It is known as "Room 221B" in the library - a small, cluttered room on the fifth floor, furnished in the Victorian style, and named after an address on Baker Street in London, an address that does not actually exist. After circling every floor in the building, I finally spotted the well known silhouette above a door in the far end corner. With a calabash pipe and a deerstalker hat, he is one of the most universally recognizable fictional characters in history. This is the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection in the Toronto Reference Library, a celebration of the author and his works and, of course, Sherlock Holmes.
Perhaps I would have never discovered the ACD Collection if I wasn't given a research assignment on the Toronto Reference Library a few months ago. Until this point I had never been inside a public library. I'm also ashamed to admit that although I am familiar with his stories (thank you ITV!), I had never actually read a Doyle novel.
I was greeted inside by the curator of the collection, Peggy Perdue. A petite woman with glasses, she spoke in a calm voice as if not to disturb the atmosphere of the room. "Let me know if you need any help," she said. I was curious to know why Arthur Conan Doyle? Peggy explained to me that the idea of a special Doyle collection was born in 1969 when the library acquired a collection of fiction by the author and expanded it from there. "And there has always been a great interest in his work," she added. (In fact there are three new Sherlock Holmes projects coming up in the next year; Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr., a so far untitled comedy co-produced by Judd Apatow and starring Sacha Baron Cohen as the master detective, and BBC's contemporary remake simply titled Sherlock.)
I was surprised to be the only visitor in the room but Peggy told me I had just missed a group of eight. A man in his fifties entered the room shortly after and Peggy introduced him to me as "Bob", better known as Robert Coghill, a Sherlockian who serves the board of directors of the Friends of the ACD Collection. Upon learning of my interest in the room he took me around to tell me about each object personally. The allusions to the Holmesian world spread all around the room were not meant for a novice like me, but Bob, an aficionado, told me all about the references to the Persian slipper lying on the mantel, the six Napoleon busts lined up on a shelf, and the porcelain boot given as a present to the collection.
The library collects different editions of Doyle's works, along with rare editions and translations in 40 to 50 different languages (which testifies to his world-wide popularity), adaptations, parodies, pastiches, as well as critical and biographical studies. Only a few people come into this room to read, for research or for pleasure, and most of the collection's visitors regard it as nothing more than a museum to be quickly browsed and admired. I wondered how many people who visit this room are even aware that it holds a copy of the first Sherlock Holmes story ever published (in Beeton's Christmas Annual of 1887, one of thirty copies in the world). "A private copy was sold last year for $156000," Bob informed me, before storing the 121-year-old magazine back away in its box and locking it in a cabinet. "It is kept under three different locks so it's safe here," he smiled.
I found it difficult not to become an enthusiast as I was fascinated by the artifacts surrounding me. I promised myself to come back and pull up a comfortable chair by the illuminated stained glass window depicting the character who just two hours before I barely knew anything about. Unfortunately I was soon sucked back into the reality of my modern life and was never able to visit the room again.
At least I know now that the Room 221B exists, somewhere.
The Collection is open from 2:00pm to 4:00pm on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays and by appointment. Toronto Reference Library is located on 789 Yonge St.
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