The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely in Dartmoor, Devon in England's West Country and follows Holmes and Watson investigating the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin. This was the first appearance of Holmes since his apparent death in "The Final Problem", and the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles led to the character's eventual revival.[3]
One of the most famous stories ever written,[3] in 2003, the book was listed as number 128 of 200 on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novel".[4] In 1999, a poll of "Sherlockians" ranked it as the best of the four Holmes novels.[5]
Plot
From left: the titular hound; Holmes spotting a clue in the portrait; and the death of the hound.
In London, 1889, DrJames Mortimer asks for the aid of Sherlock Holmes, recounting the legend of a curse that has run in the Baskerville family since the time of the English Civil War, when Sir Hugo Baskerville kidnapped a farmer's daughter. When the girl escaped, Hugo made a deal with the devil and pursued her. Hugo's companions found the girl dead of fear and Hugo killed by a demonic hound, which is said to have haunted Dartmoor ever since, causing the premature death of many Baskerville heirs. Mortimer says that his friend Sir Charles Baskerville, who took the legend seriously, was found dead in the yew alley of his estate, Baskerville Hall, on Dartmoor. A locally noted philanthropist, Sir Charles had retired to his family estate in 1887 after some years in South Africa, where he had made a fortune through shrewd investments. His death was attributed to a heart attack, but his face had an expression of horror, and not far from his body were the footprints of a gigantic hound.
As the executor of Sir Charles's will, Mortimer fears for the new Baskerville baronet, Sir Henry Baskerville, the nephew of Sir Charles. Sir Charles had been the eldest of three Baskerville brothers; after Sir Henry, there were no further immediate heirs to the title and estate. Sir Charles's youngest brother, Rodger, who had led a scandalous life in England, had fled to Central America, where he had died of yellow fever in 1876, unmarried and childless. Though Holmes dismisses the curse as a fairy-tale, he agrees to meet Sir Henry who arrives from Canada, sceptical of the legend and eager to take possession of Baskerville Hall in spite of receiving an anonymous note warning him to stay away from the moor; Holmes also witnesses someone following Sir Henry. Mortimer reveals that Sir Henry had inherited a vast fortune from his late uncle – £740,000 (equivalent to £87,000,000 in 2021[6]). Realising this provides a strong motive for anyone trying to do Sir Henry harm, Holmes asks Watson to go with Sir Henry and Mortimer, in order to protect the baronet and investigate who is following him.
Arriving in Dartmoor, Watson, Mortimer and Sir Henry learn that convicted murderer Selden has escaped from Dartmoor Prison and is hiding on the moor. They arrive at Baskerville Hall where a married couple, the Barrymores, are butler and housekeeper. Watson sends details of his investigations to Holmes, particularly on the neighbourhood residents. The Stapletons, brother and sister, stand out: Jack is overfriendly, particularly as he warns Watson about the Grimpen Mire, where horses can sink to their death, and curious about the newcomers, while Beryl is weary of the moor and attempts to warn Sir Henry of danger. Distant hound-like howls start troubling Watson and he witnesses Barrymore, who signals at night with a candle to someone on the moor. Sir Henry is drawn to Beryl despite her brother's initial attitude to any relationship and Frankland, an old and grumpy neighbour, likes to spy on others with his telescope and notes ancient tombs have been excavated by Mortimer. Watson and Sir Henry investigate the Barrymores and learn that Selden is Mrs Barrymore's brother, and that they have been taking food to him. During an unsuccessful attempt to catch Selden, Watson sees an unknown man standing on a tor. They learn from Barrymore that Frankland's estranged daughter Laura has unclear ties to Sir Charles.
Watson investigates the man on the tor and discovers that it is Holmes, who explains that he came secretly to the moor to hide his direct involvement. Holmes explains that he is close to solving the mystery. He explains that Stapleton is the suspect and that Beryl is actually Stapleton's wife, abused and forced into posing as his sister so as to influence Sir Henry and expose him to the hound. The hound kills a man on the moor whom Holmes and Watson fear is Sir Henry, but turns out to be Selden; Barrymore had given him Sir Henry's discarded clothes. Holmes decides to use Baskerville as bait to catch Stapleton. While dining with Sir Henry and Watson, Holmes suddenly notices a portrait of Sir Hugo Baskerville and recognises a family resemblance to Stapleton. He tells Sir Henry to accept an invitation to Stapleton's house and walk back after dark, giving his enemy every chance to unleash the hound.
