The Sherlock Holmes Society of London is sponsoring a seminar looking at Photography in the Canon. This worthy topic, of course, raises the question: What are the photographic references in the Canon; which stories, and what are the specific instances? Frankly, Buttons cannot think of a single one off the top of his head. He’s confident many of our members will do much better. He will, however, contemplate the question during today’s ‘pie and pint’ break.
6 Replies to “Photography in the Canon”
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I hope you will forgive a quick mention of my little journal, Baker Street Miscellanea, in which Howard Brody published an excellent essay on the subject in our 1978 issue: “The Unphotographic Holmes, or, A Thousand Words About No Pictures.” Anyone interested in the subject should also consult the volume edited by Gibson and Green of Arthur Conan Doyle’s writings on photography.
I’ll have to go back to my BSMs and find Mr. Brody’s article. Off the tip of my head, the King of Bohemia was concerned with getting back the photograph of Him and Irene Adler and of course Holmes kept the photo left by Irene as his fee; Holmes used a photo of Beppo in his search for him (SIXN); Holmes and Watson saw Milverton’s assassin in a photograph in an Oxford Street window (CHAS); Watson’s framed and unframed pictures of Gordon and Beecher were possibly photographs.
Didn’t Holmes have pictures (perhaps photographs) of famous criminals on the walls of his room?
Watson in DYIN: “Then, unable to settle down to reading, I walked slowly round the room, examining the pictures of celebrated criminals with which every wall was adorned.”
& a useful link for researches on the photographic topos:
http://www.sshf.com/canon/index.php?kw=photo
I found in “The New Good Old Index” on pages 462 and 463, a rather lengthily list of “photographs in the canon” and “photography as a hobby” as well as ” photography as an investigative method”
#1: photograph:
Scan pg.171, scan of.174 twis pg.242. Silv pg. 346. Yell. Pg. 358. Resi. Pg..433. Norw. Pg. 503 chas. pg. 582 sign. Pg.586 scco pgs.656,659,663.houn. Pg.753 card. Pg.843. Illu. Pg.990 lion. Pg.1091. Veil, PGA.1097,1099. Reti. Pgs. 1113,1116.
Photography as a hobby: redhead. Pg.178 copp. Pg.327
Photography as an investigative method, lion. Pg.1091.
Whew!
Great question!
Long live the Watson Society
Alfie
Thank You to everyone who has responded. Once again, your researches have highlighted heretofore little-known aspects of the Canon and given all of our members a positive and interesting experience in scholarship. Well Done!