A tour of the Sherlock Holmes Collection

For a summary of our collection and operating policy, see About the Sherlock Holmes collection.

819.01: Bibliographies

There are, as most Sherlockians know, one or two seminal bibliographies:

• Ron De Waal The Universal Sherlock Holmes, for Sherlock Holmes
• J. M. Gibson and R. L. Green's A Bibliography of Arthur Conan Doyle, for Conan Doyle

These have tended to be short publishing runs and consequently comparatively expensive, perhaps beyond the means of many of those interested in the subject. They are well-used at the Collection. De Waal in particular has always been used almost as an index to the Collection as a whole, indispensable for finding material buried in the many journals runs. Other bibliographies are purchased when published.

819.1 / 819.2: The Canon - works about Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

We do not aim to collect first or other rare editions - there are too many and they are generally far too expensive. We do aim to collect editions that contain new introductions, notes or illustrations. We also have a good representative selection of simplified texts, usually aimed at younger children, new readers or those taking English as a second language.
Translations of the Sherlock Holmes stories are also held, with at least one example in all the major languages. It is often very difficult for a library service to purchase one single book from abroad, so our collection of foreign texts relies fairly heavily on donations from societies, publishers and translators and from those holidaying abroad.

819.3: Conan Doyle's other works

Since 1982 it has been our policy to bring our coverage of Conan Doyle himself up to strength, and we have retrieved from within Westminster Libraries materials such as The British Campaign in France and Flanders. This, coupled with input from dealers and members of the various societies has meant that we have been able to find a copy of all of Conan Doyle's major works, together with a number of his more obscure and smaller works.

819.4: The Writings on the Writings

In many respects, this is probably the most heavily used section of the Collection, and one where we do our best to acquire everything that is published or available. While we concentrate on English language materials, we do purchase from elsewhere when possible, and gratefully receive any items contacts feel able to send us.

819.5: Biography of Conan Doyle

Again here we attempt to acquire everything, though it has to be said that there has not been a great deal published.

819.7: Sherlock Holmes on Stage and Screen

This section is a mixture of published books, both critical works and scripts, and unpublished scripts, the latter in most cases donated by or begged from writers and producers. While this latter category may be freely consulted, it may not be photocopied without the written permission of the copyright holder.

819.8: Related Fiction

We draw a fine distinction between books where the main character purports to be Sherlock Holmes or some other character from the Canon (pastiche) and those where the main character is clearly based on Holmes or consciously apes Holmes, but who has his own identity. These we place under related fiction, along with a few examples of Holmes' contemporaries, such as Raffles, Martin Hewitt and Sexton Blake. Other fiction collected includes a Gaboriau novel in translation and William Gillette's only detective novel.

819.85: Related Non-fiction

Again, rather a mixed bag of material. This is where we keep general histories and discussions of detective fiction, though we only purchase those which actually focus on Holmes for a reasonable proportion of the work. Some background material is also held, such as the two biographies of Dr. Joseph Bell, a history of the battle of Maiwand and a Bradshaw's Railway Guide.

819.9: The Cult of Sherlock Holmes

This section covers the societies, with publications such as the on-going history of the Baker Street Irregulars, as well as less serious material such as joke and puzzle books.

Journals

The Collection holds complete runs of:

• The Strand Magazine from 1891 to 1930
• The Baker Street Journal, published by the Baker Street Irregulars of New York
• The Sherlock Holmes Journal, published by the Sherlock Holmes Society of London
• ACD - The Journal of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society

Files of many smaller journals from societies around the world are also held, some patchy but a good many complete and on-going.

Other Materials

Audio cassettes from both Britain and North America are purchased, together with videos in British format. These are kept mainly to show what has been released. The Collection is for reference only, and we have no facilities for people to listen to cassettes or view the videos. In addition, legal restrictions are placed on the "public performance" of videos, which makes it impossible for us to show them. Doubts have been cast too on the long-term stability of tape, so we cannot be at all sure that these materials will survive as long as the printed matter. We can be rather more sure of the few vinyl records we hold.

We house a couple of games that have been donated over the years, though we do not specifically purchase in this area. We have also acquired a good selection of photographs and negatives, often as a by-product of working with publishers using illustrations from the Collection. Again, this is an area where we rarely purchase, though we do try to beg publicity material from theatres putting on Holmes plays. We also acquire a fair amount of ephemeral material, which we categorise and keep as examples, though usually do not catalogue.

Email address for enquiries: ccooke@westminster.gov.uk