Sherlock Book Review - Hound of The Baskervilles Reader
Posted by Steve Emecz on
Sherlock Holmes Society of London - Summer Journal 2023
Five years on from Mr Reekie’s impressive “illustrated and enhanced” edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes comes this handsome second volume, containing “the classic story, plus questions and answers, writing tasks, research exercises, original play, historical and social backgrounds, and much more”. The illustrations include portraits of the dramatis personae, mostly adapted from late Victorian photos and pictures of appropriate-looking actors (Peter Cushing and Andre Morell as Holmes and Watson, with Rondo Hatton as Selden, John Carradine as Sir Charles, and others); plus atmospheric pictures from the period and clever mock-ups.
The additional material consists of “a who's who; location lists; writing tasks; research exercises; a crossword puzzle; histories of Queen Victoria, Victorian childhood, transport and travel, Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police Force; a guide to Sherlock Holmes’ London; a history of Sherlock Holmes on the stage, screen, and radio; an original audio play for four aspiring young actors; colourful characters from the Sherlock Holmes canon; the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and a Victorian timeline”. It’s all very nicely done and, like the story, enticingly illustrated.
Available from this site and also from:
Book Depository (free worldwide delivery)
This unique volume is aimed at the new generation of Sherlockians from nine to ninety-nine. It contains Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original novel, complimented by a fun and fact filled educational supplement which consists of; a who’s who, location lists, writing tasks, research exercises, a crossword puzzle, histories of Queen Victoria, Victorian childhood, transport and travel, Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police Force, a guide to Sherlock Holmes’ London, a history of Sherlock Holmes on the stage, screen, and radio, an original audio play for four aspiring young actors, colourful characters from the Sherlock Holmes’ canon, the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a Victorian timeline. Many of the above come with an abundance of question and answer tasks.
Author Nick Reekie
ISBN 9781804240472
Pages 198
Format Colour Paperback
Date 1st November 2022
About the author
Nick Reekie was first introduced to Sherlock Holmes at the tender age of eight when his father, Richard, arrived home one afternoon with two bound volumes of the Strand Magazine under his arm.
Further volumes would arrive weekly along with the odd hardback, paperback, and once to his great delight a gramophone record from the 1954 radio series starring Sir John Gielgud as Holmes and Sir Ralph Richardson as Watson. His first cinematic experience was at the Hippodrome in Putney where his father took him to see The Hound of the Baskervilles starring Peter Cushing and Andre Morell. It has remained his favourite Holmes film.
His love of the stories of Sherlock Holmes as chronicled by his friend and assistant, Dr. John H. Watson, with perhaps just a little help from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, has never waned and this volume is his homage to that greatest of all detectives. The original finely detailed illustrations have taken him “more years to draw than I care to mention”, with a single image requiring up to two months to fully render.
Nick Reekie lives with his wife, Barbara, in Southfields, London.