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Looking at the nature of the examination questions and the depth of detail they go into, essentially framing the character, it can at least be said that its author had excellent knowledge of, and quite an interest in, the core of Sherlock Holmes-in more than one way, as our inquiry will show. In its November 17, 1883 issue, readers were greeted on the front page with an incredible-sounding announcement: At the beginning of 1891, Newnes launched The Strand Magazine as a more upscale monthly magazine,12 with a decidedly global focus, publishing richly-illustrated contributions of the "best British writers" and translations of works of the "first foreign authors." [...]when the immediate success of The Strand made Newnes restructure his business and form George Newnes, Ltd. through a semi-public share offering, Conan Doyle sensed an opportunity.
"IT HAS LONG BEEN AN AXIOM of mine" ("A Case of Identity"), Sherlock Holmes might have said, that an adventure is not over until you have reached the last page. That is certainly true for a little and hitherto unsolved mystery that surrounds the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper," an interesting early piece of Sherlockiana published in the popular English weekly Tit-Bits in 1893. As in all classic mysteries, the essential question is: Whodunit? This paper will present the answer.
Under the heading "An Examination in Sherlock Holmes," the readers of Tit-Bits of October 7, 1893 were made aware that they were soon "going to have an examination in Sherlock Holmes, open to anyone. Those who have read the Adventures of this eminent man, A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, etc., will have an opportunity of displaying their knowledge of his methods. In an early issue, we hope next week, the questions will be published together with the conditions of the contest, and the prizes to be offered" (Tit-Bits, October 7, 1893).
It took the editors a fortnight rather than a week to come out with the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper," but in the issue of October 21, 1893, three prizes were offered ("First Prize, Five Guineas; Second Prize, Three Guineas; Third Prize; Two Guineas") for the best answers to "a number of questions as to the methods of Sherlock Holmes":
The Methods of Sherlock Holmes
I. Given two doctors houses of the same date-how to determine which has the larger practice?
II. How to calculate that a train is going at the rate of fifty-three miles an hour?
III. What deduction as to the character of the owner did Holmes make from an inspection of a watch?
IV. How did the appearance of a man's pipe suggest: -
1. That he was left-handed?
2. That he was muscular?
3. That he had peculiar associations connected with the pipe?
V. How did Holmes deduce from the soles of Watson's slippers that he had had a cold recently?
VI. What indications of character might conceivably be drawn from bootlaces?
VII. How did Holmes deduce from the appearance of a man's stick that he lived in danger?
VIII. What appearances in a man dressed as a civilian led Holmes to deduce: -
1. That he was a soldier?
2. Recently discharged?
3. From India?
4. In the Artillery?
5. A widower?
6. Probable Cause of wife's death?
7. How many children (at the least)?
8. Their ages?
IX. What appearances in a felt-hat led Holmes to deduce:-
1. That the owner's wife did not love him?
2. That the gas was not laid on in his house?
What other inferences were drawn from this hat?
X. How did Holmes know that a visitor waiting for him in the evening had only been waiting in the room five minutes?
XI. By what process of reasoning did Holmes argue that because Watson's boots were very clean, therefore his practice was very busy?
XII. How did Watson's pocket handkerchief prove that he had been accustomed to wear a uniform?
Winner of the competition was Adam R. Thomson of Tufnell Park.! The editors noted that the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Papers have proved a very successful competition" and made more participants happy by announcing that "Mr. Conan Doyle, who has taken an interest in the competition, has been kind enough to send autographed copies of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes to a number of the senders of the next best competitions."2
Like most content of Tit-Bits, the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" was presented anonymously, and thus the examiner remained nameless to this day. This is a bit of a shame, as that Examination Paper is one of the earliest contributions to Sherlockian "fandom," and one would certainly like to know who wrote it. Looking at the nature of the examination questions and the depth of detail they go into, essentially framing the character, it can at least be said that its author had excellent knowledge of, and quite an interest in, the core of Sherlock Holmes-in more than one way, as our inquiry will show. As Conan Doyle later stated himself in Tit-Bits moreover, his methods were what distinguished Holmes from other literary detectives:
"[W]here Holmes differed from Dupin was that he had an immense fund of exact knowledge to draw upon in consequence of his previous scientific education. I mean by this, that by looking at a man's hand he knew what the man's trade was, as by looking at his trousers leg he could deduce the character of the man. He was practical and he was systematic, and his success in the detection of crime was to be the fruit, not of luck, but of his qualities."4
And now, as Holmes put it, "[yJou know my methods, Watson" ("The Crooked Man").
