Author to Editor
Author to Editor is an article written by Cameron Hollyer published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 3, 1992).
This scholarly study reconstructs and analyses the surviving correspondence between Arthur Conan Doyle and his Strand editor H. Greenhough Smith, drawing on manuscript collections in Toronto and Virginia. Through detailed quotation and contextual commentary, it illuminates Conan Doyle's creative process, editorial negotiations, views on illustration, business dealings, Sherlock Holmes, spiritualism, and the art of storytelling.
Author to Editor
Arthur Conan Doyle's Correspondence with H. Greenhough Smith
In the Winter 1985 issue of Baker Street Miscellanea, an article appeared under my name dealing with the correspondence between Arthur Conan Doyle and his Strand editor, H. Greenhough Smith. This article dealt with a group of letters owned by the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library and kept in its special Arthur Conan Doyle Collection. After the article was published, I learned that Richard Lancelyn Green had discovered another part of the same correspondence in the Manuscript collection of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia. I then wrote to the University proposing that we exchange photocopies of the letters in the two collections, and this was done.
Christopher Roden suggested that the readers of ACD might be interested in a general description of the correspondence as represented in the special collections of the two libraries. This correspondence, although extensive, is not complete. Some of the letters quoted by H. Greenhough Smith in his article Some Letters of Conan Doyle with Notes and Comments' are not included in either of the collections considered here, and both collections contain only letters written by Conan Doyle to Smith and not those of Smith to Conan Doyle. Other letters may be in the hands of private collectors or in other libraries, and these I have not attempted to trace. Nevertheless, the letters in Toronto and Charlottesville comprise a generous selection of the letters written over the years by the author to his editor.
The article that follows is not entirely original since I have taken the liberty of re-using material from my original article, supplementing it with references to the University of Virginia letters. For permission to quote the latter I am indebted to Michael Plunkett, Curator of Manuscripts and University Archivist, University of Virginia Library. The full citation for this group of letters is as follows: Arthur Conan Doyle Collection (#10547-D) Tracy W. McGregor Library. Manuscripts Division, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library. For convenience, references to the University of Virginia letters are indicated by the abbreviation UV and to the Toronto letters, MTRL. Numbers have been given to the letters in the Toronto collection and are added to the citations, e.g. MTRL, I.
I. Description of the Letters
In 1974, the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library acquired 76 letters and postcards, all but two of which were written by Arthur Conan Doyle to H. Greenhough Smith. (The two exceptions were notes by Conan Doyle to James Payn, editor of Cornhill Magazine, and to E. W. Hornung, Conan Doyle's brother-in-law and author of the Raffles stories). An additional six postcards to Smith were added later, making a total of 80 letters and postcards written by Conan Doyle to H. Greenhough Smith.
The University of Virginia's letters from author to editor are described as 'a collection of 100 autograph letters signed and autograph notes signed, all with initials ... Written on about 130 p., 16mo to 8vo... About 5400 words.'
Although I have not seen the originals of the Virginia letters, photocopies show them to be similar to the Toronto letters which I have examined.
Physically the letters are in good condition. Most are written on the author's personal note-paper with his changing addresses and telegram codes printed at the top. Most are written on single sheets folded to make four pages. They average 7" in height by 4 1/2" in width (17.5 x 11.25 cm.) A few of the sheets are hotel stationery from places where the author stayed — a couple of them from as far away as Cairo, Egypt. All of the letters are written in longhand. (There is one typed letter in the Virginia collection a copy of a letter from the wartime censor to the author regarding his ongoing history of the Great War). Some of the letters were dictated — to Major Alfred Wood, Conan Doyle's secretary, who placed a small 'w' under the signature, and to two unknown scribes. The majority, however, seem to be in the author's hand. He wrote in black ink and his handwriting is admirably precise, with only a few words crossed out or deleted, and very few illegible.
II. Dating of the Letters
Perhaps because mail was delivered so promptly in those days, Conan Doyle usually did not bother to date his letters. Of the 180 letters only about 35 are fully dated; others have month and day dates or omit the dates entirely. A few were dated when received at the Strand office. Approximate dates can often be determined by the names of stories on which the author is working. Broad periods can be defined by the author's various addresses given on his stationery. During the period of the correspondence he had three principal residences: 12 Tennison Road, Upper Norwood, London, 1891-1897; Undershaw, Hindhead, Surrey, 1897-1907; and Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex, 1907-1930. In the mid-1920's he acquired a second residence at Bignell Wood, Minstead, Hampshire. There are letters from all these residences, the earliest dated one being from 12 Tennison Road, 17 October 1893. Peter Blau of Washington, D.C. arranged 54 of the Toronto letters in chronological order and assigned numbers to these and to the remaining letters in the group. So far as I can determine the Virginia letters have not been put into sequence. nor have I attempted to do so.
In quoting from the letters, I have tried to adhere to the author's punctuation, capitalisations, etc. He was not always consistent in these matters. On the other hand, I may have introduced some errors (minor I hope). Where the author has made a substantive error, I have indicated this with [sic]. Where the error is minor, e.g. the omission of an apostrophe in a possessive, I have not bothered to do so. The reader who wishes to make use of these texts should verify them and secure permission for their use from the institutions involved.
III. Contents of the Letters
Conan Doyle's letters are brief and business-like. In them he discusses his plans and projects; answers the occasional criticisms of his editor: sometimes invites suggestions for stories; occasionally discusses rates of payment (although he preferred to leave these matters to his agent, A. P. Watt); expresses his feelings about publicity, illustrations, and illustrators; and in general deals with the problems that crop up in the working life of a busy author.
It is obvious that Smith and Conan Doyle knew each other well and met frequently. In one letter Conan Doyle suggests that Smith come down for the weekend to talk over projects and that he bring his little boy with him. But it is just as obvious that their friendship was mainly professional, for nowhere in these letters does the author discuss his personal life. The letters usually begin 'My dear Smith' and end with 'Yours' or 'Yours very truly' (the 'truly' often reduced to a squiggle), A. Conan Doyle', or 'ACD'.
