The Notorious Canary-Trainers
A Scion of the Baker Street Irregulars
for friends and fans of Sherlock Holmes
-- where it is always 1895!

(For a June 24 report by a member of our group who visited the exhibit, click here.)

A Chicago exhibit celebrating the fascinating life and prolific works of one of Victorian England's best-selling authors will be open to visitors from April 9 to July 12.

"Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Sherlock Holmes" will be presented by the Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St. It is free and open to the public.

The exhibit "is culled from one of the world's finest collections of Doyle family materials," says Erika Hartings, the library's public relations manager.

"The exhibit will feature manuscripts, magazines, first editions, pirated editions, original illustrations, handwritten correspondence, posters, photographs, and selected artifacts -- including Dr. Joseph Bell's surgical amputation kit."

Other items include:

• A rare copy of Beeton's Christmas Annual, 1888, containing the first novel featuring Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet.
• A poster advertising The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1901.
• A manuscript of Doyle's medieval adventure, The White Company, 1891, which Doyle considered amongst his best works, which is marked with corrections for publication.
• A first edition of Doyle's science fiction novel, The Lost World, 1912.
• A copy of The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct, 1902, the work that resulted in Doyle receiving a knighthood.
• A silver cornucopia inscribed by Rudyard Kipling, c. 1895.

On April 12, a Saturday, Richard Lancelyn Green from the Sherlock Holmes Society of London will present a free public lecture, "Doyle and Holmes," at 11 a.m. the Library.

"Green, who is editor of five books on Doyle, will offer an authoritative account of the relationship between Doyle and his most famous fictional character," Hartings said.

The Newberry Library is located in downtown Chicago and is an independent humanities library that is free and open to the public. It offers a "vast array of lectures, seminars, and concerts, in addition to exhibits related to its collections," Hartings added.

To view some of the items that will be on display, go the Newberry Library's exhibit Web site at www.newberry.org/nl/programs/L3pDoyle.html.

To contact the Library for more information, call 312/943-9090. The Zip Code is 60610-7324.