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Holmes & Watson: A Miscellany
Essays discuss Sherlock Holmes' family, attitudes, and similarities to Dr. Samuel Johnson
137 pages, Paperback
First published January 28, 1953
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 8, 2016
A lovely little book from 1953, and it really is easy to see why generations confused Holmes and Watson with actual people being that this analysis doesn't really make it clear that they are fictitious until practically the end! The depth and understanding of these two characters is woven with real love for them both and this is never more demonstrated than in the section regarding a retrospective display of Holmesanalia - 'The Sherlock Holmes Exhibition' of 1951.
The chapters analysing different characteristics of them both are interesting throughout, especially a very insightful chapter on Holmes and Women (so much more than 'The Woman' Irene Adler) and an interesting comparison with Boswell and Johnson.
The two tales (now known as fan fiction) at the end demonstrate that Doyle really was the master of his creation - if you skip them you've not missed anything...
For Holmes fans this is worth picking up if you find a copy in a dusty bookshop, but maybe not so much to spend long efforts searching down. A little gem for those whose time is spent browsing shelves of books and who, like many a follower of the works of Dr Watson, know the line between fact and fiction, but choose to blur it because books make life so much better...
The chapters analysing different characteristics of them both are interesting throughout, especially a very insightful chapter on Holmes and Women (so much more than 'The Woman' Irene Adler) and an interesting comparison with Boswell and Johnson.
The two tales (now known as fan fiction) at the end demonstrate that Doyle really was the master of his creation - if you skip them you've not missed anything...
For Holmes fans this is worth picking up if you find a copy in a dusty bookshop, but maybe not so much to spend long efforts searching down. A little gem for those whose time is spent browsing shelves of books and who, like many a follower of the works of Dr Watson, know the line between fact and fiction, but choose to blur it because books make life so much better...
August 19, 2023
Beli sebab kulit bukunya cantik. Hahaha!
Tapi kadang-kadang kena nilai kulit buku untuk tahu isinya. Haaaa gituuuu.
Buku ni lebih kepada membedah watak-watak dalam novel Sherlock Holmes. Ada juga 'post-mortem' tentang bab-bab dalam novel Sherlock Holmes. Bagi peminat macam saya, semestinya buku ini sangat-sangatlah bagus sebab saya lebih memahami setiap butir yang ada dalam novel tu. Penjelasannya sangat mudah faham. Dah macam tengah baca kes jenayah betul aje. Hahahashahah!
Oh ya, dalam buku ni ada 2 cerita Sherlock yang tak diterbitkan dalam novel.
Tapi kadang-kadang kena nilai kulit buku untuk tahu isinya. Haaaa gituuuu.
Buku ni lebih kepada membedah watak-watak dalam novel Sherlock Holmes. Ada juga 'post-mortem' tentang bab-bab dalam novel Sherlock Holmes. Bagi peminat macam saya, semestinya buku ini sangat-sangatlah bagus sebab saya lebih memahami setiap butir yang ada dalam novel tu. Penjelasannya sangat mudah faham. Dah macam tengah baca kes jenayah betul aje. Hahahashahah!
Oh ya, dalam buku ni ada 2 cerita Sherlock yang tak diterbitkan dalam novel.
May 26, 2025
Not especially a miscellany, more a couple of similar short stories (they have the some solution) preceded by a hundred pages or so of the writer playing The Game, that odd idea that Holmes and Watson are real and any mistakes made by the writer need to be solved by real-world rules. A curio, but a not-uninteresting one!
July 18, 2022
*3.5 stars
a very interesting read, the book is a study on sherlock holmes and dr. watson. learned some details i previously didn't know before. the book also has 2 unrecorded adventures of sherlock and watson (which speaks for itself). overall, this is a good book.
a very interesting read, the book is a study on sherlock holmes and dr. watson. learned some details i previously didn't know before. the book also has 2 unrecorded adventures of sherlock and watson (which speaks for itself). overall, this is a good book.
May 17, 2012
A book that looks at Holmes and Watson, mixing in speculation and fact from The Canon. An ok book.
One of the books in Otto Penzler’s Sherlock Holmes Library, a reissue of eight previously hard to find classics from the earlier age of Sherlockiana, it was originally published in 1953 (I believe).
Roberts offers a few biographical sketches on Holmes and Watson. Roberts also included a short play set at Baker Street on Christmas Eve, and a pastiche, The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts, which is very much in the Doylean style.
The first half of the book is broken into Holmesian themes: his creation, his life, his temperament, his attitude to women, his music and his kinship with Doctor Johnson. There are far more through pieces of Sherlockiana out there on these topics, as well as full-blown biographies and memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. But this slender volume offers an enjoyable look at each of the topics.
Roberts intersperses Canonical references with fiction of his own creation, such as fragments of a previously undiscovered manuscript relating to the death of Cardinal Tosca. The section on Holmes’ attitude towards the fairer sex is perhaps the best chapter of the book.
There is speculation on Watson’s youth (the goldfields of Australia are prominently mentioned) as well as a brief look at who might have been his second wife.
The Baker Street Scene is a charming piece written about the 1951 Sherlock Holmes exhibition and provides a nice description for those of us who did not see it.
The pastiches, though extremely short, feel ‘right.’ The emulation of Doyle is very solid.
I don’t know that the casual Holmes reader would make this a favorite. But the slightly more avid Sherlockian would do well to pick up a copy. And like all of the Penzler Library books, it features a nice color illustration by Frederic Dorr Steele (this one from The Three Students).
One of the books in Otto Penzler’s Sherlock Holmes Library, a reissue of eight previously hard to find classics from the earlier age of Sherlockiana, it was originally published in 1953 (I believe).
Roberts offers a few biographical sketches on Holmes and Watson. Roberts also included a short play set at Baker Street on Christmas Eve, and a pastiche, The Strange Case of the Megatherium Thefts, which is very much in the Doylean style.
The first half of the book is broken into Holmesian themes: his creation, his life, his temperament, his attitude to women, his music and his kinship with Doctor Johnson. There are far more through pieces of Sherlockiana out there on these topics, as well as full-blown biographies and memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. But this slender volume offers an enjoyable look at each of the topics.
Roberts intersperses Canonical references with fiction of his own creation, such as fragments of a previously undiscovered manuscript relating to the death of Cardinal Tosca. The section on Holmes’ attitude towards the fairer sex is perhaps the best chapter of the book.
There is speculation on Watson’s youth (the goldfields of Australia are prominently mentioned) as well as a brief look at who might have been his second wife.
The Baker Street Scene is a charming piece written about the 1951 Sherlock Holmes exhibition and provides a nice description for those of us who did not see it.
The pastiches, though extremely short, feel ‘right.’ The emulation of Doyle is very solid.
I don’t know that the casual Holmes reader would make this a favorite. But the slightly more avid Sherlockian would do well to pick up a copy. And like all of the Penzler Library books, it features a nice color illustration by Frederic Dorr Steele (this one from The Three Students).
October 19, 2016
Interesting.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews