ACD at Stonyhurst College, in Lancashire

I sent an e-mail to Stoneyhurst College’s front desk last week, and I received a perfect reply from David Knight, the Stonyhurst Archivist, who handled the response. I post his e-mail reply here, his essay on ACD, and two illustrations, a signed poem titled “Passage of the Red Sea” and a cartoon titled “Mr. Judkin’s Tragedy.” They both appeared in the pages of The Wasp but no copies of this school journal have survived. This information willl be entered in the revised ACD Bibliography, 3rd electronic edition by Phillip George Bergem. Here’s the long version below.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE by Knight

 

The Début of Bimbashi Joyce

Last week I took a day to peruse the bound volumes of Punch on the shelves of the Upper Library at Massey College at the University of Toronto. I saw the original cycle of The Picklock Holmes parodies by “Cunnin Toile” by R.C. Lehmann  in 1893-4, 1903-1904 and 1918. I used my new toy, a hand scanner with an 8GB micro-disk. It is really quite useful when you get the knack. She beats using adigital camera. I also learned the meaning of a new word Charivari–a cacophonous mock serenade, typically performed by a group of people in derision of an unpopular person or in celebration of a marriage. The word is used in the header of every page. I also had a look at Punch May 1926 to see Sherlock overseeing AD shackled in chains to a chair. ACD had very few appearnces in Punch, but one to remember is the first story of the 20th century January 1900 — The Debut of Bimbashi Joyce with three illustrations 1 by Bernard Partridge and 2 by Tony Wilkiinson. These illustrations were not used when the story was collected in a collection of short stories, so I include here because some readers may find them of interest.