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The ACD Society is a community dedicated to studying and enjoying the works of Arthur Conan Doyle.

Everyone is welcome to join, so please do! It's $10 per calendar year for a membership card, 3 issues of our newsletter, and the joy of being a member of this community.

You can do it via PayPal, or by downloading this form and following the instructions.

If you opt for PayPal, you can click the "Subscribe" button for an ongoing membership and we will charge you $10/year until you choose to cancel ...

... or you can choose to join for 1, 2, or 3 years and click the "Buy Now" button.

1, 2, or 3?

Either way, we do hope you will join us!


Doylean Sites to See

If you know of a website we should add, please tell us: acdsocy@gmail.com.

Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Conan Doyle Review

Doings of Doyle

The Literary Agents

Edinburgh Conan Doyle Project

Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection

Toronto Public Library, Arthur Conan Doyle Collection

Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota Library

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin

Arthur Conan Doyle Collection, Portsmouth City Libraries

The Best of Sherlock Holmes

Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd.

Doyleockian

Sher[UN]Locked


Doylean Publishers

Belanger Books

Wessex Press



Doylean Events

2025 January 16, 11:15 a.m.
ACD Society's Doylean Honors &
Running of the Wessex Cup
The Mysterious Bookshop
New York, NY

2025 January 17, 10:30 a.m.
The Literary Agents #5

(old news and events are here)


Doylean News

Join us to periodically receive
"A Common Newsletter" and
follow us on Mastodon, Threads, and Twitter.

Follow ACD Society on Mastodon

Follow ACD Society on Threads
(we're TheACDSociety)

Why just Mastodon, Threads, and Twitter? Because ACD used those three:

"You don't mean to say you really believe this stuff of his about mammoths and mastodons and great sea serpents?"
The Lost World

“I have now in my hands,” my companion said, confidently, “all the threads which have formed such a tangle.”
A Study in Scarlet

"There is a gentle hum of life which pervades a closely-settled country . . . . The twitter of birds, the buzz of insects, the far-off echo of voices . . . ."
The Poison Belt

If you find an instance of ACD using another social medium, please tell us!


Please tell us about your Doylean events and news so we can share them: acdsocy@gmail.com.


For up-to-date Sherlockian data, check the Sherlockian Calendar, Scuttlebutt, and The District Messenger.


small sketch of Arthur Conan Doyle

Mark Jones (l) presents Doylean Honors award for Fiction and Poetry to David Marcum (r) at The Mysterious Bookshop NYC 2024-1-11

The Envelope Please ... for the
Third Annual Doylean Honors

January 11, 2024 — It is with pleasure, pride, and great respect that we announce our 2024 Doylean Honorees, who were honored today in a ceremony at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City.

For Lifetime Service:

Brian Pugh

For excellence in the "Fiction and Poetry" category:

Derrick Belanger for the short story "The Joyce-Armstrong Confession" in Steel True, Blade Straight (Belanger Books)

David Marcum for the short story "Fate's Brushes" in Steel True, Blade Straight (Belanger Books)

Lee Murray for the short story "Māoriland Blue" in The Terror of Blue John Gap Project (ACD Society)

For excellence in the "Visual Arts" category:

Vincent Mallié for the illustrations in the graphic novel adaptation of The First Adventure of Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet (Magnetic Press)

For excellence in the "Scholarly Writing" category:

Emily Alder for the article Arctic Ghosts: Whale Hunting and Haunting in Arthur Conan Doyle’s "'The Captain of the “Pole-Star'" in Victorian Studies (North American Victorian Studies Association)

Douglas Kerr for the article Arthur Conan Doyle, Eugenics, and the Hand of God in Literature & History (Sage)

Sylvia A. Pamboukian for the chapter Dying Game: Unrepentant Outlaws in Christie and Doyle in Agatha Christie and the Guilty Pleasure of Poison (Palgrave MacMillan)

Congratulations to all! To see and hear the entire awards ceremony, visit Doings of Doyle after January 21 (when it will be posted).


