Sherlock Holmes in America

Review: In America, at least, the term “coffee table book” has a negative connotation. It implies something lightweight; not very substantive; good for a casual look but not something you would sit down with and read for an extended period of time. Because there is such a vast array of subject matter related to Sherlock Holmes, I feel that coffee table styled books about the great detective rise above the common perception. Bill Blackbeard’s Sherlock Holmes in America is an excellent example of this.

Sherlock Holmes in America is a lavishly illustrated over-sized book; over 500 illustrations spread across 240 pages! This is one weighty tome! The reader is immediately drawn in with nearly 40 pages of drawings from the original American publications of the stories, both in magazines and newspapers. A few circa 1891 drawings by anonymous illustrators are followed by three-dozen of Frederic Dorr Steele’s drawings from The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Just as Sidney Paget is England’s foremost Holmes illustrator, so is Dorr Steele for America. After a sprinkling of other early American drawings, we are treated to seventeen marvelous pages of Dorr Steele’s illustrations, many in color. His color covers for Collier’s are absolutely stunning. Other drawings make up the rest of the section; many of interest.

The next section of the book focuses on Holmes on screen, stage and radio. There are some great reproductions here that you have probably never seen before. The William Gillette and John Barrymore fans will certainly be pleased.

The book continues on with advertisements, parodies, vintage Sherlockiana (more Gillette and Dorr Steele!) and a plethora of cartoons. This is all followed by a useful index.

Any fan of the visual Sherlock Holmes in America will rate this book highly. And it definitely rises to much greater than “coffee table” status.

Reviewed by: Bob Byrne, July 2003