Tit-Bits, or by its full title 7it-Bits from all the most interesting Books, Periodicals and Newspapers in the World, was established by the Bri tish publishing lishing magnate George Newnesin 1881. It addressed a readership that was lower middle class or aspiring middle class with a compilation of jokes, short stories, anecdotes, competitions, and an inquiry column that could be read easily on the train while commuting to work.5 The weekly paper was pre-eminently popular, with an average of 400,000 to 600,000 sold copies in the 1880s and 1890s, more than any rival publication.6 Prize competitions were a cornerstone of its success. The prizes for the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" (with first prize's value being equivalent to about £100 today) were very modest compared to, for example, the famous competition for the "Tit-Bits Villa" that the weekly awarded in 1883. In its November 17, 1883 issue, readers were greeted on the front page with an incredible-sounding
announcement: We have the pleasure to announce that we offer as a prize to the successful competitor in our Christmas number a SEVEN-ROOMED DWELLING-HOUSE" for "the best Christmas story in prose or verse, not necessarily original" (Tit-Bits, November 17, 1883, p.
65). Not surprisingly, that competition was a hit with 7i-Bit's middleclass readership, and many an aspiring homeowner tried his or her luck-the publisher counted more than 22,000 entries.7 Among the participants was a struggling young doctor and aspiring writer who had strong hopes to win with his entry. He wrote to a friend, "I am going in for the seven roomed house which is offered by Tit Bits for the best Xmas story," and to his mother "I have been working hard at the seven roomed house-offered as a prize by TiT Bits for the best Xmas story. The story which I have sent up is a very good one & may have a good chance if the thing is fairly conducted. The prize is equal to about £300.78 That young doctor and writer was, of course, Arthur Conan Doyle, and he did not win. A Private William Robert Mellish did, with a story entitled "Miss Wilmer's Adventure." Conan Doyle was "Tit Bits awarded the big prize to a very inferior thing, so I have written to the Editor offering to post £25 if he will do ditto. The two m.s.s. (mine & the winner's) are then to be submitted to an impartial judge (such as the Editor of Cornhill)-his decision to be final & the stakes to go to the winner, with the exception of an appropriate fee to the Judge. If they do not accede to this I shall publish the correspondence in another paper."9
In this matter, Conan Doyle did not hear back from the editor, but Tit-Bits's decision was challenged by many other unsuccessful contestants, and the paper was pushed to disclose its judging process.10 Ironically, Private Mellish did not win with an original story but with a text written by a Max Adeler published earlier by Ward, Lock & Co. (the company that in 1887 would pay £25 for the copyrights in A Study in Scarlet) .11
Only a few years later, Conan Doyle found himself at peace with George Newnes and his publications. At the beginning of 1891, Newnes launched The Strand Magazine as a more upscale monthly magazine,12 with a decidedly global focus, publishing richly-illustrated contributions of the "best British writers" and translations of works of the "first foreign authors." First, Conan Doyle's agent A.P. Watt managed 10 have his "The Voice of Science" published therein, and shortly thereafter the first Holmes short stories that would eventually become The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Then, when the immediate success of The Strand made Newnes restructure his business and form George Newnes, Ltd. through a semi-public share offering, Conan Doyle sensed an opportunity. In July 1891 he acquired 250 shares in the company.14 Now, he was no longer just a contributing author but also part of an emerging venture.
