Sherlock Holmes C O L L E C T I O

September 2008 D S O F N Volume 12 Number 3 E T Klinger to Appear at the Andersen Library I H R E

he University of Minnesota F Libraries are happy to announce Dracula has gripped readers since its of Holmes. I considered the story in the following: first publication in 1897. While the light of historical and scientific evi- T book has been studied by scholars dence to determine its veracity.” World- in virtually every academic disci- renowned pline, none have accepted Bram This isn’t the first time that Les Klinger Sherlockian Stoker’s declaration that the work has appeared at the Andersen Library. Sherlock Holmes Leslie S. was based on historical fact. For the He’s been a featured speaker at Klinger’s anno- first time, Klinger examines all of the Sherlockian conferences, and did a simi- COLLECTIONS tated volumes evidence, both internal and external, lar book debut and signing for The New of Sir Arthur including contemporary travel Annotated Sherlock Holmes. “Everyone “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) Conan Doyle’s books, scientific texts, Victorian knows that the Andersen Library is the short stories encyclopedias, as well as Stoker’s center of the Sherlockian universe, and and novels met notes for the narrative and the origi- I’ve always been treated there as a very Contents Serpentine Muse-ings Photo by Brian Braff with delight nal manuscript itself (the document special guest,” Les noted in a recent com- Leslie Klinger and enthusi- is owned by a private, anonymous munication. “Minneapolis has also been By Julie McKuras, ASH, BSI asm from crit- collector, and Klinger is one of only very welcoming to my friend Neil Serpentine Muse-ings ics and readers alike upon publica- two researchers to have seen it in Gaiman, who wrote the introduction to he Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes, known as ASH, were originally formed tion. Now, Les Klinger focuses his recent years). my book. The New Annotated Dracula is 1 in the “Spring of 1967 at Albertus Magnus College.”1 Then, as now, Evelyn critical eye and keen wit on Bram an attempt to introduce the Sherlockian Herzog served as the Principal Unprincipled Adventuress of ASH. It was a Stoker’s classic novel in The New “I’m fascinated by the Victorian age, ‘game’ to the world of Dracula — to treat 100 Years Ago T group for women, who were excluded from The Baker Street Irregulars at the Annotated Dracula, to be published and Dracula is its other great iconic the story as true and apply traditional 2 time, until 1991 when four men received their investitures in ASH: Peter Blau, Thomas by W.W. Norton in October 2008 figure (Sherlock Holmes being the research techniques to the ‘facts’ present- Stix Jr., William S. Baring-Gould (posthumously), and John Bennett Shaw. In 2008, with an introduction by Neil first)” says Klinger. “There’s a lot of ed in the book. Sherlockians already 50 Years Ago nineteen men joined the ranks. Gaiman. cross-over in fan literature, with appear to be intensely interested in Holmes and the vampire as twin Dracula (the other great Victorian icon), 3 In April 1975 Mary Ellen Couchon Rich produced Join the Friends of the Sherlock poles—Holmes standing for reason and I hope to reach a whole new audi- the first ASH Newsletter. Over the years, the for- Holmes Collections on October 27, and justice, Dracula for unreason ence! (And of course it’s a great excuse to Musings mat, publication schedules and the title changed. It 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in the Elmer L. and evil. I also saw an opportunity see my many Minneapolitan friends!)” 4 was Mary Ellen Rich who named the publication Andersen Library to hear Klinger to bring a fresh new approach to The Serpentine Muse. She served as editor of the speak and sign copies of his new Dracula, one that Sherlockians have Join us on October 27 as we welcome Allen J. Hubin publication, as have Kate Karlson, Susan book. applied for a century to the stories Les Klinger. Dahlinger, and Patricia Moran, with the Principal 4 Unprincipled Adventuress Evelyn Herzog always playing a role. In the winter of 1996, Susan An Update from Diamond and Marilynne McKay assumed their the Collections roles as joint editors of the quarterly journal. As 5 Susan noted, “I think we put out a good looking publication on a very modest budget. And, of Remembrances course, there’s the whole evolution from typewriter For any inquiries contact: From the President In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have made Timothy J. Johnson, Curator copy to the electronic world. When Marilynne and contributions either in honor or in memory of special persons. 612-624-3552 or 5 I started, I mailed her diskettes!” [email protected] In Honor Of From Acquisitions Susan Diamond recently donated the files for each David Galerstein Warren Randall Sherlock Holmes Collections 6 issue of Vol. 20, #1 through Vol. 22, #1, adding to David Galerstein Dorothy Stix Suite 111, Elmer L. Andersen Library the Muse archives of Vol. 13 through 19 previously University of Minnesota sent to the Holmes Collections. The files contained Tony Howlett Jean Upton and Roger Johnson 222 21st Ave. S. Visitors to the Collections Paul Smedegaard Dorothy Stix Minneapolis, MN 55455 articles submitted for publication and notes regarding editing; notes about subscriptions, 7 address changes, and everything related to getting the publication produced; notes and Jan Stauber Sue and Ben Vizoskie Telephone: 612-626-9166 Benton Wood Dorothy Stix FAX: 612-625-5525 feedback on those issues; and general correspondence. Klinger to Appear at the Mailing list corrections requested— Andersen Library With this material, one can see each issue of The Serpentine Muse from inception to pub- Because of the high cost of returned newsletters, lication. Susan commented about choosing The Sherlock Holmes Collections as the we would appreciate being informed of changes 8 recipient of the files: of address or other corrections. Continued on page 6 Timothy J. Johnson, Curator Remembrances 8 8 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 1 50 Years Ago...Continued from Page 3

