Chancery House Press is an imprint of CBD Research Ltd; its aim is to provide an outlet for non-fiction publications of an esoteric or specialist nature, to assist serious researchers and the dedicated hobbyist.
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Canon of 60 stories has been the subject of continuous examination for more than a century. Over the decades, we have had By-ways, Footsteps, Sidelights, Studies, Catalogues, and Commentaries, which have explored so many aspects of the work that it would be impossible to list them in a single book. The Canon's chief narrator, Dr Watson, admired and praised Holmes. Holmes, in turn, usually had the greatest affection and praise for Watson.
However, more like Homer than Boswell, Watson often nodded. The thousands of articles written about Holmes are almost all panegyrical in tone but many critics have unearthed lapses, errors and contradictions in Watson's narratives. Watson, of course, is often at fault: he plays havoc with chronology; his observations are often erroneous; he is unaware of absurdities; and he contradicts both himself and Holmes on many occasions as he proceeds through the Canon and even within the same story. Holmes too does not come out of things as white as driven snow. Far from it. Although the centre-piece of the entire Holmes phenomenon is the brilliance of Holmes' deductive methodology, some of his deductions are more flamboyant than scientific and many are founded on fallacies. He is often mistaken in his conclusions; his numerous philosophical maxims are sometimes fallacious; his flirtations with the law are legion; he occasionally is cavalier with the truth; he contradicts himself endlessly; his financial arrangements were sometimes dubious; and when it comes to making quotations he is usually at fault.
It has been our purpose, in compiling this book, to consolidate previous studies and examine anew the imperfections in Watson's (and occasionally Holmes') narratives.
| Volume One 1868 - 1899. | ISBN 0 900246 65 0. | 305 pp, 5 photos, 3 illustrations. | £14.95 (£17.95 post free) |
| Volume Two 1900 - 1929. | ISBN 0 900246 77 4. | 315 pp, 22 photos, 14 pages of facsimile documents. | £17.95 (£21.45 post free) |
| Volume Three 1930 - 1964. | ISBN 0 900246 81 2. | 386 pp, 80 photos, 19 illustrations. | £26.95 (£31.60 post free) |
Hunter Adair is a real countryman, having been born and brought up on a farm, and has written a real 'country' book showing his love and understanding of the countryside. From a young age he was taught by his father, not only how to behave when walking over farm land, but also about the animals and birds and the laws relating to them when out hunting or shooting with dogs. He tells many tales describing how his father worked and trained gundogs and how he dealt with poachers and describes the law as it is applied today.
This book is also full of stories taken from a sporting solicitor's book published in 1901, with explanations of the old gaming laws put into layman's terms.
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This detailed and extensive book represents the only definitive work available on this fascinating group of Victorian ephemera. The subject will not only be of interest to the postal historian, but will find a wider audience amongst those interested in social history and with collectors of ephemera. The work includes both a full description of the derivation and purpose of these small, and often intricate examples of the engravers and printers skills, and also catalogues a wide variety of types and subjects that can be found.
The method of cataloguing is, after a short period of familiarisation, simple to follow and, wisely in the reviewer's opinion, whilst levels of rarity are shown, no attempt has been made to attach a monetary value to individual examples, although a general price guide is included in the final chapter. The work is extensively illustrated within the body of the text, and also with 8 full page colour plates covering the different categories described in the text. The reader may, like the reviewer, feel a small frustration in not being able to see illustrations of all the catalogued types, but this is compensated for by the detailed descriptions of the many subject categories covered by the work.
Hugh Feldman (PHS)
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