"Kicks and Shoves" [ENGR]

Here's an interesting project that might be worthy of your support. Kickstarter is a site that allows you to peruse small budget creative ideas that need funding. The notion is, if enough people chip in, the project will become a reality.

We've been made aware of a Sherlockian project that needs funding: Moriarty: The Dark Chamber is a "graphic adventure" that is being proposed on Kickstarter. The publication is an upcoming graphic novel from DangerKatt Creative Studio, written by Daniel Corey, with art by Anthony Diecidue and letters and graphics by Dave Lanphear.

According to the project leads:

MORIARTY is going to be a three-chapter trade publication. Chapter #1 is complete, but we need your help to fund Chapter #2. The money received from backers will aid in production, covering the cost of art, letters and final assembly. The individual chapters of MORIARTY will debut online, and will go to print when the entire book is complete.

Here's the trailer for the project:

And a synposis:

MORIARTY follows the misadventures of Professor James Moriarty, arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, and poses the question: Can an outdated supervillain find new life?

It is the dawn of World War I, and Sherlock Holmes has been dead for twenty years. Professor James Moriarty is a lost man when he is approached by MI5 and blackmailed into finding Holmes' long-lost brother, Mycroft. What at first appears to be a routine case leads to a web of intrigue that involves a psychic box, a woman from his past, and a new villain that threatens to be greater than he ever was.

Will he unravel this complex mystery and reclaim his former glory as the world's greatest criminal mastermind, or will he fade into obscurity?

If you're interested in seeing some of the sample art, their Facebook Page has an album full of it.

Here's where you come in: the team needs to raise $3,700 in the next 40 days or so. So far, there have been 11 contributions made and $400 raised. If this is a project that you would like to see succeed, please consider contributing. There are great incentives if you volunteer a donation, including copies of the final graphic novel, downloadable artwork, and signed sketches by artist Anthony Diecidue.

In addition to donating, let's do something remarkable: let's see how viral we can make this effort. Share this link with everyone you know. Email it. Tweet it. Put it on Facebook, discussion boards, forums, etc. Let's see how far and wide we can spread the word to help get these guys off the ground. That "plus" sign in the bottom bar or the green "Share This" icon below will help you with that.




The game's afoot!

"The Remains of the Original Inscription" [GOLD]

Next week there is an event on the calendar that every Sherlockian collector should mark well. It has nothing to do with when a particular story took place or an event of the past that has significance.

No, one week from today is when one of the rarest items of modern fiction - and certainly the rarest of Holmesian works - goes under the hammer at Sotheby's in London. For on July 15, 2010, an inscribed copy of A Study in Scarlet will be up for auction. The expected sale price? £250,000 to £400,000.

This story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print, and this is the only known inscribed copy of the original work. Randall Stock's excellent website The Best of Sherlock has the comprehensive writeup about this particular item (as well as many others). Sotheby's itself has a video preview of the item as well. Please click through to view it.

From Randall's website comes a description of the item:

This copy, the property of a private collector in New England, is bound in three-quarter morocco gilt that was probably done at the same time as Conan Doyle's inscription.  That inscription, "This is the very first independent book of mine which ever was published" appears on an extra leaf bound-in at front and is signed "Arthur Conan Doyle. | Jan 9 / 14."  Following the original cover are 26 pages of front-matter, including advertisements, the title page, table of contents, and frontispiece illustration.  The complete text of the original magazine (pp. [1]-138) then appears along with all the back-matter advertisements (pp. 139-168) and the original back cover.  It is in very fine condition.

We have the distinct pleasure of once having held that very copy in our hands when the collector showed it to us. To say that it made us a little weak in he knees would be an accurate statement. It was a direct connection to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who also once held it in his hands, and it was a marvelous specimen of the near-perfect acquisition.

Below you can take a look at the 5-page section of the Sotheby's catalog relevant to our interest.


Sotheby's Catalog Excerpt - Inscribed edition of A Study in Scarlet

If you're interested in more information, we suggest you use Randall's site as the main point of reference. In addition to everything regarding the provenance of the book (including previous owners and their affiliation with the Baker Street Irregulars) and the proceedings of the auction, he also has a good deal of press clippings about the event. It should be interesting to see how much this item sells for and whether it winds up in the hands of another private collector or in an institution's collections.

