Sherlockian.Net: The world of Holmes and Watson

Who, what, where, when

The straight dope: Did Sherlock Holmes really exist?
For that matter, did Dr. Watson really exist?

Description of Sherlock Holmes: It's your homework, not mine. Read the stories.

Landmarks in Holmes's career:

The layout of 221B

Probably the most elegant re-creation of the sitting-room and adjacent rooms in Holmes and Watson's lodgings is the floor plan drawn by Ernest H. Short, circa 1948, and published in the Strand magazine in 1950. Click for a scan.
Holmes's address: 221B Baker Street, London

  • The Location of 221B, by Peter Liddell
  • David Richardson on possible layout of the house
  • Possible floor plan of the sitting-room
  • The Ocular Helmsman, on Holmes and Watson's home and life
  • Bird's-eye drawing from Stutler Comics | Magazine version
  • A spectacular re-creation in Reading, Pennsylvania
  • Chuck Kovacic's re-creation in California
  • "The Curious Matter of the Congratulatory Telegrams"
  • The Mini-Tonga Society — models of 221B
  • Miniature model by Sebastien Cavenet
  • Miniature by Nancy Garcés-Saroli
  • Aerial photo of Baker Street
  • Webcam, corner of Baker Street and Marylebone Road

    Holmes's birthday: January 6, 1854 (according to Christopher Morley, pioneer American Sherlockian). At any rate apparently he was a Capricorn.

    Holmes's family:

  • A brother, Mycroft Holmes, mentioned in several of the stories
  • Speculations about other relatives

    Holmes's companion: John H. Watson, late of the Army Medical Department

  • Ted Skinner, "Watson's Value to the Canon"
  • Les Klinger, "Art in Whose Blood?"

    Holmes's arch-enemy: Professor James Moriarty -- see the Professor Moriarty page on Sherlockian.Net.

    Holmes's love life: To Sherlock Holmes Irene Adler was always The Woman. The Irene Adler page on Sherlockian.Net. Besides her, there's always Maud Bellamy of "The Lion's Mane". And then there's Mary Russell.

    Holmes's hobbies: Some sports ("an excellent boxer, singlestick player and swordsman"); music (played the violin, and wrote a monograph about Orlando di Lasso); obscure knowledge (the Buddhism of Ceylon, the warships of the future); tobacco.

    When did the stories take place? About Sherlockian chronology

    Holmes's retirement: To Sussex, to keep bees, according to a couple of the later stories. Jim Byrd has some speculations about the details.

    Frequently asked questions

    Did Holmes do drugs? What did Holmes say about eliminating the impossible? See the Frequently Asked Questions page.

    Methods

  • The Whole Art of Detection
  • "Sherlock Holmes's Seven Vital Lessons", an essay by John C. Sherwood
  • "Science of Deduction and Analysis", compiled by Dimitrios Markatos
  • Crime Scene Sketches of 17 cases, by Thomas F. Hanratty
  • Typical pattern of the stories: Ronald Knox, "Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes"
  • Scientific Method
  • Sherlock Holmes, Paranormal Investigator
  • Sherlockian.Net links related to policing and crime
  • Mission Critical (critical thinking and logic)

    Some common misperceptions

    "Elementary, my dear Watson": never appears in the original stories; tentatively traced to P. G. Wodehouse's comic novel Psmith, Journalist (1915). Holmes does say "Exactly, my dear Watson," in three different tales.

    Deerstalker (fore-and-aft) cap: never exactly mentioned in the stories. The original illustrator, Sidney Paget, interpreted the "ear-flapped travelling cap" mentioned in "Silver Blaze" as a deerstalker and drew it for that story and four subsequent times. Then the idea took off. Definition of a deerstalker . . . DeerStalker.com. Where can I buy a deerstalker hat? From many gentlemen's outfitters and shops that sell woollen goods. One that's near me, and that sells over the Internet, is Macleod's Scottish Shops.

    Curved or calabash pipe: not clearly described in the stories, but attributed to actor William Gillette, who wanted a pipe that would not interfere with his famous profile or with clear articulation.

    What goes with the pipe, of course, is the dressing-gown. And then there's the magnifying glass.

    Stupid Watson: not justified by the text, except in the sense that everyone is stupider than Holmes; traceable to the buffoonish Watson played by Nigel Bruce in 1940s films.

    Watson's marriages, and other inconsistencies

    Take a look at the "Canonical Cruxes" page provided by "Inspector Hopkins".

    Another way of looking at it all

  • Working Back to Sherlock Through Tarzan (the Wold Newton Universe)

    The View Halloa

    A series of brief introductions to the stories and provocative questions about them, prepared by Rosemary Michaud for the Hounds of the Internet and now available on Sherlockian.Net

    Also from Sherlockian.Net

  • Other famous Holmeses
  • Issues of Sherlockian chronology
  • Commentary and background, story by story
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    Copyright © Chris Redmond 2008