they demonstrated why interpretation a watery bog. Later, when the amnesiac’s hard for even us who Free. From first to last, said Davis’s was important. His fourth principle was clothes were drying, the detective collect- knew it to recall, and New York Times obituary, he was “a “The chief aim of Interpretation is not ed from them the seeds of many grasses must be unimagin- consistent tough-minded believer in instruction, but provocation.” Tilden’s and flowers that had gathered in the able to those who freedom, in self-government, and in 100 ability to provoke as well as his propen- crease of the rambling man’s trousers. have been born democracy.” And more than just a YEARS AGO sity to burlesque may be seen in this sin- Obviously Holmes was invoking the since. Yet against all believer: more than most men, Elmer gular Sherlock Holmes parody. Exchange Principle of detection here. our disillusionments Davis made a difference. The Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections That is, whenever someone intrudes and disappointments is a quarterly newsletter published by the A Reflection on “The Last Return of In The Alternative Sherlock Holmes: upon nature, they not only leave evi- we can offset one And unlike many other Great Men, he Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Sherlock of Holmes,” a parody by which seek to promote the activities, inter- Pastiches, Parodies, and Copies, the authors, dence at the scene, but they also take great and glorious did it all without affectation. He never, Freeman Tilden ests and needs of the Special Collections Peter Ridgeway Watt and Joseph Green, something away with them. Further, as memory—we saw in Oxford, New York, nor Washington and Rare Books Department, University of mention Tilden’s short story. “This is an Minnesota Libraries. One of the few setbacks experienced by Watson once noted, Holmes could tell at Sherlock Holmes D.C., stopped being a Hoosier, or tried interesting little tale in which the detec- Mail editorial correspondence c/o: Sherlock Holmes during his career was a glance different soils from each other. come back. to suppress his twangy accent. He was tive, with some difficulty, admits that God one he himself admitted: he was bested This expertise may have emboldened always himself. He believed in truth, Editor is a superior.” It is fashionable to reflect on by Irene Adler. In the broader literature Holmes to claim that he was “something Elmer Davis was far more than just a told it as a newsman, defended it in his Julie McKuras Holmes’s canonical defeat at the hands of 13512 Granada Ave. of pastiche, parody, and burlesque (of of a botanist,” and that prompted his man of those times, though. After work at OWI, and never stopped fight- “The woman.” Using Tilden’s fourth prin- Apple Valley, MN 55124 which there are hundreds), Holmes planting the seeds and examining their helping to win World War II, he ing for it as a citizen. When the Times’ 952-431-1934 ciple, it is provocative to consider how the endured many setbacks — most of them growth. However, he also detected over returned to journalism, staying in James Reston reported on Davis’s memo- [email protected] detective was discomfited by “The deity” of a humorous or satirical nature — for two hundred varieties of fungi which Washington to be a commentator for rial service at Washington’s National in Tilden’s parody. Editorial Board the sake of the game. were unlisted and unexplainable. When the new ABC network. He supported Cathedral, he called it “the twilight of a John Bergquist, Timothy Johnson, Watson asked what this all proved, continued U.S. engagement in the remarkable band of journalists.” In the Jon Lellenberg, Richard J. Sveum, M.D. Actually, the claim that Holmes was best- One such setback occurred in a short Holmes gave the shocking (to Watson) world (as he had opposed isolationism BSI, where Christopher Morley had died ed by the deity is a matter of interpreta- parody that appeared in the first success- response: “God only knows.” in the 1930s), and he helped end the year before, it marked the twilight tion. When Holmes says “God only ful American humor magazine, Puck, Joseph McCarthy’s political spree with also of the earliest Irregulars, and the knows!” Watson regards that as “a October, 28, 1908. This little send-up by Whether this exclamation proved that the series of scorching articles collected passing away of an era. Copyright © 2006 humility never before evident in my University of Minnesota Library Freeman Tilden, “The Last Return of Holmes recognized a supreme authority in his 1954 book But We Were Born friend.” Yet one could interpret Holmes’s Sherlock Holmes,” illustrates the popu- (as Watson surmised) or whether this Jon Lellenberg, BSI remark as a commonplace expression The University of Minnesota is an Equal larity of Holmes and Watson even while demonstrated that Holmes did not know like “I really don’t know” or “Who Opportunity Educator and Employer. Arthur Conan Doyle was still busy pro- as much botany as he claimed is, accord- cares?”. If Tilden had read or paid atten- ducing “originals.” For example, Doyle ing to Tilden’s fourth principle, a matter tion to the canon, he might have known published “The Tiger of San Pedro” (the of provocation not instruction. Still, in a of Holmes’s deferential bow to the deity second installment of “The Adventure of little over 540 words (fewer than this in “The Naval Treaty,” published in 1893. Wisteria Lodge”) in the Strand Magazine article) Freeman Tilden penned a mildly There the pensive detective, holding a in the same month and year as Tilden amusing parody, one which belied its title Visitors to the Collections drooping moss-rose, defers to “the good- produced his little parody in Puck. John and demonstrated the perduring pres- ness of Providence.” Why Watson, in In June, Michael McKuras, Richard Neuner and Laura Kinkead, all of the Twin Cities area, were given a tour of Bennett Shaw had a copy of Tilden’s ence in print of Holmes and Watson. Tilden’s tale, should see this occurrence The Sherlock Holmes Collections by Special Collections Curator Timothy Johnson. piece in his notebook, and it is part of Tilden’s story was hardly the last return as Holmes’s first admission of a deity, the collection at