Quartermaine Hall

Artisan: Ken Blythe
Date: Unknown
Intended Room: Library
Dimensions: 22 x 15 x 3 mm. / ⅞ x ⅝ x ⅛ inches (height x width x depth, per book)
Inventory number: 2022.238.1-2
Category: Books

Provenance: Purchased from the artist’s daughter and son-in-law, who run The Little Book Company, via eBay, in July 2022.

Technically speaking, Sherlock Holmes was invented just too late to feature in the library at Quartermaine Hall. The stories collected in these two volumes were published in The Strand magazine between July 1891 and July 1892, and they were first published in book form in October 1892. But never mind. Here are two volumes of stories, ready to be devoured by firelight by Felix – and perhaps read, with comparable pleasure, by Charles and Elizabeth after the children have gone to bed.

Unlike most of Ken Blythe’s books, these are solid, unopening volumes. That makes them less fun to look through, of course, but much easier to stack on shelves!