the 'first' first

Before A Study in Scarlet, the first published Holmes story, even begins we are met with the words:

'Part 1

Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson MD, late of the Army Medical Department'

This is a delicious example of the fun absurdity of 'the Great Game'. Scholars can pretend they seek high, low, far and wide for the 'original' publication  - of which the version put out by Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887 was merely a "reprint" - but, of course, they will never find it. Yet knowing you will never (can never) know about a thing in no way impacts on the instinct to speculate on that thing. And so the fictional words of Conan Doyle take on the substance almost of a 'real' Watson.

Speculation naturally rests on where these "reminiscences" were first printed, where and by whom - to say nothing of what they may have contained by way of the autobiographical information so conspicuously absent from the published Adventures! Some have questioned whether or not Watson was being strictly accurate in using the term 'reprint', suggesting perhaps a small privately printed run for friends and relatives, if even that. 

However, I feel sure that there was a 'first' printing of STUD and the clue remains buried in the text that has passed down to us.

It comes whilst Holmes and Watson are waiting at Baker Street for the answer to their newspaper advert. Holmes conversationally starts talking about a book he's found  -  "this little brown-backed volume" he has picked up at some stall, a very old book that dates from 1642. 

And what do we find Watson asking? "Who was the printer?" 

Not "who wrote it?" or "What's the title?" but "Who printed it?"...! An exceedingly odd question, one might think... but it proves that even at that early stage, of about 1881 or thereabouts, Watson was thinking about putting biographical pen to paper... and evidently about how and where he could get his writings published (probably as cheaply as possible). Printing, printers, publication... all these were evidently much on his mind.

No doubt at that stage his plans were to have a volume printed purely of his Medical experiences (which could have been instructive) and his Army experiences (which must have been rather brief). Soon, however, a much more exciting idea occurs to him:

"It is wonderful!" I cried. "Your merits should be publicly recognised. You should publish an account of the case. If you won't, I will for you."

Generations of his - and Conan Doyle's - readers can only be thankful that he indeed did so. The world would certainly be a lot less fun without them, whether you choose to play 'the Great Game' or not.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

second helpings

Image
Incredibly there is at least one HP Lovecraft/Cthulhu-themed cookbook on the market now. Has the world finally gone mad? What recipes can such a book contain? HPL was hardly a "foodie" and that goes double for his characters - gaunt, frail, monastic library-dwellers for the most part. Presumably it has fun (citation needed) with various fish and squid-based dishes. If Cthulhu does still lie sleeping it's for the best he remains ignorant of this insult. Perhaps there are some banana pudding recipes for any (white) apes of the Jermyn family line? The plethora of Sherlock Holmes cookbooks at least makes sense. Aside from a wide variety of dishes actually set out in the saga itself these dishes themselves are often a part of the domestic Victorian scene which, now vanished, come alive in Watson's pages. One such cookbook purports to be written by Mrs Hudson herself. For kitchen-confident buffs of the great detective recreating an authentic 221b dinner table would be a rar
Read more

the boredom of Bond

Image
Now that I've finished the Penguin Modern Classics omnibus 'Quantum of Solace ' I can now say I have read every James Bond story (by Ian Fleming). In some ways the last story proper 'The Living Daylights' is a case of saving the best for last. But it's not just one of the best-written Bond tales - it's one of the most realistic in the way it compresses the danger and excitement of Bond's job role into a few short, tense moments surrounded by hour after hour of boredom. Arriving in Berlin to act as sniper-cover for an escaping agent, Bond is told this agent's window for escape is between 6-7pm on one of three consecutive nights. As per sod's law he eventually makes his attempt on the third night, making for a combination of long boring stretches of daytime, tense excitement for an hour or two, then more tedium: "The next day, and the next night watch, were duplicates of the first [...] the rest was a killing of time and a tightening of the
Read more

Beryl's bank

Image
A foreign colleague of mine was confused recently by my reference to "the Bank of Mum and Dad". Very soon after, I picked up 'The Beryl Coronet' to read and was met with a classic example of that very 'bank'. Arthur Holder is marked by his own father Alexander Holder as something of a disappointment. Cleverly, this colours not only Holder Sr's perception of Arthur's apparent role in the theft of the Beryl Coronet itself, but also colours our perception of it, as readers. Sherlock Holmes, of course, sees through this almost immediately and is able to store (one can hardly say 'restore') Arthur in his father's affections. Still though, can Holder Sr be blamed for this? It does look as if all Arthur ever did was hold out his hand and expect money every time - which he usually got. 'The Bank of Mum and Dad' is a popular destination of first financial resort - and the Holder branch obviously gave better terms than most. "I have n
Read more