detail of illustration from ACD's novel, The Stark Munro Letters

"Stark Munro" on "All of Doyle"
with the Bimetallic Question

January 4, 2024 — The Bimetallic Question’s next “All of Doyle” meeting will be held next Tuesday, January 16. They will discuss ACD’s quasi-autobiographical novel, “The Stark Munro Letters,” as well as the short story “A Medical Document.” Both are available online in Alexis Barquin’s indispensable and incomparable Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. In addition, Edith Pounden will give a short presentation on Dr. George Budd, ACD’s school friend and (briefly!) colleague, who is the basis for a character in the novel. If you would like to receive a Zoom link for the event, please send a request to info@bimetallicquestion.org.


photo graphs of Doylean Honors certifcates and the Mavis wind-up pony

Doylean Honors and the Wessex Cup,
January 11 at The Mysterious Bookshop 

December 30, 2023 — Our third presentation of Doylean Honors and second running of the Wessex Cup are coming up! The proceedings will be hosted (as ever) by Otto Penzler at The Mysterious Bookshop — on January 11, 2024, starting at 11:15 a.m. sharp. So don’t be late! If you cannot attend in person, you can watch the whole business live online courtesy of Doings of Doyle, producer Mark Jones, and web wizard Matt Hall. Register now (it’s free), right here. Equestrian Outfitter Extraordinaire Peggy MacFarlane has been hard at work equipping the Wessex Cup competitors in incomparable outfits. Pictured above is Mavis (owned by Madeline Quiñones), of whom Peggy says, “Mavis and her Owner Madeline are as cute as a couple of buttons, but underestimate them at your peril. They’re in deep with Moriarty!”


photograph of the front gate of Possingworth Manor

"A Common Newsletter" Is in the Mail …
with Views of a Gap and a Gate

November 23, 2023 — Volume 3, number 3 of our newsletter has entered the postal system. So, sometime in the next few weeks it will arrive on the doorsteps of subscribers around the world. Readers will receive the latest news about our Doylean Honors and Wessex Cup events coming up on January 11 at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop. Other features and news include the location of Walcot Old Place, page 6 of the "Blue John Gap" manuscript from Margie Deck and Nancy Holder's Blue John Gap Project (accompanied by the first few paragraphs of a speluncean essay by Mark Jones of Doings of Doyle), recent ACD sightings, and more. In due course an electronic edition will be available for free right here.


excerpt from the cover of Crichton Porteous's Derbyshire guidebook, "Caves and Caverns of Peakland"

The Terror Is Back, and It's Gone Global

November 10, 2023 — Margie Deck and Nancy Holder have returned with a combination of commentary about, and terror inspired by, ACD's "The Terror of Blue John Gap." Page 6 of their project is now online — with a facsimile (and transcription) of that page of ACD's autograph manuscript, accompanied by Margie and Nancy's own commentary ("The Hero's Journey") and a new essay by Mark Jones ("Caves and Caverns") inspired by Crichton Porteous's Derbyshire guidebook, Caves and Caverns of Peakland. Also new on the "Terror" website is a terrifying addition to Page 1 — a new story featuring the Terror ("Māoriland Blue"), set in New Zealand by award-winning author Lee Murray. Read and shiver!


Doylean Honors nomination form detail

It's "Doylean Honors" Season!
Nominate Your 2022 & 2023 Favorites

October 8, 2023 — Now is the time to nominate your favorite recent works of Doylean fiction, poetry, performing art, visual art, and scholarship for our annual "Doylean Honors" awards. The nomination forms are here, and the deadline for nominations is November 15, 2023. So do it now! Tell our selection committees what fine Doylean creative and scholarly works from 2022 and 2023 are worthy of recognition at our third annual awards ceremony. As ever, the event will be held at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Workshop in New York City, during the long "Birthday Weekend" in early January. This time around it will be on January 11, 2024, starting at 11:15 a.m. sharp. We hope to hear from you soon with your nominations, and to see you at the Bookshop in January!


illustration from ACD's novel Micah Clarke with the caption "A brush with the Kind's dragoons"

"Micah Clarke" on "All of Doyle"
with the Bimetallic Question

September 13, 2023 — Next Tuesday, September 19, at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), the Bimetallic Question will hold its next virtual "All of Doyle" meeting. They (which can include you!) will discuss ACD's 1889 book, "Micah Clarke." "This novel represents an important milestone in Doyle's career," notes discussion leader Edith Pounden, "as it was his first real literary success, without which we might not know either Doyle or Holmes today." To request a Zoom link, email the Bimetallic Question at info@bimetallicquestion.org.


