Arthur Conan Doyle, a multiple personality

Arthur Conan Doyle disguised as George Edward Challenger, main character in The Lost World, published in 1912.

Writer Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is best known for creating the character of Sherlock Holmes, but there’s much more to his work – and even more to his life. The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fonds (IS 4314), held at the BCUL, provides an opportunity to learn more about this author and his family.

With Arthur Conan Doyle, the line between fiction and reality can sometimes become blurred. The author enjoyed this when he donned the costume of Professor Challenger to illustrate the publication of his novel The Lost World, published in 1912.

In fact, the difference between Professor Challenger’s imposing black beard and that of Santa Claus is only a shade, and the following year, Arthur Conan Doyle played Santa Claus at a children’s Christmas party organized by his second wife. Unfortunately, we only have a written record of this event, in a letter from Lady Conan Doyle to her brother Malcolm, but looking at the photographs of Arthur Conan Doyle as Professor Challenger, we can imagine what the result must have been like.

Like Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law, the writer E. W. Hornung, who was momentarily deceived by his Challenger disguise, it would be a mistake to think we knew so much about this author, whose life was eventful, to say the least. Arthur Conan Doyle was a writer, sportsman, doctor, public figure, traveler and spiritualist all rolled into one.

Following the creation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation in Lucens in 1965 by one of the writer’s sons, an archive of written, printed, photographic and pictorial documents relating to Arthur Conan Doyle and his family was established. A new classification plan and detailed inventory of this collection – deposited with the BCUL in 1975 – is now available on the Patrinum platform.

At the Unithèque, from November 4, 2022 to January 29, 2023, a showcase in the open-access area will display a selection of photographs from the collection and a facsimile of the manuscript of a Sherlock Holmes short story, The Adventure of Shoscombe Abbey, held at the BCUL. A selection of documents from the collection can also be consulted in the consultation room during opening hours without appointment (subject to availability) until the end of January 2023.

Laurence Pernet