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#Sherlock_Holmes
review
Bookwomble
The Sherlock Holmes File | Michael Pointer
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Pickpick

I loved this book! Especially the account of the Holmesians' first road trip to Switzerland in full Victorian cosplay! Author, Michael Pointer, pictured, though he didn't state what character he represented.
Probably for Baker Street diehards only, but if you're a bit irregular then there's plenty to love.

blurb
Bookwomble
The Sherlock Holmes File | Michael Pointer
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One of the chapters is an account of the first Sherlock Holmes Society of London's pilgrimage to the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland in 1968.
The society Flickr account has an album of photos showing their journey, in costume, from London to Switzerland, including several luminaries of Holmesian studies. It was gratifying to find a couple of photos including Michael Pointer.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shsl/albums/72157640063611234/
#Sherlocked

Bookwomble The photo shows the pilgrims meeting Adrian Conan Doyle at his Swiss home, Chateau de Lucens. Holmes is Society member Tony Howlett, and as Irene Adler, Dominique Joos, an actor hired for the role, who performed in a “whodunit“ scene at the Society banquet in Geneva. (edited) 2w
31 likes1 comment
quote
Bookwomble
The Sherlock Holmes File | Michael Pointer
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"If Conan Doyle had really meant business when he attempted to get rid of Sherlock Holmes, he should have killed off Dr Watson. That's the key to it. Without Watson there really can be no Holmes."

Pointer giving the good doctor his due recognition, both as a character & as a narrative device.

Of all the Watsons, Nigel Bruce's incarnation (despite the un-Canonical bumbling) is always the one that springs to my mind.
#NoPlaceLikeHolmes #Sherlocked

bibliothecarivs Okay, Bruce's Watson is the one that comes to mind, but which is your favorite portrayal in film/ television? 2w
Bookwomble @bibliothecarivs While Jeremy Brett is my favourite Holmes (though only a hair's breadth ahead of Basil Rathbone), and both Watson actors in that production were good, neither emanated the warmth of character that Bruce installed in his part. It's not always an accurate depiction, but captures Watson's faithfulness, dependability and vulnerability. So, it is Nigel Bruce for me 😊 2w
Bookwomble @bibliothecarivs Pointer's opinion of Bruce's Watson is: "regrettable"! I accept, myself, that he's not a good representation of Doyle's Watson, but I guess he seeped into my consciousness as a child. My least favourite Watson portrayals are Jude Law and Martin Freeman, as they always present to me as being themselves pretending to be the part they're playing, rather than actually being the part. 2w
See All 7 Comments
bibliothecarivs Fascinating. Thanks for sharing, my friend. 2w
dabbe Nigel & Basil! 🖤🖤🖤 2w
The_Book_Ninja I used to watch the Rathbone Sherlocks when I was a kid too and absolutely loved them. Imagine my surprise when I eventually read a book and there was no incredulous buffoonery from Watson. I now consider Bruce‘s Watson as beyond ridiculous 2w
Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Not at all accurate, but I'm still fond of him 😊 2w
38 likes7 comments
blurb
Bookwomble
The Sherlock Holmes File | Michael Pointer
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I read " The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes" last week & enjoyed it enough that I bought the author's follow up, "The Sherlock Holmes File".
They do cover similar ground but from different angles, & the File is a larger format to better display the significantly greater number of illustrations. I imagine the material Pointer put together when researching the first book was enough to justify this one.
It focuses on the development of Holmes's ⬇️

Bookwomble ... appearance, props and personal characteristics, from Doyle's written description, to the early illustrations and the additions made by artists (deerstalker cap) and actors (Inverness cape and meerschaum pipe) to the now accepted figure of Holmes.
Despite the tanned dust jacket (which is fine for the price I paid), the book's in good order for its age (1976), and while I hadn't intended to read it immediately, it looks like that is happening!
2w
38 likes2 comments
review
Bookwomble
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Pickpick

I really enjoyed Pointer's knowledgeable critiques and reviews of the Great Detective's appearances off the page and on the boards, the silver screen, the airways, the idiot box, and vinyl.

