This is a collection of the writings of the late Robert N. Brodie, B.S.I., and it includes pretty well everything Sherlockian "from doggerel to dogma." The editor is Warren Randall, who lives on Long Island, N.Y. The full title of this commodious publication is The Log of "The Gloria Scott": The Practical Book of Sherlock Holmes with some Observations upon the Segregation of the Irregular – The Writings of Robert N. Brodie, B.S.I. Extraordinarily entertaining and "great company." Hardcover, two-colour cover with period illustration and caricature by Jean-Pierre Cagnat, 290 pages.
The Log of "The Gloria Scott"
is a celebration of one of the world's great figures. Sherlock Holmes!
Elementary! For many, these words conjure up images of Basil Rathbone or Jeremy
Brett tramping a fog in the company of an ever-faithful Dr. Watson. To others,
the name only reflects the imagination of a ruddy-faced, white-mustached dreamer
named Conan Doyle. To the enthusiast, in the words of Bill Schweickert, they are
"a passport to a far better age ... as near as a page." The late Bob Brodie
wrote and spoke on a great many matters Sherlockian in a great number of places.
These reflections have been gleaned into a sort of a footnote to the arcane and
mundane world that sprang into being in 1887. Within, a logician might deduce
the sound of Sherlock Holmes, the clinician examine Dr. Watson's colleagues or
the philatelist delve into British postal forgeries. The merely curious will not
go unrewarded for time spent in "The Canonical Yellow Pages." So, the game is
afoot down London streets, but even Baker Street is not a sure thing. You may
end up in one of Holmes's safe houses.
Bob Brodie was "The Gloria Scott" of the Baker Street Irregulars. He liked to
read and talk and listen. He also liked to write, to amuse and to enlighten.
This is a collection of as many pieces as could be found of his Sherlockian
efforts, along with some miscellany to or from him. The selections range from
doggerel (a four-line toast) to dogma (Canonical, of course), and ephemeral to
epistolary. You can read of British postal forgeries and how Sherlock Holmes
would have solved the case. Or you can walk the streets of London, celebrate
Chaucer, or examine his version of the Yellow Pages. Hugh Harrington, one of the
people Bob frequently corresponded with was recently asked if there would be any
thing of interest among his letters. He replied that he did not find much that
would be of interest to others. But, he wrote, while going over them he did
suddenly discover that he was smiling. He said that simple event would be his
"tribute to Bob. I think he would be pleased." We agree. There surely will be
something in this collection that might bring a smile to your lips, a twinkle to
your eye, or even an idea for a paper of your own. We iterate Bob's implicit
invitation, "Enjoy!" Warren Randall, the editor of Prescott's Press, has spent
four years on the track of the pieces in this collection. When not engaged in
what is now a single-minded pursuit of things Sherlockian in far-off places like
Toronto, Tokyo, or Baker Street, he continues as a Project Associate at the
State University of New York at Stony Brook. He now lives on the historic north
shore of Long Island serves as "Leverton" of The Long Island Cave Dwellers.
Along with his books and lapel pins, he is undertaking a new collection,
grandchildren Ð five at last count Ð one being born on 2/21 at 1.22 a.m. His
checkered past includes appearances on The G-E College Bowl, Who, What and Where
(NBC) and several "no thank you's" from Jeopardy. Randall has also written a
number of poems, plays and pastiches, some published, some not. His most recent
is the sonnet, "Thoughts Upon the Terrace," published in Canadian Holmes. His
great ambition is to collect, catalogue and preserve as many presentations from
Sherlockian get-togethers as he can get his hands on. In some cases, he has
found that he has a copy and the author doesn't. "Too many fine papers have been
lost over the years that should have reached a wider audience. Sherlock Holmes
does not sit well in a file folder."
Hard Cover with
Dust jacket, 290p.
ISBN 1-55246-057-6 $45.00