September 2001 D S O F N Volume 5 Number 3 E T Remembrances I H R In supporting the Sherlock Holmes Collections, many donors have made contributions either in honor or in memory E of special persons. F For any inquiries contact: IN MEMORY OF FROM Timothy J. Johnson, Curator Poul Anderson Laura Kuhn 612-624-3552 or Dennis France Hirayama Yuichi [email protected] Don Hardenbrook Hames Coffin Michael Harrison Samuel E. Fry Sherlock Holmes Collections Sherlock Holmes Cameron Hollyer Bruce Aikin Suite 111, Elmer L. Andersen Library COLLECTIONS Walter McAdam Otto Schultz University of Minnesota E.W. McDiarmid Fred and Sunnie Levin 222 21st Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55455 “Your merits should be publicly recognized” (STUD) E.W. McDiarmid Susan McNellis George Schuster Laura Kuhn Telephone: 612-624-7526 FAX: 612-626-9353 Wayne Swift Samuel E. Fry Timothy J. Johnson, Curator Contents The Basic Holmesian Library The Basic ome say that book collecting (I would say, library building) is a noble occu- Mailing list corrections requested— pation, a great game. To me, and I began collecting books at the age of Because of the high cost of returned newsletters, Homesian Library we would appreciate being informed of changes ten, and I started my Sherlock Holmes library in 1937, collecting is a way 1 of life. It is a door which opens to education, pleasure and friendship. I of address or other corrections. "S have learned so much and I have made friends whom I treasure even more Library Receives than my books. And I hope I have made myself more humane, better educated, and Maiwand Jezails Artifacts other than a paucity of space and money, more happy than I thought it possible to be." 1 John Bennett Shaw wrote this passage in Collecting Sherlockiana, printed in 1991 by the 100 Years Ago Opuscula Press in Bradenton, FL. In this essay, he defined the differences between a shelf of books (an assortment), a collection of books (a number with a special purpose), 2 and a library (a number of books and other printed material on one subject, or on sever- al). Shaw chose his subject and amassed his own Sherlock Holmes reference library. 50 Years Ago Continued on page 5 3 From the President Library Receives Maiwand Jezails Artifacts 4 ichard D. Lesh, B.S.I. (1965, “The Fatal Battle of Using the Sherlock Maiwand”) donated souvenirs of the June 2, 2001 Holmes Collections Maiwand Jezail dinner to the Sherlock Holmes R Collections. At this conclave, held in Omaha, 7 Nebraska, Commandant Lesh presented Friends President Richard Sveum and Board member John Bergquist with the An Update from the gift of the dinner program and three bottles: Borgia Black Pearl Collections 1904 (Lesh & Cryne Vinters), Yalumba Port Croker (Adelaide, Australia 1786) and Le Petit Corporale (Fine Napoleon Brandy 9 1904). Acquisitions Photo by John Bergquist John Bennett Shaw kept a file labeled “The Maiwand Jezails” Richard Lesh and 10 among his scion society materials. It contains correspondence, Richard J. Sveum menus and souvenirs of the Maiwand Jezail dinners held over a Musings period of thirty years. Through the continuing efforts of Richard 11 Lesh, the Sherlock Holmes Collections will be able to build upon the materials from John Bennett Shaw’s library. Lesh had previously given special artifacts created to commemorate Remembrances the Maiwand Jezails Dinner of October 23, 1999 which included an illustrated program, 12 original Sherlockian wine labels and one of only fifty unique bronze Sherlockian medals. Continued on page 4 12 Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections 1 wrongfully accused client; the unlikely “The Resident Patient,” and its similar- Musings villain; the secret code; the false clue ity to the famous demonstration by and the impossible crime. Conan Dupin in “The Murders in the Rue It has been a busy summer for Holmes, a book described by Elaine Doyle understood Poe’s achievement Morgue.” In the view of S.S.T., Conan the Sherlock Holmes Collections Hamill as “a delightful read and an as few others did, and when he took Doyle fails in his duty to acknowledge as you will note in these pages. excellent entrée to the world of up his pen to write “A Study in Poe’s influence on this incident and The exhibit held in conjunction Sherlockian scholarship.” (The Sherlock many others. “Now,” he asks at one I Scarlet” in 1886, he saw a clear line with the Norwegian Explorers’ confer- Holmes Journal, Summer 1999, p. 55) 100 between Poe’s innovations and his stage, “has Doyle acknowledged the ence “2001: A Sherlockian Odyssey” YEARS AGO own ambitions. In my view, however, source of these imitations?” The attracted the conference attendees as Richard