International Illustrated Sherlock Holmes

Review: This unique book is an excellent overview of seventy years of Holmesian illustration from a dozen countries.

Those of you who are only familiar with English or American artists will find some evocative scenes from Danish, Russian, and Czech editions of the tales. The book's drawbacks are few, but they are apparent: occasionally the illustrations are wrongly ascribed to the translator. Illustrations are arranged by case, in publication order, so their listing only in Japanese is a minor problem. Captions to the pictures are printed in English and Japanese. There is also a large photographic selection of stills from the Granada television shows. While these are excellent, I would have preferred to have more color reproductions of illustrative works that now appear mostly in black and white. It is educational and amusing to see how Holmes' depictions have varied over the years, and how relatively few illustrations are based on cinematic Sherlocks.

Reviewed by: Nancy Beiman, 2003