Left: “He laid his hand upon the glossy neck.” Silver Blaze, Sidney Paget, The Strand Dec 1892/Jan 1893 Characters: Watson, Col Ross, Holmes, Jockey
Right: “Holmes crouched behind the bush with the dog as the carriage approached.” Shoscombe Old Place, FD Steele, Liberty Mar 1927 Characters: Holmes
In the spirit of me working a bit on my Watsonian scholarship stuff...
oh really tough choice, all of these are top shelf. i am especially fond of ABBE and SUSS because holmes takes the part of women who have been abused in some way. in SUSS, he even defends her against the client. in ABBE, he extends his defense to her rescuer.
VALL is just a cracking good story, and i won't spoil the crowning moment. STUD shows holmes learning something important, which gets applied many times (same with SCAN, not listed here) i love that those first two stories set important cornerstones for his consulting practice.
There is a series of children’s books published a few years back which is basically the Sherlock Holmes stories but for kids (obviously) and the illustrations are ADORABLE
Holmes is so skrunkly ❤️❤️❤️ truly a lil guy
OK BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH
These books are an absolute masterclass in writing literature for children. The author Stephanie Baudet carefully keeps very closely to the essence of the original text, while simplifying the vocabulary and sentence structure. She ensures that new or potentially confusing concepts are presented with a little more context in a way which doesn't feel patronising.
The additions to the text are rare but always excellent - Baudet often adds in a little more input from Watson about how he's feeling, and smooths over some of Doyle's vague or wonky continuity (we get a definite answer about what happened to Mary! And Holmes' reaction to that!)
In the letters from Watson server we called them the 'Baudet Adaptation' and revere them as a legitimate contribution to the Sherlock Holmes cultural landscape.
If you know any nine year olds, or find the language of the originals tricky for whatever reason, you can basically read these and know you've read the original Sherlock Holmes stories.
(Well... minus the ones which they decided were a bit too grim to adapt for children. No Cardboard Box, sorry)
THE BLUE CARBUNCLE part 4 - part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - the end of this chapter. I was extremely grateful to be able to throw myself into drawing today, and I rushed to get it done because I know many of us are having a shitty time right now. I hope this can bring a little comfort or distraction. Watch out for each other and yourselves, my friends, and don't let them steal your joy.
The Blanched Soldier is next if you'd like to read along. This is in the Watson's Sketchbook series!
tiny bonus sketches below:
I believe MacDonald is based on Melville MacNaghten, who a) worked on the Jack the Ripper case and somehow came away with his dignity enhanced, and b) was instrumental, as Assistant Commisioner for the Met in 1895, in codifying fingerprinting within British law enforcement. And he looked like this:
...which isn't to say I don't spend Until Monday completely ignoring the parallel. MacNaghten was Chief Constable as of 1890, and that just makes my job too easy.
THE BLUE CARBUNCLE part 3 - part 1 - part 2 - with one more to come! MR. HOLMES it is very difficult to conceal injures from a trained doctor (who happens to be obsessed with you)!!
also just wanted to say - I'm so sorry to all the folks who couldn't get copies of Volume 1 of the Sketchbook - I'm working on a much larger print run and a pre order system so everyone can get one :) your support truly means the world to me, stay tuned!
THE BLUE CARBUNCLE - part two - part 1 here - reference is made to the events of Christmas Eve. I suggest reading the original story so you can see how this one is diverging from canon :)
How cool is this - I found a site that overlays 19th century maps onto modern day google maps - really cool to pretend to be Mr. Holmes poring over giant maps of London!
