IT’S ELEMENTARY FOR SHERLOCK HOLMES FANS TO VISIT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND’S LATEST EXHIBITION
As the new Sherlock Holmes film hits the big screen, the National Library of Scotland is offering the chance to view an original Holmes tale in the handwriting of his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The manuscript of the Sherlock Holmes story, ‘The Adventure of the Illustrious Client’, which was published in 1927, is on display until January 8. It is part of a display along with nine other iconic treasures including the original copper plate for the map of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and the manuscript of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley.
Set in 1902, the story sees Sherlock Holmes called in to persuade the beautiful Violet de Merville that she should ditch the villainous Baron Gruner. After investigation, subterfuge, and the help of Dr Watson - including a crucial bit of Library research - the popular detective succeeds.
The Library’s Bruce Blacklaw said: “Conan Doyle is one of Edinburgh’s most cherished literary sons, and Holmes is a global icon, particularly with the current attention on the new film. This Holmes story is one of the few Conan Doyle manuscripts remaining in the UK, and I would encourage anyone who has interest in the books or the film to visit the library and catch this glimpse of literary history.”
Please visit www.nls.uk for a list of exhibitions currently on display at the library. The treasures will be on public display until January 8.
The Library’s winter exhibition, Curtain Up: 40 Years of Scottish Theatre is also now open, as is the permanent John Murray Archive Exhibition.
Below is the full list of items on display at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge from November 19 to January 8:
- The order for the Massacre of Glencoe
- Forlani Map – first printed map of Scotland
- The Lyon in Mourning – Bishop Robert Forbes’s collection of Jacobite papers
- Designs for the Union flag
- Waverley manuscript by Walter Scott (1814)
- Copperplate map of Treasure Island
- The Battle of Sherramuir by Robert Burns
- The Adventure of the Illustrious Client by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The National Covenant – printed and manuscript version
- Alexander Stuart: Musick for Allan Ramsay’s Collection of Scots songs
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