 "Same pleasure than for The Novels volume" | 2009-05-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: AYCGTBL4F7UQC |
| Just great!The pleasure is the same than for The Annotated Sherlock Holmes Four novels. A scholarly work! |
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 "Work of love, but very bad for a first time reader" | 2008-12-29 |
| - Reviewed By sizer99 |
If you've already read all the stories, this is a great set of books, and perhaps you might learn something new. If you're a new reader who is actually trying to read the stories as stories, this is a soul-crushing dissection that will suck all the joy out.
First the good - you can feel the love in these books. Large format, heavy, decent enough paper, the definitive Sidney Paget illustrations, extensive annotations, timelines, 'biographies' of Watson and Holmes, a clear obsession with the subject.
The downside is that same obsession. Each page is divided in half, with the inner half being the actual story, the outer half being the annotations. HALF. There is nearly as much annotation as story. Now imagine you're reading along and you see a little superscript '10' next to a word. My natural inclination is to glance at the annotation - the problem is you don't know whether it's crucial or worse than useless. It could tell you useful information such as every mention of the game of whist in the official Holmes Canon or the definition of a word that might not be in much use today, like 'whist'. It could be idle fan speculation such as 'Mister Blah speculates in his Holmesian analysis 'Maids in Deerskin Peril' that this maid was actually the long lost fifth cousin of Prof. Moriarity because she shares the same last name as his fourth cousin!' It could be bafflement that there was apparently no hotel in the town of Foochester where Holmes said there was in the story 'The Bunnies of the Foovilles'. Worst of all it could be pointing out actual factual errors by Holmes, like a barometer reading that Holmes seems to think would indicate fair weather but a meteorologist says means it should be raining already (and of course these are all written off as Watson's errors, which gets very tedious after a while). Or noting that 'Watson refers here to a story that by the chronology could not have taken place already because of x, y, and z'.
The reality is perhaps too easy: Arthur Conan Doyle cared only slightly for Holmesian consistency and didn't spend much time worrying about it. When you get obsessed fans trying to explain or retcon some inconsistency it's bound to be a horrible sight, and these are brought out equally with the genuinely useful annotations. When you glance over you have no way of telling which it will be in advance.
I read the stories as a child and loved them, and am trying to re-read them again, but this obsessive, nitpicking nerdgassing is destroying all my love. Imagine you're reading Wizard of Oz while little text bubbles are popping up describing everything wrong with the story.
Against all my training, I am teaching myself to completely ignore all the annotations (and thus half the page) and perhaps will go back later and re-read the comments.
So again, if you've already read all the books, these are excellent. If not, read a collection that consists of only the stories themselves first.
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| "Fantastic Collection" | 2008-10-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: A23EXQFST8E9Q7 |
| This collection has it all. Well presented with a plethoa of extra information, this is a great addition to any Sherlockian's library! |
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| "The Best Annotated Holmes Collection Available" | 2007-08-14 |
| - Reviewed By classics_lover |
Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories are widely available in numerous editions, but this one stands out for three reasons. First, there is a superb introudction of over 60 pages ("The World of Sherlock Holmes"); second, there are numerous original illustrations, photographs of the scenes of the stories, and so on; third, and most important, the annotations--which are extensive--include both real facts about the Victorian world that one needs to know to understand the stories *and* "Sherlockiana".
For example, when, in "the Adventure of the Beryl Coronet", a mysterious nobleman asks a banker for "a trifling sum" of 50,000 pounds, the modern reader might shrug--surely 50,000 pounds *is* indeed a "trifling sum" for a rich nobleman?--until one realizes, as the annotations say, that it would be over $6,000,000 today. The annotators do an excellent job with such factoids: less and some of the stories' references would remain obscure; more and they would become pedantic.
What really sets it apart, however, are the "Sherlockian" annotations, which pretend "A. C. Doyle" was Watson's pen name and that the stories describe real events--and makes up theories to explain apparent contradictions or omissions. For example, in "The Man with the Twisted Lip", Watson's wife calls him "James" (instead of "John"). Why? The obvious answer--Doyle made a slip--is, of course, not allowed by the rules of the Sherlockian "game". The annotators give three pages to summarising the numerous theories Sherlockians offered--from claiming "James" was Watson's middle name, to claims it was her lover's name (thus also "discovering" Waton's middle name, and/or explaining why he seems to have left his wife).
Even if you have no interest at all in such intellectual games, the photographs and illustrations, the historical introduction, and the factual annotations alone more than justify a "five stars" rating. If you *are* interested in Shelockiana, these books are more than that--they're an instant classic, sure to be the "standard edition" of Sherlock fans for years to come. |
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| "conan doyle changed police procedure from beating todeduction" | 2007-08-10 |
| - Reviewed By wclem36 |
Conanan Doylechanged police from bribers of low life to rat on others or to beat confessions from poorly educated or low intelligence souls tothose who sought to know the facts.The facts came from evidence of all sorts, witnesses,debris on the scene, or from the area or arena of suspects o those involved. The courts the\n rejected evidence that was tainted.This included statements from tortured or possibly tortured persons that was not corrobrated by tangible evidence. So today we have a system that is closer to trying to get the truth than getting a conviction. This enables those who can manipulate it to beat the justice sytem in the short term. The safety valve is that those who tend to break the law do so again until getting caught.
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| "BEAUTIFUL! ~~An HONOR to Doyle, and to HOLMES!" | 2007-07-16 |
| - Reviewed By operabruin |
Well, to start, I see that I am the 25th person to review this double volume of these marvelous stories in this wonderful edition.
It is so wonderful to sit down in my big old wing-back chair, especially on a rainy day or evening, and re-read these fabulous stories again, some for perhaps the 6th or 7th time, others the 3rd or 4th. And, the highlight, of course, is to ponder the notations in the margins of these wonderfully crafted and beautifully presented books.
Next time you feel like doing something "Nice" for yourself, why not treat yourself to this beautiful, and so much fun to revisit, set of the Sherlock Holmes Short Stories! You will never regret it...they always seem to be like old forgotten friends each time you come back to them. ~operabruin
(PS: Do not forget the Novels, also part of this edition in their own volume.) |
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