Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street

by William S. Baring-Gould

Book Overview

Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Wings Books / Random House Value Publishing (August 7, 1995) Language: English ISBN-10: 051703817X ISBN-13: 978-0517038178 Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 051703817X
• ISBN13: 9780517038178
• Release Date: August 1995
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

The 'real' story

There are those who believe, or perhaps I should say, 'believe', that Sherlock Holmes was (or, sometimes, is) a real historical figure. In this magnificent biography of the great detective, William S. Baring-Gould wrote that none of the characters in his book are fictional, 'although the author should very much like to meet any who claim to be.' William S. Baring-Gould (1913-1967) was one of the greatest Sherlock Holmes scholars ever. Publishing several works on Holmes publically and privately, this biography was published in 1962, a few years before his great, two-volume annotated edition of the canon of Sherlock Holmes, which still remains a standard bearer. Baring-Gould himself was a life-long devotee of Holmes in particular, and mysteries in general. He is also noted for the fictional biography of Nero Wolfe, which continues the idea presented in this volume that Nero is the son of Holmes and THE woman, Irene Adler, of 'A Scandal in Bohemia' fame. Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail adddressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales. There are forever questions and debates about the ordering of the stories; Baring-Gould is one authority often referred to in these debates, thanks to his work on the Chronology of Holmes, used as an organising principle behind this book. Baring-Gould draws on the canonical texts and some clever speculations and deductions to piece together a rather complete biographical sketch. As almost every major Sherlock Holmes scholar does, Baring-Gould fills in the gaps in the data. He postulates the birth, childhood and education of Holmes, which is never made explicit in the text of the stores. His idea for Irene Adler as Holmes' lifelong love is not original, but his development of the affair, including the outcome of the son (Nero Wolfe) with the familial characteristics similar to both Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes is ingenious. Baring-Gould develops details about Watson and Conan Doyle, too, but the primary emphasis here is on Holmes. Baring-Gould argued strongly (some would say convincingly) that this is not a work of fiction. His research was very exacting -- the biography includes two appendices, one of which is a chronology (Baring-Gould had a private published chronology of Holmes) of Holmes' life, according to Baring-Gould (a generation of scholars have debated its merits, but none have ignored it), and a second appendix is a select bibliography, now out of date somewhat, but a great list showing the major works of the first generation of Sherlock Holmes scholars. Every Sherlockian/Holmesian will want to read this book. It is fascinating for those who love the stories, well written and autho

Wonderfully speculative!

I first read Baring-Gould's biography back in 1975, and it was my first REAL exposure to The Game -- the treatment of Sherlock Holmes as a living person and the art of speculating about The Master's life from the clues dropped by Watson in the original stories. I'm delighted that this book is still available.Baring-Gould presents as good a chronology of the Doyle tales as anyone, and he "fills in the blanks" delightfully. (Imagine Holmes fighting a prehistoric bird in hand-to-talon combat on the deck of a freighter! It's true!!)Baring-Gould obviously had a damn good time writing this extraordinary, and definitive, biography of Sherlock. And if you've already devoured the original 60 stories, dive into this book. Then set it alongside your copies of the Doyle books. It deserves a place there.

The real biography of the world greatest detective

Baring-Gould is the greatest chronicler of the Holmesian canon. His annotated version is a must for every enthusiast. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street is the biography of the man, put together from the many stories. "It was the year in which Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden...."."Unaccountably, the Almanac fails to list perhaps the most memorable event of that same memorable year. It was the birth, in the early hours of the morning of Friday, January 6, of a third and last son to Siger and Violet Holmes, at the farmstead of Mycroft in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, a district famous for its horse-breeding stables and its wind-swept--"wuthering" - heights." You will read about the birth of the man, his family, his brother, etc. You will enter with him into his friendship with Watson (also Watson's youth) and their adventures. Please bring this book back in print. It is a must.

A brilliant bit of Sherlockiana.

W.S. Baring-Gould's classic biography of Holmes is brilliant from start to finish. Arguably the greatest Sherlockian scholar ever, Baring-Gould assembles the details of Holmes's life from isolated references in the canonical stories and indulges himself in some inferential reasoning as to some of the missing information: he contends, for example, that a certain well-known U.S. consulting detective is actually the child of Holmes and Irene Adler. (Some of his speculations on other matters have been borne out by the discovery of a lost manuscript published by Nicholas Meyer under the title _The Seven Per Cent Solution_.)Readers of this work will also want to find a copy of Baring-Gould's masterly _The Annotated Sherlock Holmes_ if possible. These kids writing Holmes pastiches today just don't know what the hell they're doing :-).

Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street

This book is indeed the most complete overview of the life and times of the world's first consulting detective to be published to date. From the early days of Holmes' childhood traveling about Europe, to his first (The Gloria Scott) and last cases (His Last Bow)and even on to his life after retirement and other little known information of The Great Detective, Mr. Baring-Gould has indeed captured the essence of the grand character of Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Baring-Gould has been hailed as one of the most scholarly and well-read Sherlockian scholars of his time; having annotated the complete Holmes Canon with many notes, theories, chronological dating of the cases and other suggestions & ideas upon the cases, characters and time period that Holmes and Watson lived and worked in. It is little wonder that he has put his Holmesian knowledge to work in this certain volume; creating this book which some consider to be "The Sherlock Holmes Bible" I must say that this is one of the, if not the _one_, complete writing upon the life of Sherlock Holmes. One can safely say that Mr. Baring-Gould has out done himself by compiling such a wealth of information into this one volume. This incredible Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street should be considered required reading for all scholars of Sherlockiana as well as those wishing to better understand and follow the exploits and adventures of the Great Detective. Since it's first publication in 1962, Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street has most certainly become one of the great foundational resources on the character of Holmes. This is a must and most informational read for those wishing to better their knowledge of The Great Detective; and it will give the reader all the pertinent, as well as impertinent, information they could ever need or want. Marquetta Pisarcik