Introduction: From Baker Street to Undershaw and Beyond

Abstract

The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street in London is well worth a visit. Alighting from the tube on a cold winter’s evening, imaginatively inclined Holmesians can transport themselves to a world of yellow fogs and hansom cabs, and during a visit to the house – its sitting-room is considerably smaller than the ones presented in numerous film adaptations – can immerse themselves in cosy Victoriana.¹ The museum website invitingly notes that visitors ‘can sit by Holmes’s fireside’ but ‘must bring’ their own ‘pipe[s] to smoke’. The enthusiast can even try on Sherlock Holmes’s deerstalker, perched on a nearby table.