one photo of the Dobrys' recreation of 221B and 2 photos of the BSI book fair warehouse

221Bookfair
September 30, Reading, PA

September 1, 2023 — When you descend into the basement of Joann and Denny Dobry's home in Reading, Pennsylvania, you enter 221B Baker Street as it was when Sherlock Holmes and John Watson lived there, with all the right sights, sounds, furnishings, and accessories. You can sit at the breakfast table, or in front of the fireplace, and easily imagine you are a client waiting for Holmes to emerge from an adjacent room. Or you can explore that adjacent room yourself, and perhaps discover the secret entrance into the other wonder of the Dobrys' basement: the vast subterranean warehouse filled with thousands of Doylean and Sherlockian books, periodicals, and ephemera of every sort, all for sale at bargain prices, with all proceeds going to the BSI Trust. (Don't worry, if you don't find the secret entrance, you can use the other, more conventional, passage into the warehouse.) This 221B is a must-see for all enthusiasts, and the warehouse is a must-shop. And the best time to visit is coming up. On September 30, the Dobrys will be hosting an all-day ("from 10:00 am until everyone is gone," says Denny) book fair and open house. We hope to see you there! For more information, email Denny at dendobry@ptd.net.


clipping from a 1905 issue of The Royal Magazine showing ACD's signature

"A Common Newsletter" Is in the Mail …
with Some Humorous Handwriting

August 14, 2023 — Volume 3, number 2 of our newsletter has entered the postal system. So, sometime in the next few weeks it will arrive on the doorsteps of subscribers around the world. Readers will receive news of the forthcoming issue of our other periodical (or is it an occasional?), The New Pink 'Un (for a look at an old issue click here). Other features and news include the location of The Lost World (according to ChatGPT), page 5 of the "Blue John Gap" manuscript from Margie Deck and Nancy Holder's Blue John Gap Project (accompanied by the first few paragraphs of a "double" essay by Rafe McGregor), a Doylean animal reconstructed out of a single bone on Doings of Doyle, and more. In due course an electronic edition will be available for free right here.


excerpt from page 5 of the manuscript of The Terror of Blue John Gap

The Terror Is Back:
"my extraordinary experience of yesterday"

August 8, 2023 — Margie Deck and Nancy Holder have returned with more commentary on ACD's "The Terror of Blue John Gap" for us. Page 5 of their project is now online — with a facsimile (and transcription) of that page of ACD's autograph manuscript, accompanied by Margie and Nancy's own commentary ("Auditory Hallucinations: '...blurring the boundaries between the supernatural and natural'") and new essays by Rafe McGregor ("Dr Doyle’s Doubles") and S.T. Joshi ("Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Dabbling in the Weird"). Read and wonder ... and worry!


detail from the cover of 1906 French edition of The Curse of Eve, showing a person holding a dog out to another person

"All of Doyle"
with the Bimetallic Question

June 27, 2023 — On Tuesday, July 11 at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), the Bimetallic Question will hold its next virtual "All of Doyle" meeting. They (which can include you!) will discuss four of Doyle's stories connected to the practice of medicine: The Case of Lady Sannox (1893), The Third Generation (1894), The Surgeon Talks (1894), and The Curse of Eve (1894). Attendees will also be treated to a presentation by Dr. Marilynne McKay (BSI, Violet de Merville). Dr. McKay's recent writing on Doylean medicine includes "The Scarlet Thread of Venery: What Killed Jefferson Hope?" in Stimulating Medicine (BSI Press 2022) -- about the subliminal appearance of syphilis symptoms in Doyle's writing. To request a Zoom link, email the Bimetallic Question at info@bimetallicquestion.org.


collage of four images - Gaiola Island, Arthur Conan Doyle, Arthur Conan Doyle with his dog, Sidnye Paget illustration from A Scandal in Bohemia

Worldwide Doyle at Portsmouth Library:
Zoom In — June 26 & 28, July 3 & 4

June 22, 2023 — It is time for the Portsmouth Library's annual Doylean lecture series! This year, the Library is hosting four presentations, all free and open to the public, all on Zoom. You can register for any and all right now:

• Monday, June 26 at 7pm (UK)/2pm (US Eastern Time):
“Arthur Conan Doyle and the Adventure of the Gaiola Malediction”
by Mark Jones & Ross Davies.

