#the five orange pips

[an-actual-floof]

a Holmes painting inspired by Jeremy Brett <3

#i know i post mostly star trek but it’s time ppl know I’m a huge Holmesian as well #i don’t even remember the five orange pips story tbh but it’s aesthetic <3 #jeremy brett #jeremy brett holmes #sherlock holmes #acd holmes #holmes #five orange pips #the five orange pips #sherlock holmes stories #sherlock holmes fanart #granada holmes #holmes fanart

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

#letters from watson #the five orange pips

[silver-grasp]

On a scale of Extremely Heterosexual to Extremely Gay how normal is it to move back in with your old flatmate any time your wife is on a trip of "a few days".

#bonus points if your wife is 'visiting her mother' when earlier she was explicitly and plot-relevantly an orphan #letters from watson #the five orange pips

[teaspoonnebula]

The Five Orange Pips

The opening to this one is just *chef's kiss*. It's classic Watson. Slipping in complements about Holmes every other word. Apologising that the story doesn't have a satisfying conclusion right out the gate. Rattling off a bunch of cases with fascinating names that he will never ever refer to ever again. Overwrought description of the weather.

"My wife was on a visit to her mother's,"

Watson you wrote an entire novel making it very clear that your wife does not have a mother, you adorable goose.

#the five orange pips #FIVE #sherlock holmes #letters from watson #dr watson

[jabbage]

We've had two stories now where Sherlock Holmes has made a direct attack against an orange, and I can't wait to see if this ever happens again.

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #the reigate squires #the five orange pips

[warrenwaskilledbyadeer]

When you can't find a single list of Sherlock Holmes stories in chronological order that works so you make one yourself and while beta-testing it by reading every single Sherlock Holmes story again you realize that Conan Doyle made a mistake by having Watson refer to his wife THE YEAR BEFORE THEY MEET EACH OTHER AND GET MARRIED

#now i have to figure out what to do #do i keep it in 1887 or move it to 1888 or 1889 #conan doyle didn't even care about his own timeline i know but i do 😭 #sherlock holmes #the adventures of sherlock holmes #arthur conan doyle #sir arthur conan doyle #the five orange pips

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Mar. 6

The Five Orange Pips, Part 1 of 3

A bark (or rather barque) in this scenario is presumably referring to a type of ship, but I like to think it's actually about a missing dog that Holmes and Watson had to go find.

Mr. Russell was apparently well-known at the time for his sea stories, and was even admired by Herman Melville! They each dedicated one of their books to the other, which I find really cute.

Oh, Mary. I know that Watson needs to be at Baker Street so he can be there and write about whatever case occurs, so it's always interesting to see what excuse there is for him to be able to do so.

Oh, Holmes. It's a bit of a sad line, but it at least speaks a lot to Watson and Holmes' relationship with one another.

The woman obviously referring to Irene Norton, née Adler. Though evidently there is a contradiction because this story happened in 1887, as Watson mentioned earlier, and The Scandal in Bohemia takes place in 1888. So minus one point to Doyle for poor continuity.

This threw me for a loop. Apparently the first bicycle of a kind was invented in 1817, so yeah I guess this is a believable scenario. It also kind of dates this story in a fun way.

Let's see. Plantation owner, confederate soldier, and a racist, though that last part probably goes without saying. Well, this is as bad as a guy can be in Doyle's time, so hopefully he's not like, a good person in this story.

Elias is evidently not on good terms with the KKK, which is funny considering his history would make you think he's a shoo-in for being their friend.

On one hand, it's nice that Elias is dead. On the other hand, it's not nice to see the KKK have this much reach and power. But on the other, other hand, they are being shown as the villains in this story so far.

This story sure is contemporary for Doyle's time. I wonder what the audience back then thought about all this, or rather, I wonder what the American audience back then thought about all this.

My heart is full of forebodings as well, though for other reasons than John here.

A very, dare I use the term, political Sherlock Holmes mystery so far, and one in which I eagerly await the next letter.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

#letters from watson #the five orange pips #sherlock holmes #john h watson #john openshaw #elias openshaw #joseph openshaw #arthur conan doyle #liveblogging sherlock holmes

[intj-greenwords]

Watson (hearing a knock on the door) to Sherlock: Maybe that is a friend of yours?

Sherlock: I don’t have friends.

Sherlock: Except you. You’re the only one.

Sherlock: And I don’t encourage visitors.

Sherlock: That might lead to more friends. I don’t want more friends. One is enough.

#letters from watson #the five orange pips #lx reads sherlock holmes

[stephensmithuk]

The Five Orange Pips

ACD likes a shipwreck, doesn't he?

I will leave discussions about the Ku Klux Klan to those with more knowledge on the subject.

A mendicant is someone who generally takes a vow of poverty and relies on charity to survive - such as a wandering preacher. In Christianity, this was often done in deliberate imitation of the Apostles, who were told to rely on others (and by extension God) for their needs. Mendicants having a luxurious club would be a tad hypocritical.

