open book icon Sherlock Holmes Public Library

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The Speckled Band

November 1945

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce perform
The Adventure of The Speckled Band

drawing of the stoner sisters
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The Hound of the Baskervilles

August 1961

Carleton Hobbs and Norman Shelley
The Hound of the Baskervilles Part 1

drawing of the Baskerville hound

Upon the dusty shelves of the Sherlock Holmes Public Library you will find the sixty cases of Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend Doctor Watson written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. There are fifty-six short stories and four novels.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories fall into the following collections: The Adven­tures, The Memoirs, The Return, His Last Bow, and The Case­book. The novels are A Study In Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Valley of Fear. All of which can be found in the Text section. Old time radio shows and dramas can be found in the Audio section. The library is currently more focused on providing audio dramas than the written works.

As there exists no definitive body to argue what is, and what is not canon beyond the already established novels and stories, it is unlikely that any piece, no matter how good its claim to be 'canonical' will ever be popularly received into published versions of the Complete Sherlock Holmes - Wikipedia. The SHPL agrees that there are in general 56 SH short stories in the canon.

Long Overdue Updates

The Sherlock Holmes Public Library first opened the creaky doors in 2004, almost 20 years ago. At that point in time on the WWW there were not nearly as many readily available resources and websites to listen to Old Time Radio shows, plays, dramatizations, so on and so forth, for free. During that rather long span of time the librarians have admitted that almost zero updates took place here at the SHPL. It's now late 2023 and the library is in the process of being remodeled. Some of the updates include:

  • New site look
  • Links page has been refreshed and expanded
  • All radio shows have been restored
  • Additional radio shows were brought up from the archives
  • Plans to add even more radios shows
  • Add an image catalog

The text section has long been neglected and will be addressed next. Thank you for visiting the library and we hope you enjoy your stay.

Joss Ackland Feb 29 1928 - November 19 2023

rucastle struggling with sherlockJoss Ackland, 95 years of age, has passed away. Mr. Ackland appeared in various Sherlock Holmes related productions which of course includes a very good Mr. Rucastle in the Granada production of The Copper Beeches (IMDB).

  • "Scotsman Obituaries: Joss Ackland, British star"
    The Scotsman
  • "Joss Ackland: Actor whose career spanned more than 70 years dies aged 95" sky.com

Jeremy Brett's 90th Birthday Is Today

R.I.P.

Last Sherlock Stories Enter Public Domain

In 2023 the copyright will finally expire over The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes ... For years the Doyle estate has tried to prolong copyright over the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Now its character-copyright game is up.