Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmikel
It is hard to remember sometimes that these authors who we now regard as classic authors were grinding these out at a very fast pace to make a living, compensation then being much much less that the superstar authors of today. No surprise they should make a mistake. The Sherlock Holmes fans have uncovered some fair inconsistencies much worse than this.
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My favorite Holmesian error is Dr Watson's forename.
We are told that the name on his dispatch box was "John H Watson", but later on his wife calls him "James". A pleasant explanation of Doyle's error (suggested by Dorothy Sayers) was that the "H" stood for "Hamish", the Scottish form of James, and his wife called him that as a pet name. She'd have got on well with Jasper Fforde.
Holmes' landlady, the indefatigable (and no doubt widowed) Mrs Hudson, appears briefly as Mrs Turner: speculation in that case turns on a brief marriage to a Mr Turner.