense
of other-worldliness. And everyone
MY FRIEND
DONALD YATES
of Irregular I knew in those days. It was
a pleasure to find that he was also a terrifically nice guy.
I first met Don Yates in the early 1970s,
when I drove from Chicago to East
Lansing for a meeting of the scion
society The Greek Interpreters, which
he had resurrected at Michigan State
University. He was already something
of a personal hero: translator and editor
of Labyrinths, the first volume of essays by Jorge Luis Borges published in
English; a noted scholar, poet, essayist,
book collector, and devotee of classic
mysteries; and a Sherlockian of the
highest order, an exemplar of the type
Over the nearly 40 years since, I have
had the good fortune to benefit from
Don’s friendship as well as his creativity. His work for Baker Street Miscellanea
was always welcome, and his poetry
was one exception to my reluctance to
publish the stuff in BSM. That poetry
can be deeply moving, so it sometimes comes as a surprise to people
to discover that Don is also one of the
sharpest wits of the BSI, and I recommend the several reports of the Mrs.
Turner Thames Club Breakfasters that
went home with a printed version of
the events of the goose dinner that they
had just participated in!
[Editor’s Note: Don added the following postscript on August 9, 2012. His
interest in biographies isn’t limited to
Spanish-American writers.]
I have just read a book titled The Autobiography of Sherlock Holmes, published
only a few months ago by Campbell
& Lewis (San Francisco and London).
It was sent to me by its “editor,” Don
Libey. I began reading and found that
I could not put it down. I came to the
conclusion that the author of the text
of this long-neglected manuscript knew
so much about Sherlock Holmes’s life
and times and cases investigated that
he could not not be Holmes himself.
Even the things that we admirers of
Holmes understand implicitly about
him but have gone unspoken are here
given voice to on these pages. It is a
completely credible, convincing account of this man’s life. All of us can
be enlightened by reading it. Even the
circumstances of Holmes’s obviously
un-documentable death are laid out
here and we are allowed to deduce the
time and cause through clues that are
provided for us in the final pages. The
book can be ordered online at <don@
libey.com>.
were published in BSM in 1986 for a
taste of his humor.
I see Don less often than I would like
since his retirement to Napa, and his
absence from the last few BSI Weekends has been regretted by all. Still, I
was fortunate enough to be able to have
lunch with him every Friday of the BSI
Weekend for 20 years, and still speak
to him by phone on that day, from
wherever I am lunching, when I join
many of his friends in raising a glass
to the good health of this remarkable
gentleman and scholar.
Donald Pollock
Continued on page 7
6
50
Y E A R S
A G O
Through the Years At Baker Street
by Rev. Henry T. Folsom
Leslie S. Klinger and Laurie R. King
included the essay “Seventeen Out of
Twenty-Three” by Henry T. Folsom in
their book The Grand Game, Volume
Two. (2012, The Baker Street Irregulars.) In the preface to this article they
wrote:
Reverend Henry T. Folsom
(1927), invested in The Baker
Street Irregulars in 1965, cemented his reputation as one of
the leading Sherlockian scholars
of his generation with his superb
chronology of the Canon, Through
the Years at Baker Street, in 1962.
The work was revised in 1964 and
again in 1991 and remains one of
the most thoughtful of all of the chronologies.
Reverend Henry T. Folsom is a native
of Orange, New Jersey. After receiving
his undergraduate degree from Yale
University, he was a businessman for
four years until enrolling in The Berkeley School of Divinity. After graduation, he relocated and served in parishes which included Grace Episcopal
Church in Old Saybrook, Connecticut
and St. Peter’s Church in Washington,
New Jersey.
When he was a child around the age
of 10-12, he read the Canon and loved
the stories, citing “The Hound of the
Baskervilles” and “The Speckled Band”
as his favorites. But it wasn’t until he
got a bit older that he got serious about
the subject. He feels that his interest in
the dating of the stories stems from his
own “orderly mind.” Like Monsignor
Ronald Knox, he turned his orderly
mind to studying the Canon as he had
Biblical text. As he wrote in the Introduction to his 1962 Through the Years
at Baker Street, “In the summer of 1962
I started to reread the entire collec-
tion of Sherlock Holmes cases. Having
previously acquired a casual familiarity
with them, I thought it might be challenging to date the stories as I went
along, attempting to determine when
they actually occurred.” This proved
to be no easy task, but he drew his deductions “almost exclusively from the
sixty stories themselves.” As he wrote
in his 1991 revision of the book, he
was unaware of the existing “six serious chronologies” at the time he wrote
the original work.
As Vincent Starrett’s Preface to Ernest
Bloomfield Zeisler’s Baker Street Chronology notes of the various chronologists who have attempted to date the
canonical tales, “nearly all of them
or course are at variance with one
another; indeed, when two Sherlockian chronologists agree it is an event.”
In the case of Rev. Folsom, he came to
disagree with his own previous conclusions. He revised the book in 1964,
as he felt he had made some errors
as well as having simply changed his
mind on some points, considering his
first effort “very cursory.” One of those
points was the question of Dr. Watson’s first marriage; Folsom originally
agreed with William Baring-Gould’s
belief that Watson was a widower
before he met his second wife Mary
Morstan, but he came to a different
conclusion in his second edition. It
was with the completion of his revised
edition that he wrote “This chronology business will never be completed
to my satisfaction — but it MUST end
now.”
And end it did…at least until 1991.
He had “always been unhappy with
the ‘Revised Edition,’” and that year
saw the third edition, which had
“three or four changes in cases late
in Holmes’ career.” The Sherlock
Holmes Collections hold John Bennett
Shaw’s copies of the three editions,
all inscribed to him by Folsom. Rev.
Folsom knew Shaw and loved his wit.
They spent time together when Shaw
traveled to the eastern part of the
United States for Sherlockian events.
Another friend and advisor greatly admired by Folsom was William BaringGould. Folsom related that both he
and Baring-Gould took separate trips
to Dartmoor and attempted to find
Baskerville Hall; neither was successful, and in the case of our chronolo-
gist, his efforts took him to the site of
a nursing home. Folsom attempted
to comfort Baring-Gould over their
failed expeditions by telling him that
perhaps German bombers might have
mistakenly bombed Baskerville Hall
into oblivion during World War II. On
the home front, he was active with the
Cornish Horrors and The Scandalous
Bohemians of New Jersey.
One thing that certainly isn’t true is
a statement from the Introduction to
his 1962 edition in which he wrote,
“It must be understood by the reader
that I am no scholar of Holmesiana.”
The modest Rev. Folsom, as noted at
the beginning of this article, is more
accurately described by Les Klinger
and Laurie King as “one of the leading
Sherlockian scholars of his generation.” His chronology is included with
the likes of those by H.W. Bell, Gavin
Brend, J. Finley Christ, William BaringGould and others. He received the
investiture of The Golden Pince-Nez in
1965 and was the winner of the prestigious Morley-Montgomery Award in
1966 for his essay “My Biblical Knowledge is a Trifle Rusty,” which ran in the
September 1965 Baker Street Journal.
As Editor Steven Rothman wrote in his
introduction to that essay in A Remarkable Mixture (2007, The Baker Street
Irregulars), “The judges – once again
William Baring-Gould, Basil Davenport, and Rex Stout – chose this paper”
in which Folsom concluded that “no
one church or religion [could] claim
Holmes as an adherent.” He was presented the 2 Shilling Award in 1986.
Folsom, now retired from the ministry
and spending time in New Hampshire,
doesn’t miss the deadline of writing a
sermon each week despite the creativity he felt it brought out in him. When
considering his chronologies, he said
“If I was to start it over, I’d make some
changes. I always want to do better.”
In a recent telephone conversation he
also noted that he still hasn’t totally
read the other chronologies, “just bits
and pieces.” He told me that he’s just
recently completed reading the entire
Canon. Does this mean he’ll do a
fourth edition? He says no,
HE REALLY MEANS IT THIS TIME!
