The Maniac Collector's Inbox
No. 430, August 29, 2010

A Thing That The Dutch
Know More About
By Don Hobbs

“…It is a coolie disease from Sumatra- a thing that the Dutch know more about than we…” DYIN

I took a class this week in Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine or DICOM. This was work related so they paid for the class. It was not Dutch Treat. On the other hand, it was a Dutch treat because the instructor was from The Netherlands. DICOM is a dry subject and the class delved deep into the network side of things. I learned more about DICOM tags than should be allowed by law. I know how to speak in 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit and how to convert numbers into hexadecimals. I know how to create color from combining RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values. None of this stopped me from also doing a bit of Sherlocking.

“…In front of me was standing a small, dwarf-like man with a huge, bulbous head, who was jabbering excitedly in Dutch…” BLAN.

The class started on Wednesday at a hotel in Grapevine, Texas the next town over from Flower Mound. This allowed me to drive to work instead of flying, a rarity indeed. On Saturday, the last day, I brought a few old Dutch translations for the instructor to see. He still has family in Holland and one brother in particular who spends most of his time going to Dutch flea markets. He offered to contact his brother and have him start looking for old Sherlock Holmes books for me. He made this offer without any encouragement from me. Since I did not want to hurt his feelings, I said that would be okay with me if he asked his brother to find stuff for me. I could scarcely keep my elation at bay.

“…smoking cigars, and coffee, and wine were in front of them.” HOUN.

I have cause for glee because I know there are plenty of Dutch translations available. I know a collector living in The Netherlands who is not a Sherlockian but collects pre-1950 Conan Doyle, especially Sherlock Holmes. He has been selling his duplicates on eBay for years. The Dutch translations I took to school on Saturday I bought from this collector. Ironically, I won another auction from this person today. The auction consisted of a lot of six issues from the early 1900’s. So to celebrate, I had a cup of coffee, a piece of Dutch Apple pie, and a Dutch Master cigar, at least I thought about having these two latter treats.

Have you ever tried to fine Dutch Apple pie or any pie for that matter? It is nearly as difficult to find a place that sells pie as finding a mention of pie in the Canon. The only pie mentioned is in NOBL and that is about pate foie gras pie not a dessert pie. Moreover, just forget about finding a place that allows cigar smoking. The varieties of ash around here are near nonexistent.

“Oh, this is a Havana, and these others are cigars of the particular sort which are imported by the Dutch from their East Indian colonies.” RESI.

Other that this my Sherlocking for the week was almost as nonexistent as the ashes.

Happy Collecting!!

Sherlock Holmes, de Detective NIDW

De Liefde eener Vrouw DW-C2651.

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