{"title":"Books by Mike Foy","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781787056763","title":"The Curious Book  of Sherlock Holmes Characters","description":"\u003cp\u003eImagine the scene, 221b baker street, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are in their rooms, Holmes is smoking his pipe staring at the ceiling,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Watson he cries, What do you know about Vanderbilt? Make a long arm and look in that wonderful book 'The Curious Book of Sherlock Holmes Characters', a truly remarkable work, packed will information about every character we have encountered in our 56 short stories and 4 novellas. This writer has even included that carbuncle eating goose and that lazy dog that did nothing.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWatson stretched out his arm and picked it up from the coffee table, \"I like to keep it handy, it looks so nice on this table, giving the whole room an air of sophistication. In addition it's so large and thick, it would stop an air rifle bullet at a thousand yards. Only the other day I looked up Captain Calhoun and Messrs. Biddle, Hayward and Moffat and found that there was a link between these individuals.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHolmes thought a moment, and said \"What links Miss Hunter, Miss Smith, Miss Westbury and Miss De Merville?\", \"Too easy\" cried Watson. \"What about this Holmes, get those braincells working, Which Canon story has 4 totally unrelated people with the same surname (last name), I can give you a clue, one was a policeman, one was an alias, one was a teen and one was an official. \"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"And this book lists them all?\" asked Holmes,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Yes, there are over one thousand characters in it and of course, we both get a special mention, and it's illustrated throughout\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Sidney Paget again, I suppose?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Oh no, not just him, but artists like Frederic Dorr Steele of Collier's fame, Ernest Flammarion, F. H. Townsend, Josef Friedrich, Paul Thiriat, Richard Gutschmidt, Arthur Twidle et al. It's a must have for anyone seriously into Us.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMike Foy's mammoth book includes all the characters (animals included) from the Sherlock Holmes canon, with as many illustrations as possible. It's one of the largest compilations of its kind and an excellent reference resource for Sherlock Holmes fans.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305184014709,"sku":"9781787056763","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781787056763_8aa9bd48-dee5-415e-99f9-c071878d9a98.jpg?v=1786025963"},{"product_id":"9781787058255","title":"Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Illustrations - Volume 1","description":"\u003cp\u003eSherlock Holmes is truly a 'Man for All Seasons' and his image has been worked and re-worked for over a century. Unsurprisingly the illustrated Holmes of 1887 differs from that of today. In this multi-volume work, we will show how various illustrators have visualised Holmes and other characters who appeared in Arthur Conan Doyle's works. Later volumes will celebrate Holmes in non-Canonical stories as illustrators and authors placed Holmes in fresh adventures, but more of that later.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis volume is not going to be diverse; it is true to say that one person dominates. While it is true that there are illustrations by Charles Altamont Doyle, David Henry Friston, James Grieg, and Walter Stanley Paget - the majority of this book is dominated by one person - Sidney Paget. Just as nine tenths of an iceberg lies under the water; this book is overwhelmingly Sidney Paget.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you are an admirer of his work, you are in for a treat as every Sidney Paget Sherlock Holmes illustration is here providing all the atmosphere of the period - the fog-filled labyrinth of London, the desolation of Dartmoor, and, perhaps his most famous illustration as Holmes and Moriarty fight to the death at the top of the Reichenbach Falls.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat can you expect to find within this initial volume?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e·     The first images by David Henry Friston for \u003cem\u003eBeeton's Christmas Annual\u003c\/em\u003e, where Sherlock Holmes is seen for the first time with magnifying glass and impressive sideburns in the story \u003cem\u003eA Study in Scarlet\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e·     Images from \u003cem\u003eA Study in Scarlet\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Sign of Four\u003c\/em\u003e when they appeared in the lesser-known \u003cem\u003eBristol Observer\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e·     James Greig's drawings for \u003cem\u003eA Study in Scarlet\u003c\/em\u003e in 1895 and again in 1896.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e·     Six illustrations by Arthur Conan Doyle's father Charles Altamont Doyle for the 1888 \u003cem\u003eA Study in Scarlet\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e·     Four images by Sidney's younger brother Walter Paget from \u003cem\u003eThe Adventure of the Dying Detective\u003c\/em\u003e' in \u003cem\u003eThe Strand Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e (1913.)