3
A
s I look at the busy Sherlockian Calendar I see the B.S.I.UCLA “Sherlock Holmes:
Behind the Canonical
Screen,” the Sherlock Holmes
Society of London’s Swiss Pilgrimage,
the Newberry Library’s Arthur Conan
Doyle/Sherlock Holmes Symposium,
Bouchercon XLIII in Cleveland and
“Uno Studio in Holmes 25th Anniversary” in Venice, Italy. These all take
An Update from the Collections
place before the New York Birthday
Weekend in 2013. Although I plan on
attending several of these, I really wish
that I could attend all the festivities
and see many of our friends.
I hope you will all mark your calendars
for August 9-11, 2013 for Sherlock
Holmes Through Time and Place sponsored by the Norwegian Explorers,
University of Minnesota Libraries and
the Friends of the Sherlock Holmes
Collections. It promises to be as successful as our previous conferences.
Enclosed with this newsletter is our
annual membership drive. Please consider making a donation of money or
material. With your help we will make
The Sherlock Holmes Collections a
World Center for research and study of
all things Sherlockian.
Acquisitions
D
r. Marino Alvarez, Professor
in the Dept. of Teaching and
Learning of the College of
Education at Tennessee State
University and member of
the Nashville Scholars of the Three
Pipe Problem and the Nashville Fresh
Rashers, donated his 2012 book A
Professor Reflects on Sherlock Holmes.
A Life in Letters, by Jon Lellenberg and
Daniel Stashower has recently been
translated into Japanese, and a copy
was donated by the well-known translator, Mitch Higurashi, BSI.
Hugo Koch added his latest work to
the Collections. The Adventure of the
Ghost of Jacob Marley is a limited
edition of 75 copies.
Among the newsletters and journals
received were Notes from the Spermaceti
Press, The District Messenger, The
Foolscap Document and The Camden
House Journal.
Musings
W
e are very fortunate in
this issue to have a lead
article written by Donald
Yates, BSI. Thanks to
Don Pollock, George
Fletcher and Les Klinger for their additional insights. Don’s “knowledge of
literature” is profound. A man after my
own heart, he is also a dog lover. Our
thanks to Don for sharing his story.
There is a video on YouTube featuring
Don, which can be viewed at http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3wWV6Lljk
Like Donald Yates, the subject of our
50 Years Ago column, Rev. Henry T.
Folsom, has an essay in The Grand
Game, Volume Two. Thanks to Richard
Olken, Tom Francis, Al Silverstein and
Burt Wolder for their kind words about
Rev. Folsom. I had the pleasure of talking to Rev. Folsom and can testify that
the years haven’t dimmed his enthusiasm for the Great Detective.
recreation of Holmes and Watson’s
residence in Baker Street, now on permanent display at the U. of M.’s Wilson
Library. Allen was a good friend and
benefactor of The Sherlock Holmes
Collections, and it’s always a pleasure
to know that friends can view Allen’s
“221B Room” from afar.
Gary Thaden, president of The Norwegian Explorers and contributor to
this newsletter, spotted this link to a
page on the Smithsonian’s website:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/
design/2012/07/the-mystery-of-221bbaker-street/, where you can view
images of the late Allen Mackler’s
I hope that you all continue to support
The Sherlock Holmes Collections, enabling us to publish this newsletter. As
Dick Sveum discussed in his column, I
hope to see many of our friends in the
near future at the various Sherlockian
gatherings.
A
rthur Wiese of Alexandria,
VA was in the Twin Cities
recently and was given a tour
of the Collections by Kris
Kiesling. He commented that
“It’s an extraordinary collection, one I’ve
looked forward to seeing for years.”
Carl Wirth, a transplanted New Yorker
now living in Omaha, Nebraska re-
4
cently spent the afternoon at the Sherlock Holmes Collections. Carl wrote
that “as one who has been reading the
canon since I was a 13 year old back
in 1962, and have a large collection
of books (over 600) and other related
Sherlockian materials, it was a dream
come true to see all that Sherlockian
stuff that never in my wildest dreams
I ever thought I’d ever see first hand.
Tim Johnson was the perfect host; his
knowledge is remarkable and with
our youngest son studying in graduate school to be an archivist it is great
to see the outstanding job Minnesota
has done to preserve so much history
is so many areas. Thank you to Gary
[Thaden] and Tim for letting us enjoy
this as part of our vacation while visiting Minneapolis.” Carl is a member of
the Maiwand Jezails of Nebraska.
S
ometime late last winter or
early spring, Linda Greve,
Assistant to the Associate University Librarian
for Community Outreach,
approached a number of the curators and archivists in the Archives and
Special Collection (ASC) department
with the idea of creating a “Curator’s
Road Show” (later renamed the “ASC
Speaker’s Bureau”). The idea was to
offer a menu of interesting talks on the
Libraries’ Special Collections given by
knowledgeable staff to any group or organization that might be interested as a
part of their own regular programming.
I suggested a number of topics including two related to the Sherlock Holmes
Collections: “Sherlock Holmes Comes
to Minnesota” and “Sherlock Holmes as
a Cultural Icon.”
By April our
preliminary
menu of offerings was
complete
and included at least
fourteen
different
talks by six
members of
our curatorial staff. Early
in the development
of this new
program the
Woman’s
Club of
Minneapolis had
expressed
interest, and
so our slate of
talks was sent
to them for review. Their choice came
back a short time later; they wanted
to hear about how Holmes came to
Minnesota. And so, on a July morning
(with weather appropriate for Holmes
— cloudy and rainy) I headed over to
the Woman’s Club in the company of
Kathy McGill, Director of Development
for the University Libraries, to share a
bit of the wonders of Holmes and our
collections.
In March of 1907, Mrs. Albert Rankin
and Mrs. Charles Keyes, Sr. approached
Miss Gratia Countryman, Chief Librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library,
about a new kind of woman’s organization. Weeks later, 25 influential
women were invited to convene in
Miss Countryman’s library office, and
The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis was
born. Through the years, the Club has
been recognized repeatedly for its civic
and charitable works, and the Clubhouse, built in 1928, has been designated by the city of Minneapolis as a
historic building.
(uttered, I’m certain, while looking directly at the Chief Librarian) “Friends,
Romans…” Morley’s talk was published
the next year by the local bibliophile
society, the Ampersand Club. (Morley
proposed the club’s name in 1935, a
year after the Baker Street Irregulars
came into being.) [Ed. Note: Gary
Thaden played a recording of Morley’s
talk at the Norwegian Explorers’ 2007
Victorian Secrets conference. Gary’s
presentation was titled “Christopher
Morley and the Beginnings of the Norwegian Explorers or The Politician, the
Alehouse, and the Trained Librarian.”]
Today, our members — women and
men with diverse backgrounds and
interests — embrace and advance the
same mission of collegiality and
My presentation to the Woman’s Club
— illustrated with items from the
Collections — was warmly received as
evidenced by the lively question-andanswer period that followed, the comments received at
the conclusion,
and the very
friendly discussion over lunch
that followed.
Photo courtesy of Michael Bartch, The Woman's Club of Minneapolis
From the President
A short history from the Woman’s Club
web site provides a snapshot of the
organization:
Timothy Johnson
community service that has defined our
organization for over a century:
The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis is organized and shall be operated exclusively
for charitable and education purposes,
civic and social services, study and friendly
association.
Sherlockians familiar with the name
Gratia Countryman might recall that on
the fiftieth anniversary of the Minneapolis Public Library, in 1939, Christopher Morley was invited to give a talk
that opened with the memorable words
I’m very appreciative of the
work by Linda
Greve and Kathy
McGill to bring
the Speaker’s
Bureau into being
and look forward
to many more
opportunities to
share the Collections with members of the community. Two other
related events are
already on the
calendar for this
fall. During the
last week of September I’ll be sharing
Holmes and the Collections with the
University of Minnesota Women’s Club
and as part of the Parents Weekend.
