"How Watson Learned the Trick" is a

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

written by

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

in 1924. It concerns

Doctor Watson John H. Watson, known as Dr. Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). The last work by Doyle fe ...

attempting to demonstrate to Holmes how he has learned the latter's "superficial trick" of logical deduction by giving a summary of Holmes' current state of mind and plans for the day ahead, only for Holmes to then reveal that every single one of Watson's deductions is incorrect. Conan Doyle was one of several authors commissioned to provide books for the library of

Queen Mary's Dolls' House Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a dollhouse built in the early 1920s, completed in 1924, for Queen Mary, the wife of King George V. It was designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, with contributions from many notable artists and craftsmen of the ...

; others included

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

and

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

. Conan Doyle was provided with a book approximately 1.5" x 1.25" (3.75 cm x 3.15 cm) into which he wrote the 503-word story of ''How Watson Learned the Trick'' by hand, taking up 34 pages. The original

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...

is still part of the Dolls' House library.

Publication

The story was published in the souvenir book, ''The Book of the Queen's Dolls' House Library'' (1924), and in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' on 24 August 1924. It appears in the Penguin collection ''The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes'' (). A new version, a replica based on the miniature book created for Queen Mary's Doll's House by Conan Doyle, was published in October 2014 by Walker Books in collaboration with Royal Collections Trust ().

Adaptations

A scene very much in the manner of "How Watson Learned the Trick" is featured in the 1985 television adaptation of "

The Adventure of the Resident Patient "The Adventure of the Resident Patient", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes''. The story was originally published in ' ...

" in the

Sherlock Holmes television series Sherlock may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle ** ''Sherlock'' (TV series), a BBC TV series that started in 2010 ** Sherlock Hemlock, a Muppet from the TV show ''Sesame Street ...

starring

Jeremy Brett Peter Jeremy William Huggins (3 November 1933 – 12 September 1995), known professionally as Jeremy Brett, was an English actor. He played fictional detective Sherlock Holmes in four Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series), Granada TV series from 1984 ...

, with Watson attempting to apply Holmes's methods to uncover his friend's current state but largely failing, although Holmes does admit that "there is an element of truth in what you say". The story was incorporated into an episode of the '' Imagination Theatre'' radio series ''

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ''The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' is a series of radio dramas based on Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes. Written by Bert Coules as a pastiche of Doyle's work, the series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002, 2004, 2008 ...

''. The episode, also titled "How Watson Learned the Trick", aired on 20 April 2008. ''How Vido Learned the Trick'' by fantasy author Josh Reynolds, featuring sage-detective Zavant Konniger and his

halfling Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy novels and games. They are often depicted as similar to humans except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly-sized dwarves. Similar to the depiction of hobbits in the w ...

manservant Vido, was published in the 2018 ''

Warhammer Fantasy Warhammer Fantasy can mean: * ''Warhammer Fantasy'' (setting), the fictional setting of the various games and media * ''Warhammer'' (game), a table-top fantasy miniature wargame, and origin of the franchise *''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'', the success ...

'' anthology ''Inferno!'' Volume 1.

References

External links

How Watson Learned the Trick
{{HolmesNovels 1924 short stories Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle