The Holiday Gift of the Year – and Many to Come

As you tear off calendar pages that gently float to the ground like the yellow leaves of autumn, you may experience a nearly universal feeling on the day following Thanksgiving, and it is this: “Omigod, Christmas is right around the corner and I have no idea what to do about that ever-lengthening gift list.” This year there is no need to panic, because I can solve your problem for everybody on your list who reads. And if they are older than toddlers and don’t read, they don’t deserve a gift anyway.First, with one of my rare generalizations, permit me to say that, with the possible exception of such truly extravagant items as jewels, automobiles, and Old Master drawings, there simply is no greater present than a book. With a bit of thought, you can find the perfect book for everyone on your list, it entails a relatively modest cost, you’ll know that it fits, and it’s easy to wrap.Having said that, I want to tell you about the one-size-fits-all book, the one that everyone you care about in your personal and professional life needs and wants: the two-volume “New Annotated Sherlock Holmes” (W.W. Norton, 1,877 pages, $75), edited by Leslie Klinger. This is a truly remarkable set (a third volume is expected next year).First, and foremost, there is the main text by Arthur Conan Doyle, who is responsible for the creation of the most famous and enduring character in the history of literature, known by more people throughout the world than Hamlet, Don Quixote, Alice, Peter Pan, or Tarzan. This, the most monumental Sherlock Holmes publication of all time, is being released, fittingly, in the year of the great detective’s 150th birthday.It is Mr. Klinger’s position (as it is of all members of the Baker Street Irregulars) that Holmes is a real person, that the stories were primarily written by his friend and roommate, Dr. John H. Watson, and that Conan Doyle served as the literary agent. While you may not accept this proposition, the numerous annotations (more than 1,000 per volume) treat the stories as biography, not fiction. For serious Sherlockian scholars and true aficionados, this conceit is only as it should be, and they will relish the minutiae.Even the casual reader will be enthralled not just by the stories but by the extraordinary depth of information about the Victorian and Edwardian eras, contemporary literary figures, stage and screen portrayals of Holmes, and analysis of the canon. The scope approaches that typically devoted to the Bible or the Talmud, and more than 700 illustrations enhance the giant pages.There were five collections of short stories about Holmes, comprising 56 individual adventures, and all are faithfully reprinted here. It is almost certain you read these stories when you were young, but they stand up to numerous rereadings, as there seems no limit to the fresh revelations and surprises they offer to sophisticated readers. William S. Baring-Gould produced the first Annotated Sherlock Holmes in 1967, and it remained in print for 25 years – a fact that attests to the excellence of his scholarship as well as the enduring appeal of Holmes and Watson.Using this cornerstone work as his jumping off point, Mr. Klinger has rethought, revised, and fully employed the resources of an additional 37 years of Sherlockian scholarship for the present volume. And, believe me, there has been a lot of Sherlockian scholarship, of which it has been said that never has so much been written by so many for so few.I don’t think that pertains any longer, though: Both the huge number of copies of Baring-Gould’s book that were sold and this ambitious new publication by W.W. Norton attest to the fact that this fascinating subject, which may at first glance appear to be arcane, does in fact appeal to a vast readership.Among those for whom Holmes and Watson hold a special place is John le Carre, who has written an introduction. Although only a couple of pages long, it reminds us that, when he isn’t striving to make political points, he remains one of the most beautiful writers of the English language.He opens by pointing out what we all knew but never quite articulated: Dr. Watson doesn’t write to you; he talks to you, with Edwardian courtesy, across a glowing fire. His voice has no barriers or affectations. It is clear, energetic, and decent, the voice of a tweedy, no-nonsense colonial Britisher at ease with himself, Mr. le Carre goes on to say. “Finer feelings confuse Dr. Watson. He is a stranger to art.Yet he, like his creator, is one of the greatest storytellers the world has ever listened to.”Who could argue with that? And, just because he writes so deliciously, here’s another paragraph from Mr. le Carre’s exemplary introduction:Peek up Conan Doyle’s literary sleeve and you will at first be disappointed; no fine turns of phrase, no clever adjectives that leap off the page, no arresting psychological insights. Instead, what you are looking at is a kind of narrative perfection: a perfect interplay between dialogue and description, perfect characterization and perfect timing. No wonder that, unlike other great storytellers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Conan Doyle translates without loss into practically any language.If by unfortunate chance you have people on your gift list who you think won’t like this sublime work, get them out of your life. They’re not worth knowing.Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at openzler@nysun.com.

The Holiday Gift of the Year – and Many to Come

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