Review:The Folio Society Sherlock Holmes/Christopher Roden
This review of the book "The Folio Society Sherlock Holmes", by Arthur Conan Doyle was written by Christopher Roden and published in the The Parish Magazine (No. 11, august 1994).
This review judges the Folio Society’s Sherlock Holmes novels handsomely produced, with the expected high-quality bindings, slipcases, and illustrations. However, the reviewer finds the introduction disappointing and concludes that, despite the attractive presentation, the set does not offer sufficient value for its high price.
Review
- The Folio Society Sherlock Holmes
- The Complete Novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear.
- The Folio Society, 1994; £80.00 (available only from The Folio Society, 202 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1 IPR)
Reviewed by Christopher Roden
As far as publishing Sherlock Holmes stories is concerned, the only things that a run-of-the-mill edition has to offer are illustrations and an introduction. The Folio Society's edition offers both of these in the usual high quality Folio bindings and slipcases, but the question has to be: is this sufficient to justify the asking price?
When the complete Short Stories appeared last year, I expressed disappointment at Peter Cushing's Introduction, which, besides concentrating chiefly on theatrical, cinematic and pastiche representations of Holmes, contained a number of inexcusable errors. Cushing's Introduction was not telling us anything about Holmes, it was a series of reminiscences by an ageing actor.
Michael Cox, the original mastermind behind Granada's successful television series, has taken on the job of introducing the novels and, knowing Michael to be a keen Sherlock Holmes enthusiast, I looked forward to the originality which I expected in his Introduction.
I was disappointed, then, to find that from reminiscences of an actor we had simply moved on to reminiscences of a television producer. For, after giving a brief overview of the novels, Cox moves on to discuss the difficulties in televising The Sign of Four before dredging up the inevitable reference to Rathbone and Bruce's The Hound of the Baskervilles.
I had expected better both from Michael Cox and from Folio. There are more than enough books around which deal with media presentations of the Holmes stories. However fascinating a screen or television interpretation of Holmes and Watson may be (and I like watching Holmes films just as much as anyone else), volumes of the kind offered by Folio justify and deserve more thoughtful introductions than have been served up for these two sets. Perhaps it's the case that Folio, like so many other publishers, view Holmes as easy pickings: the enthusiasts will buy it, just for the sake of having a complete collection. Well, I have news for them: many Holmes enthusiasts are a little more discriminating than that. Cost and value-for-money are also a consideration. In this case, however nice the sets may look, however well-presented they may be, the value is simply not there. However, if you are thinking about joining the Folio Society, look out for the current adverts — you may pick up both sets for £5 as your introductory offer!
CR
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