We have two barques referenced here. To repeat my comment from "The Gloria Scott": a bark - or barque - is a type of sailing ship with three or more masts - the first two masts have square sails, the one at the back had them aligned with the hull. They were fast ships that needed a relatively small crew.

The UK's position on the Gulf Stream may keep the place from getting very cold in winter, but it also leaves us open to big storms.

Pince-nez glasses were very popular in this time period.

The area around Horsham does indeed have pretty clay-ey soil that's good for growing crops.

Horsham is a market and commuter town 31 miles from London.

Cheating at cards was apparently the worst thing a gentleman could do. In Ian Fleming's novels, two of the villains are immediately clearly wrong-uns as they're rich guys who feel the need to cheat.

Being "sent to Coventry" is a British expression for being ostracised. Joseph appears to have sent himself to the West Midlands town.

Pondicherry, now called Puducherry, was in fact a French enclave on the south-eastern coast of India and was not in fact transferred to Indian control until 1954.

"London E." was one of the postal divisions of the city at the time - it remains as the E postcode area, split into 22 districts, including two specially for Natwest and News International. Yep, Murdoch has his own postcode.

PC Cook is rather off his normal beat. H Division covered Whitechapel and had, a few years prior to this story coming out, failed to catch Jack the Ripper.

The Embankment here refers to the Victoria Embankment, a road and pedestrian avenue built by the river as part of a land reclamation project earlier in the century. It had the side effect of permanently ending any hope of Frost Fairs - the river now flows too fast to freeze.

I believe this story takes place pretty much entirely in Baker Street.

Lloyd's refers to Lloyd's of London, a very long running maritime insurance marketplace, who also underwrite a bunch of other insurance policies, including film stars' legs. They keep comprehensive records of ship movements for this purposes.

Gravesend is a town in Kent near what is now the M25 and would be a good place to spot a ship before the Thames Estuary widens out - beyond that, you might easily miss a ship in poor visibility from the few communities beyond it.

The transatlantic telegraph cables were firmly in operation by this point. Their successor cables form the backbone of the modern Internet.

Mail was generally transported on the fastest ships i.e. the ocean liners; so you'd be talking around a week to cross the Atlantic at this point. A sailing ship would be looking at three times as long.

Sliced bread - i.e. bread that came pre-sliced when you bought it - was not a thing until 1928.

Please note that those who wish to post orange pips to the United States today will require a permit from the US Department of Agriculture.

#letters from watson #the five orange pips #sherlock holmes #arthur conan doyle

[mariana-oconnor]

The Five Orange Pips pt 3

It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city.

I mourn the loss of the storm descriptions, but this is still lovely.

I also have 'I can see clearly now the rain has gone' playing in my head.

As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a chill to my heart. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."

Once again Watson reading the paper is important. Does Holmes just miss out on major events when Watson isn't here? Does he turn up to meetings only to find the person he was meeting with is dead? Does he have other people read the newspapers for him? Does he... do it himself? *shudder*

This is a really tragic story, even allowing for the fact that Elias Openshaw was a tremendous dick and his death was the opposite of a tragedy. Holmes and Watson's inability to save anyone is just... This isn't something you would see in modern detective fiction, except in very extreme examples. I'm not convinced that any of the Openshaws were exactly good people (hanging out with racist former terrorists will do that) but there is still tragedy in this. They all died. The last two for no reason. It's such senseless death. Holmes was too late. Everything was just too late. Even if they weren't good people, their deaths are just... so pointless.

In real life, I don't tend to think anyone deserves death. In fiction, a satisfying death is... well, satisfying. These offer no satisfaction or pathos or purpose. So yeah, tragic.

"Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and a splash in the water.

I love how they record the name of the officer in the paper. It's more like an incident report than a news story. Good old Police-Constable Cook. I hope he got a nice cup of tea and a biscuit.

It proved to be that of a young gentleman whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.

If this were a modern mystery it absolutely would not be John Openshaw. That's a terrible way to identify a body. I know there's no DNA and no fingerprinting, and also his entire family has been murdered by racist terrorists, but still. Sometimes I have letters to other people in my pockets. Sometimes I have loyalty cards etc. belonging to other people in my pockets because I am borrowing them. But I am not my father... I kind of want it to not be him. He's faked his own death and is living in Tahiti and the person in the river is the guy who tried to kill him. Good for John.

The body exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident

Vengeful ghost. Vengeful ghost!

calling the attention of the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages.

Well, at least some good has come of this adventure. I'm all for improving health and safety.

"No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may take the flies, but not before."

Police-Constable Cook has had enough excitement for one day. Best if he gets some rest.

But now shit's personal. They made him angry.

All day I was engaged in my professional work

I mean, I know Watson has a day job, but it's strangely jarring to have this 'we failed' revelation and then Watson goes off and listens to people cough for 8 hours or something. 😂🤣😂

"I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "What do you mean?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "S. H. for J. 0."

Sherlock is petty af and I am here for it.

