eaturing Jeremy Brett as Holmes in the TV productions. Another nice series was issued by the Royal Mail in 1993 picturing their five stamps honoring the detective.
Tracing the actors who played Holmes can lead to postcards. The oldest card in my collection shows the Baldwin Theatre in Springfield, Mo.
With a huge billboard announcing “Sherlock Holmes” by William
Gillette, the actor most associated with the detective in this
country. It was mailed in 1905.
For collectors who are up for a real challenge and enjoy reading his
cases, there’s another way to put together a Holmes collection. Doyle
used real places in his stories, and in the early 1900’s postcard
production was so great that it literally covered the world. Imagine
how much it would add to the adventures of Holmes and Watson if the
reader had an album of postcards showing all the places they went.
For those who already have a collection of London postcards, focusing
on Sherlock Holmes can make it much more meaningful. Names like Pall
Mall, Regent Circus, Brixton Road and Covert Garden Market will come
alive in rereading the stories. Of course, Holmes traveled for cases,
but how many people can imagine Aldershot or Wallington as it was in
his day? Or Reichenbach Falls, the scene of his supposed death?
Holmes traveled by cab (horse-drawn) and train. Can you picture them
in your mind? Did people really wear deer stalker hats? What about the
coppers of the day? There’s evidence in postcards!
Read the stories, make note of the settings and begin a search for the
places where Sherlock Holmes did his crime-fighting. It’s a challenge
worthy of the master detective.
Barbara Andrews is an avid postcard collector from Star City, W.Va. She can be reached at RockAndrews@gmail.com.