Andersen Library. of Sherlock Holmes; it was actually only well, God only knows. one of many. Holmes was to appear over Freeman Tilden (1883-1980) was well and over in countless literary forms. We But perhaps parody is meant to be known in his day as a journalist, novelist, continue to be enriched by the master’s enjoyed and not reasoned. In “The Last and playwright. In 1923 Tilden wrote a presence in many ways — canon, pas- Return of Sherlock Holmes” there are popular novel called Mr. Pod, a book her- tiche, parody, burlesque, not to mention modest pleasures. We learn of Ferdinand alded as a burlesque, satire, and sociolog- film, drama, and ephemera. Lancewood, the man with the Pink ical tract; his writing was considered gen- Gloves, who broke the amber of uinely funny. Later in life, tiring of writ- Tilden’s parody does raise an interesting Holmes’s briar while knocking the ashes ing fiction, Tilden turned his hand to point for conjecture. By portraying out against the grate. This ash-knocker writing about the National Parks. In this Holmes as a bumbling botanist, it could had lost his identity and called on genre he became a hero to countless be that Tilden was tilling the soil to pro- Holmes to find it; understandably, National Park Service interpreters. vide literary space for his own later Lancewood wanted to know where he nature writing. If so, then this short story In writing about the heritage of nature, had been for the preceding twelve years. might be considered “The First Return of Tilden developed six Principles of Freeman Tilden.” God only knows. Holmes’s way to solve the mystery Interpretation. To him these principles involved taking Lancewood for a walk in explained the essence or soul of things: Robert Brusic

2 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 7 appearance as himself in the 1951 sci- Serpentine Muse-ings... Continued from Page 1 The 1930s and ’40s saw not only busy ence-fiction classic The Day the Earth but notable men associate themselves Stood Still. (When calamity called for As for choosing the University of inception [serving] as general We summarize the contents of with the BSI. Davis became a reporter, calm reporting and sober judgment, Minnesota, the short answer is managing editor… I think The each volume of The Serpentine a foreign correspondent, and finally an people turned to Elmer Davis.) But he that if it’s been good enough for Muse is important for two reasons: Muse in the little Birthday Edition editorial writer, for the New York Times. also prized being “A Case of Identity,” my two dear friends John Bennett 1) we are ASH’s journal and we do we hand out to all the Sherlockian He sailed on Henry Ford’s “Peace Ship” BSI. He attended annual dinners as Shaw and David Hammer, it’s keep members updated on all dinners in NYC in January. And 50 to the warring powers of Europe in faithfully as crisis and war permitted, good enough for me. The long one things ASH, and 2) we take a those Birthday Editions are on the YEARS AGO 1915 (and was torpedoed on the way and his Writings About the Writings is that to me it’s the premiere slightly different slant than ASH website under The Serpentine home), and covered Billy Sunday’s were few but choice. His “On the Sherlockian collection…I’ve been the other regularly published jour- Muse. We also list the winners of angry descent upon sinful Manhattan Emotional Geology of Baker Street” in incredibly impressed with Tim and nals like The Baker Street Journal, The Muse contests and awards, in 1917, without adopting the evange- Vincent Starrett’s 1940 anthology how the collection is managed and the London society’s The Sherlock which are another thing The Muse list’s views about liquor, or even White 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes was how responsive the staff is to Holmes Journal and Canadian has started doing recently: Rock. In 1924 he left the Times to be a based upon the review of Starrett’s research requests. Also that the Holmes. We delight in the whimsi- http://www.ash-nyc.com/muse.htm full-time writer. He wrote essays on Private Life of Sherlock Holmes that funding seems to be there to keep cal and provide a venue for toasts, humorous as well as serious subjects, Davis wrote for the Saturday Review of it up and running. verse, and puzzles that are includ- The website lists The Birthday Challenge like “On Being Kept by a Cat” and, in Literature in1933. The grateful letter ed less frequently or not at all in Writing Contest Winners, which began 1927, “The Mortician,” about the that Starrett wrote to Davis about this On The Serpentine Muse she added: the other publications. At the in 1998, and the Jan WHIMSEY Award. National Select Morticians, who bore review, opening a long friendship, is The Muse has evolved from being a same time we do publish scholarly This annual award was established in Information of War U. S. Office Photo from more similarity to the BSI to come among Davis’s papers at the Library of short newsletter announcing ASH pieces, as well as those mock 2007 by Alexian Gregory, BSI, in honor Elmer Davis than one might think. He also wrote Congress, but Davis’s letters to Starrett events with an occasional article to scholarly contributions to the of his late wife, Jan Stauber, ASH. In short stories and novels, some of them are at the University of Minnesota. a full blown journal published Higher Criticism which are why I addition, the website gives a more com- On May 18, 1958, in Washington made into movies, like 1934’s spoof of every quarter with a wide range of fell in love with the Sherlockian plete history of ASH and lists the infor- D.C., one of the first and greatest Prohibition, Friends of Mr. Sweeney, an When Edgar W. Smith completed the stellar Sherlockian contributors… world to begin with. One reason I mation for subscriptions as well as the Baker Street Irregulars died following a old speakeasy password. splendid Limited Editions Club canon stroke that had stilled one of America’s In fact, if I’ve done my math right, think the Muse is going strong is two anthologies that Susan Diamond in 1952, he turned to Elmer Davis to the fall 2009 issue will be our that we delight in playing the mentioned, Serpentine Muse-ings, Volume best known voices. Elmer Holmes But Davis also kept an anxious eye on introduce The Return of Sherlock 100th. And, of those 100 issues, game. And since all of the men One and Volume Two. Davis was born in the small town of Europe; and by 1936, the march of the Holmes. Davis gave that volume’s tales Marilynne and I will have co-edit- we’ve added to our ranks seem to Aurora, Indiana in 1890, the son of a dictators prompted him to write a lengthy and comprehensive examina- ed 52 as well as published two share that pawkish sense of Julie McKuras, ASH, BSI bank cashier and a teacher. The boy series of serious foreign policy articles tion, opening with an observation that Muse anthologies. (Makes me tired humor, I think the ASH tradition showed promise, and after a classical for Harper’s that received national spoke to the perspective of his genera- just to think of it.) And, of will only become stronger. 