# The incomplete works of **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426 "2024-08-08T13:54:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/1 "2024-08-08T13:54:27Z")
It’s common to see anthologies saying they’re “The Complete Works of…” or “The Complete Humorous Stories of …” But the truth is, it’s hard to get every last bit of an author’s works, even by completists. Sherlock Holmes – There are plenty of copies of “THe Complete Sherlock Holmes Stories”. But they really aren’t. Neither the two-volume paperback editions nor the single thick hardcover editions, nor William S. Baring-Gould’s _Annotated Sherlock Holmes_ nor Leslie Klinger’s later _The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes_ really has all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes writings collected within their bindings. First, there’s the “Apocrypha” – three stories by Doyle in which a mystery is presented, and an un-named detective suggests solutions. “The Lost Special” and “The Man with the Watches” and one other. It’s been suggested that the detective was, of course, Holmes. Or, since his suggestions turn out to be wrong, maybe Watson. Then there’s the play _Sherlock Holmes_, credited to William Gillette (who played Holmes, and is credited with the introduction of Holmes’ trademark calabash pipe) and Doyle. I’ll give this a pass, since the evdence is that Gillette wrote the play with no direct input from Doyle, except the Sherlock Holmes stories themselves. But then there’s _The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes_, which contains two stories and two plays written entirely by Doyle and starring Holmes and Watson. They were written for unusual venues (one was for the library of a royal doll house) that kept these from showing up elsewhere. – “The Field Bazaar” from 1896 and “How Watson Learned the Trick” from 1924. The two plays are ones with the plots of “THe Speckled Band” and “The Mazarin Stone”. The one based on Th Speckled Band appeared after the story, but I suspect the one that shares its plot with The Mazarin Stone appeared before the story. All of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories are told in the first person (all Watson, of course, except for a few that Holmes himsel narrates), with the exception of The Mazarin Stone, which is told in the third person, for reasons the story itself makes clear. There are other cases. It was years after I’d read what I thought was the complete Horatio Hornblower stories of C.S. Forester (including “Hornblower During the Crisis” and “The Hornblower Companion”, which contain bits and outlines of other stories) that I learned there were still more stories uncollected in the collections I had. Four Hornblower short stories were omitted from those collections. For years the only way to read them was to root out copies of the original magazine publications from libraries of booksellers. All have since been reprinted in anthologies. Although, not to my knowledge collected into a single volume. The stories don’t fit neatly int the chronology that Forester put together in the 1960s. (Nor, for that matter, do even the “canonical” stories. Did Hornblower meet Bush as a midshipman? Or as a captain?) Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/2 "2024-08-08T14:03:06Z")
Every few years, Tolkien’s heirs find some napkin that he scribbled on once, or something, and publish it. We’ll never be sure we’re at the end of all of J. R. R.'s writings. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/3 "2024-08-08T14:30:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Every few years, Tolkien’s heirs find some napkin that he scribbled on once, or something, and publish it. That’s true. I’ve bought a number of such things – Tolkien’s King Arthur poem, and his incomplete notes on _Beowulf_, and the story of Sigurd. There’s no end to them. I’m a big Jules Verne fan, as should be pretty obvious. Years ago I started trying to read everything he’d written. At the time there were about five of his “Extraordinary Voyages” that had never been translated into English. They now have been, and I’ve read them. But now there are newer, more complete translations of some of his works. And translations of _The Golden Volacno_ and _The Danube Pilot_ and _The Secret of Wilhelm Storitz_ and _The Meteor Hunt_ that has the additions Michel Verne made removed. Or the story fragments that Michel rewrote into _The Barsac Mission_ as Jules Verne originally wrote them. Or Verne’s plays – the editions of _Around the World in 80 days_ or _Michael Strogoff_ as he wrote them for the stage. Or his play _Journey through the Impossible_. Or the many things he wrote BEFORE the “Extraordinary Voyages”. I’ve been reading all this stuff for years, and feel I’m no closer to the end than when I started. Tolkien scholars have nothing on Verne scholars. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2024, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/4 "2024-08-08T23:43:50Z")
As evidence of the theory in the OP I offer [A Stroke of the Pen: The Lost Stories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Stroke_of_the_Pen:_The_Lost_Stories). I don’t think that I had read anything by Terry Pratchett previously but was intrigued by the details, as outlined in the link, of how these stories were found. And as a great fan of coincidence I loved the way an error helped things work out properly. Mind you, the stories themselves are only tolerable whimsy. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/5 "2024-08-09T01:52:00Z")