Holmes and Watson pretend to leave Dartmoor by train but instead hide near Stapleton's house with Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard. Despite thick fog, Holmes and Watson manage to kill the hound when it attacks Sir Henry. They find Beryl tied up in Stapleton's house, while Stapleton himself, in his flight from the scene, seemingly drowns in the mire. In London, following a visit from Sir Henry and Dr. Mortimer, who leave on a trip to help improve Sir Henry's nerves, Holmes explains to Watson that Stapleton was Sir Henry's cousin, Rodger Baskerville, the only son of his namesake father, and that he had been hoping to inherit the family estate. A physical and spiritual throwback to Sir Hugo Baskerville, he had intended to kill his relations with a vicious hound painted with phosphorus to appear sinister. He had promised Laura marriage and convinced her to lure Sir Charles out of his house at night, in order to frighten him to death with the animal; Holmes remarks to Watson that Stapleton was one of the most formidable foes they had ever encountered.
Origins and background
Baskerville Hall, formally Clyro Court, may have inspired The Hound of the Baskervilles.The ruins of Fowelscombe House, a possible model for Baskerville Hall (2008).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote this story shortly after returning to his home, Undershaw in Surrey, from South Africa, where he had worked as a volunteer physician at the Langman Field Hospital in Bloemfontein during the Second Boer War. He had not written about Sherlock Holmes in eight years, having killed off the character in the 1893 story "The Final Problem". Although The Hound of the Baskervilles is set before the latter events, two years later Conan Doyle brought Holmes back for good, explaining in "The Adventure of the Empty House" that Holmes had faked his own death. As a result, the character of Holmes occupies a liminal space between being alive and dead which further lends to the gothic elements of the novel.[7]
He was assisted with the legend of the hound and local colour by a Daily Express journalist named Bertram Fletcher Robinson (1870–1907), with whom he explored Dartmoor in June, 1901; Robinson received a 1⁄3royalty payment that amounted to over 500 pounds by the end of 1901.[8]
Doyle may also have been inspired by his own earlier story (written and published in 1898) of a terrifying giant wolf, "The King of the Foxes".
Inspiration
His ideas came from the legend of Squire Richard Cabell of Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh, Devon,[9] which was the fundamental inspiration for the Baskerville tale of a hellish hound and a cursed country squire. Cabell's tomb survives in the town of Buckfastleigh.[10][11]
Cabell lived for hunting, and was what in those days was described as a "monstrously evil man". He gained this reputation, amongst other things, for immorality and having sold his soul to the Devil. There was also a rumour that he had murdered his wife, Elizabeth Fowell, a daughter of Sir Edmund Fowell, 1st Baronet (1593–1674), of Fowelscombe.[12] On 5 July 1677, he died and was buried in the sepulchre. The night of his interment saw a phantom pack of hounds come baying across the moor to howl at his tomb. From that night on, he could be found leading the phantom pack across the moor, usually on the anniversary of his death. If the pack were not out hunting, they could be found ranging around his grave howling and shrieking. To try to lay the soul to rest, the villagers built a large building around the tomb, and to be doubly sure a huge slab was placed over the top.[13]
Moreover, Devon's folklore includes tales of a fearsome supernatural dog known as the Yeth hound that Conan Doyle may have heard. [14]
Weller (2002) believes that Baskerville Hall is based on one of three possible houses on or near Dartmoor:[15] Fowelscombe in the parish of Ugborough, the seat of the Fowell Baronets; Hayford Hall, near Buckfastleigh (also owned by John King (d.1861) of Fowelscombe) and Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh, about two miles east of Hayford, the actual home of Richard Cabell.[9] It has also been claimed that Baskerville Hall is based on a property in Mid Wales, built in 1839 by one Thomas Mynors Baskerville. The house was formerly named Clyro Court and was renamed Baskerville Hall towards the end of the 19th century. Arthur Conan Doyle was apparently a family friend who often stayed there and may have been aware of a local legend of the hound of the Baskervilles.[16]