1. Diamond, Susan Z. and Marilynne education at Franklin College, he went attention, and may still be read with tion, and its fidelity to the Writings in course, Evelyn has been actively McKay. Serpentine Muse-ings. on to Oxford in 1912 as a Rhodes profit today. And when war in Europe a world that was no longer 1895, but involved in The Muse from its Co-editor Marilynne McKay wrote: Indianapolis: Gasogene Books, 2004. Scholar. So did a Haverford College was imminent in August 1939, CBS had instead been shaken to the core graduate named Christopher Morley, News asked Davis to become its princi- more than once: starting a friendship that lasted their pal nightly news commentator. For the entire lives. next three years, millions of Americans We who were born turned in every weeknight to listen to around the year At Oxford, they heard Ronald Knox’s the voice they came to trust explain 1890 have seen “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock what was happening, and what it many things that we Acquisitions Holmes,” but both were already devo- meant to America. Davis did it straight would just as soon tees, having grown up on the tales as on Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower Brian Pugh and Paul R. Spiring donat- Newsletters from a number of scion through Pearl Harbor until the follow- have missed seeing. they appeared. Both had serious and Charles Foley donated ed an advanced review copy of their societies including The Foolscap ing July, when the President of the So have our juniors; careers in mind, but also made abun- signed copies of the newly new book, Bertram Fletcher Robinson: A Document, The Police Gazette, The United States, (fellow-Irregular) but they have no dant room for Sherlock Holmes in released American and British Footnote to the Hound of the Baskervilles. Cri-Bar Crier, The Whaling News and Franklin D. Roosevelt, appointed Davis such standard of J Scuttlebutt from the Spermacetti Press. their lives; and when Morley founded paperback copies of A Life in to be America’s voice to the world, as comparison for the the BSI in 1934, Davis was there too, Letters. Director of the Office of War tribulations of these writing the tongue-in-cheek Information. times as have people Constitution & Buy Laws that set the who grew up in the tone for a sodality which did not take Davis garnered many honors along the world that came to itself too seriously, but has life in it to way—three Peabody and other Awards an end in August this day. Davis had in fact been by as a broadcaster, U.S. and foreign deco- 1914—a world of Morley’s side for years, in Morley’s rations for his war work, his face on such innocence and Three Hours for Lunch Club and the the cover of Time in 1943, even an security, at least in Grillparzer Sittenpolizei Verein. appearance, as is

Continued on page 7

6 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 3 Musings An Update from the Collections here don’t seem to be any Marilynne McKay for this. John Lellenberg. Tim Johnson has begun For years I’ve been dreaming of the and every morning walked into the work my way back into the Holmesian lazy, hazy days of summer at Bergquist writes about Al Hubin’s gen- planning for his trip to the Portsmouth bright green fields and the hedges city, he on his way to the Bodleian and landscape. the Sherlock Holmes erous donation to the Collections. Library, and Dick Sveum provides us of England.” (CROO) I on my way to whatever struck my Collections. Research queries Robert Brusic, who loves all things with an update from the President. As “ fancy. I was a C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. “The Bird and Baby” is, to some extent, T he notes, we’re enclosing the annual are answered, books catalogued, dona- canonical, even pastiches and paro- That line from “The Adventure of the Tolkien enthusiast long before my re- sacred ground to anyone interested in tions accepted, and visitors greeted. dies, has written our 100 Years Ago remittance envelope early this year in Crooked Man” fairly sums up what’s acquaintance with Holmes, so the first Lewis or Tolkien. It is a place of pil- column about Freeman Tilden’s “The order to provide time for contributions been in mind since I received notice place we visited was “The Eagle and grimage. In some ways, that is the One of the donations made this sum- Last Return of Sherlock Holmes.” to be made before the end of the year. that I was a recipient of the Friends of Child,” a public house (commonly mindset I’m beginning to develop as I mer was the box containing the files, Elmer Davis, the man of many accom- In addition, we’ve included an article the Libraries staff development grant. known as “The Bird and Baby”) associ- plan my trip to Portsmouth and correspondence and notes for The plishments and possessor of a twangy about the upcoming visit of Leslie As I noted in the last newsletter, this ated with the gatherings of Lewis, London. I’m nearly finished reading Serpentine Muse. We’d like to thank accent, is the subject of our 50 Years Klinger to the Andersen Library. award allows me to travel to “Tollers,” and a group of colleagues the wonderful compilation of Doyle’s co-editors Susan Diamond and Ago column, written by Jon Portsmouth and visit the Richard and friends who came to be known as letters, graciously