Sherlock Holmes Collections There Were Other Memorable Moments Arranging New Photocopy Services, and Suite 111, Elmer L
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March 2000 D S O F N Volume 4 Number 1 E T For any inquiries contact: I H Cont. R An Update from the Collections E Timothy J. Johnson, Curator F that others present had that same feel- time will be spent mapping out the 612-624-3552 or ing and that through all of our work at exact locations of collections in the [email protected] Minnesota we will continue the spirit underground caverns, refining new reg- and service of Shaw and his collection. istration and request procedures, orient- ing ourselves to the new location, Sherlock Holmes Collections There were other memorable moments arranging new photocopy services, and Suite 111, Elmer L. Andersen Library Sherlock Holmes during that January weekend, reported generally getting services and ourselves University of Minnesota on these pages and elsewhere, and now settled. At the same time we're busy 222 21st Ave. S. COLLECTIONS Minneapolis, MN 55455 we find ourselves back in Minnesota on getting the Hubbs Family cataloging “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) the eve of the opening of the new Elmer project underway. Soon new catalog Telephone: 612-624-7526 L. Andersen Library. There have been a entries will appear in the online catalog FAX: 612-626-9353 few delays in the moves of the many for the Holmes Collections, a catalog units into the new building, but all that that will grow over the next three years. Timothy J. Johnson, Curator The Adventure of the Acephalous Agronomist work is quickly coming to an end and Contents BY PETER BLAU, B.S.I. by the time you read this we will, All these activities and events point can scarcely write a paragraph the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the indeed, be in the new building. We are towards growth, improvement, and Mailing list corrections requested— The Adventure of the on any subject without bring- University of Minnesota. now busy working with a design firm enhancement. You, our friends, are a Because of the high cost of returned newsletters, Acephalous Agronomist ing Holmes into the argument," in the preparation of an opening exhibit very important part of our continued we would appreciate being informed of changes Vincent Starrett wrote in "A Here’s your chance to share some of the that will showcase treasures from the success. It is a great way to start a new of address or other corrections. "I 1 Fragment of Autobiography" fun that Vincent Starrett had, and the fun eight units and making final plans for millennium! in the "Mystery Writers Annual" in 1965. that collecting limited (and other) editions the various open house and gala events 100 Years Ago Generations of Sherlockians have enjoyed gave to John Bennett Shaw: in April. March will mark our "shake Timothy J. Johnson, Curator 2 the wide variety, splendid scholarship, and I find it recorded in my notebook that down cruise" and by the time of the Special Collections and Rare Books delightful wit of what he had to say about it was a bleak and windy morning opening we should be well underway 50 Years Ago Sherlock Holmes, and the readers of his near the end of the year 1891 that in the new facility. Much of our initial article in 1965 were able to enjoy one of Sherlock Holmes was startled out 3 the rare reprints of a parody he wrote of his usual calm by the appearance many years earlier. on our doorstep of an unusual visitor. From the President He was an elderly gentleman of a 4 The parody was "The Adventure of the benevolent aspect, and to our Acephalous Agronomist" (as by A. Conan complete bewilderment, he was An Update from Watson), and it was a labor of love, first carrying his head under his arm. the Collections published in 1944 in one of the more limit- "Mr. Holmes?" he asked pleasantly. I 4 ed editions in the field of Sherlockiana. It saw that Mrs. Hudson, our landlady Remembrances is easy to imagine Vincent Starrett at his lay fainting in the passage. For a Acquisitions typewriter, creating the parody for a few moment Holmes could not speak. In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have made contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons. friends, and there were indeed only a few Then: ‘Certainly not!’ he replied, and 5 of them, since the edition consisted of only closing the door memorably in the IN HONOR OF FROM Steven Clarkson Laura Kuhn three copies. Of course it also is easy to man’s face. (Never to be continued) Susan E. Dahlinger Laura Kuhn Musings imagine why the parody is so short, Mac McDiarmid Stuart W. Fenton 5 and why there were only three copies: each copy was typed by IN MEMORY OF FROM The Friends of The Vincent Starrett. Edward C. Connor