Booking in Lisbon

Collecting foreign language translations of the Canon always adds another level of adventure when Joyce and I travel. We usually come home with an additional suitcase full of books. It looks like this trip will follow the established pattern. I have already written about finding books on the first day at the café down the street from us and about visiting Bertrand’s, the oldest bookstore in Lisbon. I soon discovered that the used book market on the street beside Bertrand’s is there every day.

The famous Café  Brasileira, established in 1905, is a place located a half a block away from the used book market and not too far from our apartment. This is where Joyce and I enjoyed breakfast the most and went there several times. One morning I stopped at the used book market and struck up a conversation with one of the sellers. As usual, I explained I collected translations of Sherlock Holmes. The gentleman, António Palma, apologized for not having any Sherlock Holmes books with him that day but assured me he had some at his warehouse, which held more than 200,000 books. As I looked through his stacks of books, I found two different Canonical books! I bought them both. António and I had a good laugh over me finding the books and the we exchanged email addresses.

António Palma and me in front of the Used Book Markets, Lisbon, Portugal

That afternoon I had an email from António referring to me as 'Telepathic Don" for finding the books when he did not think there were any to find. He assured me he would find more and did not need GPS or ESP to find them in his warehouse. He also told me he was a retired commercial airlines pilot. That evening, Joyce and I decided to go to a different section of Lisbon to a  Napolitano Pizza place. While searching for the obscure little place, I discovered yet another used bookstore. Joyce and I both marvel at the abundance of them in Lisbon. I asked the proprietor about Sherlock Holmes and she pointed me to that section. As I was going through the titles, she brought out six more, so I ended up with eight books. She then pointed out where the restaurant was located. As I leave the shop, loaded with two sacks full of Portuguese Sherlock Holmes, I step off of the curb into the path of an on-coming car that I never heard or saw. The driver screeched to a halt and rolled down his window and grabbed me by the arm. Joyce and I both expected to be screamed at instead we heard those familiar words, “Oh my God, it’s Don Hobbs!”

The driver was none other than António Palma! How freaky is that, of the 2,000,000 people in Lisbon, I nearly am run over by someone I know! I had to memorialize the occasion with a limerick.

In Lisbon, bookstores are there makin’

Lotsa Portuguese Sherlock I’m a takin’

On a day of good bookin’

I stepped without lookin’

But thank God for António’s fast braking’

As one of my friend commented on Facebook, it would have been stranger if I had stepped in front of someone I did not know!

Happy Blogging!

Sherlocking in Portugal

Sherlocking in Portugal

Joyce and I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on Friday April, 19. We rested up and explored a bit around our neighborhood before crashing for the evening.

When Saturday dawned we were energized and ready for discovering our new city. Down the street a block and a half was Há café no Alfarrabistra “Old Books and Coffee”, a fine place to break our fast. This little coffee bar served pastries and local Joe called bica. They also sold old books. A quick search netted a copy of Sherlock Holmes in Portuguese, a book already in my collection, but I bought it nonetheless.

Há café no Alfarrabistra “Old Books and Coffee”

My first Sherlock Holmes find in Portugal and alas I already have a copy.

Our main goal on Saturday was the Flea Market at Feira da Ladra. We had to climb the local equivalent of the Alps to get there but it was worth the climb. Joyce found some nice tile pieces and I found more Sherlock Holmes, another one that I already owned. I did pass on a copy of Jô Soares’ pastiche, O Xangô de Baker Street. At least the return journey was a downhill saunter.

Next up was a visit to Liviraria Bertrand, the oldest bookstore in Portugal that was founded in 1732, the same year George Washington was born! This beautiful shop fills an entire block. The outside of the building is nearly as awesome as the inside. The blue and white tile exterior is stunning in the Portuguese sunlight. I bought Obras Completas de Sherlock Holmes #1: Um estudo em vermelho/Os sete mistérios  which is a part of a six volume set. It was the only volume missing in my collection. As luck would have it, on the street beside Liviraria Bertrand, there was a street market selling books and I found and bought  the same book only it was 9€ less.

In front of Liviraria Bertrand, founded in 1732.