Sveum has noted the recent “A Study in Scarlet” and the subse- answer, he would have us believe, is a The Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections IS “S.S.T.” THE LOVE-CHILD well as a number of other interested donations from Richard Lesh and the is a quarterly newsletter published by the quent Holmes adventures would resounding no. OF BIGFOOT? parties. Tim Johnson reports on the Maiwand Jezails. It is with pleasure Friends of the Sherlock Holmes Collections prove to be far less derivative than any exhibits’ many visitors, who certainly that the Sherlock Holmes Collections which seek to promote the activities, inter- of Conan Doyle’s work to that point. As every Sherlockian will recall, how- ests and needs of the Special Collections A Consideration By Daniel Stashower display “the charm of variety”. accepts materials such as these. John and Rare Books Department, University of Sherlock Holmes owed much to ever, Conan Doyle does, in fact, make (NOBL) Bennett Shaw was the keeper of many Minnesota Libraries. Dupin’s fascination with “the infinity an overt reference to Poe during the Elvis and Lindbergh Baby Spotted in scion materials, and it is with such Mail editorial correspondence c/o: of mental excitement,” but Poe’s sto- episode: “‘You remember,’ said Paris Cafe. Loveable Walrus Discovers We would like to welcome Daniel ongoing generosity that Shaw’s library Editor ries served as a catalyst, rather than a [Holmes], ‘that some little time ago Stashower, B.S.I. to these pages. He continues to grow. We hope that Julie McKuras AIDS Vaccine. Prince Edward to be when I read you the passage in one of 13512 Granada Ave. template. has written our 100 Years Ago article every scion society will make the same Apple Valley, MN 55124 Dipped in Cheese, Says Neighborhood Poe’s sketches, in which a close rea- Poodle. regarding an essay published in the effort. 952-431-1934 The question emerges, then, as to how soner follows the unspoken thoughts University of Virginia magazine. Dan 952-431-5965 Fax we determine the difference between a of his companion, you were inclined [email protected] The trouble with a provocative head- is well known to Sherlockians as the After reading the Acquisitions column catalyst and a template — or, as S.S.T. to treat the matter as a mere tour-de- line, no matter how arresting it may author of Teller of Tales, The Life of Sir in the June 2001 issue of this newslet- Editorial Board would have it, the difference between force of the author. .’” Unforgivably, John Bergquist, Timothy Johnson, be, is that at some stage it will have to Arthur Conan Doyle and The Adventure ter, Saul Cohen of Santa Fe noted that literary inspiration and outright pla- S.S.T. withholds this reference until his Jon Lellenberg, Richard J. Sveum, M.D. be supported by cold, hard facts. of the Ectoplasmic Man. His Harry he had a question as to whether giarism. As I understand it, plagia- final page, when he has already con- Copyright © 2001 Apparently this lesson had not been Houdini mysteries The Dime Museum Christopher and Barbara Roden would University of Minnesota Library rism involves putting forth the ideas demned Conan Doyle as a plagiarist. fully grasped by the anonymous Murders and The Floating Lady Murder actually inscribe a book “with compli- The University of Minnesota is an Equal and words of another as one’s own. In At this late stage, the overt reference to Opportunity Educator and Employer. “S.S.T.” when he contributed his arti- combine his interests in detective fic- ments of the Arthur Conon Doyle the literary realm, this is rocky terrain. Poe is raised only to be dismissed as cle — “Is Doyle a Plagiarist?” — to a tion and magic. A third book in the Society”. No, they certainly wouldn’t. Words can be copyrighted, but, inadequate. S.S.T. concludes: “[W]e 1901 issue of The University of Virginia series, The Houdini Specter, will be Their inscription was from the “Arthur beyond a certain point, ideas cannot. must hold that it does not accord with Magazine. The writer, presumably a published in November. In choosing Conan Doyle Society”. I’m sure that I have written many books in which a the dictates of reason to suppose that student at the university, appears to be a subject for the 100 Years Ago col- Professor Moriarty interfered with murder takes place and a detective this casual reference was intended as rising to the defense of Edgar Allan umn, we found that the Sherlock both the typing and the proofreading brings the killer to justice. The notion an acknowledgement of Doyle’s great Poe, himself a former University of Holmes Collections did not have a of the original sentence. of a detective solving crimes did not debt to Poe.