Review:Collecting Sherlockiana/Christopher Roden
This review of the book "Collecting Sherlockiana", by Catherine Cooke was written by Christopher Roden and published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 9, june 1999).
Review
- Collecting Sherlockiana:
- John Bennett Shaw's Basic Holmesian Library
- Edited and with Annotations by Catherine Cooke
- Monograph #10. Cambridge: Rupert Books, 1998; 60pp.
- ISBN: 1-902791-00-2; £10 (Limited to 400 copies).
Reviewed by Christopher Roden
John Bennett Shaw was, in the politest possible meaning of the phrase, 'a manic collector'. Be it a first edition, a comic, cuddly toy, or fridge magnet, if it had something to do with Sherlock Holmes it would almost certainly find its way into John's collection. With such a wealth of material on which to draw, and with very many years' experience of Sherlockian material, John was ideally fitted to compile a list of a basic Holmesian library, and he first appears to have done so in 1982. The essay 'Collecting Sherlockiana' appeared some years later in 1991. More recently, a revised A Basic Holmesian Library, prepared by E. W. McDiarmid and Peter E. Blau, was published by the Norwegian Explorers of Minnesota in October 1995, for the conference, Sherlock Holmes and John Bennett Shaw: The Detective and the Collector, October 13-15, 1995, and was distributed to conference attendees and to members of the Norwegian Explorers (a limited printing of 500 copies).
Catherine Cooke begins her Introduction 'with some trepidation', feeling, I suspect, somewhat overshadowed by the giant who was Shaw. She need have no fears, being eminently suited to, and qualified for, her task. To the basic list, Catherine adds a series of annotations which will be useful to both tyro and experienced collector. The strength of the new edition, however, is that it updates Shaw's basic list to take account of what Catherine terms Additional Cornerstone Works'. It's pleasing, naturally, to note that ACD is included here. Pleasing, too, that Martin Booth's biography of ACD, The Doctor, the Detective and Arthur Conan Doyle (1997) is given prominence [Michael Coren's poor effort is noticeably, and justifiably, absent from the list]. To any revision of the booklet, Catherine would, I suspect, also add Daniel Stashower's Teller of Tales.
A centre section illustrates sixteen dustwrappers from books discussed — what a pity there was not space for an illustration of each title and rounds off a reprint which is worthy of its place in every collection.
Christopher Roden
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
