The Galactic Sherlock Holmes Update
By Don Hobbs

The Galactic Sherlock Holmes is starting to roll. It has been getting some nice publicity and any publicity is nice.

It seems that the European Sherlockians understand the importance of a concise and up-to-date bibliography of the Canonical translations. The Société Sherlock Holmes de France maintains an excellent website. Their site is chocked full of information about their doings as a society, and their exploits of individuals as well. One of the most impressive sections is their listing, in chronological order, of the French translations of the Canon. I have been working with Alexis Barquin, the French society president, whenever I have been able send him information regarding French translations that they did not have. In return, I have been able to fill in gaps for the French translations in The Galactic Sherlock Holme database. The French section is the most complete of my entire database.

I have also had emails from Aleš Kolodrubec, one of the co-founders of the Czech Sherlock Holmes Society. I have sent him a Czech extraction from The Galactic Sherlock Holme database. Aleš will be working on this section and sending me regular updates. According to Aleš, there are several entries in De Waal that need to be corrected or amended. I am extremely pleased with this offer. It shows how much Sherlockians pull together when a common goal is to be achieved.

Another of the grand European Sherlock Holmes societies, Uno Studio in Holmes, The Sherlock Holmes Society of Italy has also offered to help getting all of the Italian translations into the database. Mr. Maurizio Tidu is Secretary of the Italian society and he has sent a list of Italian translations along with a copy of  Le Piste di Sherlock Holmes by Roberto Pirani. This book is the complete Italian bibliography of Sherlock Holmes. It will get plenty of use once it arrives.

I have other bibliographies in my collection like the one by Ted Bergman. His book, Sherlock Holmes i sverige: En bibliography. This work is the most complete Sherlock Holmes bibliography of Swedish translations from 1891 to 1990. This is one of the book I take with me when I am traveling. It lists make De Waal entries along with more 100 translations not list in De Waal (NIDW). I have also been working with Mattias Boström, of The Baskerville Hall Club of Sweden to get information on Swedish translations from 1990 to the present.

I also have the Spanish bibliography of Sherlockiana by Joan Proubasta. Catálogo bibliográfico de la obra editada en Espanña - Arthur Conan Doyle. Here is another fine work that will need to be cross-referenced and incorporated into The Galactic Sherlock Holme database. The same can be said for Michael Ross' Sherlockiana 1894-1994: Eine Bibliographie deutschsprachiger Sherlock-Holmes-Veröffentlichungen.  This the complete German bibliography. I am working with all of these references adding missing entries and correcting and amending errors.

As this database grows, it is taking on a life of it's own. It give a totally new meaning to my sign-off....

Happy Collecting!!