On the diagonal corner from the Liviraria Bertrand was yet another bookshop. I ventured in there and came out with another five volumes of Sherlock Holmes. The fellow working the counter and I started talking as he spoke perfect English. I explained that I collected Sherlock Holmes in translations and he offered to help me find older editions. We exchanged email addresses and now I will see if he is as good as his word.

We made it back to our apartment in time to do some Face-Time with the Crew of the Barque LONE STAR, back in Dallas. It was the monthly meeting so we were able to present the toast to the Queen.  All in all, our first full day in Portugal was a success, especially on the Sherlockian front.

Happy blogging!!

Panjabi Kemo Sabe

I love being a Sherlockian in general and collecting foreign translations of the Canon in particular. Being a Sherlockian has opened up a very interesting world full of interesting people.

Filed under the snowball effect:

My friend and fellow Dallas Sherlockian, Joe Faye, asked me to speak at The Second Tuesday lecture series at Heritage Auctions on December 11 and this led to The Dallas Morning News interviewing me. That article ran on December 31, 2012. From that article I was interview by WealthPoint, a site dedicated to collectors. I was also asked to speak at the Annual Gathering of Mensa in July and at the University of Minnesota Sherlockian conference” Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place.”

You can see the snowball growing.

In January, after the DMN article, a girl from my little town of Flower Mound emailed me and offered to look for a Telugu book, which is her native tongue, when she traveled to India in February. Last week, I was following up on some older emails and realized she never contacted me again so I sent her a short message. As I expected, she was not successful in her quest to locate the elusive Telugu translation. I decided to search. In a series of emails between us, I suggested that I might not have the exact spelling of the one known Telugu Sherlockian translation. With that being said I did a search of the title, Neraparisodhana and discovered the exact title was listed on the National Library of India’s webpage.

As an added bonus, the library listed a second Telugu translation, Sherlock Holmes kathalu published by Jaihind Pracurana. The contents of this book are not listed. As I searched the rest of the library’s entries for Conan Doyle, I found a Panjabi title, Rase/ Arthur Conan Doyle. I am not 100% sure if this is a Sherlock Holmes title or simply a Doyle title. I have taken the liberty to add it to The Galactic Sherlock, bringing the total of known translations to ninety-nine, if it holds up as being a Sherlockian translation.

See the snow ball effect just continues to roll down the hill, gaining mass and weight as it goes. I will be glad when the Panjabi translation is either confirmed or denied. Regardless of the outcome, I will still love being a Sherlockian

Happy blogging!!

Too Busy to Post

Well, recently  I have been too busy to think let alone post on my blog. I will try to do better in the future.

I have been working on my two talks that are fast approaching. On July 5, I am speaking to the Annual Gathering of the National Mensa Society  in Fort Worth. On August 10, I am speaking at the Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Place conference in Minneapolis sponsored by the University of Minnesota

Next up on my agenda  on April 18 is a 2 1/2 week vacation  in Spain and Portugal with my wife, Joyce. Madrid, Lisbon, and Oporto are on our agenda.

I continue to have visitors to my library. T.D. McKinney stopped by the other night. She is the co-author of Kissing  Sherlock Holmes. It can be purchased on Amazon  at the link listed below:

http://www.amazon.com/Kissing-Sherlock-Holmes-ebook/dp/B005FA0MJO

This is TD McKinney and me in my library.

The same night that TD came by, Joe Faye, member of the Crew of the Barque LONE STAR, was present helping dispose of bottles of  red wine from Spain and California. TD and my wife Joyce joined in the partaking and this was all before homemade limoncello started flowing. This fact might explain why I have such a goofy expression in the photographs.

Joe Faye and Don Hobbs - red wine does not affect us.

Happy Blogging!

Sherlocking in Hungary

Over the years I have established many connections around the world for securing foreign translations of the Canon. Early on I founded the Maniac Collectors, the world's first International Sherlock Holmes collector's society. This was in the early days of the Internet. I would find people in places like Brazil, Israel, Denmark, and Japan and make them an offer. The offer was that I would send them a package of Sherlockian books in English and once the books arrived, they would in turn send me a package of books with what they felt was of equal value.

As the use of the Internet grew, this approach slowly waned because it became so much easier to find things from around the world. These were pre-eBay days and once this wonderful Internet site got rolling, there was nothing to do but embrace it and move forward. Over the course of years, one of the connections I formed was with a gentleman from Hungary. Mr. Gergely Gyulai sends me an email a couple of times each month, offering the latest Sherlockian treasures he has found. Recently he sent the one pictured below.

