P.O. Box 1360, Ashcroft
British Columbia, Canada V0K 1A0
Tel: (250) 453-2045; Fax: (250) 453-2075
e-mail: ashtree@ash-tree.bc.ca

AUTUMN / WINTER 2006 SPECIALS

ESSENTIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES!

THE CASE FILES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

THE BLUE CARBUNCLE:
It is the second morning after Christmas, and Dr Watson has called upon his friend Sherlock Holmes with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season. However, Watson soon becomes side-tracked into the study of the battered felt hat, which has been the subject of Holmes's close attention. Its owner has also lost something more: his Christmas goose—a goose which lays a sparkling egg: the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle.

This edition of The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes examines the methods employed by Holmes as he seeks to trace the owner of the hat, and, more importantly, the whereabouts of the lost jewel. The writing team for this volume considers the problems of the case, and, in addition, discusses topics relevant to the Victorian Christmas in general. Join us for a journey back in time to the Christmas London of Sherlock Holmes.

SPECIAL PRICE:
Harback: Cdn$25.00 / US$20 / £12.50; Paperback Cdn$17.50 / US$15 / £8.50 (See here for postage rates)

THE DYING DETECTIVE
When Mrs Hudson visits Dr Watson it is to bring grave news: her favourite lodger—Watson's closest friend, Sherlock Holmes—is on the brink of death, victim of an unknown illness contracted while working on a case near the river. However, even though Watson rushes to his aid, Holmes will allow the help of only one man—Culverton Smith, a planter from Sumatra—and Watson is despatched in search of him.

This volume of The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes series examines the methods employed by Holmes, and the apparent lack of concern he showed towards his best friend, and his 'long-suffering' landlady.

Did the ends justify the means? Did Conan Doyle originally conceive this story as a play? Just what was the part played by Conan Doyle's secretary in the composition of the adventure? What were the circumstances which led to this story being illustrated by the man who was the model for Sherlock Holmes. These are some of the many topics discussed by the team of experienced Sherlockian writers contributing to The Dying Detective.

SPECIAL PRICE:
Hardback: Cdn$25.00/ US$20 / £12.50; Paperback: Cdn$17.50 / US$15 / £8.50 (See here for postage rates)

THE SPECKLED BAND
'It is not cold which makes me shiver,' said the woman in a low voice, changing her seat as requested.
'What then?'
'It is fear, Mr Holmes. It is terror.'

With those three short sentences, Conan Doyle succeeds in sending tingles down the spines of his readers, raising hairs on the backs of their necks, and setting the scene for what is perhaps the most popular of all the Sherlock Holmes short stories.

Conan Doyle also creates mysteries within the mystery, which have fuelled Sherlockian debate for decades: do snakes drink milk? could a snake be trained to climb a bell-rope?

In addition to examining previous scholarship relating to the case, this latest addition to The Case Files of Sherlock Holmes series examines Conan Doyle's possible sources and his stage dramatisation, and offers modern interpretations of the story's features.

Join us on this latest journey to Stoke Moran, home of the fearsome Dr Grimesby Roylott. Once more the game is afoot!

SPECIAL PRICE;
Hardback only: Cdn$25.00 / US$20 / £12.50 (See here for postage rates)

CANADIAN HOLMES: The First Twenty-Five Years
edited by Christopher Redmond

This bumper anthology, culled from the pages of the magazine of Canada's national Sherlock Holmes Society, was published to coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Bootmakers of Toronto. Its scope is immense, and its 300+ pages will provide hours of winter Sherlockian reading.

Contributors include: Christopher Redmond, Doug Elliott, Barbara Rusch, David Hammer, Hartley R. Nathan, Clifford S. Goldfarb, Bob Coghill, Cameron Hollyer, Donald A. Redmond, Don MacLachlan, Marlene Aig, Karen Campbell, Barbara Roden, Thelma Beam, Jim Ballinger, Michael Doyle, Dayna N. McCausland, Don Richard Cox, Patrick Campbell, Victoria Gill, Trevor Raymond, Gerry O'Hara, Eric Silk, Wayne B. Swift, Francine Swift, David Skene-Melvin, Peter H. Wood, L. B. Greenwood, Kate Karlson, and many others.

