OPDAGERNES KONGE SHERLOCK HOLMES
Ekspeditionen af Sherlock Holmes 1909 (?)
A4. 16 sider. 25 øre.
Udkom hver uge (Weekly)
1. Rædselsnatten eller Den forsvundne Grevinde
2. Ildspøgelset eller Flagermusens Hævn
(annonceret i nr. 12 men aldrig set / announced but never seen)
Short resume of vol. 1 in English:
Sir Cyrith, Count of Douglas, lives in his ancestral home The James Palace on the corner of Trafalgar Square with his daughter, the Countess, and his collection of jewels.
In his club he has made friends with the French Marquis Boni de Bauharnais who is also a collector of jewels.
He gives the Marquis a letter of introduction to a party at the home of Lord Cavendish so that the Marquis may see his daughter and her famous necklace.
Of course, the Marquis turns out to be an impostor who is only after the famous necklace. With the help of his assistant, called the Bat, he abducts the Countess to get the necklace as well as her.
Lieutenant Elsmore, who loves the Countess, asks Sherlock Holmes for help.
Holmes finds out where the scoundrels are hiding the Countess and, of course, in the neck of time he saves her from a "fate worse than death".
Preface to Sherlock Holmes Museets reprint 2005:
In 1907 Verlaghshaus für Volksliteratur und Kunst in Berlin launched a pulp series called Detektiv Sherlock Holmes und seine weltberühmten Abenteuer (Detective Sherlock Holmes and His Worldfamous Adventures). After protests from Doyle's German publishers the title was changed from issue 11 to Aus dem Geheimakten des Welt-Detektivs (From the Secret Files of the World Detective).
In Scandinavia these copyright rules weren't taken all that seriously. In Sweden at least 28 issues were published in the series Sherlock Holmes Detektiv-Historier (Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories) and in Norway 64 issues were published in the series Sherlock Holmes. Storforbrydernes Skræk (Sherlock Holmes. The Terror of the Archcriminals). Norway can also brag of another series which has hitherho been "unknown to science". It was called Verdensdetektiven (The World Detective) and at least 4 issues were published. The fifht issue was announced, but whether it was actually published or not is unknown. Covers and the vignet on the cover were identical on the two series (and the Swedish and Danish series) so maybe the Norwegians got nervous after all. Until further research has been done we have to wait for Nils Nordbergs great work about this series which should be the "last word upon the subject".
In Denmark at least 9 issues were published in the series Detektivkongen Sherlock Holmes. Forbrydernes Skræk (The Detective King Sherlock Holmes. Terror of the Criminals). This seems to indicate that Holmes was less popular in Denmark than in the rest of Scandinavia. Or maybe the Danes just preferred the real thing.
On the other hand we in Denmark can brag of the present series - Opdagernes Konge Sherlock Holmes. (The King of Detectives, Sherlock Holmes). It was published by "Ekspeditionen af Sherlock Holmes" situated at Graabrødretorv 16, Copenhagen, printed by Nationaltrykkeriet in Bredgade and as responsible under the press law was a Mr. J.C. Jørgensen.
If ever there was a second issue is unknown.
This present "pulp" seems to be unique. Nobody seems to know the series, noone has been able to come up with a copy*. My copy was given to me by Danish crime writer Poul Henrik Trampe one evening in Poe-Klubben around 1980. And until further proof is given I prefer to think that this is the only existing copy!
Myabe this reprint will make a difference, and others will surface!
Anyway, it is a typical pulp production. Holmes is without his good friend and assistant Dr. Watson. He is even without his magnifying glass, his deerstalker and the syringe. He is of the same stock as the other heroes from these series - a man of action rather than a man of deductions. And Victoria's London with fog, gas lights and hansom cabs is conspiciously absent even though the action takes place in London around Trafalgar Square.
Bjarne Nielsen
* The Royal Library in Copenhagen has a copy and they date i 1909 which means it was published at the same time as the series Detektivrkongen Sherlock Holmes (The Detective King Sherlock Holmes) from Forlaget for Folkeliteratur.
