“Through the Magic Door”: Stories from the Private Library of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Lecture by Dr. William Zachs, Director, Blackie House Library and Museum

Nearly a decade ago the descendants of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) transferred a substantial part of the author’s private library to Blackie House Library and Museum in Edinburgh, the city of his birth. Each of the 400 volumes tells a unique story of the writer who not only created the globally admired character Sherlock Holmes but was author of dozens upon dozens of works in fictional and non-fictional genres. The extensive collection divides into three principal sections:

1. 100 books written by Sir Arthur, a number of them with authorial interventions, including his own copy of the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet (1887);
2. 100 books presented to him by authors both famous (for example, J. M. Barrie and Jerome K. Jerome) and forgotten, though no less fascinating for the insights they can offer.
3. 200 miscellaneous books that reflect the extensive reading and research of this enduringly popular writer — many of the volumes with significant annotations by Sir Arthur.

In this talk, Dr. William Zachs, the Director of the Blackie House Library and Museum, tells tales teased out from the pages of the collection that reveal the close connections between the books Conan Doyle owned and read and those he wrote and revised. Using his own critical powers of observation and deduction, Zachs uncovers significant biographical revelations that bring us closer to the author and his times.

A collector and scholar, William (Bill) Zachs is the author of The First John Murray and the Eighteenth-Century London Book Trade (1998), Without Regard to Good Manners: A Biography of Gilbert Stuart, 1743-1786 (1992) and several scholarly and popular article, reviews, and exhibition catalogues. He lectures internationally on such topics as “The History and Art of Letter-Writing Before, During, and After the Digital Age,” “The Thousand-Year History of the Illustrated Book – A Story in Ten Volumes,” “The Private Library of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,” “Authenticity and Duplicity: Investigations into Multiple Copies of Books,” and much more.

Bill is an Honorary Fellow of the universities of Edinburgh and Stirling, and of the National Library of Scotland, a fellow of several antiquarian societies, and among other bookish organizations, a member of the Roxburghe and Grolier clubs. He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MLIS from California State University, and an MSc. PhD, and Honorary DLitt from the University of Edinburgh.

This event is free to attend with advance registration and will be held in-person at the Clark Library. Seating is limited. Walk-in registrants are welcome as space permits. The registration form will be posted here approximately one month in advance of the program.

This lecture will also be livestreamed on the Center’s YouTube channel. No registration is needed to watch the livestream.

Image: Courtesy of Blackie House Library and Museum.