• Wednesday, June 28 at 7pm (UK)/2pm (US Eastern Time):
“Portsmouth's Conan Doyle Collection”
by Michael Gunton.

• Monday, July 3 at 7pm (UK)/2pm (US Eastern Time):
“Arthur Conan Doyle’s Supernatural Stories”
by Bryan Woods.

• Tuesday, July 4 at 7pm (UK)/2pm (US Eastern Time):
“Sidney Paget's Visions of Sherlock Holmes”
by Dr. Christopher Pittard.


detail of Christmas cake decorated with Professor Challenger and dinosaurs

"A Common Newsletter" Is in the Mail …
with a Challenging Confection

May 28, 2023 — Volume 3, number 1 of our newsletter entered the postal system late last night. Soon, after pausing in a post box for a couple of days during the holiday weekend, it will travel to members around the world. Readers will receive news of the second annual Doylean Honors ceremony and the first running of the Wessex Cup, along with an announcement of next year’s festivities at Otto Penzler’s The Mysterious Bookshop. Other features and news include page 4 of the "Blue John Gap" manuscript (accompanied by a Lovecraftian essay from Margie Deck and Nancy Holder's Blue John Gap Project), praise for bimetallic Doylean questioning, an early Parisian Doylean moment in The New Yorker, and more. In due course an electronic edition will be available for free right here.


illustration from page 133 of the August 1910 issue of The Strand Magazine showing James Hardcastle hearing the Terror of Blue John Gap

The Terror Is Back:
This Time We Can Hear It

May 18, 2023 — Margie Deck and Nancy Holder have returned with more commentary on ACD's "The Terror of Blue John Gap" for us. Page 4 of their project is now online — with a facsimile (and transcription) of that page of ACD's autograph manuscript, accompanied by Margie and Nancy's own commentary ("'A most remarkable experience': Hearing is believing") and new essays by Peter Cannon ("The Beast in the Cave: A Lovecraftian Conan Doyle Tale") and Matthew D. Hall ("How would Sherlock Holmes approach this case?"). In addition, there are new papers on Page D by Dean Wilkinson ("Doyle’s Tales of Terror and Mystery: Writer Dean Wilkinson picks his 4 favourite 'Conandoylic' horror stories for your distressingly dire delight") and on Page 3 by Rich Krisciunas ("Sheep Stealers"). Read and tremble!


illustration from Doyle's story, The Mystery of Cloomber, showing two people looking at a building with a caption quote that says "Cloomber lay beneath us in a blaze of light"

"All of Doyle"
with the Bimetallic Question

May 5, 2023 — On Tuesday, May 9 at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), the Bimetallic Question will hold its next virtual "All of Doyle" meeting. They (which can include you!) will discuss Doyle's spooky novella, The Mystery of Cloomber. The story is available in print and, of course, online at the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. To request a Zoom link for the meeting, email the Bimetallic Question at info@bimetallicquestion.org. Doors will open at 6:45 p.m.


illustrations from "The King of the Foxes" (a rider on horseback), "The Story of Spedegue's Dropper" (a cricket bowler), and "The Croxley Master" (two people boxing)

"All of Doyle"
with the Bimetallic Question

March 21, 2023 — On Tuesday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time), the Bimetallic Question will hold its next virtual "All of Doyle" meeting. They (which can include you!) will discuss three of Doyle's sporting tales: The Croxley Master, The Story of Spedegue's Dropper, and The King of the Foxes. Attendees will also be treated to presentations by Philip Ehrensaft on Doyle's role as an early adopter of football before it became "the world's sport," and by Mark Alberstat, BSI ("Halifax"), co-editor of Canadian Holmes, and all-around Doylean sports and athletics scholar. To request a Zoom link, email the Bimetallic Question at info@bimetallicquestion.org.


