Tel: 023 9282 2251
Arthur Conan Doyle Collection - the Richard Lancelyn Green bequest
Last updated: 03 May 2011 16:33 UKSince 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. Some 1,000 books have been made available for public use at the Central Library and can be seen in the Portsmouth History Centre on the Second Floor. The selection represents about nine per cent of the book collection but it is possible to see most of the other titles by arrangement. A small number of books remain temporarily unavailable.
The Book 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.
The Archive Collection
Richard Lancelyn Green also collected many papers and photographs relating to Arthur Conan Doyle and his family and these are now also in the Portsmouth History Centre. Many have been catalogued but work is still in progress. For further information, please contact Michael Gunton, tel. 023 9268 8043.
Magazines
Richard’s collection includes many thousands of issues of magazines, both commercial and privately produced. Each issue contains some reference, however small, to Conan Doyle or Sherlock Holmes. Some issues (titles beginning with A or B) currently appear on the library catalogue but a full indexing project has still to be undertaken.
Artefacts
Artefacts are in the care of the Museums service. For further information, please call 023 9282 7261.
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 contact Historical Collections Staff.
External Links
Sherlock Holmes SocietyArthur Conan Doyle collection