Thank you for your continued support
of the Collections and the programming opportunities that your gifts
make possible. Together we continue to
keep forever green the memory of the
Master!
Timothy Johnson
5
A
s I look at the busy Sherlockian Calendar I see the B.S.I.UCLA “Sherlock Holmes:
Behind the Canonical
Screen,” the Sherlock Holmes
Society of London’s Swiss Pilgrimage,
the Newberry Library’s Arthur Conan
Doyle/Sherlock Holmes Symposium,
Bouchercon XLIII in Cleveland and
“Uno Studio in Holmes 25th Anniversary” in Venice, Italy. These all take
An Update from the Collections
place before the New York Birthday
Weekend in 2013. Although I plan on
attending several of these, I really wish
that I could attend all the festivities
and see many of our friends.
I hope you will all mark your calendars
for August 9-11, 2013 for Sherlock
Holmes Through Time and Place sponsored by the Norwegian Explorers,
University of Minnesota Libraries and
the Friends of the Sherlock Holmes
Collections. It promises to be as successful as our previous conferences.
Enclosed with this newsletter is our
annual membership drive. Please consider making a donation of money or
material. With your help we will make
The Sherlock Holmes Collections a
World Center for research and study of
all things Sherlockian.
Acquisitions
D
r. Marino Alvarez, Professor
in the Dept. of Teaching and
Learning of the College of
Education at Tennessee State
University and member of
the Nashville Scholars of the Three
Pipe Problem and the Nashville Fresh
Rashers, donated his 2012 book A
Professor Reflects on Sherlock Holmes.
A Life in Letters, by Jon Lellenberg and
Daniel Stashower has recently been
translated into Japanese, and a copy
was donated by the well-known translator, Mitch Higurashi, BSI.
Hugo Koch added his latest work to
the Collections. The Adventure of the
Ghost of Jacob Marley is a limited
edition of 75 copies.
Among the newsletters and journals
received were Notes from the Spermaceti
Press, The District Messenger, The
Foolscap Document and The Camden
House Journal.
Musings
W
e are very fortunate in
this issue to have a lead
article written by Donald
Yates, BSI. Thanks to
Don Pollock, George
Fletcher and Les Klinger for their additional insights. Don’s “knowledge of
literature” is profound. A man after my
own heart, he is also a dog lover. Our
thanks to Don for sharing his story.
There is a video on YouTube featuring
Don, which can be viewed at http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3wWV6Lljk
Like Donald Yates, the subject of our
50 Years Ago column, Rev. Henry T.
Folsom, has an essay in The Grand
Game, Volume Two. Thanks to Richard
Olken, Tom Francis, Al Silverstein and
Burt Wolder for their kind words about
Rev. Folsom. I had the pleasure of talking to Rev. Folsom and can testify that
the years haven’t dimmed his enthusiasm for the Great Detective.
recreation of Holmes and Watson’s
residence in Baker Street, now on permanent display at the U. of M.’s Wilson
Library. Allen was a good friend and
benefactor of The Sherlock Holmes
Collections, and it’s always a pleasure
to know that friends can view Allen’s
“221B Room” from afar.
Gary Thaden, president of The Norwegian Explorers and contributor to
this newsletter, spotted this link to a
page on the Smithsonian’s website:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/
design/2012/07/the-mystery-of-221bbaker-street/, where you can view
images of the late Allen Mackler’s
I hope that you all continue to support
The Sherlock Holmes Collections, enabling us to publish this newsletter. As
Dick Sveum discussed in his column, I
hope to see many of our friends in the
near future at the various Sherlockian
gatherings.
A
rthur Wiese of Alexandria,
VA was in the Twin Cities
recently and was given a tour
of the Collections by Kris
Kiesling. He commented that
“It’s an extraordinary collection, one I’ve
looked forward to seeing for years.”
Carl Wirth, a transplanted New Yorker
now living in Omaha, Nebraska re-
4
cently spent the afternoon at the Sherlock Holmes Collections. Carl wrote
that “as one who has been reading the
canon since I was a 13 year old back
in 1962, and have a large collection
of books (over 600) and other related
Sherlockian materials, it was a dream
come true to see all that Sherlockian
stuff that never in my wildest dreams
I ever thought I’d ever see first hand.
Tim Johnson was the perfect host; his
knowledge is remarkable and with
our youngest son studying in graduate school to be an archivist it is great
to see the outstanding job Minnesota
has done to preserve so much history
is so many areas. Thank you to Gary
[Thaden] and Tim for letting us enjoy
this as part of our vacation while visiting Minneapolis.” Carl is a member of
the Maiwand Jezails of Nebraska.
S
ometime late last winter or
early spring, Linda Greve,
Assistant to the Associate University Librarian
for Community Outreach,
approached a number of the curators and archivists in the Archives and
Special Collection (ASC) department
with the idea of creating a “Curator’s
Road Show” (later renamed the “ASC
Speaker’s Bureau”). The idea was to
offer a menu of interesting talks on the
Libraries’ Special Collections given by
knowledgeable staff to any group or organization that might be interested as a
part of their own regular programming.
I suggested a number of topics including two related to the Sherlock Holmes
Collections: “Sherlock Holmes Comes
to Minnesota” and “Sherlock Holmes as
a Cultural Icon.”
By April our
preliminary
menu of offerings was
complete
and included at least
fourteen
different
talks by six
members of
our curatorial staff. Early
in the development
of this new
program the
Woman’s
Club of
Minneapolis had
expressed
interest, and
so our slate of
talks was sent
to them for review. Their choice came
back a short time later; they wanted
to hear about how Holmes came to
Minnesota. And so, on a July morning
(with weather appropriate for Holmes
— cloudy and rainy) I headed over to
the Woman’s Club in the company of
Kathy McGill, Director of Development
for the University Libraries, to share a
bit of the wonders of Holmes and our
collections.
In March of 1907, Mrs. Albert Rankin
and Mrs. Charles Keyes, Sr. approached
Miss Gratia Countryman, Chief Librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library,
about a new kind of woman’s organization. Weeks later, 25 influential
women were invited to convene in
Miss Countryman’s library office, and
The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis was
born. Through the years, the Club has
been recognized repeatedly for its civic
and charitable works, and the Clubhouse, built in 1928, has been designated by the city of Minneapolis as a
historic building.
(uttered, I’m certain, while looking directly at the Chief Librarian) “Friends,
Romans…” Morley’s talk was published
the next year by the local bibliophile
society, the Ampersand Club. (Morley
proposed the club’s name in 1935, a
year after the Baker Street Irregulars
came into being.) [Ed. Note: Gary
Thaden played a recording of Morley’s
talk at the Norwegian Explorers’ 2007
Victorian Secrets conference. Gary’s
presentation was titled “Christopher
Morley and the Beginnings of the Norwegian Explorers or The Politician, the
Alehouse, and the Trained Librarian.”]
Today, our members — women and
men with diverse backgrounds and
interests — embrace and advance the
same mission of collegiality and
My presentation to the Woman’s Club
— illustrated with items from the
Collections — was warmly received as
evidenced by the lively question-andanswer period that followed, the comments received at
the conclusion,
and the very
friendly discussion over lunch
that followed.
Photo courtesy of Michael Bartch, The Woman's Club of Minneapolis
From the President
A short history from the Woman’s Club
web site provides a snapshot of the
organization:
Timothy Johnson
community service that has defined our
organization for over a century:
The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis is organized and shall be operated exclusively
for charitable and education purposes,
civic and social services, study and friendly
association.
