''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. As of 2015, the nonprofit organization had about 300 members 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 Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

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 or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

to publish BSI papers. In 1946,''The Baker Street Journal'' was first published. The first issue was lavishly published with

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

typography, stitched binding and 108 pages of essays, illustrations, and news about Sherlock Holmes.

Adrian Conan Doyle Adrian Malcolm Conan Doyle (19 November 19103 June 1970) was the youngest son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his second wife Jean, Lady Doyle or Lady Conan Doyle. He had two siblings, sister Jean Conan Doyle and brother Denis, as well as two hal ...

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 Li ...

which allowed it to be

typeset Typesetting is the composition of text for publication, display, or distribution by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other ...

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 including readers in such diverse locations as Sweden, Denmark, Japan, 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 served as editor for a record 23 years, from 2000 to 2022. The current editor since the Spring 2023 issue is Dan Andriacco.Baker Street Irregulars announcement, January 2023
In 2001, the entire run of the magazine up to that date was released on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

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 Magazines published in New York City