inside The Mysterious Bookshop during the 2023 Doylean Honors event

Moving Pictures of Doylean Honors
and Wessex Cup

February 5, 2023 — Go to the Doings of Doyle YouTube channel to see (and hear) just-released recordings of the 2023 Doylean Honors ceremony and the first running of the Wessex Cup, both of which were held at Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Bookshop on January 5, 2023. These films were produced by Mark Jones under extraordinarily difficult technical conditions, which makes some features (for example, the slow-motion close-ups of the end of each race) even more impressive. We have still pictures as well, including (above) one of David MacGregor receiving his Doylean Honors award for Excellence in the Performing Arts from selection committee chair Monica Schmidt (photo by Louise Krull) and another (below) of Wessex Cup champion Derrick Belanger receiving the Wessex Cup from equine outfitter extraordinaire Peggy MacFarlane (photo by Christopher Zordan).

Derrick Belanger and Peggy McFarlane inside The Mysterious Bookshop during the 2023 Wessex Cup event


3 images of the 2023 ACD Society membership card, with art by Regina Stinson

2023 Membership Card
by Regina Stinson

January 17, 2023 — When you join the ACD Society for 2023 (look to your left for instructions), you will receive an unorthodox and excellent membership card. It is a bit taller than a conventional card, and it is perforated. These features will enable you to wear with pride (as Gerard surely did) and amusement (as ACD surely intended) the handsome medal Napoleon presented to Brigadier Gerard (as brilliantly interpreted by Regina Stinson), along with a few suitably Napoleonic words: "You will see ... that Brigadier Gerard has the special medal of honour, for I believe that if he has the thickest head he has also the stoutest heart in my army." Emperor Napoleon, speaking the last lines in The Medal of Brigadier Gerard (The Strand Magazine, December 1894). Cards will be mailed to current members later this week.


Doylean Honors certificate

The Envelope, Please . . .

January 5, 2023 — It is with pleasure, pride, and great respect that we announce our 2023 Doylean Honorees.

For Lifetime Service:

Owen Dudley Edwards

For excellence in the "Fiction and Poetry" category:

Margie Deck for "Whitney’s Reflection" in Steel True, Blade Straight (Belanger Books)

Paul Hiscock for “The Ascent” in Steel True, Blade Straight (Belanger Books)

David Marcum for “The Unintended Offenses” in Steel True, Blade Straight (Belanger Books)

For excellence in the "Performing and Visual Arts" category:

Jessie Amaolo for Virtual Tour of A Study in Sherlock & His Creator (Toronto Public Library)

David MacGregor for Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Ghost in the Machine (Purple Rose Theater Company)

Frank Cho for illustrations in Bonnie MacBird’s What Child is This?: A Sherlock Holmes Christmas Adventure (HarperCollins)

For excellence in the "Scholarly Writing" category:

Shrabani Basu her book, The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji and the Case of the Foreigner in the English Village (Bloomsbury)

Richard Fallon for “Rediscovering Lost Worlds: Arthur Conan Doyle and the Modern Romance of Palaeontology” in his book Reimagining Dinosaurs in Late Victorian and Edwardian Literature (Cambridge University Press)

Brian McCuskey for “Theory and Preaching, 1887-1930” in his book, How Sherlock Pulled the Trick: Spiritualism and the Pseudoscientific Method (Penn State University Press)

Congratulations to all! Look for a special Doings of Doyle podcast about the Doylean Honors. Coming soon.


excerpt from Doylean Honors certificate

Welcome to the Second Annual
Doylean Honors Ceremony

January 4, 2023 — Please join us tomorrow (Thursday, January 5, at 11:15 a.m. ET) either in person at The Mysterious Bookshop (58 Warren Street, NYC) or online at Doings of Doyle (register for free here) to celebrate excellence in Doylean Fiction and Poetry, Performing and Visual Arts, and Scholarly Writing, and to salute the Lifetime Service of one extraordinary Doylean — and to witness the first running (or rolling) of the Wessex Cup. See you at the Bookshop or online for the second annual Doylean Honors!


Questions? Comments? Ideas?
Please email us at acdsocy@gmail.com.

By the way, if you want to support the ACD Society more generously, please feel free to send a larger Paypal or check to the Green Bag (the organization that is collecting our dues and paying our bills now and will for the foreseeable future be covering the difference between dues coming in and expenses going out). It is a 501(c)(3) and will gladly send a receipt.


Thank you for reading!

(old posts are here)