The Author at “The Alpha Inn”, Bloomsbury
Photograph by David Marcum, September 9th, 2016
Following Holmes’s advice from the Alpha – “Faces to the south, then, and quick march!” – one is just moments away from other important Sherlockian sites, including the Bow Street Police Station, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Lyceum (and its third pillar from the left), and so on into the Strand.
Finally, slightly to the southeast of Montague Street, on the far side of Bloomsbury Square Gardens, is another short block developed by the Bedford Estates. Southampton Place (known as Southampton Street in 1877), named for a Russell family connection to the Earl of Southampton in the 1600’s.
This location is interesting because, again according to Harrison in The London of Sherlock Holmes (pp.13-15), the London Post Office Directory for 1878 shows that No. 6 Southampton was occupied at that time by a Dr. John Watson, M.D. It is a well documented fact that Watson took his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the nearby University of London in 1878 – which is located just north of the British Museum, and in the same neighborhood as these others sites – and he would have certainly spent a great deal of time in Bloomsbury.
Did Watson live near Holmes during this crucial and formative period while each was just starting out? Did Watson try his hand at a short and unrecorded medical practice for just a bit before enlisting in the army, while only a few streets away at No. 24 Montague Street, Holmes waited for clients and acquired bits of useful and unusual knowledge? Did these two encounter one another in passing while on the streets of Bloomsbury, or perhaps jostle each other in the Alpha Inn, as each ordered a glass of the excellent beer?
I like to think that they did.
Sources:
Alexander, Arthur M. Hot On The Scent: A Visitor’s Guide to the London of Sherlock Holmes, Ashcroft, British Columbia, Calabash Press, 1999.
Hammer, David. “A Deep Game”: The Travelers’ Companion to the London of Sherlock Holmes, Indianapolis, IN, Gasogene Press, 1983.
Hammer, David. The Game Is Afoot, Dubuque, Iowa, Gasogene Press, 1983.
Harrison, Michael. The London of Sherlock Holmes, New York, Drake Publishers, 1972.
Harrison, Michael. The World of Sherlock Holmes, New York, E.P. Dutton & Company, 1973.
Marcum, David. Personal Photographs, London, England, October 2nd, 2015, and September 8th and 9th, 2016.
Sinclair, David. Sherlock Holmes’s London, London, Robert Hale, 2009.
“The Bedford Estates”, http://www.bedfordestates.com/the-estate/history/#7796, May 19, 2014
Afterword
by Derrick Belanger
The seeds for this anthology were planted when I composed my story “The Tale of the First Adventure” for The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories – Part IV: 2016 Annual. The story involves Holmes, as a schoolboy, solving one of his first mysteries, and while drafting it, I thought a collection of stories from before Holmes’s time on Baker Street would make for an excellent anthology. Fortunately for me, David Marcum concurred and he once again used his editing magic to pull together this fine story collection. I want to thank Mr. Marcum for not only compiling and editing the collection, but for including an excellent adventure of his own. Big thank you’s go out to all of the authors for visiting this often ignored time period in the life of the young detective, and also to Brian Belanger for his exceptional cover art.
Finally, I’d like to thank our Kickstarter contributors for making this project a huge success:
Cristian Balaski
The Sci Fi Saturday Night Gang
Brian R. Boisvert
Sakuraember
Rebecca Hawthorn
David Ryan
Gustaf B.
Greg Chaban
Nuno Robles
Christopher Squire
Jim Jorritsma
Abigail Leib
Marjorie-Ann Garza
Amy E. Moffat
Troy V. Barkmeier
Thomas A. Turley
David P Sharp
Sharat Faqurudheen
Scott Vander Molen
Douglas I. D. McLean
Joyce and Garry Germann
Brian R. Boisvert
Lynn M.
@NeoNacho
Tracy Johnson
Alistair Gilmour
Noelle Airo
Scarlett Letter
Karen Rosner
cameron greatorex
Ash Allen
Daniel D. Victor
Fearlessleader
Dr. Warren H. Chaney
Anne Guglik
Douglas Vaughan
Marc Margelli
Steve Rosenberg
Anton Wijs
Callum Stoner
Edward Ludvigsen
JNM
Jeffery Lawler
Robert Perret
Jason VanNimwegen
Onno Hoogendoorn
Bridgette M. Findley
Fred Herman
Thomas M. Colwell
Peter Neuber
David A. Wade
Steven M. Smith
Lark Cunningham
Lazuli
Chris Basler
Rebecca Arcangeli
Ray Riethmeier
Dr. David A. Lee
Russell Hultgren
Chris Chastain
Mary T Haynes
Steve Emecz (MX Publishing)
Elizabeth Varadan
Mark Mower
Paul Hiscock
Elle Johns
Joelle Galatan
Mary Ann Raley
Nick Cardillo
Terry Cox
Edu Blake
Steve White
Greg Chaban
Nadine Rueckert
Bastgirl
Duncan Collins
Mark Carter
Jean-Christophe Remont
Chris Gilmour
Without your backing, this project may have never come to fruition.
With kind regards,
Derrick Belanger
April 2017
About the Contributors
The following contributors appear in this volume . . . .
Brian Belanger is a publisher and editor, but is best known for his freelance illustration and cover design work. His distinctive style can be seen on several MX Publishing covers, including Silent Meridian by Elizabeth Crowen, Sherlock Holmes and the Menacing Melbournian by Allan Mitchell, Sherlock Holmes and A Quantity of Debt by David Marcum, Welcome to Undershaw by Luke Benjamen Kuhns, and many more. Brian is the co-founder of Belanger Books LLC, where he illustrates the popular MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes young reader series (#1 bestsellers on Amazon.com U.K.). A prolific creator, he also designs t-shirts, mugs, stickers, and other merchandise on his personal art site at www.redbubble.com/people/zhahadun.
Derrick Belanger is an author and educator most noted for his books and lectures on Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as his writing for the blog I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. Both volumes of his two-volume anthology, A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural were #1 best sellers on the Amazon.com U.K. Sherlock Holmes book