The letters in the two collections are not entirely unknown to scholars. Biographers such as Pearson, Carr, and Nordon had access to them, and some have been quoted by Greenhough Smith himself, in his Strand article, by Richard Lancelyn Green, by Peter Blau, and by Christopher Roden in this Journal. Therefore many of the extracts given here will have a familiar ring to readers steeped in the literature.
IV. Background of the Correspondence
By the beginning of 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle had laid the foundations of his career as a writer. In addition to short stories sometimes published anonymously, he had published the first two Sherlock Holmes novels and his ambitious historical novel Micah Clarke. But he had not yet achieved fame or acquired a wide popular audience. In 1891, with the appearance of the first series of Sherlock Holmes short stories in The Strand Magazine, he became one of the most popular and best-loved authors of his day. This happy consummation was at least in part made possible by the perspicacity of H. Greenhough Smith, literary editor of The Strand Magazine, who instantly recognised the talent of the new writer.
In an article in The Strand written thirty-nine years later on the occasion of the author's death, Smith recalled this epoch-making event in the history of the magazine:
- It was in 1891 that as editor of The Strand Magazine I received the first of those stories which were to become famous all over the world as 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'... here was a new and gifted story-writer, there was no mistaking the ingenuity of the plot, the limpid clearness of style, the perfect art of telling a story. I saw the possibilities of a fine series and said so to Sir Arthur, who has generously written in his memoirs how encouraged he was to go ahead. (2)
Thus began a warm professional relationship between author and editor that was to endure for almost forty years. Though many other distinguished authors wrote for The Strand Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, and P. G. Wodehouse among them — none of them was to become so closely identified with the magazine as Conan Doyle. The immediate and overwhelming success of the Sherlock Holmes stories made the fortune of the magazine and enabled the author to abandon medicine for literature.
The author did not forget the editor who had been so prompt to recognise his genius, and in the years to come he automatically gave Smith the first opportunity to publish those stories and articles he thought suitable for The Strand. All but the first two Sherlock Holmes stories appeared there, as well as serialised versions of Rodney Stone, The Tragedy of the Korosko, Sir Nigel, The Lost World, Round the Fire Stories, the Gerard stories, and many other works.
Despite Smith's importance in Conan Doyle's literary career it is not easy to find out much about him. His life slightly overlapped that of Conan Doyle on either side. He was born in 1855, four years before the author, and died in 1935. five years after Conan Doyle, at the age of eighty. He wrote a few books and stories, including one that has been misattributed to Conan Doyle, 'The Siege of Sunda Gunge'. But he achieved little distinction as an author. It was as an editor that he made his contribution to literature.
In his history of The Strand Magazine, Reginald Pound gives a brief but vivid picture of the man who, in temperament, was very different to Conan Doyle. Smith had a dry sparing smile and clinically detached manner that suggested recondite inner resources.' Prone to pessimism, he was called (though not to his face) Calamity Smith'. But for all his air of aloofness, he was a kind and gentle man. well-liked by his colleagues.
Although the words Edited by Geo. Newnes appeared on the covers of the early issues of the magazine, Newnes was basically the publisher, and he left the editorial duties entirely to Greenhough Smith. And so it was Smith to whom Conan Doyle sent his contributions and to whom he addressed his letters to The Strand.
V. Sherlock Holmes
In the two sets of letters there are 36 references to Sherlock Holmes. Some of these are passing mentions as when, in a letter written from Undershaw. Conan Doyle says: 'My History keeps me too busy for any work' [i.e. The Great Boer War — ed.]. and adds, 'Poor Sherlock. R.I.P.' (UV, undated).
None of the stories from the first series (published as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in The Strand and as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in book form) are discussed. But this is not surprising, since the earliest dated letter as mentioned above is 17 October 1893, when the series was almost at an end. In the remaining years of the decade the author could pursue his own fancy in fiction, and we hear of other projects: Rodney Stone, Round the Fire Stories, The Tragedy of the Korosko, The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard.
Holmes, however, was back in the picture in the first years of the new century, first in The Hound of the Baskervilles (Strand, August 1901 — April 1902) and then in The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Strand, October 1903 — December 1904).
Although neither collection has the letter quoted by Smith in which the author announces his idea for The Hound of the Baskervilles, three letters do touch on that story. Two of them contain a plea for proofs, of which the author had no copies:
- It bothers me rather that in writing any instalment. I have not got a copy of the preceding one. The matter is complex and it is hard to hold the threads in one's memory. Could I have proofs earlier? Or shall I hold back what I have written until the last moment? (MTRL. 18. undated).
'I write under some difficulty through not having any of the proofs, so I cannot refer back,' he adds (MTRL. 19, undated). One wonders why he did not simply ask his secretary to make a copy of each instalment before he sent it off. He did so two years later. for he adds the following postscript to a missive written in 1903: 'The Dancing Men are being typed.' (MTRL, 26, undated), and in another letter tells Smith that The Adventure of the Second Stain' 'will be delivered (typed) in a day or two. (UV, undated).
Another note related to The Hound of the Baskervilles is as follows:
- At the beginning of Chapter IV. I should like to convey that Sir Henry Baskerville wore a ruddy-tinted tweed suit. It is not essential but I should be glad if it could be inserted. (UV. undated).
The author's request was granted, and Sir Henry made his appearance in the specified attire.
In several of the letters Conan Doyle discusses in detail his problems with some of the stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, enabling us to observe his reaction to criticism as he energetically defends one story that he thinks is alright and strives to improve another which he thinks is below par. The works in question are 'The Norwood Builder' and 'The Solitary Cyclist', to both of which Smith raised objections. They were intended to follow 'The Adventure of the Empty House' which opened the new series. On 14 May 1903, Conan Doyle wrote as follows:
- I think I take a fairly sane view of my own work. I can never remember an instance in which I have been very far wrong. This is what I think about these two stories.
