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The Standard Doyle Company: Christopher Morley on Sherlock Holmes

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Chris Morley is largely forgotten now, so it might be difficult for modern readers to believe that he was once one of the best known men of letters in America. From the late 1920s to the 1940s, his columns, essays, novels and poems were widely read, and his appearances on radio were enthusiastically welcomed. Morley's most popular novel, Kitty Foyle, even made it to Hollywood. But if Morley had written nothing else than his tributes to Sherlock Holmes, it would have been enough. Indeed, it is not going to far to say that Morley is the man who single-handedly created a cult of Holmes worship (by founding the Baker Street Irregulars) which is alive and well today. While some of his Holmes work is easy to find (see his introduction to The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Doubleday), Morley's more obscure thoughts were scattered among obscure bibliographic relics. Steven Rothman has combed his considerable collection of Morley's writings and brought everything he ever wrote about Holmes into one place. This book is an excellent opportunity for anyone who knows a little about Sherlock Holmes to learn a lot about both Holmes and one of his most devout disciples. Rothman has also done an excellent job of drawing a biographical background for the reader. Morley might be forgotten, but his work about Sherlock HolmesÑÑlike the great detective himselfÑ-lives on.

How splendid to find this volume back in print! I have treasured it ever since it was first published several decades ago. Anyone who admires graceful, witty writing should revel in its pages even if not a Baker Street Irregular (BSIr) or at least a lover of Doyle's Holmes stories. The two annotated editions of the stories are certainly valuable and nice to have, but in Morley you will find more enthusiasm and fun than both of them together. And if you are a booklover in general you should seek out two slim books of delight by Morley - "Parnassus on Wheels" and "The Haunted Bookshop" (both out of print except for an execrable edition combining both in one badly produced volume full of typos and other errors).