Sherlockians familiar with the name
Gratia Countryman might recall that on
the fiftieth anniversary of the Minneapolis Public Library, in 1939, Christopher Morley was invited to give a talk
that opened with the memorable words
I’m very appreciative of the
work by Linda
Greve and Kathy
McGill to bring
the Speaker’s
Bureau into being
and look forward
to many more
opportunities to
share the Collections with members of the community. Two other
related events are
already on the
calendar for this
fall. During the
last week of September I’ll be sharing
Holmes and the Collections with the
University of Minnesota Women’s Club
and as part of the Parents Weekend.
Thank you for your continued support
of the Collections and the programming opportunities that your gifts
make possible. Together we continue to
keep forever green the memory of the
Master!
Timothy Johnson
5
I have offered toasts and read papers
and poetry composed for the occasion. And over the years I have enjoyed
lasting friendships with many Sherlockians, one of the earliest of which
(and most fondly remembered) was my
acquaintanceship with Vincent Starrett
of Chicago, whom I visited on numerous occasions when my travels took me
to that city. Cherished mementos of my
decade-long association with him, one
of the last great bookmen of the century past, are his handwritten letters,
a signed photograph and a holograph
transcription of his immortal sonnet,
“221B,” with a dedication to me. It
stands alone as the most prized and
meaningful symbol of the pleasure I
have taken from a life-long and unflagging admiration for Sherlock Holmes
and enduring devotion to the saga of
Baker Street.
ing, I wrote a short story using as its
setting the previous 2009 goose dinner
and discussion of “The Blue Carbuncle”. I imagined a genial local chief of
police and threw in speaking parts for
a handful of identifiable Napoleons and
put together a story that had the chief
describing the details of a St. Helena
murder case and, withholding the solution, challenged the group to solve the
crime. I called the story “A Study in
Scarlatti,” the latter being the name of
the stabbing victim who was discovered murdered in the guest home of an
estate winery.
I would like to describe what was
for me a memorable — and possibly
unique — occasion of Holmes-inspired
theater that took place recently in St.
Helena, the spiritual home of the Napa
Valley Napoleons. For five years we
have met at the Silverado Restaurant
and Brewery on the second morning
after Christmas to dispatch an appropriate goose dinner and commemorate
the events of the Holmes adventure
titled “The Blue Carbuncle”. Long in
advance of the December 2010 gather-
Janet Hutchings, editor of Ellery Queen’s
Mystery Magazine, liked the story and
agreed to run it in the next February
issue (2011), which traditionally always
carries some Holmes-related material.
That issue was released in December in
time for me to have some three-dozen
copies sent for distribution at the dinner. Beforehand, I assigned the speaking parts to willing participants, so that
that year’s meeting featured a dramatic
reading of a story that had as its setting
the very circumstances in which it was
being read. In its way, it was a very
strange and dizzying experience. The
non-speaking Napoleons enthusiastically joined in with appropriately timed
gasps and applause, and we all agreed
that we had felt a very curious sense
of other-worldliness. And everyone
MY FRIEND
DONALD YATES
of Irregular I knew in those days. It was
a pleasure to find that he was also a terrifically nice guy.
I first met Don Yates in the early 1970s,
when I drove from Chicago to East
Lansing for a meeting of the scion
society The Greek Interpreters, which
he had resurrected at Michigan State
University. He was already something
of a personal hero: translator and editor
of Labyrinths, the first volume of essays by Jorge Luis Borges published in
English; a noted scholar, poet, essayist,
book collector, and devotee of classic
mysteries; and a Sherlockian of the
highest order, an exemplar of the type
Over the nearly 40 years since, I have
had the good fortune to benefit from
Don’s friendship as well as his creativity. His work for Baker Street Miscellanea
was always welcome, and his poetry
was one exception to my reluctance to
publish the stuff in BSM. That poetry
can be deeply moving, so it sometimes comes as a surprise to people
to discover that Don is also one of the
sharpest wits of the BSI, and I recommend the several reports of the Mrs.
Turner Thames Club Breakfasters that
went home with a printed version of
the events of the goose dinner that they
had just participated in!
[Editor’s Note: Don added the following postscript on August 9, 2012. His
interest in biographies isn’t limited to
Spanish-American writers.]
I have just read a book titled The Autobiography of Sherlock Holmes, published
only a few months ago by Campbell
& Lewis (San Francisco and London).
It was sent to me by its “editor,” Don
Libey. I began reading and found that
I could not put it down. I came to the
conclusion that the author of the text
of this long-neglected manuscript knew
so much about Sherlock Holmes’s life
and times and cases investigated that
he could not not be Holmes himself.
Even the things that we admirers of
Holmes understand implicitly about
him but have gone unspoken are here
given voice to on these pages. It is a
completely credible, convincing account of this man’s life. All of us can
be enlightened by reading it. Even the
circumstances of Holmes’s obviously
un-documentable death are laid out
here and we are allowed to deduce the
time and cause through clues that are
provided for us in the final pages. The
book can be ordered online at <don@
libey.com>.
were published in BSM in 1986 for a
taste of his humor.
I see Don less often than I would like
since his retirement to Napa, and his
absence from the last few BSI Weekends has been regretted by all. Still, I
was fortunate enough to be able to have
lunch with him every Friday of the BSI
Weekend for 20 years, and still speak
to him by phone on that day, from
wherever I am lunching, when I join
many of his friends in raising a glass
to the good health of this remarkable
gentleman and scholar.
Donald Pollock
Continued on page 7
6
50
Y E A R S
A G O
Through the Years At Baker Street
by Rev. Henry T. Folsom
Leslie S. Klinger and Laurie R. King
included the essay “Seventeen Out of
Twenty-Three” by Henry T. Folsom in
their book The Grand Game, Volume
Two. (2012, The Baker Street Irregulars.) In the preface to this article they
wrote:
Reverend Henry T. Folsom
(1927), invested in The Baker
Street Irregulars in 1965, cemented his reputation as one of
the leading Sherlockian scholars
of his generation with his superb
chronology of the Canon, Through
the Years at Baker Street, in 1962.
The work was revised in 1964 and
again in 1991 and remains one of
the most thoughtful of all of the chronologies.
Reverend Henry T. Folsom is a native
of Orange, New Jersey. After receiving
his undergraduate degree from Yale
University, he was a businessman for
four years until enrolling in The Berkeley School of Divinity. After graduation, he relocated and served in parishes which included Grace Episcopal
Church in Old Saybrook, Connecticut
and St. Peter’s Church in Washington,
New Jersey.
When he was a child around the age
of 10-12, he read the Canon and loved
the stories, citing “The Hound of the
Baskervilles” and “The Speckled Band”
as his favorites. But it wasn’t until he
got a bit older that he got serious about
the subject. He feels that his interest in
the dating of the stories stems from his
own “orderly mind.” Like Monsignor
Ronald Knox, he turned his orderly
mind to studying the Canon as he had
Biblical text. As he wrote in the Introduction to his 1962 Through the Years
at Baker Street, “In the summer of 1962
I started to reread the entire collec-
tion of Sherlock Holmes cases. Having
previously acquired a casual familiarity
with them, I thought it might be challenging to date the stories as I went
along, attempting to determine when
they actually occurred.” This proved
to be no easy task, but he drew his deductions “almost exclusively from the
sixty stories themselves.” As he wrote
in his 1991 revision of the book, he
was unaware of the existing “six serious chronologies” at the time he wrote
the original work.
As Vincent Starrett’s Preface to Ernest
Bloomfield Zeisler’s Baker Street Chronology notes of the various chronologists who have attempted to date the
canonical tales, “nearly all of them
or course are at variance with one
another; indeed, when two Sherlockian chronologists agree it is an event.”