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter that it's back-to-back Sidney Paget, commencing with \u003cem\u003eA Scandal in Bohemia\u003c\/em\u003e and ending with \u003cem\u003eThe Adventure of the Second Stain\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305858773365,"sku":"9781787058255","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781787058255_3cef34b3-2921-4171-92df-d21363602a1c.jpg?v=1786025978"},{"product_id":"9781804240649","title":"Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Illustrations - Volume 3","description":"\u003cp\u003eWelcome to Sherlock Holmes: A Study in illustrations Volume lll, and now we finally enter the world of Sherlock Holmes in glorious colour, gone are the monochrome illustrations of Sidney Paget, Richard Gutschmidt and others, it is now, finally time for a splash of colour and in particular the work of our featured Artist Frederic Dorr Steele, and while it is true, given his importance in the Sherlock Holmes Illustration world and particularly America, that perhaps he should have appeared in an earlier volume, , it is only in a colour volume, that his talents really shine with his wonderfully coloured Collier Covers (not an easy thing to say) and so his work has had to wait until now. The mention of Steele also links us nicely in with the Actor William Gillette, so we have a section about this man, who personified Sherlock Holmes for a generation and inspired the likeness Steele used in his illustration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo what is in this book, well we have a very cosmopolitan collections from artist from France, Ireland, America, Spain, \u0026amp; Britain, starting with Beeton's Christmas Annual of 1887, the publication which first introduced the World to Holmes or is that Holmes to the World? This is our first cover image as befits it's importance, then we have a rather pleasing front cover by French artist, André Galland , who sadly only ever did one illustration of Holmes. More covers follow from another French artist, namely Gaston Simoes da Fonseca, sorry we will have to split Fonseca's work over two volumes, because he only did 3 colour (shown here) and 128 monochrome images so he will be the featured artist in the next volume, think of his three colour images, here as an introduction to his main body of work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is a short introduction to the English Artist Pamela Colman Smith and the Irish Illustrator Albert George Morrow before we come to the William Gillette section, with posters for his play and film and also a programme. This leads us onto Frederic Dorr Steele's Holmes and his Avatar of Gillette, as he appeared in print, over 200 pages as we explore the entire Steele collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn addition to appearing in books and magazines, Holmes also appeared on Cards, and we have the complete collection of 25 \"Turf\" cigarette cards produced by Alexander Boguslavsky in 1923, strictly speaking these are not a Holmes collection, but a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle character one. Next we have a 1920s Joanquin Coll Salieti series of 40 cards that illustrated 3 Sherlock Holmes stories, Spanish text with an English translation. To round out the card section, we have a non-card, a beer mat, for the what was once a Whitbread Sherlock Holmes pub, but is now owned by Greene King. In 1933 Player's produced 25 characters from fiction cigarette cards set. We only include card number 21, Sherlock Holmes. Nearing the end of this volume we have 4 images by Wladyslaw Teodor (WT) Brenda. Last but not least we have a nice little puzzle by John French Sloan and a mystery about who originated a view of Sherlock Crossed legs, smoking a pipe. Take a look inside and you decide.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56306995855733,"sku":"9781804240649","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804240649_abbd4ab7-6ed2-4b71-bf4d-cfc4d942ea2f.jpg?v=1786027131"},{"product_id":"9781804240762","title":"Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Illustrations - Volume 4","description":"\u003cp\u003eSo we are up to Volume 4 of Sherlock Holmes: A Study in illustrations and sorry to say we are back in the world of monochrome illustrations, and although some may say that we are now in the minor leagues, we have some fine collections to look at. This is a very eclectic mix of talent and draws heavily on French Illustrators and so within our major artist is Brazilian-born French illustrator Gaston de Forseca and his remaining 128 images to complete his Sherlock Holmes work. Some of his illustrations are not particularly flattering (Lord Robert St. Simon) or where of incidents that are referred to in back stories (Apache attack on Frank Moulton) or of people who are mentions in passing (Francis Prosper) or my favourite little Edward Rucastle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNext we have 100 illustrations from Czech born Josef Freidrich and while his drawings may remind you of similar scenes from Sidney Paget, they are different, as if they were taken from a different camera angle. These are the two big major players in this book as we look at 6 illustrations from a French newspaper by Solar D'alba.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe cross to America and 13 book illustrations from Charles Raymond Macauley from the 1905 edition of the Return of Sherlock Holmes. Still in America John Richard Flanagan next takes to the stage with work he did for Collier's magazine, after Frederic Dorr Steele left. He did 8 illustrations and was originally from Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe next 4 illustrators share a common publication, namely the San Francisco Call, they are Stanley E. Armstrong, R. Thomson, Reginald Gordon Russom and Walter W. Francis and this group have 55 images between them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe continue with another American illustrator, Joseph Clement Coll, more famous for his other Doyle stories produced a montage of his work with an illustration of Sherlock Holmes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBack to France with 20 illustrations from Pierre George Dutriac for the 13 stories in the Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes , published in 1921.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBack to America and the St. Louis Republic newspaper 1902 and 13 drawings of the Hound of the Baskervilles by B. Widman and then in 1907 Paul Henri Thiriat illustrated a French serialized version of the same story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcross the Channel to England where Henry Matthew Brock and Joseph William Simpson illustrated the red circle in the strand.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinally we have Arthur Ignatius Keller and his 11 illustrations from the New York Tribune in 1914.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis makes a total of 398 illustrations for this volume, and that's it until Volume 5.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312967594357,"sku":"9781804240762","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804240762_09d53e71-cfbb-41ae-b921-df240792c1dc.jpg?v=1786027133"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-mike-foy.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}