- The second The Norwood Builder' I would put in the very first rank of the whole series for subtlety and depth. Any feeling of disappointment at the end is due to the fact that no crime has been committed & so the reader feels bluffed, but it is well for other reasons to have some of the stories crimeless.
- Take the series of points. Holmes' deductions from the will written in the train, the point of the bloody thumb mark. Holmes' device for frightening the man out of his hiding place. I know of no Holmes story which has such a succession of points. (MTRL. 23).
He then goes on to admit that 'The Solitary Cyclist' does not satisfy him. 'But,' he adds, 'if I get two right out of three [the third being 'The Empty House', one of his favourites — ed.] it is as good a proportion as I have ever had.'
- You will appreciate more fully now the continues] my intense disinclination to continue these stories which has caused me to resist all entreaties for so many years. It is impossible to prevent a certain sameness & want of freshness. The most one can do is to try to produce such stories that if they had come first and the others second. they would then have seemed fresh and good. That I hope to do and I don't think we're far off the rails up to now... You never will offend me, my dear chap for saying what you think. (MTRL 23).
But Conan Doyle did take his editor's objections to heart, and came up with a suggestion which was followed when the stories were published a few months later:
- I think perhaps this would meet the case. I have a strong bloody story for the fourth 'The Adventure of the Dancing Men. We could put this third and so separate the two crimeless stories. This would give a stronger start to the series. (MTRL. 24, undated).
But he went on in the same letter, in a more defensive vein:
- I must say that I cannot agree with your estimate of the 'Norwood Builder'. I read it to a roomful of people and I was never more conscious of holding an audience absolutely spellbound.
He returned to 'The Solitary Cyclist', and made an adjustment which he hoped Smith would find responsive:
- I have gone over the Cyclist again. It strikes me as a dramatic & interesting & original story. The weakness lies in Holmes not having more to do. But Watson now prefaces his account by meeting this criticism. I have gone over it carefully and can do no more to strengthen it. I consider that these four stories will beat any four consecutive Holmes stories that I have written. (MTRL. 26, undated).
Thus in grappling with his editor's criticisms, the author came up with an arrangement which would enhance the stories' impact on the reader and produce a feeling of variety.
The next story in the series, 'The Adventure of the Priory School', also involved bicycles, and it was in this story that Holmes made a famous deduction that cost the author some effort to defend:
- I don't suppose you take much notice about what cranks write, but with regard to the two letters from Dublin you sent me both from the same person by the way you may be interested to know that I have just been out, tried it on my bike, and got the impressions as in the story, the hind wheel cutting across the line of the front one. I then took a photo of the tracks but don't know if it will come out. If it does I'll send it for publication. (MTRL, 29. undated).
Conan Doyle had his close readers even then. Whether the photo came out I do not know, but by the time he wrote his autobiography Memories and Adventures in 1924. he had revised his opinion:
- In 'The Adventure of the Priory School' Holmes remarks in his offhand way that by looking at a bicycle track on a damp moor one can say which way it was heading. I had so many remonstrances on this point, varying from pity to anger. that I took out my bicycle and tried. I had imagined that the observations of the way in which the track of the hind wheel overlaid the track of the front one when the machine was not running dead straight would show the direction. I found that my correspondents were right and I was wrong. For this would be the same no matter which way the cycle was moving. On the other hand, the real solution was much simpler, for on an undulating moor the wheels make a much deeper impression uphill and a more shallow one downhill, so Holmes was justified of his wisdom after all.
Of the story that followed, Conan Doyle wrote:
- I've done No. 6 'The Adventure of Black Peter'. It is rather carpenter's work, and not up to the level of the last two. On the other hand I have a real good 7 in my head. [[[Charles Augustus Milverton]] — ed.] (UV, undated).
After the stories of The Return were finished in December 1904, the author let Holmes rest until 1908. In a letter dated 4 March, 1908, he tells Smith that he still has the detective in mind:
- I don't suppose so far as I see that I should write a new 'Sherlock Holmes' series but I see no reason why I should not do an occasional scattered story under some such heading as 'Reminiscences of Mr Sherlock Holmes' (Extracted from the Diaries of his friend. Dr James [sic!] Watson).
- I have one pretty clear in my head & this I think really will mature. If you could fix it with Watt it might do for your Midsummer number & perhaps I could dig out another for your Christmas number. (UV. 4 March 1908).
The author was as good as his word, for the two parts of the story later called 'Wisteria Lodge' appeared in The Strand in September and October of 1908, and The Bruce-Partington Plans' in December. The first of these appeared under the headline A Reminiscence of Mr Sherlock Holmes' in each of its two parts; and the second had the heading suggested by the author in the letter above, with Watson's name given correctly as Dr John H. Watson. Whether Conan Doyle himself caught the error or whether it was pointed out to him by Smith is a matter of conjecture: but it is clear that Mrs Watson was not alone in referring to her husband as 'James' rather than John'. The author was himself confused about the first name of his narrator. This is not surprising, since in the Holmes stories published between 1887 and 1908 Watson's full name is given only once, in the note that precedes the very first story.
The following rather tantalising letter addressed from Crowborough may also refer to 'Wisteria Lodge':
- I am very sorry that I can't do this. A story always comes to me as an organic thing and I never can recast it without the Life going out of it. You see the difficulty is really caused by dividing it into two, which was not in my mind when I wrote it.
- I assure you I would spoil it by any change. The grip would go out of the womans story if Holmes interpolates as you suggest. V undated).
This letter shows that Smith was not afraid to make suggestions to his favourite contributor. It also demonstrates that Conan Doyle did look on his Holmes stories. like a true artist, as organic things, each with its peculiar life.