Newnes did not conceal the fact his paper's ultimate goal was to generate profits for his investors. In connection with the Tit-Bits Villa Competition, he informed his readers that there was "no philanthropy about the matter" and that the competition was "simply prompted by the advertising instinct."15 He also recognized the potential of synergies between his two publications, and used TiT-Bits to cross-promote the Sherlock Holmes stories when it became clear that their publication in the Strand would be a success.16 Tit-Bits reprinted The Sign of Four and A Study in Scarlet in October 1892 and March 1893, respectively, while The Adventures were coming out in the Strand. In their announcements of the reprints, they explicitly promoted their sister publication by mentioning that the Holmes stories had "attained such great popularity in the Strand Magazine" and that this allowed them "to place before the readers either of Tit-Bits or the Strand Magazine every one of the Sherlock Holmes stories" which were "worth reading again and again."17 Moreover, they published numerous letters and inquiries regarding Sherlock Holmes sent in by readers. In one of these, published in the issue of January 23, 1892 under the heading "Identity of Sherlock Holmes," "Buttons, "18 wanted to know "whether Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the detective genius, whose doings as recorded in the Strand Magazine by Mr. Conan Doyle have caused so much interest, is or is not an actual living person." Tit-Bits answered: "We cannot positively say. As a matter of fact we have not made the personal acquaintance of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, but we have read so much of his doings that we have made up our minds that if ever there is a mystery in connection with this office we shall endeavour to find out the whereabouts of Mr. Sherlock Holmes and employ him to investigate it, and if when that time comes we should find that no such person is in existence we shall then be very much disappointed indeed."19
In Conan Doyle's view, however, self-promotion did not suit an author.20 Certainly, with the success of Sherlock Holmes and his investment in George Newnes, Ltd. he became a literary businessman and had always been very conscious regarding the finances of himself and his family. He also had enough business acumen to realize that public relations work was on the task list of a popular writer and allowed for the occasional "home story,"21 including (perhaps not coincidentally) the well-known feature "A Day with Dr. Conan Doyle" by Harry How, an editor at Tit-Bits and fellow Newnes shareholder,22 in The Strand Magazine.23 But he clearly held that the "excellence of the literature commends the poem or the tale to the discerning reader, and the ordinary advertising agencies present its merits to the general public."24
Undoubtedly, the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" was a novel form of literary promotion. It invited a large readership to look into te already-available tales, get involved in "participatory fandom,"252 and follow the latest adventures of Sherlock Holmes which were being published month after month in the Strand. It is thus quite fair to assume that the timing of the publication of the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" was chosen deliberately. In April 1893, at the height of the run of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in the Strand, Conan Doyle decided to get rid of his hero, a plan he had been hatching for some time.26 He wrote to his mother: "I am in the middle of the last Holmes story, after which the gentleman vanishes, never to reappear."27 But it took him longer than usual to finish this particular story. Only in August 1893 when he visited the Reichenbach Falls during his trip through Switzerland, did he find the "worthy tomb for poor Sherlock," being aware that he "buried" his "banking account along with him."28 The correspondence with his agent over the American serial rights in "The Final Problem" and its inclusion in the book edition of The Memoirs imply that he was still working on the story in October 1893.29 That month became a turning point in the life of the young and suddenly famous author. On October 10, 1893, his father, Charles Altamont Doyle, died from severe alcoholism, and around the same time his wife Touie was diagnosed with tuberculosis. "With two children, aged four and one, and a wife who was in such deadly danger, the situation was a difficult one," he summed it up in his autobiography.30 At the end of that month, the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" was published.
Did Conan Doyle start to have second thoughts about abandoning for good the one creation that could at least mean financial stability in these otherwise challenging times? We don't know, but there is evidence that he deliberately left the door open for the eventual return of Sherlock Holmes when he wrote "The Final Problem." The most obvious clue lies in the way Sherlock Holmes vanished, and finding the right method to "kill" the character was what took Conan Doyle several months to finish the story. He didn't have Holmes shot or poisoned, Which would have meant certain death, but let him disappear at the Reichenbach Falls instead. Without a dead body to be found, death was not final-even if the story title suggests otherwise. Further, Conan Doyle's varied responses to the often-asked question whether Sherlock Holmes was really gone in the wake of the publication of "The Final Problem" suggest that he was at least ambiguous about the finality of his decision. For example, when Robert Barr asked him in an interview in November 1894 whether Sherlock Holmes was "really dead," he was quite adamant: "Yes; I shall never write another Holmes story."31 But a month earlier, when lecturing in Rochester, he was less clear:
"What I want to know, Dr. Doyle," put in a little gentleman with whiskers, who had been bursting with inability to restrain his curiosity. "What I want you to tell me is whether you're going to resuscitate Sherlock Holmes. You threw him down a precipice in your last story about him, but couldn't you manage to have him crawl out and go in for some more adventures?"
Dr. Doyle smiled. "Well," he replied, "I had the impression that it wouldn't do for Sherlock Holmes to outstay his welcome. Yes. Sherlock Holmes is quite dead."
"Perhaps," pleaded the little gentleman, "you might some day change your mind and let him climb out of that chasm?"