Themes include: 'Mr Sherlock Holmes'; 'John H. Watson, Late Indian Army'; 'In and About Baker Street'; 'Holmes's Cases and Achievements'; 'Gentlemen, The Ladies'; 'Sir Arthur and His Writings'; 'Gaslight and Romance'; 'Where Pines and Maples Grow'; 'The Bootmakers and Their Friends'; 'Works of the Imagination'; and 'Stage, Screen, and Canvas'.

OFFERED AT THE GIVEAWAY PRICE OF
Cdn$20 / US$17.50 / £10 (See here for postage rates)
Hardback only.

THE TRANSCENDENT HOLMES
by John Warwick Montgomery

In a series of sparkling and intelligently presented essays, Dr Montgomery takes a fresh look at the world 'where it is always 1895'—the world of Baker Street and Sherlock Holmes.

Besides examining long-debated problems, such as the true location of 221B; which was Holmes's university; how many times Watson was married; and where Watson was wounded, Montgomery also considers Holmes's activities in Tibet, his writings, his brother Mycroft, and his liking for fine wines.

In a stunning climax to the volume, the reader is presented with a discussion between Holmes and Watson which will almost certainly cause him/her to pause, think, and deeply consider the depth of the message conveyed.

Dr Montgomery is a Sherlockian of long-standing. These essays prove that his time devoted to his subject has been very well spent indeed.

PRICE: Cdn$15.00 / US$12.50 / £7.50 (See here for postage rates)
Paperback only.

VIOLETS & VITRIOL
Essays about Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle
edited by S. E. Dahlinger

Violets & Vitriol is unique. Far from being just another volume of essays on Sherlock Holmes, this collection is the first to be penned entirely by women. Its appearance was timed to coincide the the 150th anniversary of the 'birthday' of Sherlock Holmes.

Since the word 'Sherlockian' was first coined in 1903, women have enthusiastically taken the Sherlockian movement to their hearts. They have served with distinction as the heads of such major societies as The Sherlock Holmes Society of London, The Bootmakers of Toronto, and The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes. They have founded or joined smaller societies worldwide, served on executive committees, curated Special Collections, taught Conan Doyle-related courses, planned Sherlockian weekends, addressed conferences, edited and written for journals, served up the refreshments at many a Sherlockian gathering, and made it all look effortless. For more than seventy years, they have also answered with grace and charm the question: 'Just what is it you women see in Sherlock Holmes?'

Sherlockiana without women would be like the canon without its notable female characters: nowhere near as lively or entertaining. So join the ladies as they discuss matters relating to Sherlock Holmes and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and enjoy their musings on such diverse topics as Irene Adler, The Long Island Cave Mystery, Brigadier Gerard, Dinosaurs and The Lost World, Mrs Beeton, Madame Blavatsky, Vincent Starrett, Holmes's 'bedside manner', P. G. Wodehouse, and much more.

Contributors include: Paula Cohen, S. E. Dahlinger, Barbara Roden, Nancy Beiman, Mia Stampe, Julia Carlson Rosenblatt, Deborah Clark, Naomi Hayashi, Yukimo Shigaki, Hiromi Sasabe, Judith Freeman, Catherine Cooke, Dayna McCausland, Beth Austin, Lynn E. Walker, Rosemary Michaud, Diana Barsham, Karen Anderson, Barbara Rusch, Roberta Davies, Susan Rice, Marina Stajic, Marilyn MacGregor, and Sarah Montague.

PRICE: Cdn$20.00 / US$17.50 / £10.00 (See here for postage rates)
Paperback only.

FACSIMILE OF CONAN DOYLE'S MANUSCRIPT
FOR THE SHERLOCK HOLMES STORY
'THE LION'S MANE'

If you have ever longed to own a Sherlock Holmes manuscript, now is the time to fulfil your ambition! Calabash Press is pleased to offer a facsimile of the Sherlockian manuscript, 'The Lion's Mane', at a price that you cannot afford to miss.

The facsimile of 'The Lion's Mane' manuscript was produced jointly by Westminster Libraries and The Sherlock Holmes Society of London the following year in 1992.

The manuscript illustrates the clarity of Conan Doyle's thought as he was writing: it is amazing to see just how few alterations he made (though, having said that, 'The Lion's Mane' is perhaps the most altered of all). 'The Lion's Mane' also provides a hint as to how ACD originally intended that story to resolve itself. You can now study those changes for yourself.

The volume is casebound, and reproduced to its original notebook size (205 x 165 mm). The Introduction for this volume is by Colin Dexter, and there is an Afterword by Richard Lancelyn Green.