In 1911. the author confesses to his editor that a story bringing Holmes and Raffles together is beyond his powers:
- The Holmes-Raffles idea is a kind of recurrent thing which turns up every 6 months or so. One man in Yukon was so struck by it that he came all the way from there to Crowboro' to discuss it — at least so he said. Personally I could not write such a thing. Inspiration would fail me. (UV. 14 April, 1911).
Another note couples the two famous names. The reference in this instance seems to be to an actual crime:
- It is more a 'Raffles than a 'Holmes' story. But it would need personal investigation time which I could not give. I think with the finger print they have got they should soon narrow the thing down. (undated. from Crowborough).
Conan Doyle's last Sherlock Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear, began its run in The Strand in September 1914, one month after the outbreak of the Great War; and in a letter dated 11 September 1914, the author expresses concern that Smith should have to publish the Sherlock at a time when it can do so little good to you.' (MTRL, 41). Smith apparently had some questions about the second part of the novel which Conan Doyle answered in the following letter:
- I'll reconsider Birdie [sic] Edwards when the proofs come. I did weigh it before and came to the conclusion the link was necessary. But I'll think it over again.
- Yes, yes, yes, she was a Swede and her people came from Stockholm. (UV, undated).
The reference in the second paragraph must be to the heroine of the Vermissa Valley section. Ettie Shafter, about whose national background the author changed his mind. under the impact of the war. Originally German, she and her father became Swedish in the pages of The Strand. Conan Doyle did not want a German heroine. The change was followed in the first English edition (Smith, Elder, 1915) and in the subsequent John Murray editions. In America, still neutral in 1914, the Shafters were German in the first Doran edition (dated 1914, published 1915) and in subsequent Doubleday, Doran printings of the work up to the present. Thus the shadow of war fell across the pages of The Valley of Fear.
The story of The Valley of Fear remained close to the author's heart, as evidenced in a postcard communication to Smith presumably written some years later:
- About detective feats I can only say that the young Pinkerton man whose name I forget, who broke up the Molly MacQuire [sic] gang in the Pennsylvania coal field as detailed in my Valley of Fear stands foremost. (MTRL, 60, date unclear).
Three additional Conan Doyle-Smith letters dealing with the novel were located by Jon Lellenberg in the Humanities Research Centre of the University of Texas and are quoted in a footnote to my article in Baker Street Miscellanea.
Between 1914 and 1917, Conan Doyle concentrated on his ongoing history of the war. In September 1917, Sherlock Holmes resurfaced in The Strand:
- I think we should stick to 'His Last Bow' as a neat and true title. It does not of course preclude any reminiscences before that date. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes' is a possible subtitle. (UV. 25 June. year not given but 1917).
The story was printed with the suggested title and subtitle. Had he but known how often the word 'bow', referring to an actor's acknowledgement of applause, would be confused with its homograph bow', meaning an instrument of archery, he might have reconsidered the title. In the letter quoted above he also left room for the stories that were to comprise The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.
Thinking up good plots was the hardest part of writing the Holmes stories, and Smith attempted to help Conan Doyle with story ideas. As far as we know, only one proved feasible: 'The Problem of Thor Bridge' was based on a real-life German case to which Smith drew the author's attention (6):
- I have partly done the 'two chips on the ledge' story. I have another small non-Sherlock in my brain. and would naturally like to start this series of six stories with the long Sherlock. You can rely on getting it sooner or later I hope sooner. I fear to let the old man down & would rather suppress him altogether.
- The Beetle idea would, I fear, be no use to me. It is curious but unworkable. I am ready to consider any. I can write them if I have good initial ideas, but have rather exhausted my own stock. No wonder! I wonder if a competition for the best mystery ideas would be possible probably you would get no fish worth taking out of the net. (MTRL, 48, 24 September. year not given but probably 1921).
'The Problem of Thor Bridge' appeared in The Strand in two instalments, February and March 1922. The suggested competition was never held.
Sherlock Holmes enters into other letters in more general contexts, as when Conan Doyle reacted to the proposed use of the character by an advertiser:
- I think I could sustain my copyright in the words 'Sherlock Holmes' and I don't think they have been used as an advertisment up to now.
- I look on the proposal as a purely business one without any sentiment and have asked Watt to chat it over with you. At first sight it looks like a matter that should concern the Black Cat and me, whereas you can handle your own advertisment. But no doubt you will express your views to Watt.
- The picture would never do. Holmes must preserve his dignity. He looks about five feet high, badly dressed, and with no brains or character, an actor out of a job. (MTRL. 61. 28 September——).
The author's concern not only for Smith's rights in the matter but for the integrity of his famous creation is apparent here, as is his fear, expressed in another letter, that Holmes might be stolen. It is of interest in its foreshadowing of the problems encountered by his heirs:
- This Munsey matter seems to me more serious than you think. Why should not a whole series be written if the name Sherlock Holmes is not copyright? I am writing to Watt and shall be surprised if he does not advise action. (MTRL. 66. undated).
The reference here is probably to the appearance of Harry B. Smith's 'Sherlock Holmes Solves the Mystery of Edwin Drood' in the December 1924 issue of Munsey's Magazine.
In addition to direct references to the canonical stories we may note allusions to the two non-Holmes stories known to Sherlockians today as The Apocrypha: 'The Man with the Watches' and 'The Lost Special', first published in The Strand in July and August of 1898 as part of Round the Fire Stories. Of the series as a whole, Conan Doyle writes:
- 'Detective Stories' would not fairly characterize them, and I want to give myself a free hand so that in case any tap runs dry I can turn on another. I should therefore not say anything about Detectives or Holmes in the announcement. To say however that they deal in mystery and adventure would be true. also that they are concerned with the weird and terrible. (MTRL. 9. undated).