In the case of Rev. Folsom, he came to
disagree with his own previous conclusions. He revised the book in 1964,
as he felt he had made some errors
as well as having simply changed his
mind on some points, considering his
first effort “very cursory.” One of those
points was the question of Dr. Watson’s first marriage; Folsom originally
agreed with William Baring-Gould’s
belief that Watson was a widower
before he met his second wife Mary
Morstan, but he came to a different
conclusion in his second edition. It
was with the completion of his revised
edition that he wrote “This chronology business will never be completed
to my satisfaction — but it MUST end
now.”
And end it did…at least until 1991.
He had “always been unhappy with
the ‘Revised Edition,’” and that year
saw the third edition, which had
“three or four changes in cases late
in Holmes’ career.” The Sherlock
Holmes Collections hold John Bennett
Shaw’s copies of the three editions,
all inscribed to him by Folsom. Rev.
Folsom knew Shaw and loved his wit.
They spent time together when Shaw
traveled to the eastern part of the
United States for Sherlockian events.
Another friend and advisor greatly admired by Folsom was William BaringGould. Folsom related that both he
and Baring-Gould took separate trips
to Dartmoor and attempted to find
Baskerville Hall; neither was successful, and in the case of our chronolo-
gist, his efforts took him to the site of
a nursing home. Folsom attempted
to comfort Baring-Gould over their
failed expeditions by telling him that
perhaps German bombers might have
mistakenly bombed Baskerville Hall
into oblivion during World War II. On
the home front, he was active with the
Cornish Horrors and The Scandalous
Bohemians of New Jersey.
One thing that certainly isn’t true is
a statement from the Introduction to
his 1962 edition in which he wrote,
“It must be understood by the reader
that I am no scholar of Holmesiana.”
The modest Rev. Folsom, as noted at
the beginning of this article, is more
accurately described by Les Klinger
and Laurie King as “one of the leading
Sherlockian scholars of his generation.” His chronology is included with
the likes of those by H.W. Bell, Gavin
Brend, J. Finley Christ, William BaringGould and others. He received the
investiture of The Golden Pince-Nez in
1965 and was the winner of the prestigious Morley-Montgomery Award in
1966 for his essay “My Biblical Knowledge is a Trifle Rusty,” which ran in the
September 1965 Baker Street Journal.
As Editor Steven Rothman wrote in his
introduction to that essay in A Remarkable Mixture (2007, The Baker Street
Irregulars), “The judges – once again
William Baring-Gould, Basil Davenport, and Rex Stout – chose this paper”
in which Folsom concluded that “no
one church or religion [could] claim
Holmes as an adherent.” He was presented the 2 Shilling Award in 1986.
Folsom, now retired from the ministry
and spending time in New Hampshire,
doesn’t miss the deadline of writing a
sermon each week despite the creativity he felt it brought out in him. When
considering his chronologies, he said
“If I was to start it over, I’d make some
changes. I always want to do better.”
In a recent telephone conversation he
also noted that he still hasn’t totally
read the other chronologies, “just bits
and pieces.” He told me that he’s just
recently completed reading the entire
Canon. Does this mean he’ll do a
fourth edition? He says no,
HE REALLY MEANS IT THIS TIME!
3
100
100
library housed at the Harvard Club.
pating in each adventure, and so on.
I remember
with himpurposes.”
afterWhy table
I attacked
the Holmes
in
mobilestrolling
for “journalistic
of contents
for thisstories
224 page
wards as
far
as
Gramercy
Park,
where
this
way,
I
do
not
know.
I
suspect
that
Catling was active in the Institute of
illustrated book includes works by
he lived,
engaged and
in a traveled
long chatextensively
about
I had Alfred
become
alerted to such particuJournalists
Noyes, Arthur Morrison,
subjects Sherlockian. His gift that night
lar features of Holmes’s universe in
Canada,
the Middle the head
Rosamund
Marriott-Watson,
Eden
was to through
make meAmerica,
feel as an
equal among
notes (composed
by editor
East andIEurope,
including
France
Phillpotts,toJohn
Galsworthy,
F. Anstey
the luminaries
had rubbed
elbows
Fred Dannay)
the stories
that were
World War I. He served as a appearing
and Jerome
K. Queen’s
Jerome,Mystery
to name but a
Y Eof 1960,
A Rwhen
S I at-A G Owith atduring
So in January
the dinner.
in Ellery
delegate
to
the
Conference
of
the
few
of
the
contributors.
Page 20
tended that first Baker Street Irregulars
Magazine, which I had discovered
in feadinner in New York City, I discovered
When International
in 1982 Joanne
and I pulled
up
1943.tures
Another
possible
for this
Association
of Journalists
the poem
“Bysource
the North
Sea” by
The not
March
2008
issue of
this
— perhaps
to my
surprise
but
to newslet-stakes and
moved
from East
Lansing
to
fascination
withConan
the minutiae
of
thea short
at Berlin
in 1908,
and
later
as
Sir
Arthur
Doyle.
It
is
Caption: The 1902 first edition has the
ter
an
article about
The Flag, St. Helena in California’s Napa
Among
thefeatured
foreign
of The
my wonderment
—translations
a reverent
and
at
Valley,
Bakerpoem,
Street and
scene was Ellery Queen’s
President of the British
International
Paget
illustration
while the second
does not. there is a facsimile of the
published
in
1908,
which
benefitted
Hound
of the
Baskervilles
fromthat
Johnwas
the same
time
playful mood
we were
greeted
most
cordially
by
Ted
(Fred
Dannay’
s) as
anthology,
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MisadSociety of Journalists during 1915. He
last stanza
written by
Conan
Doyle.
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Shaw’
s collections,
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Schulz
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Rafael
and
ventures
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Holmes
(wonderful
Don Hobbs’
The
Galactic
Sherlock25, 1920. me by the first translator, who called
passed
away
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December
that
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100
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has
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the gatherings
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title!),
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Hunden
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cheek was
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special
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toDress
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cants. We
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night
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Cavanaugh’
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Scowrers
and
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title is established;
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it comes
guage editions of the Canon has nine
We walked where
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anda includes
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Watson:
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AndBaskerville
as we walked
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to me
The following year, in 1909, The Presscovers.bers come from the worlds of art,
in
his collection.
rewards
will be out of proportion. Old
In 1984,
Joanne and I founded the
book of Friendship,
both
also
published
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forfriends
the
three
excelThat three
had
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that day:
drama, law, literature, music or sci- than a family.
Album was published to aid the
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such
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a series
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pearance
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s Clubs
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ing force
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Holmes
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in
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was
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Denis
Savage
Club
Lodge
was
consecrated
at
is
a
reprint
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same
title
published
the
Baskervilles.
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problems
exist
compositor,
writer, newshis
editor from
had
translated
Interpreters
of into
East Norwegian
Lansing. Since
the
Ann
Michigan,
when
myHenry
mother
so born
it containing
was.
when
the
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instance
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word
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inLater,
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oflast
1909,
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Freemasons’
Hall
and Sir
1866
through
1884,
then
editor frombought
Sherlockian
pastiche
A
Doubled-Bargroup met
first
in 1945
it thus
qualifor
me
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as
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gift
on
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octure
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“The
Greek
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Press
Book
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invested
as
Treasurer.
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no
1884
through
1907.
The
Scoop
reled
Detective
Story.
fied as
the fourth
or The
fifth Lilly
suchLibrary
group
casion
of
my
graduation
from
Slauson
available,
Julian
Wolff,
at
my
request,
HOUN was re-published by the
ferocious
andadeadly,
canine;
hundbetween mann’s published).
longer
formal
connection
Manuscript
Collection
has
15
letters
to
Database,
subscription
biographical
to be established in the U.S. It was, in
Junior
High
School
— the
Doubleday
withdrew
“Mr
Melas”
bestowed the
same house
a last
timeand
in 1941.
means the
anyLodge
dog,
big
small.
what
andorthe
Club.And
her
from
English
authors
ofthe
British
and
Irish journal-edition
any (1900-1917)
casedictionary
the first of
many
academic
of Thethe
Complete
Sherlock
former title on me.
about “…of
Baskervilles.”
