December 2012 Volume 16 Number 4 March 2009 D S O F N Volume 13 Number 1 E T 50 Years Ago...Continued from Page 3 I H R E bottle of Courvoisier plus one fifth of the history of the scion mentioned earlier, The physical book is an interesting F New Jersey cognac, with the note: ‘Tell Thomas Hart reports that a publication artifact in itself, featuring quarter bind- the bartender to serve the Courvoisier fund was established as early as 1952 ing with textured morocco-colored first. Then by the time the Sons get to (with the princely sum of $4.00.) Hart, as endpapers of the same stock as the the New Jersey cognac, they may not treasurer of the Publication Committee, covers. spot the difference’” (250). Today, goes on to apologize to the membership Lellenberg says of Starr, “I’m convinced for “his many exhortations for funds, and Leaves from The Copper Beeches was fol- Sherlock Holmes that Julian Wolff [who took over leader- many stern admonitions against failure, lowed up by a second volume, More ship of the Baker Street Irregulars under made at meetings” over the years. Leaves from The Copper Beeches, in COLLECTIONS the title “Commissionaire” after Smith’s 1976. The Sons are still flourishing as untimely death in 1960] would have an active scion society; perhaps some- “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) retired as Commissionaire sooner than he day we will be able to look forward to did if Bill Starr had not died at a some- a third volume. what early age in 1976 and had been Contents around in the early ’80s to take over.” John Bergquist, BSI Francine and Wayne Swift By Peter E. Blau, ASH, BSI Leaves from The Copper Beeches was par- Francine and Wayne Swift tially financed by contributions from Illustration by H.W. Starr, captioned “The appeal t has been said that marriages between two Sherlockians are the most permanent. members of the Sons, who are listed in for the Publication Fund,” printed in Jon 1 Many Sherlockians have found it easy enough to persuade a spouse to enjoy the Lellenberg’s Irregular Crises of the Late ’Forties the acknowledgments. In his memoir of Sherlockian world, but when two people who already are Sherlockians marry they (New York, 1999) 100 Years Ago I will sooner or later merge their collections, as well as their lives. And there is no 2 custody battle, whether over the car, the house, the pets, or the children, that can possi- Continued from Page 2 bly match the difficulty of dividing a collection that has no duplicates. 50 Years Ago So for two Sherlockians it’s a matter only of the better, and never the worse. That cer- 100 Years Ago tainly was true of Wayne B. Swift and Francine Morris, who were Sherlockians when 3 they met for the first time. Francine started her Sherlockian life in Texas, where she was Remembrances a librarian; she founded The Sub-Librarians Scion of the Baker Street Irregulars in the From the President American Library Association, and In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have made 4 was one of the founders of The contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons. Practical, But Limited, Geologists at an informal luncheon in the Zodiac In Honor Of From Musings Room at Nieman Marcus in Dallas. Peter Blau Arthur E.F. Wiese Jr. 4 When she moved to Washington she Fred Levin Cliff Goldfarb quickly became a member of The Red Circle, and was one of the ring- In Memory Of From An Update from leaders in planning the society’s full- Paul Churchill John Baesch and Evelyn Herzog For any inquiries contact: the Collections fledged costume party at the Paul Churchill Thomas Drucker Timothy J. Johnson, Curator 5 National Press Club. Paul Churchill Warren Randall 612-624-3552 or Wayne was from Nebraska, an elec- Joseph Gillies Michael Kean [email protected] of The Sherlock Photo courtesy Holmes Collections Allen Mackler Patricia Nelson Recent Acquisitions Wayne and Francine Swift trical engineer and a teacher, and an Allen Mackler Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore Sherlock Holmes Collections 5 early convert to the world of com- Allen Mackler Philip Swiggum Suite 111, Elmer L. Andersen Library puters. When he moved to Washington he decided to take an adult-education course in Beatrice McCaffrie John Lockwood University of Minnesota Sherlock Holmes at a local community college and soon attended his first Sherlockian E.W. McDiarmid Michael Brahmey 222 21st Ave. S. To the Editor function, a running of The Silver Blaze (Southern Division) at Pimlico Race Track in E.W. McDiarmid Jim DeLeo Minneapolis, MN 55455 6 Maryland, where he and Francine quickly discovered they shared more than an interest E.W. McDiarmid Jeffrey Klaus Telephone: 612-626-9166 in Sherlock Holmes. They courted , and wed, and had many happy years together, shar- E. W. McDiarmid Peter Klaus FAX: 612-625-5525 ing a multitude of interests, Sherlockian and otherwise. Robert Pattrick Vincent Brosnan A Beacon of the Future Mailing list corrections requested— Wayne became a member of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1978 (as “The Giant Rat of Jan Stauber Alexian Gregory Because of the high cost of returned newsletters, 6 Jan Stauber Francine and Richard Kitts we would appreciate being informed of changes Sumatra”). Francine became a member of The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes in Tom Stix Karen Anderson of address or other corrections. 