VIRTUAL COLLECTION: 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF SYDNEY PAGET

To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of iconic Sherlock Holmes artist Sydney Paget, most famous for his illustrations in The Strand Magazine, Peggy Perdue, curator of the The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, Special Collections Department, Toronto Reference Library, Toronto Public Library has assembled a marvelous virtual gallery celebrating Paget and his work.

To view this virtual gallery click here.


Full URL for gallery: http://ve.torontopubliclibrary.ca/sidney_paget/index.html

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: VAMPIRE STORIES COLLECTED

VAMPIRE STORIES: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
Edited by Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Martin H. Greenberg

$14.95 ($19.95 Canada)
288 pages
Paperback | 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
Published: October 2009 by Skyhorse Publishing
ISBN: 9781602397972

Publisher's Blurb:

"The first collection of vampire stories from the creator of Sherlock Holmes! Who would suspect that the same mind that created the most famous literary detective of all time also took on the eternally popular genre of vampires? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a contemporary of Bram Stoker, gave us some fascinating works of vampire fiction. From the bloodsucking plant in “The American’s Tale” to the bloodsucking wife in “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire,” he reveled in the horror created by creatures who survived on the blood of men and women."

The book collects nine stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, none of which are traditional 'vampire' stories, but in most cases do riff on a vaguely connected theme.

• The American's Tale
• The Captain of the Pole-Star
• John Barrington Cowles
• The Ring of Thoth
• The Winning Shot
• The Parasite
• The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
• The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
• The Adventure of the Three Gables

Strangely, there is also a pastiche by Bill Crider - The Case of the Vanished Vampire - as well as an interesting bibliography that tracks Sherlock Holmes' encounters with vampires in various forms of pastiche. The best elements of the book, if you haven't previously read the stories, are the introduction and individual story notes, by Dracula collector and scholar Robert Eighteen-Bisang. His all too brief comments regarding the Holmes stories, are fascinating, particularly his rationale behind explaining why The Illustrious Client reads like the Holmesian version of Dracula.


Not exactly crucial reading if you've already got the included stories in another collection, but if you've only ever read Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, this is as good a jumping off point as any into some of the lesser known works by an author who was definitely ahead of his time. If you are expecting traditional vampire stories, look elsewhere. Recommended.

To order a copy via Amazon USA click here.




  

STAMPS: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE HONOURED AS EMINENT BRITON BY ROYAL MAIL

Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of ten British individuals honoured with a stamp by the UK's Royal Mail this week. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shares the distinction with Fred Perry, Henry Purcell, Sir Matt Busby, William Gladstone, Mary Wollstonecraft, Donald Campbell, Judy Fryd, Samuel Johnson and Sir Martin Ryle. A variety of first day covers, stamp sheets, stamp cards, etc...of the Eminent Britons series can ordered through any good philatelic supplier or directly through the Royal Mail Online Shop, which ships internationally.

Click here to visit the Royal Mail Shop now.

 For more information on Detective Fiction Character and Author stamps check out this Detective Fiction on Stamps site.