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De Waal #C3502

By Don Hobbs

The Universal Sherlock Holmes (TUSH) is a great reference tool. I use it daily in my quest to find and/or catalog all of the foreign language editions of the Canon that I get. This is the third Sherlock Holmes bibliographic work done by Ronald B. De Waal. The first was The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes (WBSH) and the second was The International Sherlock Holmes (TISH). The entries in each of these volumes have been renumbered and thus identified with the letters A, B, or C depending on which volume the entry is located in. There are now plans for a fourth volume and yet another renumbering effort, the time it will be "D".

De Waal (DW) #C3502 is the listing of the only known Kazakh translation of Sherlock Holmes. It happens to be a translation of The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. The information in De Waal's lists the title- - Sherlok Holms hikayalari along with other vital information such as the translator's names and when and where the book was published.

I do not have a Kazakh translation of Sherlock Holmes in my collection but I keep on trying to find one.

On one of my recent Internet searches, I found the Library of al-Farabi -Kazakh National University and an e-mail address of Abulkairova Evgenia. I sent them my usual, pitiful plea asking if they knew where I might possibly find a Kazakh translation of Sherlock Holmes. Well to my delightful surprise Abulkairova Evgenia quickly responded to my message.

The trouble with these foreign names is that one never knows if they are a he or a she. The information that Abulkairova Evgenia sent me was the same that was listed in De Waal. The same title, publisher, translators, and number of pages. He and/or she also indicated that the text was translated from Russian. He and/or she thanked me for "applying" to him and/or her and there were some copies of this book found in the fund of his and/or her library, but regretfully we are unable to make our assistance in solving your inquiry.

Ah, such is the life of a non-English collector of Sherlock Holmes. Just when you think you are going to reach your goal, the proverbial rug is jerked out from beneath you. The the carrot is dangled in front of you once again. The carrot this time was the next paragraph of Abulkairova Evgenia's message. He and/or she told me I would have to contact Professor Kakishev Tyrsinbek, one of the original translators of the book. He did not have e-mail but I was given the professor's postal address.

It amazed me totally that I had actually found one of the translators. I quickly sat right here at this very keyboard and typed a letter, once again making my usual, pitiful plea but this time with a twist to it. I was addressing the actual person who would know exactly what I was searching for. This was a couple of weeks ago and I have heard nothing back yet. I also send Abulkairova Evgenia another e-mail but I have not heard back from he and/or she yet. I am good at waiting and I wait I shall. I am never sure what the actual postal services in the far-off lands are like. Sometimes I question their efficiency or even their desire to see the mail get through.

I will keep everyone post on the porgress on the Kazakh front. I feel better about this one than I do on the elusive Uzbek translation. I have not heard form that person in nearly a year now. Until then…….

Happy Collecting!