The Final Problem | 
"It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished."
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
Bookwomble The other 500 pages I have left to read in this Holmes collection does, fortunately, blunt the edge of Watson's cutting words. I can imagine feeling bereft when this story was first published, and would surely have been one of those wearing a black armband in token of mourning The Great Detective. (edited) 9mo
dabbe I'd be the one standing in front of The Strand and throwing eggs at the window. 😃 9mo
Bookwomble @dabbe OMG! Did somebody actually do that! Either way, I can absolutely imagine you doing it 😄 9mo
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dabbe @Bookwomble Not that I heard of; that's just me. 🤣🤣🤣 However, according to Reddit: “Twenty thousand people canceled their subscriptions to the Strand. Hate mail arrived at the magazine‘s editorial offices by the sack load. Thousands of people wrote Doyle directly, begging him to reverse Holmes‘s death. Many people took to wearing black armbands in the street [you nailed that one], in mourning for Sherlock Holmes... ⬇️ 9mo
dabbe ... “The death of the world‘s first consulting detective was taken up by the wire services and reported all over the world as front-page news. Obituaries for Holmes appeared everywhere. Petitions were signed and “Keep Holmes Alive” clubs were formed ... not since then had a fandom made itself so obvious in its grief. The like would not be seen again until the deaths of Spock and Dumbledore.“ Amazing, isn't it? 9mo
Bookwomble @dabbe I knew about the other expressions of literary grief for Holmes, but you got me with the egg-throwing thing! I'd definitely have held the egg box for you while you threw them at the Strand! 🥚😄 9mo
dabbe @Bookwomble I wish we could go back in time and do it! 🤩🤣🤗 9mo
Bookwomble @dabbe If wishes were time machine... 😄 TBF to The Strand, they offered Doyle silly amounts of money for him to bring back Holmes, so we should really have been egging ACD's house. 8mo
dabbe @Bookwomble Excellent point. Let's go there instead. 😃 8mo
Bookwomble @dabbe We could sit him down and have a sensible talk about the fairies at the bottom of his garden 🧚🧚♀️🧚♂️ 8mo
dabbe @Bookwomble Oh, lordy be! Those damn fairies! WTH happened to you, Doyle? 🤣🤣🤣 8mo
Bookwomble @dabbe In one way it's difficult to understand how the creator of Sherlock Holmes could display such poor critical thinking when it came to spiritualism, but the trauma of personal bereavement, and cultural bereavement following WWI, explains much, I think. 8mo
dabbe @Bookwomble Too true. It was a zeitgeist of the times for some of the elites. 8mo
The_Book_Ninja Another superbly curated picture 8mo
Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja Well, you know, artist Sidney Paget set it up for me 😏 8mo
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