1977 (as “Hatty Doran”) and was honored by the BSI as The Woman in 1983, and Dr. Richard Sturtz William Sturtz Remembrances awarded her Irregular Shilling and Investiture in 1994 (as “The Wigmore Street Post Timothy J. Johnson, Curator 8 Continued on page 6 1940s. He briefly appeared on “Infor- And how did he know “Old Freddy by way of the canonized classic.” Sally 8 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 1 mation Please” during a short run on Steele”? Their years of membership at Ashley wrote “The obscurity of his once television, but his declining health was the Players Club overlap and was prob- famous name demonstrated the fleeting noticeable. After his divorce from his ably their point of intersection. Steele nature of reputation, the inexorability of second wife he moved into the Players and Adams sometimes contributed to time and loss. Yet much of the work by Club, where he had been a member for the same magazines as well. people F.P.A. discovered and nurtured years, and subsisted on a stipend from remains.” his friend Harold Ross and The New During his newspaper career, as noted Sherlock Holmes Yorker. He spent the last five years of his on the anniversary of his 1960 death on Julie McKuras, ASH, BSI COLLECTIONS life in a nursing home until his death on the site “Today in Literature,” FPA – as March 23, 1960. Adams was known – was the “quintes- References: The Poemhunter.com – The World’s Poetry Archive “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) sential gentleman-journalist, ready to http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/ He was a prolific writer whoseIn Other deflate the latest fad or most earnest is- franklin_p_adams_2012_3.pdf Words had several Christmas poems. sue with a quip or a couplet” and as was Ashley, Sally. F.P.A., The Life and Times of Aptly named were “Christmas Cards, noted in his “own poems were parodies, Franklin Pierce Adams, 1986, New York, Contents Being the Songs of an Old Scrooge.” often aimed at reducing the fleeting fad Beaufort Books. Merry Christmas from the Sherlock Holmes Collections Merry Christmas from n her 2000 book Merry Christmas, Karal Ann Marling wrote that the first Christmas the Sherlock Holmes card was produced in 1843, the same year that Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Collections was published. The idea of sending Christmas greetings as a printed card instead of a handwritten letter was suggested by Sir Henry Cole, the founder and first 1 I director of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Artist John Calcott Horsley drew Remembrances the lithograph, which was hand-colored, and sold approximately 1000 copies, despite In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have 100 Years Ago criticism of the drawing, which included a child drinking wine. made contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons. 2 According to the Greeting Card Association (http://www.greetingcard.org/AbouttheIndus- try/tabid/58/Default.aspx) sales figures have increased from that initial 1000. They report In Honor Of From 50 Years Ago that “More than 2 billion boxed and individual Christmas cards were sold in the U.S. last Phil Bergem Steve Stilwell year” and that there are “more than 3,000 greeting card publishers in the United States.” Lynne Day Jeffory Hart 3 This is just within the United States. Vinnie and Flavia Brosnan William Vande Water Julie McKuras Joseph Eckrich From the President The cards held in the Sherlock Holmes Collections are but a miniscule percentage of that Katy Morgan Stella J. Herzig total, but an interesting representation. As Mr. Holmes stated in “The Adventure of the Dr. Victoria Risko Billy Fields 4 Noble Bachelor,” the cards have “the charm of variety.” Some are mass produced, some Sherlockian Friends Sandy Kozinn produced in a small run and others, hand drawn. They are held from a number of donors Richard Sveum Robert Katz Acquisitions including Howard Haycraft, John Bennett Shaw and Frederic Dorr Steele. We’ve decided Bishop Turner High School Faculty Thomas S. Galbo to feature a small sampling of these cards.