Smoking Out the 'Norwood Builder': A Bibliography and Search for an Early Booklet

Abstract

Bibliographies of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder” and the collection in which it appears, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, have been done and done well. Two in particular are excellent: A Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle by Richard Lancelyn Green and John Michael Gibson, and The Universal Sherlock Holmes by Ronald Burt De Waal.

The bibliography presented here builds on what has been done by using resources that were not yet available or have been much improved since bibliographers first picked up the task. Among these resources are online union catalogs that reach into thousands of library collections around the world, and digital libraries with millions of digitized books, magazines, and newspapers. Because many early printings may be publicly accessed online, digitized copies are noted where available.

This bibliography is intended to cover authoritative publications of “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder” — defined here as those published during Conan Doyle’s lifetime. Publications were included on the list only if an existing copy of the work could be verified. So, some works identified by other bibliographers are not listed, and it is possible — even probable — that there are publications that have yet to be identified by any bibliographer. This is an effort that will, hopefully, keep getting better with time.