given to the Enjoy these last days of summer. Lancelyn Green Collection. I am look- the Inklings. Collections (in multiple editions) by ing forward to the trip. the editors — Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Julie McKuras, ASH, BSI One of the Inklings was Roger Stashower, and Charles Foley. I’ve The last time I was in England was in Lancelyn Green, one of Lewis’s stu- begun communications with Sarah the late spring of 1991, following a dents (and later, father of Richard). It Speller, Conan Doyle Project Co-ordi- Allen J. Hubin Donates Extensive Collection to the conference in Sweden. My traveling was here, in my study and readings of nator in Portsmouth to arrange the companion on that trip was my friend, the Inklings, that I first came across details of my visit. I’ve asked a good University of Minnesota colleague, and graduate advisor, Phil the name Lancelyn Green. This elder friend of the Collections and acknowl- Anderson. Phil’s doctorate was done at branch of the family was an academi- edged Doyle expert, Phil Bergem, for ny serious fan of mystery fic- Over his many years of documenting crime and mystery novels, the donated Oxford and we were traveling cian and writer, known for many suggested places to visit. So the itiner- tion over the past few decades mystery fiction for readers and collec- material includes many books about to that “place that comes in flashes” (to works, among them his biographies of ary begins to take shape. I don’t know has likely come across the tors, Allen of necessity acquired quite the genre such as Crime & Mystery: quote from Jan Morris’s delightful J.M. Barrie, Andrew Lang, and Lewis. how bright and green the fields and name of Allen J. Hubin. A a collection himself. He sold 25,000 The 100 Best Books, by H. R. F. Keating, A The Art of the Mystery Story: A book) so that Phil could continue his It was his Lewis work that caught me hedges will be during my visit (proba- now-retired organic chemist in his volumes in 1982, but the books and research. (I found out later that Phil eye, as I searched the library shelves bly in late February or early March of “real” job, Allen – following his avoca- other material immediately began Collection of Critical Essays by Howard attended gatherings of the Norwegian for anything and everything connected next year), but they will be bright in tion – has been one of the country’s accumulating again. Now describing Haycraft, BSI, (another writer with Explorers while he was an undergradu- with the Inklings. Little did I know at the mind. I can hardly wait. most noted and prolific reviewers, Minnesota ties) and The Great ate at Minnesota.) We stayed at a the time that I would meet the younger editors, anthologists and bibliogra- Detectives, edited by Otto Penzler, bed-and-breakfast in North Oxford branch of the family as I began to Timothy Johnson phers of the crime and mystery BSI, who for several years pub- genre. (Aware of Allen by reputa- lished The Armchair Detective. tion, I was surprised to discover a Other items include periodicals, few years ago that he was a resi- correspondence and “boxes and dent of the Twin Cities area – boxes” of book dealer catalogues. From the President specifically White Bear Lake.) s noted in a separate article in I just returned from the BSI Expedition to BSI and University of Utah Special The Sherlock Holmes Collections this issue of the newsletter, the The Country of Saints in Salt Lake City. Collections Associate Director Gregory has been the recipient of many Although Allen has reviewed Annual Membership Meeting Many Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Thompson lead us on a bus tour of “This generous gifts, but few so volumi- mystery fiction for the New York of the Friends of the Sherlock Collections were in attendance. They is the Place” Heritage Park and Temple Times Book Review and Ellery nous as Al’s donation. According A Square. BSI Wiggins Michael Whelan Holmes Collections at the Andersen published a companion volume, “A to Tim Johnson, over a period Queen’s Mystery Magazine, he Library will be held on Monday October Tangled Skein” edited by Leslie S. Klinger invited everyone to Harvard in 2009 and from April to June of this year, Al is probably best known as the 27, 2008 at 7 P.M.. The Keynote address, which contained all of the talks presented to Minnesota in 2010. delivered 116 boxes of material to founding editor of the late, titled “A Tale of Four Libraries,” will be during the holiday weekend. Ron DeWaal Andersen Library. Cataloguing lamented periodical The presented by Les Klinger who will tell us attended the gala dinner at the Alta Club I hope that everyone will be able to and integrating the new material Armchair Detective, which he how he got from Sherlock Holmes to and much of his vast collection was on attend our Annual Membership Meeting awaits, but such an enormous began in 1967 (typing the first Dracula. We will have copies of his new sale at the Sam Weller’s Bookstore. Arthur and renew their connection with the issue on his Sears electric type- quantity is sure to include some Photo by Julie McKuras Annotated Dracula by Bram Stoker just in Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” and Friends. Together we can make the valuable additions to the writer), and as the compiler of Allen Hubin and Timothy Johnson time for Halloween. Please fell free to “Angels of Darkness” anti-Mormon con- Sherlock Holmes Collections the World Collections. We thank Allen for the definitive Crime Fiction: A come dressed as a Vampire. It should be tent was examined along with his 1923 Center for the Study and Appreciation of himself as “a recovering book collec- entrusting us with his accumulated Comprehensive Bibliography 1749-, now a lot of fun. visit to Salt Lake City on a Spiritualism Sherlock Holmes. Please consider an treasures. in its fourth major edition with elec- tor,” Al decided earlier this year to lecture tour. Local host Michael Homer, additional donation of money or material. tronic supplements covering up to the donate the majority of his collection to year 2000 and listing more than the U. of M. Along with numerous John Bergquist, BSI Richard J. Sveum, MD, BSI 110,000 titles.