And in a subsequent letter he downplays the suggestion of the 'amateur reasoner of some celebrity' in 'The Lost Special' as 'merely a theoretical explanation put forward by a theorist. (MTRL. 11, undated). That really does not sound like Sherlock Holmes, who was surely more than a 'theorist'.
One emerges from these letters with the feeling that, weary though the author became at times with the effort to produce new Holmes stories, he never entirely lost interest in the character of the great detective. Clearly, he tried hard to satisfy his editor and to maintain high standards in his work; and just as clearly, he did not hesitate to say so when he felt that he had succeeded:
- The day when Holmes will really die will be the day when I think I am letting him down. He was never more himself than in this story. (MTRL. 58. 13 August.).
VI. Other Works
The letters contain references to, and comments on, many of the non-Sherlockian works, from The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (1896) to The Maracot Deep (1929). his last novel. Naturally, the stories that did not appear in The Strand are not often discussed, except when the author explains to the editor why he chose to publish them elsewhere. His assessments of his works are frank, and often reveal creative satisfaction with them, as the following letter about an unnamed book which is clearly Sir Nigel shows:
- I ought to finish the book within ten days. I want to send in more copy than is necessary because some changes must be made before it goes in and I don't want to stop the writing in order to make them. But if you feel it to be really necessary I can let you have any amount. It will certainly be not less than 130.000 words. I have already done close to 120.000. The objection to the fourteen instalments is that I shall certainly wish to get it out as a book at the end of 1906. In that case the final instalments would be rather back numbers. There may be parts that I could cut away in order to fit à into 12 numbers but I confess that I would be loth to do so. You will be glad to hear that it koeps well up. It's beyond a doubt the best thing that I have done. (UV. 14 November, 1905).
Sir Nigel ran in the magazine from December 1905 to December 1906 in thirteen instalments. and was published by Smith, Elder in mid-November 1906. It was illustrated by the author's favourite artist, Arthur Twidle, and it was certainly the work that gave him the most satisfaction.
The work that gave the author and the editor the most trouble was the on-going history of World War 1. The British Campaign in France, which ran its troubled course in The Strand from April 1916 to February 1919 and occupied most of the author's energies during the war years. More than forty of the letters deal with this history. The text of each chapter had to be submitted to the military censors, and quite frequently the author was refused permission to publish his text. A typed copy of one of the letters from the censor is in the Virginia collection:
- Dear Sir Arthur.
- I return to you the copies of chapters 3 and 4 of your book which you sent to me and which I sent on to General Headquarters to be looked at by Sir John French's Staff. I have today received a letter saying that objection is taken to the publication of these Chapters. The General Staff think they should not be published yet.
- I am sorry to have held them up so long, and I am also sorry to be sending you a disappointing answer. Would you let me know what you propose to do?
- Yours very truly
- (Signd.) R.W. Brade (UV. 14 May 1915).
The chapters did not appear until a year later, thereby frustrating the author's plan to give his readers an immediate report of each of the major battles. Conan Doyle chafed under these restrictions. Here he vents his feelings to Smith about another communication from the censor:
- The enclosed seems to shut us down, and is depressing. How would it do to print the next chapter after Loos, which has not been harmed much by the Censor, and then stop before the Somme, or would you rather stop with Loos? I am absolutely in your hands. I agree with you that it is impossible to go on as at present but the extinction of Divisions is a final blow. (UV. undated).
Eleven months elapsed between the publication of the last instalment on Loos (June 1917) and the first one on the Somme (May 1918). It is a tribute to the persistence of the author and the editor that they carried on in the face of such difficulties. Among the material in the Virginia collection is the author's hand-written draft of the Explanatory Forward to this work, which appeared in The Strand in April 1916.
VII. Spiritualism
The World War which deprived Conan Doyle of his first son. Kingsley, and his beloved brother, Innes, confirmed him in his conviction that life did not stop at the grave. In the last decade of his life he devoted his major energies to the cause of Spiritualism, and many of his writings dealt with the subject. He felt, however, that a writer's opinions should be kept in the background, and he did not take advantage of The Strand to assert his views, writing 'I do not feel that I should use my special position with Strand readers for the purpose of proselytising. (MTRL. 75. undated). Nor did he use his fiction to advance the cause, except in one instance. Spiritualism is the theme of The Land of Mist, a Professor Challenger novel, about which he had this to say to his editor:
- I have for years had a big psychic novel in me, which shall deal realistically with every phase of the question, pro and con. I waited & knew it would come. Now it has come, with a full head of steam. and I can hardly hold on to my pen it goes so fast about 12 or 15,000 words in three days...So far I am satisfied with it, but whether it is your meat is another matter. (MTRL, 50, 23 October 192-).
Smith accepted the work, and it ran in The Strand from July 1925 to March 1926.
The magazine also published the author's controversial article 'Fairies Photographed in December 1920, and a sequel to the piece in March 1921. Conan Doyle must have felt, in his enthusiasm, that this was a newsbreak of major importance that was certain to be of interest to the readers of a popular publication. In offering a further supplement to these articles, he compliments Smith for his courage in using the first of them (MTRL, 54, undated).
The topic of Spiritualism is not often discussed in the letters, and from them it is hard to say whether Smith shared Conan Doyle's beliefs. But he was not hostile toward them, and on one occasion he asked to attend a seance. Conan Doyle replied:
- Did I understand you to say that you would like to be at a Seance? If so let me know... I am arranging for Evan Powell on Monday at 5. We meet at the Psychic Bookshop at 4:15. (UV. undated).
Smith could hardly have refused such an invitation. Even today it makes one feel like putting on one's hat and dashing down to the Psychic Bookshop!