If Holmes.
literincluding
Anstey
of the
24 – 1950, I read through it, assiduously underAccording to Doyle’s own corresponscions founded
thereafter.
istsF.from
the(one
period
of 1800
I can certainly tell you that Brochally translated
into
my language
the
After
his
retirement
from
Lloyd’s
authors indicates
along with
ACD
of
The
Fate
of
dence
(fromof
AHOUN
Life in Letters),
significant
passages, making
Imann’
havesmade
many
contributions
he extended the circulation lining
translation
and to
thatthis
title would
be Bakervilleslektens
hund,
Fenella,
1892)
and Jeromethat
K. Jerome.
Weekly
News,
Catling
undertook
the
I had a long
conversation
evening
marginal
notes,
keeping
track
of
all
of
Sherlockian
magazines
—
poetry,
eswas
a
worrisome
time.
Jean
was
of the paper beyond London and was which is not only clumsy but–even
very 1911 edition has played a decisive
Iwith
wasEarle
able to
examine the
letters
while
editing
task
for
The
Press
Album.
The
Walbridge,
who,
it
turned
Holmes’
s
disguises,
all
the
unrecorded
says,
articles,
scion
reports,
obituaries
pregnant
with
her
first
child
at age
part in my life. It was the first Holmes
worse—suggests a story about a pet:
reputed
to be the
first III
to use
attending
thecurator
Gillette
Brett
con-the auto-cases, the official police figures particiout, was the
oftothe
magnificent
and
At was
the
B.S.I.
dinners
34 reviews.
and
Doyle
worried
storybook
I ever
read,
and
it hooked
meabout her
The Dog of the Baskervilles Family.
ference at Indiana University.
on the Master. I must have been 10 or
Actually the decision was made for
Continued
on page
Continued
on page
6 7
Continued on page 7
Sherlockian
Memories
100
Continued fromContinued
Page 2 from Page 6
100Years
YearsAgo
Ago...
Continued from Page 2
New Directions in 1962. Not long after
I wrote Smith about the Intrepreters’ resuscitation dinner, and he wrote again,
indicating that “As representing a fullfledged Scion, you are now eligible to
send a delegate to the Annual Dinner.”
Of course I went.
2
2
A G O
the book
was published, Don “went to
The Orphanage
Argentina
forearlier
the first
time, metwhich
Borges,
in an
translation
I
and began
a friendship
with him that
revised
quite
heavily.
When, ere the tangled web is reft,
lasted for many years.” On another
The kid-gloved villain scowls and sneers,
Guggenheim
website
Don writes
of “the
main
difference
between
AndThe
hapless
innocence
is left
fiftieth anniversary
ofEB’
the
publicationI
my
own
and
s
translation
With no assets save sighs and tears,
of Labyrinths
by
New
Directions.
Half a
stems
from
the
’Tisthink
then, just
then,
that
in fact
therethat
stalks
centurythey
is a long
life
for
a
book,
and
to of
different
ages. its
As
The hero,belong
watchful
her needs,
readership,
moreover,
has
not
declined
know,
Danish
for
number of appearances in various jourHe you
talks!may
Great
heavens,
how was
he talks
those
years. But official
Borges, of course,
Also,
that they were expect- over But
centuries
nals held
bythe
Thefact
Collections.
we forgivethe
him, for hiswritten
deeds. lanis
for
the
ages.”
guage
of
Norway,
and although
ing their first child may have
1911
had begun
Very modestly,
hasn’t
included
his
influencedDon
Doyle’
s decision
to conLifeNorwegian
is the dramainhere
to-day
Don hassplitting
served as
a reviewer
for
away,
theof influence
own intriguing
TheinJohn
And Death the
villain
the plot.
tribute to biography.
The Press Book
the
translated
Spanish
American
works
and
from
Danish
was
still
strong.
It’s
Simonfirst
Guggenheim
Memorial
It is a realistic play;
place. Being
a father Foundahimself, I’m has translated
the works
of numerous
a
complicated
story
but
actually
Scan webpage
courtesy ofprovides
the University
of
Minnesota
Libraries
tion
the
reader
with
Shall it end well or shall it not
sure he could easily empathize with Argentine
writers.
He
writes,
“I have
Norwegian
onthe
thehero’
printed
a morethe
complete
listchildren
of Dr. Yates’
s other
The hero? Oh,
s part page is
fatherless
which
would
rarely
translated
anything
by
an
author
11
years
old
at
the
time,
which
makes
as
different
from
Ibsen’
s
time
accomplishments, (http://www.gf.org/
Is vacant—to be played by you. to the
benefit
from
the
sale
of
the
volume.
it 1952 or ’53. I think it was given
present
Shakespeare
froms presThenasact
it well! An is
orphan’
heart
to me by friends of my parents who
ent day
At theifsame
time I did
MayEnglish.
beat the lighter
you do.
Doyle
wroteinadetective
poem about
knew Finally,
about my
interest
go for a “conservative” style, hoping
stories.
Anyway,
it was
a revelation.
it would read to modern day Norweorphans
which
was
published in
Christy Allen and Julie McKuras
I’ve still
gotofit,the
title
pagejust
missing
gian readers as Conan Doyle reads to
Songs
Road,
a few and
pages
slightly
the“By
worse
wear,
yetItone
English-speaking
readers of today.
after
the for
North
Sea.”
wasof
References:
my dearest
possessions.
But
very
few
http://www.scoopcalled “The Orphanage” and is reprodatabase.com/bio/catling_thomas
of the stories were available in my own
Since
1971 my translation of HOUN
duced
below.
language
then,
so I had to wait until I
hashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Club
been
reprinted over a dozen times
http://www.savageclub.com/
learned English to pursue my interest
by various publishers, by Aschehoug
I wonder, perhaps, if he was thinkin Holmes.
and Norild as well as Gyldendal, and
ing of the Orphan’s Fund when he
I’ve also read it as an audio book. It
this?
As EB’wrote
s HOUN
was more or less my
was included in the first ever collected
favourite boyhood reading I tend to be
Sherlock Holmes edition in Norwegian,
uncritical, but I think it was for its time
which I edited and part-translated
an excellent translation, less error-ridden
(wanted to do all but didn’t have
and less inclined to take liberties than
time), published in 10 volumes by Den
contemporary Swedish or Danish transNorske Bokklubben (“The Norwegian
lations. It’s a long time Jorge
sinceLuis
I’veBorges
re-read
Book
in 1980.
and Donald
Yates,Club”)
1968, Buenos
AiresThe tenth volume
it but it is my impression Continued
that EB was from Page
was a4collection of pastiches and essays.
especially good at maintaining the poetic
In the 1990s all ten volumes were rewhom
I wholesale
have
not known
personally.”
stuffed
rat now
adorn
the
Collections.
neverofthe
for Francine;
shewe
qualities
thesame
original.
I’m still and
haunted
printed
by a short-lived
pubfellows/16171-donald-a-yates)
His
translated
detective
short
stomissed
sharing
their
interests
and
most
Our
thanks
go
to
Peter
Blau,
not
only
by
the
descriptions
of
the
moor
as
I
read
lisher called LibriArte. I’ve done
minor
summarize the article here.
ries
were
published
in
1972
as
Latin
them
almost
60
years
ago.
of
all,
she
missed
his
companionship.
for
writing
about
his
friends
Wayne
revisions
to
the
text
over
the
years,
but
Don studied Spanish while attending
Blood:
Best
Stories
of Spanish
a major
one
forCrime
another
Bokklubben
when
sheSchool
passed1945-1948
away, their
and The
Francine
but
also
for
helping
with
AnnAnd
Arbor
High
America, about
whichtwo
Don writes, “It
As for
my own
translation
itforwas
edition,
in is
and
pursued
those
studies
hisas
A.B.
the packing
andin
mailingvolumes,
of the many,
friends
had
the same
reaction
people complete
to
dateThe
the most
only anthology
of Spanish
actually
published
forBurns
the
time
2002.
recent reprint
is in a
degree
the University
offirst
Michigan
hadatwhen
George
died;
hisinpass- American
many
boxes.
detective
fiction.
