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Arthur Conan Doyle Collection

Since he was a young boy, Richard Lancelyn Green had been passionately interested in all aspects of the life and work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, including of course Sherlock Holmes.  By the time of Richard’s death in 2004, he had accumulated a vast collection of books, papers and artefacts at his flat in London and at the family home in Cheshire. 

Richard wanted his collection to be publicly available in Portsmouth, where Conan Doyle wrote his first stories, and on his death it was offered to Portsmouth City Council.  An important exhibition based on the collection has been on show at the City Museum since June 2007 and some books are included in the displays.  Now, for the first time, a selection of some 800 books has been made available for public use at the Central Library and can be seen in the Historical Collections area on the Second Floor.  The selection represents about ten per cent of the volumes so far catalogued, but it is possible to see the other titles by arrangement.  Work is continuing on cataloguing many more books, which will become available gradually.

The Collection in more detail

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s wide spectrum of interests is reflected in the collection.  The detective skills of Sherlock Holmes were founded upon the renowned observational abilities of Doyle’s tutor in Edinburgh, Joseph Bell.  Doyle also made use of his medical training in his medical tales.  There is a contrast between the clinical approach of Sherlock Holmes and Doyle’s later willingness to think that life is not as clear-cut and  readily intelligible as people think , most notably in his enthusiastic espousal of spiritualism, for which he became a powerful advocate.  Doyle was also an advocate for men he considered wrongly convicted of crimes, such as Oscar Slater, and wrote extensively about war, especially the Boer war.   

Richard Lancelyn Green’s interest in Conan Doyle expanded to include works by other creators of fictional detectives and criminals, especially Ernest William Hornung, Doyle’s brother-in-law, who created Raffles, and Maurice Leblanc, whose Arsène Lupin was conceived as a rival to Sherlock Holmes.  Nor was Richard’s collecting confined to works in English.  There are many in French, German and Spanish, but some also in the Scandinavian languages.  One notable aspect of Conan Doyle’s literary heritage is the enormous number of pastiche stories, especially using characters based on Holmes and Watson.  Some of these were written in German, then translated into Spanish.

Visitor information

If you are coming to see the Conan Doyle Collection, please bring a Portsmouth City Council library card, or proof of name and address such as a CARN record office card or driving licence.  For further information, please ring (023) 9268 8046 or e-mail reference.library@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or write to the Historical Collections Librarian, Central Library, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth PO1 2DX.

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