VIII. Illustrations
Illustrations, an important element in The Strand's format, accompanied all the Conan Doyle stories and articles published in the magazine, and the author was not at all shy in expressing his feelings about them, especially if he felt they detracted from his work:
- Let me do a small grumble on my own account. That 'Leather Funnel' was literature, or as near literature as I can ever produce. It is not right to print such a story two words on a line on each side of an unnecessary illustration. It is bad economy to spoil a £200 story by the intrusion of a 3 guinea engraving.
- Take the last of the Brigadiers also. My whole object is to give the reader a stunning shock by Napoleon lying dead at the crisis of the adventure. But the story is prefaced by a large picture of Napoleon lying dead, which simply knocks the bottom out of the whole thing from the Story teller's point of view. (MTRL. 24. undated).
'The Last Adventure of the Brigadier' appeared in The Strand in May 1903, and The Leather Funnel' in June 1903. The Gerard story was illustrated by W. B. Wollen. and the offending drawing (a rather handsome one) appears as the frontispiece to that tale. A. Forestier illustrated 'The Leather Funnel'. Of his four drawings. it would appear that Conan Doyle objected to the one on page 650 (Vol. 25 of the magazine).
Earlier in his career, Conan Doyle had warned Smith about the tendency of illustrators to divulge too much. Writing of 'The Lost Special' he said:
- About that fourth story if the Artist draws a picture as he will be tempted to do of the train jumping down the shaft he simply gives the whole thing away. It would be a shame. Let his drawing be mysterious like the story so that the reader can't quite understand it until he has read it. (MTRL. 11. undated).
In this case the artist, Max Cowper, heeded the writer, and the secret was saved.
The publication of 'His Last Bow' elicited a similar warning, though with less successful results:
- About Sherlock it is very important not to give away the story, as is constantly done, by the illustrations. A picture of the American throttling the German would be ruinous. (UV, Recd. 31 May 1917).
This letter had little effect, however, for on 25 June, after he had seen the pictures. Conan Doyle wrote as follows:
- I think the pictures are so good that we should not change them even tho' (like all pictures) they knock the bottom out of any mystery. Pray convey thanks to the Artist. (UV. 25 June..).
Greenhough Smith tells us that the author never criticised an illustration as a work of art. What he wanted was an illustration that would 'hit the reader in the eye.' (7) But on at least one occasion he did criticise the illustrations on aesthetic grounds:
- Between ourselves (I hate to hurt any man's feelings) the illustrations of my story are not good, especially the one of the Maniac in the Cab. But all of them are washy and characterless. (MTRL. 37. undated).
The unnamed story is undoubtedly 'The Devil's Foot' (December 1910), and the artist was Gilbert Holiday. The offending drawing showing the Tregennis brothers being hauled away is on page 643 of Vol. 40.
After registering his complaint Conan Doyle added:
- Why don't you employ the man I like. Twidle. the best man I know at that work. Or is there some reason of which I am ignorant. I have never known him to go wrong. (MTRL. 37).
Arthur Twidle, who had won Conan Doyle's admiration with his illustrations for Sir Nigel, had also illustrated the 1903 Author's Edition of Conan Doyle's works, and was the author's first choice to succeed Sidney Paget as the illustrator of Sherlock Holmes. But The Strand used him only twice in that capacity, for 'Wisteria Lodge' and 'The Bruce-Partington Plans'. The reason for this was that there was bad blood between Twidle and the magazine's art editor, William Boot. To get around this problem Conan Doyle offered to play the role of an intercessor:
- I particularly want Twidle to illustrate the Byzantine story (and any other work of mine) but I find that he did not want to undertake it, as his relations with Mr. Boot have been so unpleasant, and he has been put to so much ( as he feels) petty vexation. I think therefore it would be well if the tracings were sent to me and I would do the criticisms. I will send tracings, then there could be no friction. (UV, undated, marked 'Private').
In another letter, Conan Doyle assured Smith that Twidle was not angry at the editor himself:
- Twidle had no words too warm for your kindness and your courtesy. But he seemed very bitter about the other which he says has gone on for years, before Sir Nigel, as I understand. So I thought I had best stand between all I can. (UV, undated).
Of Sidney Paget, the author speaks with respect and affection, commenting on one occasion. I hope Paget is doing the pictures. We have always worked together.' (UV, undated). And of the pictures for The Return he wrote:
- Paget's pictures are splendid. But you need not bother to send them to me. I hope the Americans are using the same pictures they cannot be beaten. (UV, undated).
The Americans, of course, were using Frederic Dorr Steele, and there is no mention of his work in the letters. Ironically, after praising Paget so highly the author expressed disappointment with the artist's renderings for 'Black Peter':
- What a pity the pictures were not better chosen! There is none there to induce anyone to read the story. The story would be better without them. Fancy a picture of 'Black Peter' with his beard to the ceiling and a great harpoon driven through him. That's ginger! (UV, undated).
One can see what Smith meant about a picture that hits the reader in the eye. Looking at the illustrations in question, one has to agree that Paget missed an opportunity to drive the story home graphically.
Conan Doyle was also disappointed by the method used by The Strand to present The Lost World. He wanted photographs and diagrams which would support the illusion of authenticity:
- Don't think I'm crabbing Rountree's pictures. They are splendid. But nothing can take the place of corroborative documents. They increase the illusion enormously and in this case were unique. However I shall have a free hand in the book and you'll see the effect... But how anyone could prefer Rountree's Central Lake aquarium to the mystery & suggestion of Forbes' picture fairly beats me. (UV, 8 August 1912).
This was strong language indeed, but it expressed strong convictions. The author had taken pains to have pictures and photographs made which would seem to be products of the expedition. One of them of course showed the author himself disguised as Challenger. with his colleagues. The Strand did use some of these, but it relied mainly on conventional illustrations. According to the author's wish, the first book edition (1912) had the 'authentic' pictures, and not Rountree's illustrations.
With a family tree loaded with artists, Conan Doyle had enough 'art in the blood' to judge the effectiveness of the illustrations which accompanied his work. But like most authors, he did not always get his way.
