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The District Messenger the District Messenger The District Messenger THE NEWSLETTER OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES SOCIETY OF LONDON no. 72 19th April 1988 210, Rainsford Road, Chelmsford, Essex. CM1 2PD Tony Medawar has sent me some very expensive publicity for a very expensive series of handmade puppets, including Holmes, by Jane and Jorge of 122 Church Way, Iffley, Oxford 0X4 4EG. The figures are 70cm tall (2 foot 6?), of ceramic, wood & wool, and can be had as puppets, standing figures or automata. Prices £400 and up. A photo shows Holmes to be sensationally ugly. Catherine Cooke reminds me that Val Andrews ' SHERLOCK HOLMES 8c THE EMINENT THESPIAN (Ian Henry, £8.95) is now out, and points out that Rosalind Ashe 's LITERARY HOUSES (Dragon 's World, £8.95 or £5.95 paperback) has a guided tour of Baskerville Hall. The State Library of Victoria, Australia recently staged a Sherlock Holmes Centenary Exhibition & has published a 56 page commemorative catalogue, HOLMES AWAY FROM HOME at Aus. $8 + Aus. $6 post overseas (limited edition Aus. $75 + Aus. $10 post). I hope to review this soon. Two other books I 've not yet mentioned are M.J. Trow 's 5th Inspector Lestrade novel, LESTRADE & THE BROTHER OF DEATH (Macmillan, £9-95) and Arthur Conan Doyle 's DOCTORS: TALES FROM MEDICAL LIFE (Greenhill Books, £8.95), both now out. Vosper Arthur (Spynishlake, Doddiscombsleigh, Exeter, Devon) has 7 spare copies of the prog- ramme for SHERLOCKS LAST CASE, recently produced at the Nederlander Theater in New York, available to first claimants at £1.50 each inclusive. Good reports from both Carol Whitlam & David Stuart Davies of the 1st meeting proper of the Northern Musgraves. The next will be on July l6th in Huddersfield (I hope to be there, but don 't let that put you off). For information contact David (Overdale, 69 Greenhead Road, Huddersfield HD1 4ER) or Kathryn White (149 Myrtle Terrace, Cross Roads, Keighley BD22 9AJ) . From A.M. Poot in Holland: Zenith/van der Want (the world 's oldest pipemakers) have produced a Sherlock Holmes Mystery Pipe. Images of Holmes & the murder weapon are hidden in the glaze; as it colours with smoking the images appear. The British agent is Hagemeyer Ltd (attn. Mr J.P. Kelly), 10 Hockley Industrial Estate, Pitford Street, Birmingham B18 9LL. David Kirby of Rupert Books (59 Stonefield, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB3 8TE) apologises for the delay in production of J.M. Gibson 's BEETON 'S facsimile; all is in train, and when the book appears it will be perfect. For those who can 't get to Cambridge, David has an extensive stock of Sherlockiana at Camille Wolf 's Grey House Books (12A Lawrence Street, Chelsea, London SW3; phone 01-352 7725 to ensure there 's someone to let you in!). THE PIKESTAFF, newsletter of the Voices of the Whispering Knights, is into its 2nd issue, very much fuller than the 1st. Contact the editor, Kyle Richeson (PO Box 135^, Calhoun, Georgia 30701-1354, USA) for details. Southern Illinois University Press (PO Box 3697, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA) is using the DM review in its publicity for Jon Lellenberg 's important THE QUEST FOR SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE ( $19-95). Caedmon Records are now represented in UK by Collins; the 1988 catalogue includes THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES with Nicol Williamson & others (July, £6.99) & SHERLOCK HOLMES 'S ADVENTURES read by John Wood (SIXN, BLUE & BLAN, September, £9.99). John Fremantle reminds us of the very handsome Holmes centenary porcelain pieces from Caverswall China (The Peter Jones Collection, PO Box 10, 22-24 Little Westgate, Wakefield, West Yorks. WF1 1LB) - for fuller details see DM 56. Shirley Purves mentions that one Karen L. Johnson asks in the latest BAKER STREET JOURNAL (Fordham University Press, Univer- sity Box L, Bronx, NY 10458, USA) for details from anyone with Sherlockian-named pets. Tony Medawar tells me that the proposed production of HOLMES & THE RIPPER at the Wimbledon Theatre has been cancelled. Shame. There 's one more important Ripper book out: EAST END 1888 by William Fishman (Duckworth, £18.95). .
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