Jim Fixx wrote _The Complete Book of Running_. Then he wrote _Jim Fixx’s Second Book of Running_. Wonderful what waving money at a person can do. OK, to the actual subject. I have all the Sherlock Holmes stuff. Including _[Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha](https://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Arthur-Conan-Doyle/dp/0395294541/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UEFDBJT1HNQ1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Esxx9pVCNsSlYJCZP2bObUHNkg5l0qn1Ykr0e1RU49ilD4V-jpHL_hTbwzExtgt_.LNbWv9_scAeEdc9F5Q8ct3F_2-VvGscj1T1K3jpXNUk&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sherlock+Holmes%3A+The+Published+Apocrypha&qid=1723166935&s=books&sprefix=sherlock+holmes+the+published+apocrypha%2Cstripbooks%2C283&sr=1-1)_, which I believe has all the extras that Cal was talking about. I read it once and probably never opened it again, because it’s all crap. If you read it, it will disappoint you. That’s true for all the other books that go out and publish every napkin. “The Early Works of…” are crap. “The Juvenalia” is worse. “The Unpublished Stuff” is rancid. I have the completist gene, so I have read many, many books of this nature. I can remember literally none that I thought was worth the paper it was printed on. There is a reason they are separated from the canons. To be fair, some good stuff is hidden out there. Many authors sold stories to newspapers or magazines that were impossible to find later, and probably still are given how huge a percentage have not yet been scanned or have disappeared. Every once in a while, one will appear. I’ve found stories myself that were unknown previously, none by anyone you’ve ever heard of, unfortunately. Most famous authors write way too much, because they need money or pressure from fans, which is why Doyle brought Holmes back and also why the stories steadily got worse, like a stock market sinking into bear territory. The few up days don’t reverse the trend. How about starting Completists Anonymous? We would have someone to talk us out of getting our hopes up by yet another lost work! ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/6 "2024-08-09T03:33:14Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Jim Fixx wrote _The Complete Book of Running_. > > Then he wrote _Jim Fixx’s Second Book of Running_. Then he died at 52 of a heart attack…while running. Was never quite sure what to take from that! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/7 "2024-08-09T06:21:44Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > (one was for the library of a royal doll house) Oh, you can’t just say that and not tell us the rest of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/8 "2024-08-09T06:34:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Oh, you can’t just say that and not tell us the rest of the story. A royal doll house, with incredibly detailed models of furniture and fittings. Working plumbing with actual running water. Model cars with working engines. Wine cellar with mini bottles filled with actual vintage wine. Included a library of mini books written by famous authors. > **[Queen Mary's Dolls' House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Mary%27s_Dolls%27_House)** > > Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a doll's house built in the early 1920s, completed in 1924, for the British queen Mary of Teck. It was designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, with contributions from many notable artists and craftsmen of the period, including a library of miniature books containing original stories written by authors including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and A. A. Milne. > The idea for building the doll's house originally came from Queen Mary's cousin, Princess Marie Louise, who discus... ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/9 "2024-08-09T06:47:41Z")
Neat. Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle is better, though. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/10 "2024-08-09T06:51:25Z")
For those who haven’t read it, here is the text of the mini book, with photos of the actual book from the dollhouse. [https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/How\_Watson\_Learned\_the\_Trick](https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/How_Watson_Learned_the_Trick) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/11 "2024-08-09T12:06:06Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > OK, to the actual subject. I have all the Sherlock Holmes stuff. Including _[Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha](https://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Arthur-Conan-Doyle/dp/0395294541/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3UEFDBJT1HNQ1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Esxx9pVCNsSlYJCZP2bObUHNkg5l0qn1Ykr0e1RU49ilD4V-jpHL_hTbwzExtgt_.LNbWv9_scAeEdc9F5Q8ct3F_2-VvGscj1T1K3jpXNUk&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sherlock+Holmes%3A+The+Published+Apocrypha&qid=1723166935&s=books&sprefix=sherlock+holmes+the+published+apocrypha%2Cstripbooks%2C283&sr=1-1)_, which I believe has all the extras that Cal was talking about. I read it once and probably never opened it again, because it’s all crap. If you read it, it will disappoint you. I have to disagree here. Having read more than my share of pastiches of Holmes, I have to say that things like “How Watson Learned the Trick” is still a lot better than Philip Jose Farmer’s _The Adventure of the Peerless Peer_ (In which Holmes and Watson meet Tarzan). Farmer never was able to capture the cadence of Sherlockian dialogue. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/12 "2024-08-09T13:47:21Z")
I don’t like Tribute Bands, and I don’t like current authors writing “Holmes Pastiches”… but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a few of the stories included in Laurie King’s collections, like _In The Company of Sherlock Holmes_. And Donald Thomas’s _The Execution of Sherlock Holmes_. And of course Neil Gaiman’s short story _A Study in Emerald_ is a delight. Found a pdf of it online, styled as a Fleet Street broadside… > **[emerald.pdf](https://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf)** > > 5.10 MB ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/13 "2024-08-09T14:27:26Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I have the completist gene, so I have read many, many books of this nature. I can remember literally none that I thought was worth the paper it was printed on. There is a reason they are separated from the canons. The writing in the Unfinished Tales version of Turin Turambar is some of the best I’ve ever read. The later full-length book was at least partly that; I don’t know how much of the rest was more stuff found from J. R. R., versus literary spackle from Christopher. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/14 "2024-08-09T14:47:15Z")