"I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers and files of the old papers, following the future career of every vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in '83."

I also appreciate that Holmes is shown here doing the tedious legwork. It's not all sudden sparks of inspiration and instant feats of deduction. Sometimes you have to go down to a room full of records and read until your eyes bleed.

We did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of the boat was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is all which we shall ever know of the fate of the Lone Star.

Another set of criminals lost at sea. Not sure why that happened this time when they could have been caught another way, but... I guess they... got their comeuppance? ACD really liked 'storms blow everybody dies' endings, I guess.

Return of the 'equinoctial gales' though! Glad they got a callback after being such main characters throughout. Does that count as foreshadowing?

#Letters from Watson #Sherlock Holmes #The Five Orange Pips #Apparently I'm doing liveblogs of these now #sorry? #I almost wrote the five orange popes both in the title of this and in the tags #that would be a different story

[eirinstiva]

In the last letter from Watson he started "The Five orange Pips" and he talks about the reason of why he's with Holmes again

My wife was on a visit to her mother’s, and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.

Exactly like my Kindle copy in British Mysteries Boxed Set, but in my copy of Todo Sherlock Holmes (story translated by Juan Manuel Ibeas) Watson refers to a "tía" (aunt) like in other copies.

Oh... the work of the editors..

#letters from watson #the five orange pips #FIVE #acd canon #letters in the underground

[pop-goes-the-weasel]

"As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone"

Meet Baron Georges Cuvier. Father of Modern Paleontology. Student of Scientific Racism. Anti-evolutionist. Proponent of theories of extinction.

In this context, Holmes is probably talking about his paleontological studies. Cuvier had come across a single tooth from a limestone quarry at Montmarte, which he studied to claim that it belonged to an animal part horse and part tapir. He was proved right when the near complete remains of such an animal surfaced, again at Montmarte. It was what we today call Palaeotherium sp. Even today, teeth and jawbones are invaluable finds.

A nice reference to some pioneering paleontology, coming from a very controversial figure of science.

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #john watson #the five orange pips

[principiumindividuationis777]

#The Five Orange Pips #Arthur Conan Doyle #Sidney Paget #illustration #art #black and white #dark academia #Victorian #Sherlock Holmes

[quill-of-thoth]

Letters From Watson: The Five Orange Pips

Published: November 1891 Set: September 1887 (Baring-Gould) supported by canon dates. September 1889 or 1890 if we presume this is set during Watson's marriage to Mary.

"My wife was on a visit to her mother's." So the chronology for this one is... messy. Watson is married. The year is stated as before Watson even met Mary. Mary is also an orphan. This is Baring-Gould's best evidence for an unnamed first wife. My evidence against a first wife remains the same: The timeline is very hinky if he's married in March '88, widowed, and engaged again by the end of summer, given the Victorian mourning traditions. Baring Gould is determined to call Watson's dates inaccurate when they help him squeeze in a first wife, I remain committed to the idea that Watson, a gentleman, would observe all the proper rituals for his wife. Ergo I do not believe the year is accurate: and if the actual year was earlier, Watson would not need to mention a wife. Therefore I propose 1889 or 1890. I say that in the case of a first marriage, Watson would have to be a widower to wed Mary Morstan, because although divorce did exist for people who weren't kings in England by 1888, it literally required an act of parliament. Not something that was available for a retired Army Surgeon. Couples did of course separate informally, but the financial and social barriers kept this from being prevalent, especially when you consider that a woman living separate from her husband potentially had even less financial security than a widow or a woman who never married and had her finances routed through a male relative. If your husband sucks enough that you're separating when that's legally and financially near impossible, he probably sucks enough that he won't send you enough money to live on. And when it came to men separating from their wives, the preferred method in the 1800's, at least in American history, appears to have been to take some money, change your name, and hop a train, which is probably the great-grandfather of the trope where some character's father stepped out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. So either a once-married Watson is a widower or he's a cad of the highest order. (Or both, not going into appropriate mourning for a dead wife...) Or, considering that this is a story about the KKK assassinating someone for potential knowledge of their secret papers, there is an element of fictionalization and Watson is, as in A Scandal in Bohemia, making a hash of hasty edits to fudge details to protect the innocent. No, it was five years ago, I swear! Better say that Mary - I mean, My Wife - was visiting her mother, to make it more obvious that my wife at the time could not have been Mary.

#Letters from Watson #The Five Orange Pips #Timelines #Watson you are not a great liar are you? #Fictionalization #look if I don't invent reasons for things you don't get a timeline #Also I'm very late; I have jammed my wrist #that's not the only factor but it's the one you get to know about

[teaspoonnebula]

Holmes: One of the US States is called the Lone Star State. But I don't know which. Watson: It's Texas. Holmes: Absoluuuuuutely no idea which.

#the five orange pips #letters from watson

[red-umbrella-811]

Holmes: I don’t know which state is the lone star one, and I’m not going to find out.

#sherlock holmes #letters from watson #the five orange pips #texas