It could have been a dense info-dump, but Pointer cleverly distilled that into the 80-odd pages of Catalogue at the back of the book, delivering 116 initial pages of deftly handled history and anecdotes.
On the strength of this, I've ordered a copy of his 👇

Bookwomble ... "The Sherlock Holmes Files", which, by the same publisher within a year of the present book, I trust doesn't do much recapping of this material.
David & Charles published a series of Holmesian studies in the early to mid '70s, which all seem to be fairly highly rated. It would be a pleasant thing were some other titles to appear on my shelves ?:
https://www.librarything.com/nseries/389564/David-and-Charles-Holmesian-Studies
3w
39 likes1 stack add3 comments
quote
Bookwomble
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"So far we have been spared the spectacle of Sherlock Holmes on ice!"

If you live long enough, though... ?⛸️?

"Sherlock Ice Skating Show"
https://scarlettentertainment.com/gb/acts/sherlock-ice-skating-show

#Sherlocked

BarbaraJean The key words there are “so far” 😂 3w
TieDyeDude I am a firm believer that everything is better as an ice capade show! 😝 3w
dabbe 😮🤩😮 3w
Read4life @dabbe are you ready for a trip to Switzerland? #Sherlocked ✈️ 3w
dabbe @Read4life Let me check my calendar! 🩵✈️🩵 3w
34 likes5 comments
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Bookwomble
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A couple of Sherlock Holmes books I didn't go looking for yesterday, but which I found anyway! ?
I'm pleased to have added Baring-Gould's pseudo biography to my collection: it's a 1962 first edition and treats its subject as if historical, in best Holmesian tradition.
The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes is a 1975 review of "the many ways in which the entertainment industry has used, and misused, the best-known character in all fiction." ?

Bookwomble Naturally limited to its publication date, with some neat photos from film and stage. The second half is a catalogue listing the Great Detective's appearances on stage, screen and radio, which is a useful reference, but dry reading, so I won't do that when I come to it.
#NoPlaceLikeHolmes
(edited) 3w
tpixie Very interesting finds! 🥇 3w
Cuilin I love it when books find their owner!!! #IAmSherlocked 3w
dabbe 🖤🔎🖤 #sherlocked 3w
39 likes4 comments
review
bekakins
Pickpick

#bookspin for Jan was 3 more Sherlock Holmes stories… fairly enjoyable

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! I just read this one yesterday, too. Still catching up 😂 3mo
8 likes1 comment
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Cuilin
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#NoPlaceLikeHolmes @dabbe

I think I missed something regarding the poison.

Librarybelle To me, it seemed a little odd that she took the poison. I also wasn‘t 100% sure why they went to the Russian embassy. 4mo
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CogsOfEncouragement 1 - not sure

2 - Her life was horrible, and she didn't want to have to do time for killing the secretary?

3 - I thought SH and W wanted to provide the evidence to free Alexis from his sentence in the Siberian salt mine as the Mrs. requested.
4mo
Daisey I agree with @CogsOfEncouragement that she didn‘t want to be convicted of murder and they went to the embassy to share the proof of evidence. 3mo
Cuilin @CogsOfEncouragement @Librarybelle I think the poison was a bit extra but as @Daisey said she didn‘t want to be convicted of murder and therefore sent to prison. 3mo
dabbe @Cuilin @CogsOfEncouragement @Librarybelle ... what I don't get is why have poison in the first place? It was proven by Holmes that she did not come there to murder anyone. She didn't bring a murder weapon at all--yet she brings poison? Just in case? How would she know she'd be in a place where she could quickly find a weapon if she needed to? 3mo
Librarybelle Good point, @dabbe ! 3mo
Cuilin @dabbe exactly!! 3mo
27 likes9 comments
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Cuilin
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#NoPlaceLikeHolmes @dabbe

It‘s Sherlock so possibly but so much information was gleaned from one object. Thoughts?

Librarybelle You‘re right—possibly Sherlock would have figured it out, but, as the title suggests, the pince nez was the pivotal clue. 4mo
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CogsOfEncouragement I thought the change in the amount of food being consumed was key. Maybe even someone with 20/20 vision would take the wrong way in trying to leave the house because of the flooring. 4mo
Cuilin @CogsOfEncouragement yes, the food was pivotal. He knew the suspect was still in the building. 3mo
dabbe Holmes (being Holmes) probably could have put it together without the pince-nez. The footprints and lack thereof on the garden path is another clue as well as the same type of carpeting leading to the garden as well as to Coram's room. The glasses are the cherry on top of the banana split, as the cliche goes. 3mo
24 likes6 comments