Any guesses on the final sale price?

"Back From the Theatre" [RETI]

We suppose you could call this "The Return of the Secret of Sherlock Holmes." After a 20-year hiatus, Jeremy Paul's play The Secret of Sherlock Holmes is back.

You may recall that Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke took to the stage in 1988-89 to play the roles they became so renowned for in the Granada Television series. The play ran for approximately 400 episodes in London's West End, and its run was an obvious strain on the Brett, who had already begun a decline in health that would end in his untimely death in 1995.

It's only been recently that the play has managed to see a resurgence in interest. We wrote about Shakespeare & Company's reprisal in the fall of 2007 ("Their Secret Was Out" [GREE]) and also covered it on Episode 10 of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. Check out those two links for full coverage of that version.

There can be no doubt that the recent Sherlock Holmes film with Robert Downey, Jr. has also increased the attention on our favorite detective. It's no surprise then that the theatrical world should also be interested in seeing Holmes return to the stage. After all, it was William Gillette who used the stage to make Sherlock Holmes an even more integrated role in popular culture some 100 years ago.

The Stage recently reported that Jeremy Paul's The Secret of Sherlock Holmes would be returning to London's West End beginning on July 20, replacing the Fantasticks at the Duchess Theatre. In the role of Sherlock Holmes will be Peter Egan, and his friend and colleague Dr. Watson will be played by Robert Daws. Egan recently played Holmes in a stage edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles and you may recall Daws from his days as Bertie Wooster's brainless pal Tuppy Glossop in Jeeves & Wooster.

There's no indication on the length of run of this show; it's likely to be fueled by the sequel to the recent film as well. If you do see it, please pop by and let us know what you thought, or drop us a line  at bakerstreetblog AT gmail DOT com and let us know if you'd care to do a guest post with a full review.

Related items of interest:

    

"This Account of You We Have From All Quarters Received" [SCAN]

In our inbox over the weekend, we found a note from the publishers of Sherlock Holmes Magazin, a German publication. We're pleased to say that they were a little more courteous to their verbs than the legendary Count von Kramm as they reminded us of the existence of their publication and of the latest installment.

The German Sherlock Holmes magazine is now in its fourth issue and is clearly popular, as the first issue from August 2009 has sold out, and the second issue is nearly sold out. To give you an idea of what made it so popular (aside from the notion of a first issue being something of a collector's item), here are some of the topics from that first appearance (very loosely translated - forgive our crude skills):

• What do we really know about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson?
• The Victorians and the love of money
• Ongoing thoughts on the Canon
• Events in the anniversary year
• Reviews 
• From the press
• Pastiche

In the June 2010 edition, comprising 32 pages of full color, we have the following to look forward to:

• Theater: The Hound of the Baskervilles in Hamburg
• Baker Street: the new comic series
• Sherlock Holmes and the movement of death
• From the research:
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - War of the Ghosts
• Scotland Yard
• from the press
• Pastiche

There is sure to be something for everyone here - both collectors and active Holmesians in Germany as well. The publishers are the Deutsche Sherlock Holmes Gesellschaft and the subscription rates are as follows: 19 € to the UK, 27 € within the EU, 32 € worldwide. You can order here.


Related items for you Germanophiles:

    

"In Search Of..." [GLOR]

Something a little fun and lighthearted for this weekend. In the 1970s in the United States, there was a television show called "In Search Of," a documentary series hosted by Leonard Nimoy, who was coming off of his Star Trek days as Mr. Spock.

The show would regularly investigate mysteries such as the Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, UFOs and the like. But we were able to find the original episode that went in search of...Sherlock Holmes. We'll forgive Mr. Nimoy his misquoting of Holmes in the introduction as we present the first of three episodes from the third season of the show.




If you'd like to watch the entire episode, you can follow the "related videos" links at the conclusion of this video, or you can simply follow our links to find Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

Are you aware of any other Sherlock Holmes connections with Leonard Nimoy? We can think of at least three. Leave a comment below to share your knowledge (or guesses). We'll follow up in a couple of days with our answers and yours.

Image courtesy of somegeekintn (Flickr)