"Oh, I might," answered the novelist, "after a few years, but I won't promise anything.32
To draw an interim conclusion in the mystery on the authorship of the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper," "those are the facts of the case, Doctor," as Holmes told Watson in "The Gloria Scott." This early piece of Sherlockiana was written by an individual with intimate knowledge of Holmes's methods. It was produced to promote the still relatively recent Sherlock Holmes franchise to the largest potential readership in the United Kingdom. This came at a time when the publisher of the Sherlock Holmes stories was facing the end of a most successful literary production, and its author construed the death of his character in a way that allowed for an eventual return. So, who benefited from a "brand booster" at this point? George Newnes as publisher, of course, but even more so-Conan Doyle himself. "It sounds high-flown and absurd but consider the facts!" ("The Naval Treaty"). All circumstantial evidence as just presented points to Conan Doyle as the unnamed author of the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper." Not only did he, obviously, have the best knowledge of the methods of Sherlock Holmes. As a shareholder in George Newnes, Inc., he also had a monetary interest in the promotion of the character at a very difficult personal point in his life. However, by publishing the piece anonymously, he avoided public self-promotion that he loathed. Also, the delay in the publication of the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" to the end of October 1893 can no doubt be explained by the death of his father on October то and the diagnosis of Touie's illness.
As we've learned from Sherlock Holmes, "circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing" ("The Boscombe Valley Mystery"). But fortunately, and by coincidence, "there is some very direct evidence" ("The Adventure of Thor Bridge") in this matter.
When researching Conan Doyle's visits to Switzerland and his conception of the death of Sherlock Holmes, I studied the manuscript of his lecture on "Fiction as a Part of Literature" which he gave in Lucerne on August 9, 1893, a few days before visiting the Reichenbach Falls. It is contained in a lined notebook and conserved in the British Library.33 As the text is unpublished, the content of the lecture is publicly known only through accounts reported in the press at the time.34 It was (and is) an interesting read, giving insights not only into Conan Doyle's view of British fiction but also into his obvious fascination with waterfalls while he was writing "The Final Problem."35 It became an even more fascinating read when I leafed through the notebook to the end and found two pages penciled in Conan Doyle's hand, entitled "The Methods of Sherlock Holmes." What followed was-the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" as published in 7it-Bits in October 1893.
Conan Doyle composed his lecture on "Fiction as a Part of Literature" specifically for the Lucerne Conference,"36 and the presence of the manuscript for the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" in the same notebook therefore suggests that it was written around the same time. The text is, apart from interpunction and numbering, substantially identical to the printed version, except for a short introductory paragraph crossed out in black ink that reads: "The greater proportion of the subjoined questions are solved in the Sherlock Holmes books. A few fresh ones are appended to give a field for the practical application of the System." It is probable that this paragraph was replaced by the different opening in Tit-Bits (quoted above) since only one of the examination questions was a "fresh one" that did not relate to a published story (no. XI).
So there it is, proof that Conan Doyle is the author of one of the earliest pieces of Sherlockiana. We don't know whether George Newnes or his editorial team approached Conan Doyle to write the competition, or the other way round. But certainly, against this background the statement in Tit-Bits that Conan Doyle "has taken an interest in the competition" seems almost like an inside joke between publisher and author.
Conan Doyle's confirmed authorship of the "Sherlock Holmes Examination Paper" and his professional (albeit uncredited) involvement in TiT-Bits suggest that possibly he was also consulted in connection with the inquiry on the identity of Sherlock Holmes mentioned above. Tit-Bit's answer cleverly takes up the blurring of fact and fiction created by Conan Doyle's own writings and mentioning the Strand (and Conan Doyle as the author) while "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" were scheduled to be published until June 1892 is nothing short of a straight commercial for the sister magazine. Likely, George Newnes and his fellow shareholder Conan Doyle found Buttons's inquiry quite rewarding.
NOTES
1. For Tom Thomson's answers to the examination questions see Tit-Bits, December 16, 1893, reprinted in Richard Lancelyn Green (ed.), The Sherlock Holmes Letters, London: Secker 8: Warburg, 1986, p. 71 ff.
2. Ibid., p. 74.
3. Ann K. McClellan, "Tit-Bits, New Journalism, and Early Sherlock Holmes Fandom," in Sherlock Holmes Fandom, Sherlockiana, and the Great Game, ed. Betsy Rosenblat and Roberta Pearson, "Transformative Works and Cultures 2017," no. 23, dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.0816 (accessed 7 Jan 2024).
4. "A Gaudy Death: Conan Doyle tells the True Story of Sherlock Holmes's End," Tit-Bits , December 15, 1900.
5. Conveniently, 7it-Bits provided for a railway insurance scheme that protected every commuter who held a copy of the current issue while traveling on a train. See Kate Jackson, "The Tit-Bits Phenomenon: George Newnes, New Journalism and the Periodical Texts", Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Fall 1997), p. 202/208 f.