Given my
1971.
In He
1966
I had been
inM.A.
a TVand
quiz
2011
Bokklubben
volume
Sherlock
in
1951.
completed
his
ing meant that he was together with
interests,
it is a book
that I(“Selected
am inordishow, in
winning 10,000
for my
Holmes Mysterier
i utvalg
Ph.D.
at thekroner
University
of
Johnproud
Bergquist
with a
GracieSpanish
again.
nately
of.” has provided
knowledge
Holmes,
I was
considMysteries”),
containing
STUD, us
HOUN
Michigan,
inof1954
and so
1961
respeclook
at
Leaves
from
The
Copper
Beeches,
ered
quite
the
local
Sherlock
Holmes
and The Adventures—all translated
tively, after serving two years in the
Don
has
a number
of
tribitsreceived
interesting
authors
and
editors,
Francine
Morris
Swift,dissertation…
ever
the librariexpert.
In 1969
Gyldendal,
Norway’
s
byand
yours
truly.
If you’re
interested,
I’ll
U.S.
Army.
His
“doctoral
utes,
including
the
London
Society
an,
planned
to
donate
her
Sherlockian
published
50
years
ago.
I’d
like
toof
largestwith
publishing
house, had
started a
be happy to send you a copy for your
dealt
‘The Argentine
Detective
Authors
ofproviding
Labyrinths
paperback
series
called
“The
thank 2008
Christy
Allen
for
collection
toaThe
Sherlock
Holmes
collection.
Andselection
to
complete
the story: I
Story’.”
He mystery
was
Fulbright
Scholar
and
as
one
of the “fifty
outstanding
translaBlack
Series”
(inspired
by death
theLiterature
French
also
adapted
and
translated
a Swedish
Collections.
Sadly,
her
in
information
about
Conan Doyle’
s poetvisiting
lecturer
in American
tions
from
the
last
fifty
years”
and
the
“LaArgentina
Série Noire”)
and
asked
me
to do
radio
of the
in
in 1962–63,
1964–65,
ry asdramatisation
featured in our
100book
Yearsand
Ago
October
2007
meant
her
collection,
City
of
Buenos
Aires
award
of
the
title
a1967–68,
selection
of
Sherlock
Holmes
stories.
produced
it
as
a
six-part
serial
in
1977.
1970. with her beloved
which and
she amassed
column.
Sveum
updates
us on the
of
“VisitanteDick
Ilustre.”
Hemy
continues
There
had then been no Holmes books
I sometimes
think
that
main
motive
Wayne, was ready to move to
status
of
the
drive
for
the
E.W.
to
on hisabiography
of Borges,
in Norwegian
sincethe
1941.
I did
in fact
forwork
becoming
radio drama
producer
He
began
reading
works
of
Jorge
Minnesota.
Boxes of books,seven
pho- stoMcDiarmid
Curatorship.
which
is going
callstory
Magical
Jourdo two
selections,
was
thehewish
to
dotothis
on radio,
Luis
Borges
inephemera
1954containing
andand
decided
that
It’
s
gratifying
to
receive
notes
from
tographs,
even
a
giant
ney:
Borges’s
Life
in
Letters.
riesmight
each. be
Wesuccessful
then decided
that I would
the medium it is perfectly suited for.
he
in translating
translate
HOUN.
I usedSelected
EB’s version
And, ah yes, 2009 saw the first ever
the
stories.
Labyrinths:
WritJulie McKuras,
ASH,
(andofalso
several
Danishwhich
and Swedish)
“nynorsk” translation
of HOUN,
by BSI
ings
Jorge
Luis Borges,
was
as reference,
but avoided
copying
Ragnar Hovland but relying I suspect a
the
first collection
of Borges’
s workit.to
SIGN was
also included
in the series,
good deal on mine. Continued on page 8
appear
in English,
was published
by
health during and after the pregnanDr. Yates
has given
us a would
wonderful
cy. This
certainly
explain the
glimpse
into his Sherlockian
Wepoem.
desomewhat
sombre tonelife.
of the
cided The
that use
his essay
in “lady”
keeping
of thewas
word
inwith
the last
our goal
of highlighting
the holdings of
stanza
seems to strongly
The Sherlock
Holmes
Collections
as we
suggest that it was written to/for
feature the authors of many memorable
works.Lady
Don’Jean.
s publications include a
Y E A R S
DONALD YATES
Musings...
The Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections
is a quarterly newsletter published by the
which seek to promote the activities, interests and needs of the Special Collections
and Rare Books Department, University of
Minnesota Libraries.
Mail editorial correspondence c/o:
Editor
Julie McKuras
13512 Granada Ave.
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-431-1934
[email protected]
Editorial Board
John Bergquist, Timothy Johnson,
Jon Lellenberg, Richard J. Sveum, M.D.
Copyright © 2006
University of Minnesota Library
Copyright © 2012
2011
Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
The University of Minnesota is an Equal
Opportunity Educator and Employer.
FOR DON
Aschehoug in EB’s time was Doyle’s
main Norwegian publisher, but unfortunately
they didn’t
follow itYates
up—there
Wenocount
Donald
readers
and other
interested
were
translations
of VALL parties,
or The
and
this issue
features
those:
Case-book,
and
only four
ofofthe
stories
’mongst
Holm’
stwo
ian
greats,
author
of Out ofinthe
inGeorgina
His LastDoyle,
Bow were
published
and should
you
Norway,
inThe
a book
called
Shadows:
Untold
StorySpioncenof Arthur
tralen,
1919.
I’ve
been
veryread
fortunate,
Conan
Doyle’s
First
Family,
Dick
crave
a Clerihew,
both
in
Gyldendal
that
they
wanted
Sveum’s article from December
2008to
give
Holmes
hiseye
due
place
a prestige
he’ll
craft
one,
or incorrected
two!
with
a careful
and
has
a
series of modern and classical mystery
date. Soren Eversoll, an honored visitor
stories and bringing him back into
to theand
Collections
last year,
continues
print,
in Den norske
Bokklubben
You
toointocan
glean
his
interest
Sherlock
Holmes,
for
deciding
do the
first
ever comaccording
a note
sentme
by ahis
mother.
plete
edition
giving
free
rein
what’
s toaand
Mondegreen
to present Sherlock Holmes as I think
he
should
be.to as
So
it’s business
usual at The
thanks
Joanne,
Sherlock Holmes Collections, for
his
queen.
So
the 1911
second
edition was what
which
we are
all thankful.
got Nils Nordberg hooked on Sherlock
Holmes. In his translation he kept
McKuras,
ASH, BSI
George Julie
Fletcher,
BSI
Elizabeth
Brochmann’
s title,
and he was
a good friend of John Bennett Shaw. As
a Norwegian-American and Sherlockian, I appreciate all the connections.
7
7
bottle of Courvoisier plus one fifth of
New Jersey cognac, with the note: ‘Tell
the bartender to serve the Courvoisier
first. Then by the time the Sons get to
the New Jersey cognac, they may not
spot the difference’” (250). Today,
Lellenberg says of Starr, “I’m convinced
that Julian Wolff [who took over leadership of the Baker Street Irregulars under
the title “Commissionaire” after Smith’s
untimely death in 1960] would have
retired as Commissionaire sooner than he
did if Bill Starr had not died at a somewhat early age in 1976 and had been
around in the early ’80s to take over.”
the history of the scion mentioned earlier,
Thomas Hart reports that a publication
fund was established as early as 1952
(with the princely sum of $4.00.) Hart, as
treasurer of the Publication Committee,
goes on to apologize to the membership
for “his many exhortations for funds, and
many stern admonitions against failure,
made at meetings” over the years.
