''The Baker Street Journal'' is a quarterly journal devoted to Sherlockiana published by

The Baker Street Irregulars The Baker Street Irregulars is an organization of Sherlock Holmes enthusiasts founded in 1934 by Christopher Morley. The nonprofit organization currently numbers some 300 individuals worldwide. The group has published ''The Baker Street Journal ...

. Leslie S. Klinger has called it "the leading publication" in the study of

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 l ...

History

After the formation of The Baker Street Irregulars in 1934, members would meet at an annual dinner to read papers on the subject of Sherlockian scholarship. In 1944, Edgar W. Smith, the then-head of the BSI, edited and published an anthology of those writings as ''Profile by Gaslight''. Inspired by the publication, Smith began thinking of creating an ongoing

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

to publish BSI papers. In 1946,''The Baker Street Journal'' was first published. The first issue was lavishly published with Victorian typography, stitched binding and 108 pages of essays, illustrations, and news about Sherlock Holmes. Adrian Conan Doyle initially threatened Smith with a lawsuit for copyright infringement but financial failure ended that incarnation of the magazine in 1949, after a mere thirteen issues, before the Conan Doyle estate could. In 1951, Edgar W. Smith revived the journal in a more modest form with fewer pages, reduced typescript printing, and more affordable materials and binding. In this form, the quarterly has maintained publication ever since. When Edgar Smith died in 1960 after having edited fifty-three issues and an additional five Christmas Annuals, editorship passed to Dr. Julian Wolff. Wolff had been a Baker Street Irregular since 1944 and had already functioned as an Associate Editor during the original series of thirteen issues. In 1975, the ''Journal'' began to be published by

Fordham University Press The Fordham University Press is a publishing house, a division of Fordham University, that publishes primarily in the humanities and the social sciences. Fordham University Press was established in 1907 and is headquartered at the university's Lin ...

which allowed it to be

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as the original thirteen issue series had been. Wolff went on to edit the ''Journal'' for sixty-six issues, from 1961 until 1977. By the late 1980s, the ''Journal'' had over two thousand subscribers from readers in such locations as

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Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , established ...

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and Australia. The editors of the new series of the ''Journal'' have been Edgar W. Smith, Julian Wolff, John M. Linsenmeyer, Peter E. Blau, Philip A. Schrefler, William R. Cochran, and Donald K. Pollack.Steven Rothman, Introduction to ''A Remarkable Mixture: Award-Winning Articles from the Baker Street Journal'' (New York: BSI Press 2007), p. 11. The current editor is Steven Rothman. In 2001, the entire run of the magazine up to that date was released on

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containing over 16,000 pages. Subsequently, "version 2" of the CD, including all issues through 2011, was released.

References

External links

''Baker Street Journal''Winter 2011 Sample issue
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker Street Journal, The Magazines established in 1946 Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes