Sherlock's Familiar Quotations

One problem with being the member of a highly specialized society is that it becomes difficult to maintain a perspective on how the rest of the world views the subject of your zeal. We all know that Holmes himself is a familiar figure around the world -- at least when he is not in one of his disguises. But how familiar is the general public with what Holmes did and said? The logical place to turn for an answer is that compendium of public familiarly, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

In the fifteenth edition, we find twelve Holmesian excerpts listed under Doyle. (A thirteenth -- "A face that a man might die for" SCAN -- appears in a footnote to Browning's "A Likeness"). It is convenient that all Canonical quotations are to be found in one place, although unfortunate that the actual speakers or authors are identified in only a few instances. For example, one can't tell from Bartlett's whether it was Holmes, Watson, or the Literary Agent who said, "The fair sex is your department" (SECO). But on the bright side, there are many fine quotations here, with nary an "Elementary, my dear Watson" or "Quick, Watson, the needle!" among them.

The main listing includes such obvious candidates as the "dog in the night-time epigram, the "however improbable" aphorism, and the true source of the "elementary" remark. "Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot" is even cross referenced to Shakespeare's Henry V. One curious selection is the title "The Speckled Band," as though there are people who go around quoting that phrase.

For comparison, let's look at The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, third edition. If it is pleasant to find twelve Sherlockian quotations in Bartlett's, it is a true delight to find no less than forty-two in the Oxford. A comparison shows that the Oxford includes everything listed in Bartlett's with the exception of "The game is afoot" and "The Speckled Band" (thank goodness). Of those that only the Oxford includes, some are really essential -- "the Napoleon of crime," for example, and the "Good old Watson!" remark. Others are more surprising. There is the entire story of the man hurling his false teeth at his wife (IDEN); three separate statements by Watson about his practice; and Holmes's remark on the vocabulary of "Bradshaw" (VALL). A pleasant result of this wide range of selections is that, although the majority of the quotations are still from Holmes and Watson, others also get a share of the spotlight. Inspector Martin (DANC) is quoted, as is the unknown assassin of Charles Augustus Milverton -- "Take that, you hound, and that! -- and that! -- and that! -- and that!" Unfortunately, the Oxford isn't much better at identifying the speakers, but at least "the woman" is identified as Irene Adler and "the Napoleon of crime" as Moriarty.

Why so many more listings in the Oxford than in Bartlett's? One reason may be that the original editor of the former was Bernard Darwin, himself a Sherlockian. In fact, Darwin mentions Holmes, Watson, the Agent, and Holmesian scholarship in his 1941 introduction to the work. But is that a sufficient reason? After all, Christopher Morley was editor of the eleventh edition of Bartlett's and co-editor of the twelfth. The "Historical Note" to Bartlett's tells us that "Morley's theory of selection was broader than Bartlett's," so one might expect him to indulge himself where Holmes was concerned. But the note goes on to say that "this new approach opened up for future Bartlett editors the temptation to exploit their literary passions. Restraint has been necessary to keep the volume from becoming idiosyncratic ...." Thus, if Morley didn't add as much of Holmes as we would have liked, it was probably out of a conscious desire to avoid playing favorites with the vast field of literature.

We can't be certain whether Darwin felt any such constraint when editing the first edition of the Oxford. If he did, however, he probably had other reasons for including more Holmes than we find in Bartlett's. One is that Darwin and the Oxford were both English. Not only might the British be expected to have more of a vested interest in Holmes, but certain of the quotations in the British work--like the "Bradshaw" remark -- would hold more meaning to those in England than in America. But the simplest reason may be that the Oxford is not a compilation of familiar quotations, but a dictionary of quotations. Perhaps through the years its editors have felt more comfortable with including not only what the public was familiar with, but also what they ought to be familiar with. As far as the Holmes chronicles are concerned, we know that they were right.

(Printed in Plugs & Dottles, July 1983)

POSTSCRIPT TO THIS COLUMN:

Newt Williams, BSI later informed us that "Elementary, my dear Watson" does appear in the eleventh edition of Bartlett's , and is attributed to "The Creeping Man." By the fourteenth edition, the quotation has been changed to the real quote from that story which reads:

"Excellent!" I cried.

"Elementary," said he.

One has to wonder how renowned Sherlockian Christopher Morley, who was editor of the eleventh edition, made such an error, using the well known but spurious quote which most Sherlockians know appears nowhere in the Canon.