“You are aware that I am not a very sound sleeper,”
- Watson, in his first letter to Holmes in Hound
like can I just. let me live
seen from Poland
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seen from Malaysia

seen from Australia

seen from T1

seen from Malaysia
seen from South Africa

seen from Malaysia
seen from China

seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from Canada
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seen from Netherlands
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“You are aware that I am not a very sound sleeper,”
- Watson, in his first letter to Holmes in Hound
like can I just. let me live
My Dear Robinson
In July 1900 Conan Doyle met and “cemented” a friendship with Bertram Fletcher Robinson on his “golden voyage” home from South Africa. In March 1901 the two took a golfing holiday during which Conan Doyle wrote to his mother of him and Robinson, “we are going to do a book together, The Hound of the Baskervilles.” Conan Doyle returned to stay with Robinson in Norfolk and Devon through April.
Five years after Robinson’s death, Conan Doyle may have written a bit of the rugby-playing journalist into the character of Edward Malone in The Lost World. Malone did not end up with the female love interest, Gladys, the name of Robinson’s widow.
(X, X, X, X)
Pages and artefacts of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” from The Case Notes of Sherlock Holmes PART 1
Broadsheet advertising the publication of The Hound of the Baskervilles in The Strand Magazine, August 1901
image via the Toronto Public Library’s Special Collection
watson opening hound of the baskervilles by describing the fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed that he has in his hand
My copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles with ugly blanket backdrop.
hound of the baskervilles, ch 9-end
I never really got around to writing up any notes on week 3 and now it’s week 4 so, here goes.
One thing that struck me, this time round with this story, is how it’s made up of at least three stories that could have each been cases on their own. Dr Mortimer brings Sir Henry’s case to Holmes; one could imagine the officials at Princetown prison maybe coming to Holmes to help find their escapee if that went on long enough; and Laura Lyons, the abandoned woman, is a lot like other women clients Holmes has helped. She even has a typewriting business like Mary Sutherland in IDEN. Then there are truly unconnected elements, but which add so much depth to the characters and overall story: Dr Mortimer’s archaeology hobby, Frankland’s legal hobby, the ongoing renovations at Baskerville Hall which are bound to bring people into contact with one another, and generate topics of gossip in nearby Coombe Tracey. Selden nearly got away without being connected to the Hound case, except for the hand-me-down clothing, though his connection to the Barrymores lent so much intrigue to the life at the hall. He serves as Barrymore’s alibi regarding the London business with the boots, there’s no way either of them would have been away from the hall overnight. I wonder what sort of conversation passed between Selden and Holmes while they were “neighbors” out on the moor.
The reunion between Watson and Holmes in the stone hut is so sweet, they are both really so happy to see each other again, even if Holmes is a little vexed at being found out before he planned to be. His explanation for keeping Watson in the dark about his presence sounds SO MUCH like what we understand about the post-Reichenbach hiatus, too. His need to operate independently, his fear that Watson might do something indiscreet, and Watson’s hurt feelings about being excluded and not trusted (which he gets over with Holmes’ reassurance of his value)
I don’t know if anyone else twigged on this, but the description of the mire, in the part where they are trying to chase Stapleton, “the dark, quivering mire, which shook for yards in soft undulations around our feet.” tells me it is a quaking bog. I have been on one, back when I was a kid and my dad was in the mycological club. A quaking bog is a lake or pond that has become covered over with a thick mat of vegetation, but which still has water between that and the bottom. Much of it was perfectly safe to walk on, but one did always have to be a bit cautious, and the undulating surface was pretty cool. Because the plants don’t have access to much actual soil, only certain things can grow in this unique ecosystem, including carnivorous plants like venus fly traps, sundews, and pitcher plants (which we saw plenty of).
is... is he using the royal We or did he just refer to himself and Watson as having one heart
or is it deliberately ambiguous