IX. Business Matters
Although Conan Doyle preferred to leave business matters to his agent, A.P. Watt, some of his letters deal with financial questions. When he discussed word rates. serialisation rights, and the like, Conan Doyle was always polite and considerate, but he stated his terms and preferences firmly.
When Smith offered to pay the author a retainer for The Strand's first rights to anything he wrote, Conan Doyle rejected the proposal. He had already indicated that he wished to stand by the old craft', but that he reserved the right to offer elsewhere material he thought unsuitable for the magazine: 'I do submit my work to The Strand first unless there is some reason to the contrary.' (MTRL, 27, undated).
Two examples of works which Conan Doyle did not offer to The Strand were A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus (published as a book on 1899) and The Vital Message (1919). Of the first, he wrote: 'I could not bear to see it cut into lengths...' (MTRL, 14, undated). And of the second he said:
- I am sure that the Vital Message is too strong meat for a popular magazine. Nash have it because Hearst Magazine in USA has it, but it was not a family circulation like the Strand. (MTRL. 14 21 April——).
The apocalyptic style of this piece was out of key with the generally confident and reassuring tone of the magazine. On the other hand, the author knew he had a winner in The Tragedy of the Korosko
- It will. I think, make just the kind of thing you want. Dealing as it does with the Egyptian Question and the Dervishes it ought to do at present. I hope it will make the man in the bus realise what a Dervish means, as he never did before. (MTRL. 2 February 1897).
The serialisation of the story coincided with Kitchener's re-conquest of the Sudan. In 1898, with the first edition in the bookshops, Kitchener brought the campaign to a conclusion with his smashing victory over the Dervishes at Omdurman.
Several of the letters deal with handling American rights. Sometimes, as in the case of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, these were negotiated separately. In other instances the magazine purchased exclusive serialisation rights and paid a premium for the privilege, as this letter suggests:
- Watt tells me there are several eager buyers from America for the serial rights (to The Hound of the Baskervilles — ed.). I daresay you could recoup yourself greatly for your outlay if you chose to re-sell.
- I will refer him to you. (MTRL. 19, undated).
The Hound of the Baskervilles ran in the American Strand Magazine, but was also serialised in nine U.S. newspapers run by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.
But if Conan Doyle had first sold a story to an American magazine, he would offer Smith the British rights at a somewhat reduced rate:
- Here is a mighty grim story ['The Leather Funnel ed.] for your Xmas number if you want it, I will sell it to McClure for his special anniversary number in November so I can only offer you the British use of it.
- The price (British rights) would be £200. (MTRL, 20. undated).
In 1914 (MTRL, 14) he proposes to let Smith have his account of his Canadian trip that year for nothing. But he adds that if Smith wants to use it in the United States as well, he would ask for £10 per thousand words. Smith did not take him up, and the Western Wanderings was serialised instead in The Cornhill Magazine in 1915.
Conan Doyle offered Smith his poetry, gratis:
- Read the enclosed. I wrote it during my illness. If you think it would amuse your readers you can have it I only drop into poetry as a friend. (UV, undated).
The last sentence probably refers to Silas Wegg of Dickens' Our Mutual Friend, who read prose works to Mr Boffin for a fee but would occasionally 'drop into poetry for a friend' with no added charge.
It was natural that the author and his editor should sometimes disagree. Once, when Smith felt himself the loser. Conan Doyle wrote:
- On the general question it is remarked that buying such stories is a speculation and that it might have worked the other way and no doubt has done so in the past. I could have obtained that price elsewhere, and though I am anxious that my work would appear where it has always appeared it would be hardly fair that I should make actual pecuniary sacrifice for this. (MTRL. 30, 14 September 1904)
In another letter he assures the editor that the magazine has always been fair to him:
- I have never at any time felt the least annoyance with The Strand over the depreciation of my prices.
- I could not do better elsewhere, and it was a pure matter of business just as it is now when I have the opportunity of putting them up. (MTRL. 67. 29 November 19--).
Thus Conan Doyle struck a balance between his feelings of obligation to The Strand and his natural desire to get the best prices for his stories that he could. In The Strand he found an assured market and in Smith a sympathetic editor. And despite his increasing popularity he felt on the whole satisfied to remain primarily a Strand author. Other magazines tried to get him, but he remained loyal:
- I hope your old ship is weathering the storm caused by all these cheap imitations. I observed that the Royal stole the very print of your table of contents. They are always pestering me, but I do not even answer their letters now. My ambition is always to stand by the old craft. (MTRL, 13. undated).
Finally in the business area, there is mention made in the letters of the disposition of manuscripts, the potential value of which was appreciated by Conan Doyle. When asked to donate one such to a Red Cross sale, he brought the matter up in this way:
- I learned in this letter that The Strand have some of my m.s.s. Don't you think they are really mine. It seems to me that the ms. is usually admitted to be a personal property and returnable. (MTRL. 44. undated).
On receiving the manuscripts back from The Strand, Conan Doyle thanked Smith, made him a present of one, and observed that 'they may mean something to my lads in the future. One imagines that even the canny author would be amazed at the prices these documents now command.
X. Character of the Author
Like most successful writers, Conan Doyle frequently received letters from aspiring authors requesting his help. As he had a generous nature, such appeals did not go unanswered. He writes to Smith regarding a poor Norwegian lady 'who earns a precarious livelihood by translating English stories into Norse':
- To her it would mean a great deal if she could get proofs of my Strand yarns, instead of only beginning her labours when the number appears. I pray you of your charity to let her have these. There is no money in the matter...(MTRL. 13. undated).
He received manuscripts as well, and here we see him tactfully passing one on to his editor:
- There is an unfortunate lady who sends her ms to me, most of them just under market form. This one looks more sensational & promising. Would you cast your eye on it and say if it could be of any use to the Strand. The title is good. I have never seen the lady but her letters are piteous and she has talent. (MTRL, 28, undated).
