A Grand Game
As I said yesterday, 2011 looks to be all-Sherlock, all the time in LRK-land—and it will start in January, when I go to New York for the annual dinner of the Baker Street Irregulars and sign copies of:
The Grand Game, Volume One
Eds. Leslie S. Klinger and Laurie R. King
The Grand Game is another post-Pirate King project that I was cajoled into by Les Klinger and Mike Whelan, head of the BSI: a collection of outstanding essays and articles that play “The Game.” (That is, they are based on the assumptions: Sherlock Holmes did actually live; Dr Watson wrote the tales of his cases; and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was merely the literary executor. Much as Laurie R. King is the literary agent for one Mary Russell.)
Les and I (Les did most of the work here) asked a number of eminent Sherlockians, or Holmesians if they were British, to nominate essays. And of course we ended up with far too many absolute treasures, so we decided to divide them into two volumes. This one will cover the years up to 1970, and is structured around the Ronald Knox essay that laid the groundwork for Sherlockian studies. Volume Two will be out later in 2011, and will cover the last forty years (my 2007 paper on “Watson’s War Wound” will be in there.)
It is a small publishing house, so the book will probably be in the $35 to $40 range. My own contribution is an introduction, and although naturally it is an introduction of pure genius, it is not a large slice of the whole. However, if you’re interested in the brilliant, witty, and closely worked academic efforts of generations of Sherlock Holmes scholars, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Dorothy L. Sayers, The Grand Game is for you.
The pub date will coincide with the BSI dinner in early January. Copies (signed, we hope) will be available from the Baker Street Journal and from The Mysterious Bookshop. The collection will not be released for general sales until February, 2011, but I’ll have it on the web site, with the ISBN number, as soon as we have cover art.
The (Grand) Game is (soon to be) afoot!
So much Sherlock and so little time…and space. “The Great Game” looks to be a must have for any collector of Sherlockiana. It is a good thing I’m getting another bookcase, my meager collection is currently in overflow piles on the small bookcase I have dedicated to it.
–Alice
Speaking of Ms Sayers, will her essay on Watson’s middle name be included in the collection?
Either that Sayers essay, or the one on Holmes’ university.
I’m looking forward to it, Laurie! Sounds like it should be an awesome collection of stories, and a fine addition to the oeuvre.
John.
AWESOME!! I cannot wait!!
This sounds soooo good. I can’t remember which story (Three Quarter?) but there’s a great footnote by Les Klinger in the Annotated Holmes on how Canonical scholars have usually decided which university Holmes attended. Meanwhile, thanks for the seasonal additions to the illustration of the lovely God of the Hive cover. To readers united: may all your turkeys be on the table!//Meredith T