4 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 5 Musings An Update from the Collections here don’t seem to be any Marilynne McKay for this. John Lellenberg. Tim Johnson has begun For years I’ve been dreaming of the and every morning walked into the work my way back into the Holmesian lazy, hazy days of summer at Bergquist writes about Al Hubin’s gen- planning for his trip to the Portsmouth bright green fields and the hedges city, he on his way to the Bodleian and landscape. the Sherlock Holmes erous donation to the Collections. Library, and Dick Sveum provides us of England.” (CROO) I on my way to whatever struck my Collections. Research queries Robert Brusic, who loves all things with an update from the President. As “ fancy. I was a C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. “The Bird and Baby” is, to some extent, T he notes, we’re enclosing the annual are answered, books catalogued, dona- canonical, even pastiches and paro- That line from “The Adventure of the Tolkien enthusiast long before my re- sacred ground to anyone interested in tions accepted, and visitors greeted. dies, has written our 100 Years Ago remittance envelope early this year in Crooked Man” fairly sums up what’s acquaintance with Holmes, so the first Lewis or Tolkien. It is a place of pil- column about Freeman Tilden’s “The order to provide time for contributions been in mind since I received notice place we visited was “The Eagle and grimage. In some ways, that is the One of the donations made this sum- Last Return of Sherlock Holmes.” to be made before the end of the year. that I was a recipient of the Friends of Child,” a public house (commonly mindset I’m beginning to develop as I mer was the box containing the files, Elmer Davis, the man of many accom- In addition, we’ve included an article the Libraries staff development grant. known as “The Bird and Baby”) associ- plan my trip to Portsmouth and correspondence and notes for The plishments and possessor of a twangy about the upcoming visit of Leslie As I noted in the last newsletter, this ated with the gatherings of Lewis, London. I’m nearly finished reading Serpentine Muse. We’d like to thank accent, is the subject of our 50 Years Klinger to the Andersen Library. award allows me to travel to “Tollers,” and a group of colleagues the wonderful compilation of Doyle’s co-editors Susan Diamond and Ago column, written by Jon Portsmouth and visit the Richard and friends who came to be known as letters, graciously given to the Enjoy these last days of summer. Lancelyn Green Collection. I am look- the Inklings. Collections (in multiple editions) by ing forward to the trip. the editors — Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Julie McKuras, ASH, BSI One of the Inklings was Roger Stashower, and Charles Foley. I’ve The last time I was in England was in Lancelyn Green, one of Lewis’s stu- begun communications with Sarah the late spring of 1991, following a dents (and later, father of Richard). It Speller, Conan Doyle Project Co-ordi- Allen J. Hubin Donates Extensive Collection to the conference in Sweden. My traveling was here, in my study and readings of nator in Portsmouth to arrange the companion on that trip was my friend, the Inklings, that I first came across details of my visit. I’ve asked a good University of Minnesota colleague, and graduate advisor, Phil the name Lancelyn Green. This elder friend of the Collections and acknowl- Anderson. Phil’s doctorate was done at branch of the family was an academi- edged Doyle expert, Phil Bergem, for ny serious fan of mystery fic- Over his many years of documenting crime and mystery novels, the donated Oxford and we were traveling cian and writer, known for many suggested places to visit. So the itiner- tion over the past few decades mystery fiction for readers and collec- material includes many books about to that “place that comes in flashes” (to works, among them his biographies of ary begins to take shape. I don’t know has likely come across the tors, Allen of necessity acquired quite the genre such as Crime & Mystery: quote from Jan Morris’s delightful J.M. Barrie, Andrew Lang, and Lewis. how bright and green the fields and name of Allen J. Hubin. A a collection himself. He sold 25,000 The 100 Best Books, by H. R. F. Keating, A The Art of the Mystery Story: A book) so that Phil could continue his It was his Lewis work that caught me hedges will be during my visit (proba- now-retired organic chemist in his volumes in 1982, but the books and research. (I found out later that Phil eye, as I searched the library shelves bly in late February or early March of “real” job, Allen – following his avoca- other material immediately began Collection of Critical Essays by Howard attended gatherings of the Norwegian for anything and everything connected next year), but they will be bright in tion – has been one of the country’s accumulating again. Now describing Haycraft, BSI, (another writer with Explorers while he was an undergradu- with the Inklings. Little did I know at the mind. I can hardly wait. most noted and prolific reviewers, Minnesota ties) and The Great ate at Minnesota.) We stayed at a the time that I would meet the younger editors, anthologists and bibliogra- Detectives, edited by Otto Penzler, bed-and-breakfast in North Oxford branch of the family as I began to Timothy Johnson phers of the crime and mystery BSI, who for several years pub- genre. (Aware of Allen by reputa- lished The Armchair Detective. tion, I was surprised to discover a Other items include periodicals, few years ago that he was a resi- correspondence and “boxes and dent of the Twin Cities area – boxes” of book dealer catalogues. From the President specifically White Bear Lake.) s