Although open to such appeals, Conan Doyle did not welcome the many requests he received for free contributions of his work for assorted causes:
- No. 1 hate these Omnium Gatherum Symposia. I don't see what there is for the author in them. You become cheaper the oftener you appear so why make fugitive and honorary appearances. I have the same objection to charitable scrapbook numbers, which are a perfect plague. (MTRL, 74, undated).
Conan Doyle was equally opposed to the exploitation of his own reputation to secure sales or promote his views. He hated anything suggestive of self-advertisement, and was quick to veto any proposals from Smith that smacked of this. The first letter in the Toronto collection deals with this subject:
- I may be too conservative but I am strongly of the opinion that a man's personality & private opinions should be kept in the background. I should feel I was guilty of egotism & impertinence if I bothered the public with my likes and dislikes. I have been associated with the Strand so long that I would do anything I could for it, but this would be rather against my convictions. (MTRL, 1, 17 October 1893).
Later he writes, 'An author's opinion of his own work is not out of place in the literary gossip of a Newspaper, but it is, I think, out of place as an advertisement...' (MTRL, 31, 29 November 1905). Smith must have wanted to use Conan Doyle's statement that Sir Nigel was 'beyond a doubt the best thing I have done.'
Anything suggestive of puffery irritated the author:
- I cant stand 'A Message from A. Conan Doyle'. Kings & Premiers send messages but not humble individuals. Put it like this THE FACTS AT LAST / The Inside Story of the War. / from A. Conan Doyle... (UV, undated).
The following letter must refer to his knighthood, a sensitive subject to the author:
- The Firm have just sent me some Advertisements which made my hair stand on end. I am A. Conan Doyle without any trimmings and will so remain. I thought I'd tell you in case you might go wrong in The Strand. (UV, undated).
XI. The Storyteller's Art
Given the tendency of present-day scholars to seek out real-life analogues for the incidents, persons, and places in the Sherlock Holmes canon, it is interesting and instructive to examine these letters to see what were Conan Doyle's views of the relationship of fact to fiction. How he felt about the matter is explicit in an early letter in which he reacts to an objection made to a detail in 'The Lost Special':
- About the trains in the text that is all right. You see this is not an integral part of the story but merely a theoretical explanation out forward by a theorist. If the facts are wrong he is wrong but that does not matter to us. Though for that matter I should not in my own person hesitate at laying down a fresh line of rails or a fresh railway line as I did in Story IV if by so doing I could get my effect. One must be masterful in telling a story. (MTRL. 11. undated).
Given this stance, one can easily imagine the author erecting a Baskerville Hall where none had previously existed, or editing the geography of Dartmoor for the purpose of his tale. About such artistic licence he never changed his mind. In What I Think... which H. Greenhough Smith edited in 1927, Conan Doyle had this to say toward the close of his literary career:
- In short stories it has always seemed to me that so long as you produce your dramatic effect, accuracy of detail matters little. I have never striven for it and have made some bad mistakes in consequence. What matter if I can hold my readers? I claim I may make my own conditions, and I do so. I have taken liberties in some of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I have been told, for example, that in 'The Adventure of Silver Blaze', half the characters would have been in jail and the other half warned off the Turf for ever. That doesn't trouble me in the least when the story is admittedly a fantasy.
- It is otherwise when history is brought in. Even in a short story one should be accurate there. In the Brigadier Gerard stories, for example, even the uniforms are correct. Twenty books of Napoleonic soldier records are the foundations of these stories.
Though he took some pains to confirm the accuracy of Holmes' bicycle track deduction, this was no doubt because he felt that Holmes' deductions, however improbable, must nevertheless be possible. As a rule, however, he adhered to the view that the storyteller was not bound to the literal truth. As Smith points out. 'Conan Doyle was no pedant as to the accuracy of details as long as he obtained the effect at which he aimed.' (9)
XII. Summary
These, then, are some of the high points of the Conan Doyle-Greenhough Smith correspondence. Their specifics aside, the letters tell a story of a finely sustained relationship between a famous author and an almost forgotten editor that endured for almost forty years. Conan Doyle obviously had more to give than did Smith, for although the latter was by no means passive he did not play the kind of role in honing Conan Doyle's writing skills that Maxwell Perkins, for instance, did in the case of Thomas Wolfe. But Smith was an experienced editor, well able to judge the potential reader interest of a piece. Always available for consultation on projects, he provided Conan Doyle with the sympathetic ear that authors need.
On his side, Conan Doyle may have made some financial sacrifices in his continuing relations with Smith and The Strand, but he felt himself amply repaid. Nor did he ever forget that Smith was the first to recognise the true potential of Sherlock Holmes. When asked to speak about the great detective at the Stoll Company dinner in 1921. Conan Doyle told Smith that he ought to be on hand as well, for 'if I am his father, you were the accoucheur.' (MTRL, 48, 24 September 19——).
To have been the midwife of Sherlock Holmes is no small achievement for any editor.
References
1. Smith, H. G.: 'Some Letters of Conan Doyle with Notes and Comments': The Strand Magazine: October 1930. pp. 390-395.
2. 'The Passing of Conan Doyle': The Strand Magazine; September 1930, pp. 228-230.
3. Pound. R.: The Strand Magazine, 1891-1950; London, Heinemann, 1966. p. 41.
4. Smith. H. G.: 'Some Letters'; p. 301.
5. Conan Doyle. A.: Memories and Adventures; London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1924, p. 102.
6. Smith, H.G.: 'Some Letters'; pp. 391-392.
7. Ibid., p. 395.
8. Smith, H. G. (ed.): 'What I Think': A Symposium on Books and Other Things by Famous Writers of Today, G. Newnes. 1927, p. 40.
9. Smith. H. G.: 'Some Letters'; p. 392,
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
