Sherlockian Anthologies (revisited)
By Don Hobbs

There was a time in my collecting mania that my concentration was not on foreign translations of the Canon. I was once very interested in all of the various Sherlockian journals, newsletters, and such. I was also once more interested in anthologies that contained at least one of The Sacred Writings. This lead me to create a spreadsheet that lists all of the known anthologies. The list contains more than 500 books although some are different printings or publishers for the same book.

As my work on The Galactic Sherlock Holmes progresses, I am finding many, many foreign anthologies with one of the stories in them. I have only recently started adding these to the original list. Currently, I have 520 books listed and I have 375 of these in my collection. That is a whopping 72%! If only I had that high of a percentage of the rest of the Sherlockian books.

The first appearance of a Sherlock Holmes story in an anthology was in 1891 when "A Study In Scarlet" appeared in Five Complete Novels by Famous Authors published by Ward, Lock. Between 1891 and 1921, there were only eight years without an appearance of a single story but there has been at least one Sacred Tale every year since 1922. The second book was an often looked over work by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, My Friend the Murderer and Other Mysteries and Adventures. This little volume included "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League" and was published in 1893. It is because of this little book that we have today's article.

I was going through some documents on my computer and came across the list of anthologies once again. I decided to search the Internet for items listed and on the first attempt, I came across the afore mentioned My Friend the Murderer and Other Mysteries and Adventures listed on eBay. First of all, it is the first time I have ever been able to find this book on the Internet. Secondly, it was listed as a 'Buy It Now' for $19.95 but it also featured the option to 'Make An Offer' which I did, for $15.00. I am pleased that the seller accepted my bid and I won the book.

The sheer excitement of finding this little book after searching for it for several years has motivated me to update the list. I will be adding all of the know foreign anthologies during the next couple of weeks. When I total the one I have, my percentage will be lower but this will have only motivated me to try and find more on the list. If there are any collectors who want a copy of the updated list of anthologies containing at least one of the sixty Sacred Tales, just email me at Sherlockpeoria, and I will email a copy.

The collecting of anthologies is an interesting and challenging area of Sherlockian collecting. Many of the books on the list are old text books and have practically zero re-sale value, so they are difficult to find. I have found many in my collection at old library sales and flea markets. Anyone up for a special challenge, this is a great area to pursue.

Happy Collecting!!