The Maniac Collector's Inbox
No. 516, April 29, 2012

The Korean New
Annotated Sherlock Holmes
By Don Hobbs, BSI

I was working in Birmingham, Alabama last week. I flew home Friday night, turn around, and return to Birmingham on Monday. Part of my quick-turn around routine is a stop by my cleaners to drop off my ‘Sunday-School’ clothes. Because I was gone last week, I missed a package so before going to the cleaners; I swung by the Flower Mound Post Office to get my package. It was a nice 1907 Hungarian edition of A Study in Scarlet. When I pulled up to the cleaners, Mr. Lee, the owner was at the front counter. He is fascinated with my collections and always inquires if I have any new books.

I brought the Hungarian book into the store along with an armload of dirty laundry. One day I arrived at the cleaners and found half dozen Korean editions of Sherlock Holmes waiting for me. Mr. Lee had found them for me. I never know what to expect when I go to the cleaners and this time was no different. On Saturday, he asked if I owned a Smart Phone. I said no but in fact, I was on my way to buy an iPhone that very day (I did buy one but that is a story for another day). He said when I did, bring it and he and we could search Korean eBay for Sherlock Holmes books. He said they are very cheap and list many books. I have been using eBay since Day One but never knew there was a separate Korean eBay. With the cleaners closed on Sunday, I did not wait for Mr. Lee’s help rather I went to Korean eBay myself.

The site is totally in Korean but typing in ‘Doyle’ or ‘Sherlock Holmes’ many results appear.
One of the more interesting listings is a two-volume set of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes in Korean. Volume I listed for 29,000 Korean Won and volume II for 39,000 Korean Won so using a currency convertor I discovered that 68,000 Korean Won is equal to approximately $60.00. I promptly sent Les Klinger an email and asked him if he was aware of these volumes. He did know they existed. This does not give one much encouragement for International copyright laws. Still I will buy an extra set for Les so he can add them to his growing set of pirated editions of his excellent annotated editions.

There were many more interesting books on Korean eBay but I will now wait for Mr. Lee’s help. I hoped there would be more older edition that the ones listed. I saw several editions already in my collection but plenty that were not there. Korean edition will be the next section to be buffed up in my ever growing collection.

Happy Collecting!!

Archives for
2002 to 2008

Archives for 2009

Archives for 2010

Archives for 2011

Past 2012 Columns

January 1, 2012
500