The physical book is an interesting
artifact in itself, featuring quarter binding with textured morocco-colored
endpapers of the same stock as the
covers.
Leaves from The Copper Beeches was followed up by a second volume, More
Leaves from The Copper Beeches, in
1976. The Sons are still flourishing as
an active scion society; perhaps someday we will be able to look forward to
a third volume.
John Bergquist, BSI
L
L
E
C
OF
March 2009
Volume 13 Number 1
T
I
O
N
S
(STUD)
1
100 Years Ago
3
From the President
In Honor Of
Peter Blau
Fred Levin
From
Arthur E.F. Wiese Jr.
Cliff Goldfarb
In Memory Of
Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill
Joseph Gillies
Allen Mackler
Allen Mackler
Allen Mackler
Beatrice McCaffrie
E.W. McDiarmid
E.W. McDiarmid
E.W. McDiarmid
E. W. McDiarmid
Robert Pattrick
Jan Stauber
Jan Stauber
Tom Stix
Dr. Richard Sturtz
From
John Baesch and Evelyn Herzog
Thomas Drucker
Warren Randall
Michael Kean
Patricia Nelson
Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore
Philip Swiggum
John Lockwood
Michael Brahmey
Jim DeLeo
Jeffrey Klaus
Peter Klaus
Vincent Brosnan
Alexian Gregory
Francine and Richard Kitts
Karen Anderson
William Sturtz
4
8
of the wine to be donated and handled
all of the local organization in Napa. A
grand time was had by all!
Leslie Klinger, BSI
Musings
4
An Update from
the Collections
612-624-3552 or
[email protected]
5
Recent Acquisitions
5
222 21st Ave. S.
To the Editor
6
Telephone: 612-626-9166
FAX: 612-625-5525
A Beacon of the Future
6
Remembrances
8
I
t has been said that marriages between two Sherlockians are the most permanent.
Many Sherlockians have found it easy enough to persuade a spouse to enjoy the
Sherlockian world, but when two people who already are Sherlockians marry they
will sooner or later merge their collections, as well as their lives. And there is no
custody battle, whether over the car, the house, the pets, or the children, that can possibly match the difficulty of dividing a collection that has no duplicates.
So for two Sherlockians it’s a matter only of the better, and never the worse. That certainly was true of Wayne B. Swift and Francine Morris, who were Sherlockians when
they met for the first time. Francine started her Sherlockian life in Texas, where she was
a librarian; she founded The Sub-Librarians Scion of the Baker Street Irregulars in the
American Library Association, and
was one of the founders of The
Practical, But Limited, Geologists at
an informal luncheon in the Zodiac
Room at Nieman Marcus in Dallas.
When she moved to Washington she
quickly became a member of The
Red Circle, and was one of the ringleaders in planning the society’s fullfledged costume party at the
National Press Club.
Photo courtesy of The Sherlock
Holmes Collections
Illustration by H.W. Starr, captioned “The appeal
for the Publication Fund,” printed in Jon
Lellenberg’s Irregular Crises of the Late ’Forties
(New York, 1999)
2
Wayne was from Nebraska, an electrical engineer and a teacher, and an
Wayne and Francine Swift
early convert to the world of computers. When he moved to Washington he decided to take an adult-education course in
Sherlock Holmes at a local community college and soon attended his first Sherlockian
function, a running of The Silver Blaze (Southern Division) at Pimlico Race Track in
Maryland, where he and Francine quickly discovered they shared more than an interest
in Sherlock Holmes. They courted , and wed, and had many happy years together, sharing a multitude of interests, Sherlockian and otherwise.
Wayne became a member of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1978 (as “The Giant Rat of
Sumatra”). Francine became a member of The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes in
1977 (as “Hatty Doran”) and was honored by the BSI as The Woman in 1983, and
awarded her Irregular Shilling and Investiture in 1994 (as “The Wigmore Street Post
Continued on page 6
1
Sherlock Holmes
C
Elliot Kimball
O
L
L
E
C
T
I
Journal incorrect. Although he’s listed
as married, his wife isn’t listed at his
Clinton CT residence, but the census
does note his then-current occupation
as a writer for magazines and that he
had an extensive college education. He
also states he was living in New York,
NY in 1935.
If anyone has any additional information about Mr. Kimball, I’d love to
learn more.
C o n t e n t s
1
3
From the President
4
Acquisitions
4
Musings
4
In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have
made contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons.
In Honor Of
Rev. Henry T. Folsom
From
Julie McKuras
In Memory Of
Wayne Kalina
Don Robertson
From
Don Hobbs
Robert F. Cairo
612-624-3552 or
[email protected]
222 21st Ave. S.
S
(STUD)
I
have just read Christopher Morley’s essay, “The Baker Street Irregulars,” which first
appeared in The New Yorker over seventy-five years ago (December 29, 1934) and
was later included under the heading of “Shouts and Murmurs V” in Morley’s Long,
Long Ago (New York: Macmillan, 1943). The spirit of the B.S.I., as I have come to
know it, is magically evoked by Morley in this essay. I recall that this same rollicking, pseudo-serious tone was somehow transferred intact to the gatherings of the Amateur Mendicant Society that I began attending in Detroit in the mid-fifties. That mood
was lovingly evoked by Russell McLauchlin and Robert Harris, the group’s leaders.
In 1956 I presented a paper to the Mendicants entitled, “A Final Illumination of the Lucca Code.” Russ McLauchlin liked it and suggested that I submit it for possible publication
in the Baker Street Journal, then edited by Edgar Smith. Smith wrote back that he wanted
it for the magazine, and I received a total of six two-cent postcards from him leading
up to the essay’s publication later that year. Smith was extremely friendly, outgoing and
encouraging, making me feel very welcome to the Journal’s pages, urging me to subscribe
and putting in a plug also for The Sherlock Holmes Journal. The following year he enthusiastically accepted a crossword puzzle that I had constructed, based on The Hound of the
Baskervilles.
When I moved from suburban Farmington, outside Detroit, to East Lansing in 1957 and
resurrected the Greek Interpreters of East Lansing, which Page Heldenbrand had founded
in 1945, I carried the style of the Mendicant gatherings with me and passed it on effortlessly to the faithful there who joined in our celebrations of Baker Street for a period of
more than two decades.
Continued on page 2
4
An Update from the
Collections
5
Telephone: 612-626-9166
FAX: 612-625-5525
Elliot Kimball
Remembrances
N
by Donald Yates, BSI
50 Years Ago
Remembrances
O
8
8
ince the June issue of this
newsletter, containing an article about Elliot Kimball, was
published, the 1940 Federal
Census has become available.
The entry for Kimball verifies that he
was born in 1896 in California, making the obituary that ran in Poultry
8
O
50 Years Ago
A MAN OF QUITE REMARKABLE TALENT
S
C
C o n t e n t s
In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have made
contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons.
I (with the essential help of spouses/
significant others) co-organized our
one-off CIA-West Dinner with Sherlock
Holmes in 1998. Don arranged for all
DS
Sherlock Holmes
By Peter E. Blau, ASH, BSI
Leaves from The Copper Beeches was partially financed by contributions from
members of the Sons, who are listed in
the acknowledgments. In his memoir of
Remembrances
No mere scholar, Don proved himself to be a man of taste and a man of
“taste” when Michael Kean, Don, and
N
HE
50 Years Ago...Continued from Page 3
T
FR
IE
September 2012
Volume 16 Number 3
Donald Yates
1

Sherlockian Memories - University of Minnesota Libraries

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