Sherlock Holmes, to the civilized world, is the detective. Plagiarized, parodied, venerated, and derided, he sprang instantly into existence and has consolidated his position ever since. The pen of Conan Doyle, nimbly assisted by the drawings of Sidney Paget for the Strand, gave birth to the most solid and enduring myth to have been created during the last century. Within that myth, other legends have grown. At every major crime, correspondents to the press have proposed enlisting the aid of the great detective: from the turn of the century to the Great Train Robbery and beyond, the cry has gone up: "Send for Holmes!"
Richard Lancelyn Green's marvelously comprehensive selection of public contributions to the debate runs from early attempts to conscript Holmes for the billboards to the spiraling heights of Holmsian erudition. R. L. Green's own contribution, in the form of an introduction that describes the process of canonization (and stakes out a definitive cartography of Baker Street), provides a stabilizing ballast to a compilation that will delight the enthusiast and surprise the expert.