Left: “How far to Wallington?” Cardboard Box, Sidney Paget Characters: Watson, Holmes
Right: “"Too late, Watson; too late!" cried Holmes” Solitary Cyclist, Sidney Paget Characters: Watson, Holmes
Left: [Lion] Veiled Lodger, FD Steele Characters: Lion
Right: “At the same moment Holmes stepped out and released the spaniel.” Shoscombe Old Place, Frank Wiles Characters: Watson, Holmes, Lady Beatrice's dog, Norlett as Lady Beatrice, Mrs Norlett
This is true; Holmes only pulls this when a potential client tries to treat him as “okay so I’m A Real Big Shot and you’re only Hired Help so drop everything for my case”, as in “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” when Lord St Simon is snobby about being too high-class for a mere detective to have met before:
“I understand that you have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of society.”
“No, I am descending.”
“I beg pardon.”
“My last client of the sort was a king.”
Or when he considers that a client, even a sincere one, has behaved badly/recklessly, especially to those owed a duty of care, as with the Duke of Holdernesse in “The Adventure of the Priory School”:
My friend rubbed his thin hands together with an appearance of avidity which was a surprise to me, who knew his frugal tastes.
“I fancy that I see your Grace’s cheque-book upon the table,” said he. “I should be glad if you would make me out a cheque for six thousand pounds. It would be as well, perhaps, for you to cross it. The Capital and Counties Bank, Oxford Street branch, are my agents.”
…“This is indeed a most serious matter. Even more culpable in my opinion, your Grace, is your attitude towards your younger son. You leave him in this den for three days.”
“Under solemn promises — ”
“What are promises to such people as these? You have no guarantee that he will not be spirited away again. To humour your guilty elder son you have exposed your innocent younger son to imminent and unnecessary danger. It was a most unjustifiable action.”
…“Thank you,” said he, as he replaced the glass. “It is the second most interesting object that I have seen in the North.”
“And the first?”
Holmes folded up his cheque and placed it carefully in his note-book. “I am a poor man,” said he, as he patted it affectionately and thrust it into the depths of his inner pocket.
Or the millionaire Neil Gibson, in “The Problem of Thor Bridge”:
“Let me say right here, Mr. Holmes,” he began, “that money is nothing to me in this case. You can burn it if it’s any use in lighting you to the truth. This woman is innocent and this woman has to be cleared, and it’s up to you to do it. Name your figure!”
“My professional charges are upon a fixed scale,” said Holmes coldly. “I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether.”
“Well, if dollars make no difference to you, think of the reputation. If you pull this off every paper in England and America will be booming you. You’ll be the talk of two continents.”
“Thank you, Mr. Gibson, I do not think that I am in need of booming. It may surprise you to know that I prefer to work anonymously, and that it is the problem itself which attracts me. But we are wasting time. Let us get down to the facts.”
…“The whole world has proclaimed that she also is a very beautiful woman. Now, I make no pretence to be more moral than my neighbours, and I will admit to you that I could not live under the same roof with such a woman and in daily contact with her without feeling a passionate regard for her. Do you blame me, Mr. Holmes?”
“I do not blame you for feeling it. I should blame you if you expressed it, since this young lady was in a sense under your protection.”
“Well, maybe so,” said the millionaire, though for a moment the reproof had brought the old angry gleam into his eyes. “I’m not pretending to be any better than I am. I guess all my life I’ve been a man that reached out his hand for what he wanted, and I never wanted anything more than the love and possession of that woman. I told her so.”
“Oh, you did, did you?”
Holmes could look very formidable when he was moved.
“I said to her that if I could marry her I would, but that it was out of my power. I said that money was no object and that all I could do to make her happy and comfortable would be done.”
“Very generous, I am sure,” said Holmes with a sneer.
“See here, Mr. Holmes. I came to you on a question of evidence, not on a question of morals. I’m not asking for your criticism.”
“It is only for the young lady’s sake that I touch your case at all,” said Holmes sternly. “I don’t know that anything she is accused of is really worse than what you have yourself admitted, that you have tried to ruin a defenceless girl who was under your roof. Some of you rich men have to be taught that all the world cannot be bribed into condoning your offences.”
Some of you rich men have to be taught that all the world cannot be bribed into condoning your offences
“Eat the rich” - Sherlock Holmes, probably
and another example of a man coming to holmes as a client, but holmes prioritizes the needs of the woman who is involved in the case. he really did learn something important from irene adler norton.