PRICE: Cdn$13.00 / US$10.00 / £6.00 (See here for postage rates)

CONAN DOYLE ESSENTIALS!

A FACSIMILE EDITION OF CONAN DOYLE'S MANUSCRIPT
FOR THE SHORT STORY
'THE HORROR OF THE HEIGHTS'      (LIMITED STOCKS)
with Commentary and Illustrations

Here is an opportunity to own one of Conan Doyle's fine manuscripts in facsimile form with this special edition, produced for 'A River Runs By It', the June 2004 Conan Doyle Conference in Minneapolis.

The volume offers a transcription and annotation of the manuscript on pages facing the originals; the text of the story as it first appeared in The Strand Magazine; 'Rationalism and Imagination in Conan Doyle's "The Horror of the Heights"', an essay by Thomas R. Tietze; a full description of the manuscript; a note on the University of Minnesota's Sherlock Holmes Collections; a Preface by Michael Dirda; Introduction by editor Phillip Bergem; and a General Editor's Preface by John Bergquist. In addition, all of the illustrations which accompanied the story's publication in both The Strand Magazine and Everybody's Magazine are reproduced, in colour where applicable.

PRICE: Cdn$40.00 / US$37.50 / £20.00 (See here for postage rates)

THE GREAT SHADOW
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, BRIGADIER GERARD, AND NAPOLEON
by Clifford S. Goldfarb

Throughout the nineteenth century, the great shadow of Napoleon hovered over Europe, and the character of Napoleon was to influence many writers of the time—none more so than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle read widely on the Napoleonic era, eventually producing his own contributions to the steadily growing body of literature on 'The Great Shadow'. In particular, he developed the character of Brigadier Gerard to run through a series of stories in The Strand Magazine after Sherlock Holmes had been 'killed off' in 1893.

In this study, Clifford S. Goldfarb discusses all of Conan Doyle's Napoleonic fiction: The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, Adventures of Gerard, two short stories, 'The Marriage of the Brigadier' and 'A Straggler of ’15' (later adapted for the play Waterloo, so loved by Sir Henry Irving); and the novels Rodney Stone, Uncle Bernac, and The Great Shadow.

Brigadier Gerard has languished in the shadow of Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes for far too long. This study will help him leave that shadow, and establish himself as a character as much worthy of study as Sherlock Holmes himself. A must for every Doylean library!

PRICE: Cdn$12.50 / US$10 / £6.50 (See here for postage rates)
Paperback only.

OUT OF THE SHADOWS
THE UNTOLD STORY OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S FIRST FAMILY
by Georgina Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle remains one of the most popular of our literary personalities, and new biographical studies appear regularly. One neglected aspect of Conan Doyle's life, however, has been the period of his first marriage: his relationship with his wife Louise, and his children Mary and Kingsley; and how the relationship with those children changed following the death of their mother in 1906. This was a particularly fruitful period of Conan Doyle's life—the time when he was establishing himself as a major literary figure, and when he produced much of his finest work.

Happily, Georgina Doyle is now able to enhance our understanding of the background and early family life of the creator of such memorable characters as Brigadier Gerard and Sherlock Holmes. Drawing on a storehouse of letters and diaries left by her husband John Doyle, the son of Arthur's brother Innes, she provides a detailed and thought-provoking account, illustrating it with more than seventy photographs from her own collection. This study does, indeed, bring Louise Conan Doyle and her children out of the shadows which have hidden them for far too long.

PRICE: Cdn$25.00 / US$20.00 / £10.00 (See here for postage rates)
Paperback only. There is a hardback available in limited quantities (please enquire).

ORDERING AND PAYMENT:
Orders should be sent to Calabash Press at P.O. Box 1360, Ashcroft, British Columbia, Canada V0K 1A0
(Tel: (250) 453-2045; Fax: (250) 453-2075) or e-mail: ashtree@ash-tree.bc.ca

Payment may be made by personal cheque (in Canadian or US dollars, or Sterling), by Visa or Mastercard, or by Paypal (please enquire)

POSTAGE COSTS:
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REST OF WORLD
Surface mail: First book £5.50, further books £2.00 EACH (Up to 4 books); (Over 4 Books: First 4 books £13.00, further books £2.50 EACH).

Airmail: £13.00 EACH BOOK.

ALL PREVIOUS SPECIAL OFFERS ARE NOW CANCELLED.
© CALABASH PRESS, OCTOBER 2006