Brad Keefauver Donald J. Grant Leigh and Dorothy Shearer Arthur Conan Doyle Capt. Michell, RN (retd.) Thomas Drucker Collections at the Toronto He gave them away, of course, John Bennett and Dorothy Shaw Moshe Nalick as was so often the case in Dorothy Rowe Shaw The Watsonians Reference Library those long-ago days, when Dorothy Rowe Shaw Susan Z. Diamond and Allan T. Devitt Sherlockians tended to think of Caroline M. Smerk George Smerk 6 Thomas L. Stix, Jr. Al Gregory and Jan Stauber Sherlockiana as something to be Treasures from the John shared rather than sold. And it will Bennett Shaw Library not be a surprise to those who knew John Bennett Shaw that he photo by Julie McKuras 7 was able to add one of those three Vincent Starrett's The Adventure of the Acephalous Agronomist copies to his collection, now part of Remembrances 8 8 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 1 uncompleted. It was a pleasure for strong personal charm, endowed with me to do them for him, astounding memory and a rare mea- Treasures from the John Bennett Shaw Library and so relieve his mind, but it was sure of feminine intuition". Her difficult collar work, and I expect "tenacity of purpose" is to unmask ast fall, Jon Lellenberg suggested 1.The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - they were pretty bad. Professor Sebastian as a man of high that while relatively few had the the two volume 1894 Tauchnitz Arthur Conan Doyle had also been ideals but without principle, and the opportunity to see the Sherlock edition that once belonged to the contacted by Robert Louis Stevenson’s murderer of her father, Dr. Yorke- L Holmes Collections at the Russian Empress Alexandra Romanov, 100 executors in 1895 to finish St. Ives, Bannerman. The episodes start in University of Minnesota, a display of the last Czarina. YEARS AGO which had been left three-quarters London at St. Nathaniel’s Hospital, selected items from the Collections 2.Sherlock Holmes’ Bedrifter – translated completed, but he did not feel up to with the characters travelling to South would be a welcome addition to the into Norwegian by Nils Nordberg. The Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections In February, 1900, The Strand B.S.I. 2000 Millennium Weekend in Nordberg personally inscribed this is a quarterly newsletter published by the the task and so it was completed by Africa, Rhodesia, India, Nepal, Tibet Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Magazine published the twelfth and Arthur Quiller-Couch. and back to England. One wonders New York. His suggestion was well gift to the Shaws. which seek to promote the activities, inter- final episode of "Hilda Wade" by Grant ests and needs of the Special Collections what influence this story had on received, and Tim Johnson and Richard 3.A Case of Identity – a privately printed and Rare Books Department, University of Allen. The introduction explained: Howard Haycraft classifies Grant Allen Arthur Conan Doyle as he completed Sveum began to contact those who Farsi translation, and a gift to Shaw Minnesota Libraries. (We cannot allow the concluding as a border-line author whose fiction the Sherlock Holmes Canon. could make it a reality. Michael from Bliss Austin. Mail editorial correspondence c/o: chapter of this story to go to press Editor falls somewhere between the undoubt- Whelan generously offered to have the 4.Cultivating Sherlock Holmes – the without an expression of our deep Julie McKuras ed detective story and such related An interesting literary footnote for display, focusing on John Bennett Shaw, 1978 publication of The Norwegian 13512 Granada Ave. regret at Mr. Grant Allen’s lamented Apple Valley, MN 55124 forms as mystery, criminal adventure Sherlockians is Grant Allen’s translation at the B.S.I. Reception at the National Explorers of Minnesota, edited by death – a regret in which none will 952-431-1934 or intrigue. Allen, born in 1848, died of The Attis of Caius Valerius Catullus Arts Club. Bill Vande Water made the Bryce L. Crawford, J. and Joseph B. 952-431-5965 Fax join more sincerely than the readers [email protected] at the age of 51 in 1899 from tubercu- translated into English verse, with dis- arrangements with the National Arts Connors, featuring the essay "The of this Magazine, whom he did so losis. It was Allen who informed sertations on the myth of Attis, on the Club for the use of display cases. With Cult of Sherlock Holmes" by John Editorial Board much to entertain. A man of wide Bruce Southworth, Dr. Richard Sveum, Conan Doyle that Hindhead in Surrey origin of tree-worship, and on the the arrangements completed and the Bennett Shaw. cultured knowledge of charming Timothy Johnson had air as good as any to be found Galliambic metre by Grant Allen announcement of the planned display 5.Mrs.