Episode 108: Becoming a Sherlockian

"If a man has a hobby, he follows it up" [ILLU]

One of the perennially favorite sets of episodes is the Sherlockian 101 series we did (originally Episode 4 and Episode 5). Many of our longtime listeners may have heard these, but some may not have listened to them in a while. And we recognize that we may have new listeners who may not have gone through our extensive back catalog.

Therefore, we decided to resurrect and combine these episodes into one larger show to help you understand just what goes in to this little hobby of ours. From the original stories, to the advent of Sherlock Holmes as a pop culture figure, our love of all things Victorian and just getting started, you'll get a good grounding in the language and customs of our hobby.

Then, we'll help you understand the community of people that we call Sherlockians (or is that Holmesians?) who have been at this for over 100 years. From the publications they produce to the meetings they hold, we'll give you a grounding of the language, names and even traditions at some of these groups.

We'll cap it off with a tribute to none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who got this whole party started. We hope you enjoy it.

Notes

• Listener mail - how do I get into a Sherlockian society?
• What do we mean by Canonical?
• Which are the best Sherlock Holmes stories to read? Where should I begin?
• Holmes and Watson as real people - the beginnings of Sherlockian scholarship
• Some details about Baker Street - particularly 221B
• How we use short-hand to refer to the stories
• Close connection with and nostalgia for the Victorian/Ewardian era when the Baker Street Irregulars was founded in 1934
• You say Sherlockian / I say Holmesian
• The Baker Street Irregulars and the origins of Sherlock Holmes societies
• The Baker Street Journal Christmas Annuals
• Some society proceedings
• Overview of the past and present heads of the Baker Street Irregulars
• Why the "Baker Street Irregulars"?
• Some international groups, including the U.K., Canada, Japan, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Italy and France
• How to join a Sherlockian society / what goes on at meetings
• How to find out when the meetings are
• Answering the age-old question: "How can I become a member of the BSI?"
• The BSI Weekend activities
• Other online resources for your edification
• And some offline resources
• The Editor's Gas Lamp, from Vol. 9, No. 4, 1959

Sponsors

This episode includes our two longtime sponsors. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:

• Wessex Press
• The Baker Street Journal

Links

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  • The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (William S. Baring-Gould)
  • The leading problems of chronology
  • A table of major events in the stories
  • The Date Being -- ? (Andrew Jay Peck)
  • Christopher Morley
  • Ronald A. Knox's Studies in the Literature of Sherlock Holmes
  • Letters to Sherlock Holmes
  • Jay Finley Christ's list of four-letter abbreviations of the 60 stories
  • Writings about the writings - the Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes phenomena
  • Discovering Sherlock Holmes (Stanford University)
  • The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Leslie S. Klinger)
  • The best Sherlock Holmes stories, from Randall Stock and originally in the Baker Street Journal
  • The Baker Street Journal Christmas Annuals
  • A list of Sherlockian societies worldwide
  • How to Start and Run a Sherlockian Group
  • The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
  • The Baker Street Journal
  • The entire The eBSJ
  • The Bootmakers of Toronto and the Canadian Holmes
  • The Arthur Conan Doyle Society
  • The Sherlockian Calendar of Events
  • The District Messenger
  • Scuttlebutt from the Spermaceti Press
  • The Baker Street Dozen by p.j. Doyle
  • What goes on at the BSI Weekend
  • Sherlockian.net
  • The Sherlockian Who's Who
  • SherlockPeoria
  • The Serpentine Muse

Many more links, articles and images are available in our Flipboard magazine at ihose.co/flipsherlock, as well as on the The Sherlock Holmes Community on Google+ (with over 3,900 members), as well as through our accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Tumblr.

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Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email (comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com), call us at (774) 221-READ (7323).

Image source: BSI Trust - 2005 BSI Dinner

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