There’s a series of mystery anthologies titled **Bodies from the Library** that consists of stories from famous mystery writers that were either unpublished or only appeared once in another format, such as in a magazine article or radio play. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/15 "2024-08-09T15:11:37Z")
Dennis McMillan published an entire series of the mysteries of Fredric Brown in small hardcover and weirdly-sized paperbacks back in 1984. I bought as many of them as I could, but I’ve never even _seen_ most of the series, which is too bad. (Haffner Press is now publishing the complete Fredric Brown mysteries, which are probably a lot easier to get hold of). But, as one of the people asked to write introductions to the McMillan editions pointed out, some of the mysteries aren’t really all that good. One of them relied upon knowledge of a then-current radio program for the solution. Even the best writers have a few slips, or are forced to come up with copy just to pay the bills. In this thread, I’m reminded of an old piece by Woody Allen – “The Metterling Lists” , about publishers so intent on squeezing out as much as possible from the writings of a beloved author that they started publishing his laundry lists. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/books/review/1st-chapter-insanity-defense.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/books/review/1st-chapter-insanity-defense.html) > **[The Metterling Lists](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/05/10/the-metterling-lists)** > > Parody of scholarly review of Venal & Sons long-awaited first volume of Metterling's laundry lists. Ordinary lists are analyzed in terms of their … ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/16 "2024-08-09T15:16:16Z")
I understand there have been significant advances in fishing technology since _The Compleat Angler._ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/17 "2024-08-09T15:26:30Z")
After L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt wrote **The Incompleat Enchanter** in 1941 they published **The Compleat Enchanter** in 1975, But then they kept writing Harold Shea stories, so they had to publish **The Complete Compleat Enchanter** in 1988. Of course, even though Pratt was gone, de Camp couldn’t help himself, and wrote more Harold Shea stories with Christopher Stashieff. Even though deCamp himself is now gone, I haven’t heard of any plans for a “Complete Complete Compleat Enchanter” > **[The Complete Compleat Enchanter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_Compleat_Enchanter)** > > The Complete Compleat Enchanter is an omnibus collection of five fantasy stories by American authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, gathering material previously published in three volumes as The Incomplete Enchanter (1941), The Castle of Iron (1950), and Wall of Serpents (1960), and represents an expansion of the earlier omnibus The Compleat Enchanter, which contained only the material in the first two volumes. The expanded version also differs from the previous omnibus by omitting its ... ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/18 "2024-08-09T15:34:41Z")
And a handful of new episodes have aired since [The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family](https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Simpsons:_A_Complete_Guide_to_Our_Favorite_Family). ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/19 "2024-08-09T17:34:07Z")
Eh. None that matter. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426/20 "2024-08-09T18:35:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > versus literary spackle from Christopher. Adrian Conan Doyle, Arthur’s son, wrote a dozen Holmes pastiches in the 1940s, half co-written with top mystery writer John Dickson Carr. The mysteries were sound but the stories were dull. Arthur was a lunatic hack writer. He cared about the sensational aspects of the stories more than he did about sound plots. That helps make him readable today when other better contemporary constructors are forgotten. Adrian was not a lunatic. Only the most lunatic napkin readers bother to find him. Which means that I have them, of course. Arthur’s wackiness also means that the parodies work much better than the faithful pastiches. The latter cannot deviate from the ruts of Holmsian tics. The former can use their imaginations to go off in loopy nonsense. That’s why the best parodies are from top mystery writer Robert Fish. They were published in two volumes and then nine more stories were added for the compilation: [Schlock Homes: The Complete Bagel Street Saga](https://www.amazon.com/Schlock-Homes-Complete-Bagel-Street/dp/0934468168/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3SK1F075F6SXX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7zRSo8YWHyiAZsDqFk3YSt2lXizJsZhGbfE10BN14tnYSv4FBF6gb9l9PZc5y_Ib.cFhV6NZey9GdGGEqyjAaJh9zWkaAkCgkldv4HU8gMa0&dib_tag=se&keywords=robert+fish+schlock+homes&qid=1723228157&s=books&sprefix=robert+fish+schlock+homes%2Cstripbooks%2C111&sr=1-1). How good you do have to be that your parodies are sought by completists? > All your old Bagel Street friends are here…Schlock Homes himself, his partner and confidant Dr. Watney, his brother Criscroft Homes; Inspector Balustrade of Scotland Yard; the villainous Professor Marty, Colonel Moron, Irene Addled, and A.J. Lotteries; and of course (thanks to Dr. Watney’s excellent care) the immortal Bagel Street Regulars. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-incomplete-works-of/1005426.md?page=2)