A Literary Mosaic (ACD Journal vol. 1 No. 1)
A Literary Mosaic [Vol. 1 No. 1] is an article written by Christopher Roden published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 1 No. 1, september 1989).
This article is a miscellaneous press-and-periodicals roundup gathering short Conan Doyle-related notices, anecdotes, and discoveries. It ranges from the planned Sherlock Holmes statue in Edinburgh to Baker Street debates, manuscript lore, book ownership, and the Baskerville name story, offering brief documentary snippets rather than one sustained argument.
A Literary Mosaic
We have taken the title of this section from the subtitle given by Conan Doyle to his short story 'Cyprian Overbeck Wells' which first appeared in 'Boy's Own Paper' for Christmas 1886. A Literary Mosaic will present items concerning Conan Doyle and his writings drawn from newspapers, magazines etc.
Curious Case of the Play on Words
The following item appeared in The Edinburgh Evening News for 22nd March 1989:
"What have master builders and the master detective got in common? Here's a clue: Homes. Or rather Holmes, Sherlock Holmes.
The Curious Case of the Play on Words is to do with who will pay for a statue of the sleuth in memory of his Edinburgh-born creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Elementary, my dear Watson.
The Edinburgh branch of the Federation of Master Builders wants to commemorate their 50th anniversary in a lasting way by donating a statue of Sherlock Holmes to the city.
And the district council is set to accept the offer this week.
Already, a site has been earmarked in the soon-to-be remodelled Picardy Place, where Conan Doyle was born at No. 11.
A sculptor has yet to be selected to create the £35,000 bronze the only real mystery.
The aim is to have the statue in place (in a landscaped area opposite Leith Street) in time for the anniversary in 1991.
Edinburgh Councillor, James Tait, who raised the idea of a statue to commemorate Conan Doyle two years ago, said he was 'delighted'.
At present, only a plaque on the wall of a hotel in Picardy Place marks Conan Doyle's birth. But, thanks to Councillor Tait, another plaque was erected at 23 George Square where Sir Arthur lived from 1876 to 1880."
Scott's Last Outpost, Frozen in History
In an article in The Guardian of 15th February 1989, Paul Brown described what he saw on a visit to the hut which housed Captain Scott's last expedition to Antarctica (January 1911 to January 1913):
"By Scott's bunk was The Green Flag and other stories of war and sport by A. Conan Doyle, labelled inside the flyleaf 'British Antarctic Expedition 1910. Underneath was Stalky and Co. by Rudyard Kipling."
Re-Numbering Baker Street for a profit?
The Observer, 4th June 1989 reported:
A confusing new twist is about to be given to one of the most enduring mysteries of the life of Sherlock Holmes the precise location of the London residence of the great detective and his long-suffering companion, Dr. John Watson. Westminster City Council revealed yesterday that it is considering a proposal to re-allocate 221b Baker Street, the address identified by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the home of the hero. 'Someone down the street has asked for their house to become 221b, and I've contacted the present holder of this number to ask their views. It's a very unusual application, but it's an interesting idea', the Council's street naming and numbering officer explained. The Observer can reveal that the devilish mind behind this plot is that of Mr. John Aidiniantz, an entrepreneur who recently placed a small advertisement in Country Life magazine. It said 'Investor/sleeping partner required with £2.5M. World famous landmark for sale. May suit titled person with cultural and historical interests.' Mr. Aidiniantz claims to have acquired an interest up the road, as it were, in 239 Baker Street. He argues that this was the real base from which Holmes and Watson solved the country's most difficult crimes. 'There are 17 steps leading up to the first floor, just as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described. I want to set up a Sherlock Holmes Centre. There will be a reconstruction of the detective's study on the first floor, a museum above this and a library on the top floor' he said. Mr. Aidiniantz's scheme faces a number of difficulties. The property at 221b is allocated to the Abbey National Building Society whose headquarters cover numbers 215 to 229. 'We have looked after Mr. Holmes for so long that to us he is a real person. We maintain the fiction that he still exists', a spokesman said. The Abbey National does the detective proud. Outside there is a plaque commemorating his arrival, a free booklet is handed out to visitors and the company employs a full-time Sherlock Holmes secretary, Ms.Nikki Caparn, to answer the 100 letters which arrive each week for the detective. 'I don't think Mr. Holmes would like to move now', she said yesterday. The Sherlock Holmes Society is also opposed to the plan, largely on the grounds that there have been enough changes to the address already. 'Baker Street has been renumbered twice before, in 1921 and 1930', according to Chairman Anthony Howlett. 'In Conan Doyle's time there was no number 221b, because the street was shorter and the numbers didn't run that high. 'The location of the house where the detective lived is probably the most vexed question in the whole of the Holmes saga. There have been at least a dozen theories, but the most likely houses were probably 31,109 or 111. All one can say with certainty is that Holmes never lived at the Abbey National site or number 239'
Editor's Note: Mr.Aidiniantz contacted me shortly after The Arthur Conan Doyle Society had been formed to discuss his proposals. He admitted that he was neither a Sherlockian nor a Doylean. One has to conclude, therefore, that the only motive for establishing this emporium' is profit and however much one should feel enthusiasm for a project which seeks to promote the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a tourist catch penny cannot rate highly on the list of priorities.
Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Mystery
This report was to be found in the pages of Glasgow's Sunday Post for 18th June 1989:
"Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, are known and loved worldwide. But few people know the author's very first story was never published, and now lies deep in the vaults of the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. 'The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe' is a ghost story he submitted to the well-known Blackwood's Magazine when he was a student at Edinburgh University. Why his first offering, hand-written on 24 sides of a jotter, remained in the 940 volumes of Blackwood's archives until they closed in 1978 is still a mystery. The best guess is he forgot to leave a forwarding address.' Patrick Cadell, Keeper of Manuscripts at the National Library, is amazed no one has ever published the story. One feature he, and the few others who've read it, find fascinating is the appearance of two characters who are clearly Holmes and Watson, although not given those names yet.
The Arthur Conan Doyle Society's Honorary President, Julian Symons, managed to include publicity for the Society in his review of T. J. Binyon's Murder Will Out which appeared in The Times Literary Supplement for July 7th 1989. He wrote:
'It is Pete Sawyer, Charlie Salter, Brady Coyne, who matter rather than the names of authors, and the more popular a writer becomes, the tighter the grip exerted by the character on its creator. Agatha Christie was unable to rid herself of the undesired Poirot, Simenon's Maigret stories were always more popular than the novels he valued highly, and the recently formed Conan Doyle Society has as one of its aims the desire to show that Doyle was something more than the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories.'
Top ot Bottom?
The attitude of the 'establishment' concerning Conan Doyle's 'place' in literature was highlighted once again in Tom Lubbock's review of the Radio Programme With Great Pleasure in The Independent of 11th July 1989.
With Great Pleasure is a programme which presents 'celebrities' with an opportunity to present extracts of their favourite verse or prose. The particular edition reviewed featured the comedian Stephen Fry, and inspired the following:
"Once the initial shock of literacy has subsided, the epicure will then go on, ideally, to demonstrate a taste that is more highbrow or more lowbrow than might be expected. He has, say, always admired the prose style of the late Wittgenstein; he is not ashamed to confess a passion unfashionable though it may be nowadays for 'Sapper'. Fry's own repertoire went from a two-liner by T. E. Hulme at top, to whichever is the lower of Wodehouse and Conan Doyle at bottom."
In good company;
The Daily Mail, 2nd June 1989 has the following:
A treat is in store for the serious bibliophile. In a fortnight's time, the personal library of the kings of Portugal, Carlos I and Manuel II, is to return from exile in England and Germany to be sold in Lisbon.
The collection is worth a great deal historically, as well as financially. From his abdication in 1910, until his death in 1932, Manuel the last King of Portugal — lived in England where he became known as an antiquarian and bibliophile. His books form the major part of the collection and include many important English works.
As important as the books themselves are the signatures and inscriptions inside from such as Queen Victoria, Edward VII, Theodore Roosevelt, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Lord Northcliffe.
Baskerville Revived
This extract appeared in a recent edition of The Readers Digest:
'A neighbour of ours, Harry Baskerville, told us that as a boy, he once spent several days driving a visiting author over Dartmoor in a horse-drawn carriage so that the man could get the feel of the moors. At the end of his stay, the visitor asked if he could use the boy's name in a book he was about to write. The visitor was Arthur Conan Doyle and the book... yes, "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Charles Stewart, Ashburton, Devon.
'A.C.D. contacted Mr. Stewart to see if he could add anything to this account. Apparently Henry Baskerville was a village character of great renown. He is now dead, but when Mr. Stewart first moved to Ashburton twenty five years ago, he got to know Harry quite well and it was then that he told him the story about Conan Doyle.
As a boy, Harry Baskerville was employed in the stables up at 'the big house' (Park Hill, Ipplepen, Newton Abbot), and when the author visited his employer, "a gentleman called Robinson", Harry was assigned to drive Conan Doyle about the countryside. At the end of his stay, Harry drove A.C.D. to Newton Abbot station and was given a sovereign by the author who then made the request about the boy's surname. That is all that is known. No doubt the 'gentleman called Robinson' is Fletcher Robinson whom Conan Doyle thanks in dedication at the start of the novel:
"This story owes its inception to my friend Fletcher Robinson, who helped me both in the general plot and in the local details. A.C.D."
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