noted in a separate article in I just returned from the BSI Expedition to BSI and University of Utah Special The Sherlock Holmes Collections this issue of the newsletter, the The Country of Saints in Salt Lake City. Collections Associate Director Gregory has been the recipient of many Although Allen has reviewed Annual Membership Meeting Many Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Thompson lead us on a bus tour of “This generous gifts, but few so volumi- mystery fiction for the New York of the Friends of the Sherlock Collections were in attendance. They is the Place” Heritage Park and Temple Times Book Review and Ellery nous as Al’s donation. According A Square. BSI Wiggins Michael Whelan Holmes Collections at the Andersen published a companion volume, “A to Tim Johnson, over a period Queen’s Mystery Magazine, he Library will be held on Monday October Tangled Skein” edited by Leslie S. Klinger invited everyone to Harvard in 2009 and from April to June of this year, Al is probably best known as the 27, 2008 at 7 P.M.. The Keynote address, which contained all of the talks presented to Minnesota in 2010. delivered 116 boxes of material to founding editor of the late, titled “A Tale of Four Libraries,” will be during the holiday weekend. Ron DeWaal Andersen Library. Cataloguing lamented periodical The presented by Les Klinger who will tell us attended the gala dinner at the Alta Club I hope that everyone will be able to and integrating the new material Armchair Detective, which he how he got from Sherlock Holmes to and much of his vast collection was on attend our Annual Membership Meeting awaits, but such an enormous began in 1967 (typing the first Dracula. We will have copies of his new sale at the Sam Weller’s Bookstore. Arthur and renew their connection with the issue on his Sears electric type- quantity is sure to include some Photo by Julie McKuras Annotated Dracula by Bram Stoker just in Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” and Friends. Together we can make the valuable additions to the writer), and as the compiler of Allen Hubin and Timothy Johnson time for Halloween. Please fell free to “Angels of Darkness” anti-Mormon con- Sherlock Holmes Collections the World Collections. We thank Allen for the definitive Crime Fiction: A come dressed as a Vampire. It should be tent was examined along with his 1923 Center for the Study and Appreciation of himself as “a recovering book collec- entrusting us with his accumulated Comprehensive Bibliography 1749-, now a lot of fun. visit to Salt Lake City on a Spiritualism Sherlock Holmes. Please consider an treasures. in its fourth major edition with elec- tor,” Al decided earlier this year to lecture tour. Local host Michael Homer, additional donation of money or material. tronic supplements covering up to the donate the majority of his collection to year 2000 and listing more than the U. of M. Along with numerous John Bergquist, BSI Richard J. Sveum, MD, BSI 110,000 titles.

4 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 5 appearance as himself in the 1951 sci- Serpentine Muse-ings... Continued from Page 1 The 1930s and ’40s saw not only busy ence-fiction classic The Day the Earth but notable men associate themselves Stood Still. (When calamity called for As for choosing the University of inception [serving] as general We summarize the contents of with the BSI. Davis became a reporter, calm reporting and sober judgment, Minnesota, the short answer is managing editor… I think The each volume of The Serpentine a foreign correspondent, and finally an people turned to Elmer Davis.) But he that if it’s been good enough for Muse is important for two reasons: Muse in the little Birthday Edition editorial writer, for the New York Times. also prized being “A Case of Identity,” my two dear friends John Bennett 1) we are ASH’s journal and we do we hand out to all the Sherlockian He sailed on Henry Ford’s “Peace Ship” BSI. He attended annual dinners as Shaw and David Hammer, it’s keep members updated on all dinners in NYC in January. And 50 to the warring powers of Europe in faithfully as crisis and war permitted, good enough for me. The long one things ASH, and 2) we take a those Birthday Editions are on the YEARS AGO 1915 (and was torpedoed on the way and his Writings About the Writings is that to me it’s the premiere slightly different slant than ASH website under The Serpentine home), and covered Billy Sunday’s were few but choice. His “On the Sherlockian collection…I’ve been the other regularly published jour- Muse. We also list the winners of angry descent upon sinful Manhattan Emotional Geology of Baker Street” in incredibly impressed with Tim and nals like The Baker Street Journal, The Muse contests and awards, in 1917, without adopting the evange- Vincent Starrett’s 1940 anthology how the collection is managed and the London society’s The Sherlock which are another thing The Muse list’s views about liquor, or even White 221B: Studies in Sherlock Holmes was how responsive the staff is to Holmes Journal and Canadian has started doing recently: Rock. In 1924 he left the Times to be a based upon the review of Starrett’s research requests. Also that the Holmes. We delight in the whimsi- http://www.ash-nyc.com/muse.htm full-time writer. He wrote essays on Private Life of Sherlock Holmes that funding seems to be there to keep cal and provide a venue for toasts, humorous as well as serious subjects, Davis wrote for the Saturday Review of it up and running. verse, and puzzles that are includ- The website lists The Birthday Challenge like “On Being Kept by a Cat” and, in Literature in1933. The grateful letter ed less frequently or not at all in Writing Contest Winners, which began 1927, “The