Photo: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created his famous detective Sherlock Holmes while living and working in Portsmouth. Lancelyn Green Collection.
A huge collection of artefacts, memorabilia and ephemera related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes is set to come home to Portsmouth, where the legendary detective was created.
The collection of over 20,000 items is thought to be worth more than £2 million and was bequeathed to the city by late writer and renowned Sherlock Holmes expert Richard Lancelyn Green.
It will now be catalogued by Portsmouth City Museums and Records Service, before eventually being housed as part of the collections at the Central Library and City Museum.
"This is a marvellous coup for Portsmouth," said Cllr Terry Hall, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure.
"The city has a strong literary history being Dickens' birthplace and the home to Rudyard Kipling, HG Wells and Neville Shute. To welcome such an amazing collection is both a privilege and an honour."
Photo: the collection contains a massive range of memorabilia including photographs, Toby jugs and even a pub sign. Lancelyn Green Collection.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859. He trained to be a doctor and later set up a practice in Portsmouth where, in 1886, he began work on what was to become A Study In Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story.
Numerous short stories and novels followed, with Holmes and Dr Watson becoming a worldwide phenomenon to the extent that letters are still received at 221b Baker Street, the detective’s fictional address.
Conan Doyle’s private papers were sold at a controversial auction in May this year amid claims they should be saved for the nation. Fortunately, the British Library bought over 1000 documents.
Richard Lancelyn Green’s father edited the Sherlock Holmes Journal and by the age of 12 his son, born in 1953, was a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.
Over the next 38 years he became the foremost Holmes expert and amassed an unrivalled collection of material relating to the much-loved sleuth.
When he died in March, Lancelyn Green’s will stipulated that the collection should be housed together and that he wanted it offered first to Portsmouth's library service.
Photo: perhaps the largest of the items, a recreation of Holmes' famous residence at 221b Baker Street. Lancelyn Green Collection.
Among the items are first editions of all Conan Doyle’s works, as well as an extremely rare copy of the Beeton’s Christmas Annual in which the first ever Holmes story was published.
Intriguingly, the collection contains a small medical work by a Doctor Sherlock. Was this the man who inspired the name of Conan Doyle’s detective?
On a larger scale, there’s even a full size recreation of Holmes’ Baker Street room created by Lancelyn Green and previously kept at the family estate in Cheshire.
"I'm thrilled to be receiving this outstanding collection on behalf of the city council," said Sarah Quail, Portsmouth City Council’s Head of Arts, Libraries, Museums and Records.
While the volumes of historic material relating to the famous author and his creation will make Portsmouth a centre for Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle studies, the sheer variety of items in the collection suggest there is something for everyone.
Photo: the collection includes memorabilia from the much-loved films of the Sherlock Holmes stories starring Basil Rathbone as the super sleuth. Lancelyn Green Collection.
"The scholars and researchers will find a wealth of original manuscripts and documents," said Sarah, adding, "there are items as diverse as film scripts, programmes, photographs, jigsaws, videos, posters, toby jugs and mugs. There’s even the inn sign from the Sherlock Holmes pub."
Now the huge task of cataloguing it all begins. Staff have already started to work their way through the hundreds of crates, a job expected to take around two years.
Once it’s done the best way to exhibit the collection will be decided. Books and printed material will go to the Central Library, while artefacts are expected to go to the City Museum.
"Richard Lancelyn Green was being characteristically generous when he bequeathed his Conan Doyle collection to Portsmouth and thus to the nation," added Sir Christopher Frayling, Chairman of the Arts Council.
"The choice of Portsmouth is spot on as well: the place where Dr. Conan Doyle had his medical practice; a place where international scholars and enthusiasts can gather; in all, a fitting place to celebrate Richard's own life, work and collection."