This edition of The Sign of Four has a nice illustrated cover art by a well known Hungarian applied graphics artist, Imre Földes (b.1881-d.1948). The cover depicts Sherlock Holmes in the company of a dog, perhaps Toby. 

Cover art by Imre Földes

Several times Gergely has sent me books from the collection of Fernec Pap who was probably the biggest Sherlock Holmes collector in Hungary. Pap was an engineer and lived in a small city called Kiskundorozsma in Hungary near to Szeged. He began collecting books decades ago. All the books that originally belonged to his collection are stamped in green, the "possessor mark," on the title-pages and also on some pages inside the books. He was in his 70’s when he died last year and his collection was then sold at numerous auctions. Most of his collection was Sherlock Holmes/Hungarian editions and he had several hundred of these at the time of his death.

Rap Fernec book stamps

Of all my Hungarian translations the one below has one of my favorite covers.

1918 Hungarian pulp editon of the Hound.



Sherlocking in Oregon

For me no trip to the Portland, Oregon area  is complete without a visit to Jerry Margolin and his wife, Judy. They are the salt of the earth Sherlockian and Sherlockian tolerater (I will let the reader figure out which is which). My adventures began last last week with a flight into Portland, Oregon. I was working in Corvallis, home of the Oregon State Beavers. I like saying it, Go Beavers! It was an uneventful week and on Friday, my co-worker, Dori Law and I drove back up to Portland as we  had dinner invitations at Jerry and Judy's
house. I have taken Dori around the country with me meeting Sherlockians in our wake. Jerry and Judy are the most gracious hosts and by evenings end we were all family. 

With Judy and Jerry Margolin.

On the same day that Katrina devastated New Orleans, I was on my way to Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast. My route took me past the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. This is the home of the ‘Spruce Goose’, the giant laminated wooden aircraft built by Howard Hughes.I remember that day for numerous reasons and since our Saturday was free, Dori and I made the 45-mile drive to the museum. To this day the ‘Spruce Goose’ is the world’s largest aircraft. We spent the afternoon strolling through the museum, taking in all of the various aircraft. They all looked like toy models next to the ‘Spruce Goose’.

The 'Spruce Goose' and other aircraft.

Next on the agenda was meeting Jerry and Judy again, this time at a restaurant, The Irving Kitchen. We were joined by another fellow Sherlockian, Sonia Featherston, and her husband Ben. I have known Sonia for nearly twenty years as a member of the Hounds of the Internet.  I met her in person for the first time last year at the Morley-Montgomery Reception. Sonia won the Morley-Montgomery Award for the best article in the Baker Street Journal for the past year. She is the author of this year’s Baker Street Journal 2012 Christmas Annual.  “Barrymore in Baker Street” tells the story of the silent film Sherlock Holmes starring John Barrymore . This is an excellent read and the eighteen months she spent working on it reflects its scope and depth.

Sonia, Jerry, and me.

Alas, all good things end and my Sherlockian adventure in Oregon followed the same. Not before old Sherlockian  friendships grew deeper and newer ones solidified. For Jerry and Judy it was another great evening added to the one before and the ones to follow. In addition, for Sonia and Ben, it was another chapter in our Sherlockian lives and future visits to anticipate.  The Sherlockian Gods are smiling on me.

Six Degrees of Sherlockian Separation

Sunday is the 85th Academy Awards® and it is the eighth year for this little exercise of Sherlockian inanity. The last seven years I wrote this for SherlockPeoria but that weekly Webpage ended in June of last year. Inow have this blog and will carry on the tradition here. I will be using this year’s nominations for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, and the Best Director. In six steps or less, I will tie these nominees to a Sherlock Holmes film.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper/ Silver Linings Playbook

1.  Bradley Cooper/ Wedding Crashers (2005) with Owen Wilson.
2. Owen Wilson/ Shanghai Noon  (2000) with Lucy Liu
3. Lucy Liu/ Elementary

