I have the 1892 Harper and Brothers 1st American edition of Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I first read it in late childhood and adored it. The innocence of forensic knowledge I had then probably had a lot in common with late nineteenth century readers. We also had some Golden age detective novels, so my reading more or less followed the trajectory of decades of the genre right through the pulps of the mid-20th century and into today's novels featuring sophisticated forensic technique. Sherlock Holmes, influenced by Poe's Dupin, influenced everything in the genre that came later, if not always directly.
People tend to think of Holmes as middle-aged, but he was 27 (born 1854 as stated in "The Last Bow") when he moved to 221B Baker Street in 1881 with Dr. Watson.
Two of my treasured print books are 'The London of Sherlock Holmes' by Michael Harrison (1972) and 'Rivals of Sherlock Holmes' (1981), 40 mystery stories contemporary to late Holmes stories published in The Strand. Both books have a multitude of pictures and original illustrations.
|