Left: [Lady with horse] Shoscombe Old Place, FD Steele Characters: Norlett as Lady Beatrice, Horse
Right: “As I slipped the bars it bounded out, and was on me in an instant.” Veiled Lodger, FD Steele Characters: Lion, Eugenia Ronder
THE BLUE CARBUNCLE, part one - almost all dialogue taken directly from the story, which I find to be so charmingly written! This takes place right after the events of Christmas Eve. If Holmes guessing presents makes you laugh, then let me also recommend you watch this 1991 SNL sketch (it IS gay)
#can i mention how cool it is to have a variation of sherlock holmes where he says stuff like this #because it’s important #and this episode is my favourite so far because it’s surprisingly accurate #and it was just great to hear him say this #because sherlock holmes is of course intelligent and a modern sherlock would know this #and even though this holmes does have that social crass and indelicacy he’s softer in some ways to the others #which is what makes him different and a new take and interesting to watch #he’s a rare fictional example of a character who is pragmatic and driven and a bit socially blunt but also has a firm moral intelligence too #just because a character can be blunt and rude and not understand that they’ve just insulted someone doesn’t have to mean #that they don’t understand right from wrong (via teacupsandcyanide)
I always reference this scene when talking about Jonny as Holmes because this is what makes him the most Holmesian Holmes since the passing of the great Jeremy Brett.
Sherlock Holmes cares about people, he cares about justice, he cares about not what is legally right but what is morally right and this scene reminds me so much of Holmes’ concern for Violet Hunter in The Copper Beeches or Violet Smith in The Solitary Cyclist or Helen Stoner in The Speckled Band all women in close proximity to abusers/potential abusers and he’s so concerned for them.
That’s Sherlock Holmes, a man concerned with justice and the protection of victims. I love Jonny’s Holmes with a passion because this is my childhood hero returned.
I have to say, this was what hooked me in with this show. I mean I liked it well enough as a ‘generic procedural’ at first, and I was kind of diehard about BBC Sherlock at the time (I have since changed my mind since season 3 of BBC Sherlock, lol).
But this, here…it said so much about Sherlock’s character, about the interpretation of Holmes, and it really spoke to me as an abuse victim who has gone back to an abuser again and again. And when Sherlock said this - I just thought about the writers who came up with this line, who polished it up and put it into their draft, and I thought about the team who approved it, and I thought about Jonny Lee Miller who delivered it perfectly, and I thought:
‘This is more than a generic procedural, and I love that it is understated but so, so very powerful.’
And there have been episodes here and there that have felt like filler (they do have giant seasons after all), but for what it’s worth, I still think of this as an exceptionally strong but understated show, that is careful about where it places its power - which gives them the knowledge to pull off scenes like this so very well.
Left: “Holmes crouched behind the bush with the dog as the carriage approached.” Shoscombe Old Place, FD Steele Characters: Holmes
Right: “Running up, I blew its brains out.” Copper Beeches, Sidney Paget Characters: Mr Rucastle, Watson
Left: “Holmes gazed at it and then passed on.” Abbey Grange, Sidney Paget Characters: Holmes, Watson
Right: [Mycroft's brougham] Final Problem, Harry C. Edwards Characters: Mycroft?
Left: [Colliers Cover Illustration] Missing Three-quarter, FD Steele Characters: Holmes, Pompey
Right: “On the ledge of rock above this strange couple stood three noble buzzards” Study in Scarlet, Charles Doyle, Characters: Lucy and John Ferrer
Left: “He laid his hand upon the glossy neck.” Silver Blaze, Sidney Paget Characters: Watson, Col Ross, Holmes, Jockey
Right: “Close to the door of the cage lay Mrs. Ronder, with the creature squatting and snarling above her.” Veiled Lodger, FD Steele Characters: Lion, Eugenia Ronder
