Paperback edition |
Since I have a Sherlock Holmes library, and not a collection,
every book in its is – by definition – a reference book. Which one do I use
most often?
Next to various editions of the Canon itself, the one I turn
to most is The Encylopeadia Sherlockiana
by the late Jack Tracy, first published in hardcover in 1977 by Doubleday &
Co. I also have an Avon paperback edition and a later hardcover version by Gramercy
which carries a different name, The
Ultimate Sherlock Holmes Encyclopedia.
Speaking of names the Tracy book is not to be confused with
the similarly named Encyclopedia
Sherlockiana by Mathew E. Bunson or The
Sherlock Holmes Encyclopedia by Orlando Park, which I also own.
The subtitle of the Tracy book is A Universal Dictionary of the
State of Knowledge of Sherlock Holmes and His Biographer, John H. Watson, M.D.
But it’s actually more than that. It has entries on everything from the letter
A to Zoology, some of them quite lengthy. I most often use it to remind myself in
which story a character or unrecorded adventure appears.
My friend Joel Senter, a veteran Sherlockian, commented to
me over the weekend that only once has he ever failed to find something he was
looking for in The Encylopeadia
Sherlockiana. My own experience over almost 40 years has been similar. If this
book isn’t on your shelves, it should be. Used copies are readily available.
You are right; simple, to the point, easy to use.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have an Avon paperback copy of this invaluable book, along with my own "A Sherlock Holmes Who's Who" !
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