Mortician,” about the that Starrett wrote to Davis about this On The Serpentine Muse she added: the other publications. At the in 1998, and the Jan WHIMSEY Award. National Select Morticians, who bore review, opening a long friendship, is The Muse has evolved from being a same time we do publish scholarly This annual award was established in Information of War U. S. Office Photo from more similarity to the BSI to come among Davis’s papers at the Library of short newsletter announcing ASH pieces, as well as those mock 2007 by Alexian Gregory, BSI, in honor Elmer Davis than one might think. He also wrote Congress, but Davis’s letters to Starrett events with an occasional article to scholarly contributions to the of his late wife, Jan Stauber, ASH. In short stories and novels, some of them are at the University of Minnesota. a full blown journal published Higher Criticism which are why I addition, the website gives a more com- On May 18, 1958, in Washington made into movies, like 1934’s spoof of every quarter with a wide range of fell in love with the Sherlockian plete history of ASH and lists the infor- D.C., one of the first and greatest Prohibition, Friends of Mr. Sweeney, an When Edgar W. Smith completed the stellar Sherlockian contributors… world to begin with. One reason I mation for subscriptions as well as the Baker Street Irregulars died following a old speakeasy password. splendid Limited Editions Club canon stroke that had stilled one of America’s In fact, if I’ve done my math right, think the Muse is going strong is two anthologies that Susan Diamond in 1952, he turned to Elmer Davis to the fall 2009 issue will be our that we delight in playing the mentioned, Serpentine Muse-ings, Volume best known voices. Elmer Holmes But Davis also kept an anxious eye on introduce The Return of Sherlock 100th. And, of those 100 issues, game. And since all of the men One and Volume Two. Davis was born in the small town of Europe; and by 1936, the march of the Holmes. Davis gave that volume’s tales Marilynne and I will have co-edit- we’ve added to our ranks seem to Aurora, Indiana in 1890, the son of a dictators prompted him to write a lengthy and comprehensive examina- ed 52 as well as published two share that pawkish sense of Julie McKuras, ASH, BSI bank cashier and a teacher. The boy series of serious foreign policy articles tion, opening with an observation that Muse anthologies. (Makes me tired humor, I think the ASH tradition showed promise, and after a classical for Harper’s that received national spoke to the perspective of his genera- just to think of it.) And, of will only become stronger. 1. Diamond, Susan Z. and Marilynne education at Franklin College, he went attention, and may still be read with tion, and its fidelity to the Writings in course, Evelyn has been actively McKay. Serpentine Muse-ings. on to Oxford in 1912 as a Rhodes profit today. And when war in Europe a world that was no longer 1895, but involved in The Muse from its Co-editor Marilynne McKay wrote: Indianapolis: Gasogene Books, 2004. Scholar. So did a Haverford College was imminent in August 1939, CBS had instead been shaken to the core graduate named Christopher Morley, News asked Davis to become its princi- more than once: starting a friendship that lasted their pal nightly news commentator. For the entire lives. next three years, millions of Americans We who were born turned in every weeknight to listen to around the year At Oxford, they heard Ronald Knox’s the voice they came to trust explain 1890 have seen “Studies in the Literature of Sherlock what was happening, and what it many things that we Acquisitions Holmes,” but both were already devo- meant to America. Davis did it straight would just as soon tees, having grown up on the tales as on Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower Brian Pugh and Paul R. Spiring donat- Newsletters from a number of scion through Pearl Harbor until the follow- have missed seeing. they appeared. Both had serious and Charles Foley donated ed an advanced review copy of their societies including The Foolscap ing July, when the President of the So have our juniors; careers in mind, but also made abun- signed copies of the newly new book, Bertram Fletcher Robinson: A Document, The Police Gazette, The United States, (fellow-Irregular) but they have no dant room for Sherlock Holmes in released American and British Footnote to the Hound of the Baskervilles. Cri-Bar Crier, The Whaling News and Franklin D. Roosevelt, appointed Davis such standard of J Scuttlebutt from the Spermacetti Press. their lives; and when Morley founded paperback copies of A Life in to be America’s voice to the world, as comparison for the the BSI in 1934, Davis was there too, Letters. Director of the Office of War tribulations of these writing the tongue-in-cheek Information. times as have people Constitution & Buy Laws that set the who grew up in the tone for a sodality which did not take Davis garnered many honors along the world that came to itself too seriously, but has life in it to way—three Peabody and other Awards an end in August this day. Davis had in fact been by as a broadcaster, U.S. and foreign deco- 1914—a world of Morley’s side for years, in Morley’s rations for his war work, his face on such innocence and Three Hours for Lunch Club and the the cover of Time in 1943, even an security, at least in Grillparzer Sittenpolizei Verein. appearance, as is

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6 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 3 50 Years Ago...Continued from Page 3

2 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 7 September 2008 D S O F N Volume 12 Number 3 E T Klinger to Appear at the Andersen Library I H R E