6. Jackson, p. 203; David Reed, The Popular Magazine in Britain and the United States, Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1997, p. 93.
7. Tit-Bits, December 29, 1883, p. 168.
8. Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower, and Charles Foley, Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, London: Penguin 2007, p. 21 1-4.
9 . Ibid, p. 217.
10. Tit-Bits, December 29, 1884, p. 168.
11. Tit-Bits, December 22, 1884, p. 154; see also Sharon O'Connor, "Tit Bits Villa -The Mystery solved," Dulwich Society Journal, Winter 2016, www.dulwichsociety.com/the-journal/winter-2016/tit-bits-villa-the-mystery-solved-by-sharon-o-connor (accessed 7 Jan. 2024).
12. "Tit-Bits identified Newnes with the broad base of the English class pyramid. The Strand Magazine was a passport to recognition at higher social altitudes," Reginald Pound, Mirror of the Century: The Strand Magazine 1891-1950, South Brunswick: A.S Barnes, 1967, p. 33.
13. Ann M. Hale and Shannon R. Smith, "You See, But You Do Not Observe: Hidden Infrastructure and Labour in the Strand Magazine and Its Twenty-First Century Digital Iterations," Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Winter 2016), p. 666.
14. In July 1891, the share total amounted to 311,378 shares, of which George Newnes controlled 309,928; see Hale and Smith, p. 677. According to his diary, Conan Doyle bought an additional 215 shares "in Titbits" in November and December 1891; see Hesketh Pearson, Conan Doyle, London: Methuen 1943, p. 106 f. When George Newnes, Ltd. became a public company in 1897, Conan Doyle was presented with a further "500 Newnes Ltd. Preference shares-present value over £600"; see Lellenberg, Stashower, and Foley, p. 390. During his 1894 lecture tour through the United States, Conan Doyle also invested in "McClure's publishing business" by buying 1,000 shares; see Lellenberg, Stashower, and Foley, p. 345.
15. Tit-Bits, December 29, 1884, p. 168.
16. McClellan, op cit.
17. Tit-Bits, October 22, 1892 and March 24, 1893, quoted in Green, p. 66/69.
18. Not to be confused with "Buttons (-cum-Commissionaire)" of the Baker Street Irregulars, Edgar W. Smith (1894-1960).
19. Tit-Bits, January 23, 1892, quoted in Green, p. 64.
20. Conan Doyle's opinion on (and involvement in) the literary controversy surrounding Hall Caine's self-promotion is very informative in this context; see Lellenberg, Stashower, and Foley, p. 383 ff.
21. See e.g. Raymond Balthwayt, "A Talk with Dr. Conan Doyle," 7he Bookman, May 1892; "Celebrities at Home: Mr. Arthur Conan Doyle in Tennison Road," World: A Journal for Men and Women, August 3, 1892; "A Chat with Dr. Conan Doyle," Cassell's Saturday Journal, February 15, 1893.
22. Hale and Smith, p. 678.
23. Harry How, "A Day with Dr. Conan Doyle," The Strand Magazine, August 1892.
24. Lellenberg, Stashower, and Foley, p. 39425.
25. McClellan, op. cit.
26. Richard Lancelyn Green, ed., The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes, London: Penguin 1983, p. 59 ff.
27. Lellenberg, Stashower, and Foley, p. 319.
28. Arthur Conan Doyle, Memories and Adventures, London: John Murray 1924, p. 99.
29. Green, The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes, p. 61 f.
30. Conan Doyle, p. 120.
31. "Real Conversations-A Dialogue between Conan Doyle and Robert Barr," McClure's Magazine, November 1894, p. 503 ff.
32. Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester), October 4, 1894.
33. British Library Add MS 88924/ 3/3.
34. Mattias Bostrom and Matt Laffey, eds, Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle in the Newspapers. Vol. 3 (July-December 1893), Indianapolis: Gasogene Press 2017, p. 38 ff.
35. Michael A. Meer, ""It is indeed a fearful place": On Conan Doyle and Switzerland," Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle and Switzerland, ed. Marcus Geisser, Guy Marriott, and Michael A. Meer, Meiringen: The Reichenbach Irregulars 2021, pp. 69 ff.
36. Conan Doyle was originally advertised to give a lecture on George Meredith at the Lucerne conference (see The Book Buyer, New York, Vol. X No. 6, July 1893, p. 244; and The Sketch, London, August 2, 1893, p. 15; cf. also Green, ed., The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes, p. 62), but then apparently decided to talk on British literature on a broader scope.
Copyright The Baker Street Journal Winter 2024