 Daniel Day-Lewis/ Lincoln

1. Daniel Day-Lewis/Gandhi (1985) with Ben Kingsley
2. Ben Kingsley/Without A Clue (1988)

Hugh Jackman/ Les Miserables

1. Hugh Jackman/ Van Helsing (2004) with Richard Roxburgh
2. Richard Roxburgh/The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002)

Joaquin Phoenix/ The Master

1. Joaquin Phoenix/ Gladiator (2000) with Richard Harris
2. Richard Harris/ King of the Wind (1990) with Ian Richardson
3. Ian Richardson/ The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)

Denzel Washington/ Flight

1. Denzel Washington/ Much Ado About Nothing with Kenneth Branagh
2. Kenneth Branagh/ Shackleton (2002) with John Grillo
3. John Grillo/ Brazil (1985) with Jonathan Pryce
4. Jonnathan Pryce/ Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007)

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain/Zero Dark Thirty

1. Jessica Chastain/ Coriolanus (2011) with Ralph Fiennes
2. Ralph Fiennes/ The English Patient (1996) with Kevin Whatley
3. Kevin Whatley/  Inspector Morse (1987) with John Thaw
4. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)

Jennifer Lawrence/ Silver Linings Playbook

1. Jennifer Lawrence/ The Hunger Games (2012) with Woody Harrelson
2. Woody Harrelson/No Country for Old Men (2007) with Tommy Lee Jones
3. Tommy Lee Jones/ Lonesome Dove (1989) with Robert Duvall
4. Robert Duvall/ The Seven Per-Cent Solution (1976)

Emmanuelle Riva/ Amour

1. Emmanuella Riva/ XXL (1997) with Gerard Depardieu
2. Gerard Depardieu/ Hamlet  (1996) with Judi Dench
3. Judi Dench/ A Study in Terror (1965)

Quvenzhane Wallis/ Beasts of the Southern Wild

1. Quvenzhane Wallis/ Twelve Years a Slave (2013) with Benedict Cumberbatch
2. Benedict Cumberbatch/ Sherlock  (2012)

Naomi Watts/ The Impossible

1. Naomi Watts/ Le Divorce  (2003) with Glenn Close
2. Glenn Close/ Hamlet (1990) with Ian Holms
3. Ian Holmes/ Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) with James Fox
4. James Fox/Sherock Holmes  (2009)

Best Director

Michael Haneke/ Amour

1. Benny's Video (1992) with Angela Winkler
2. Angela Winkler/ Peer Gynt (1971) with Bruno Ganz
3. Bruno Ganz/ Unknown (2011) with Liam Neeson
4. Liam Neeson/ Rob Roy (1995) with Ian Stewart
5. Ian Stewart/ The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes  (2000)

Benh Zeitlin/  Beasts of the Southern Wild

1. Benh Zeitlin/ The Egg (2005) with Max Goldblatt
2. Max Goldblatt/ Bushwacked(1995) with Daniel Stern
3. Daniel Stern/ Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) with Michael Caine
4. Michael Caine/ Without a Clue (1988)

Ang Lee/ Life of Pi

1. Ang Lee/Sense and Sensibility (1995) with Tom Wilkinson
2. Tom Wilkinson/ Inspector Morse (1985) with John Thaw
3. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)

David O. Russell/ Silver Linings Playbook

1. David O. Russell/ The Fighter (2012)with Amy Adams
2. Amy Adams/ Charlie Wilson's War (2007) with Julia Roberts
3. Julia Roberts/ Mary Rielly (1996) with Wendy Knottingham
4. Wendy Knottingham/ Inspector Lewis (2008) with Kevin Whatley
5. Kevin Whatley/  Inspector Morse (1987) with John Thaw
6. John Thaw/ The Sign of Four (1987)

Steven Spielberg/ Lincoln

1. Steven Spielberg/ Saving Private Ryan (1998) with Jeremy Daveis
2. Jeremy Davies/Solaris (2002) with Natascha McElhone
3. Natascha McElhone/ Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987) with George Baker
4. George Baker/ On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) with Diana Rigg
5. Diana Rigg/ Hospital (1971) with George C. Scott
6. George C. Scott/ They Might Be Giants (1971)

This wraps up another year of “Six-Degrees of Sherlockian Separation”  We will do it again for the 86th Annual Academy Awards®. I hope you have enjoyed the effort.

Happy Blogging (and movie watching) !!