Still other tales claim that Conan Doyle was inspired by a holiday in North Norfolk, where the tale of Black Shuck is well known. The pre-Gothic Cromer Hall, where Conan Doyle stayed, also closely resembles Doyle's vivid descriptions of Baskerville Hall.[17]
James Lynam Molloy, a friend of Doyle's, and author of "Love's Old Sweet Song", married Florence Baskerville, daughter of Henry Baskerville of Crowsley Park, Oxfordshire. The gates to the park had statues of hell hounds, spears through their mouths. Above the lintel there was another statue of a hell hound.[18]
Technique
The novel incorporates five plots: the ostensible 'curse' story, the two red-herring subplots concerning Selden and the other stranger living on the moor, the actual events occurring to Baskerville as narrated by Watson, and the hidden plot to be discovered by Holmes. The structure of the novel starting and ending in the familiar setting in London is used to ‘delimit the uncanny world associated with the Gothic landscape of the moors', with varying degrees of success.[7] Doyle wrote that the novel was originally conceived as a straight 'Victorian creeper' (as seen in the works of J. Sheridan Le Fanu), with the idea of introducing Holmes as the deus ex machina only arising later.
Publication
The Hound of the Baskervilles was first serialised in The Strand Magazine in 1901. It was well-suited for this type of publication, as individual chapters end in cliffhangers. It was printed in the United Kingdom as a novel in March 1902 by George Newnes Ltd.[19] It was published in the same year in the United States by McClure, Philips & Co.[20]
Original manuscript
In 1902, Doyle's original manuscript of the book was broken up into individual leaves as part of a promotional campaign by Doyle's American publisher – they were used in window displays by individual booksellers. Out of an estimated 185–190leaves, only37 are known still to exist, including all the leaves from Chapter11, held by the New York Public Library. Other leaves are owned by university libraries and private collectors.[20]
A newly rediscovered example was sold at auction in 2012 for US$158,500.[21]
Adaptations
The Hound of the Baskervilles has been adapted in various forms of media.
Film and television adaptations
Over 20film and television versions of The Hound of the Baskervilles have been made.
Edith Meiser adapted the novel as six episodes of the radio series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The episodes aired in February and March1932, with Richard Gordon as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr.Watson. Another dramatisation of the story aired in November and December1936, with Gordon as Holmes and Harry West as Watson.[35]
The Hound of the Baskervilles has been adapted for radio for the BBC by Bert Coules on two occasions. The first starred Roger Rees as Holmes, Crawford Logan as Watson and Matt Zimmerman as Sir Henry and was broadcast in 1988 on BBC Radio 4. Following its good reception, Coules proposed further radio adaptations, which eventually led to the 1989–1998 radio series of dramatisations of the entire canon, starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson.[40] The second adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, featuring this pairing, was broadcast in 1998, and also featured Judi Dench as Mrs.Hudson and Donald Sinden as SirCharles Baskerville.[41]
In 2011, Big Finish Productions released their adaptation of the book as part of their second series of Holmes dramas. Holmes was played by Nicholas Briggs, and Watson was played by Richard Earl.[43]
In 2020, Lions Den Theatre released a new adaptation of the novel written and directed by Keith Morrison on the company's YouTube channel. An early version of the play was performed in various locations around Nova Scotia in 2018.[45]
In 2022, The Hound of the Baskervilles was adapted and conducted as a "concert drama" by Neil Brand, with the music directed by Timothy Brock, and performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Mark Gatiss and Sanjeev Bhaskar played Holmes and Watson, respectively. The production was recorded at the Barbican Hall on December 20, and was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on January 22, 2023.[47] A filmed recording of the reading was broadcast for BBC Four on 25 December, 2023.[48]
Stage
In 2007, Peepolykus Theatre Company premiered a new adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Adapted by John Nicholson and Steven Canny, the production involves only three actors and was praised by critics for its physical comedy. Following a U.K. tour, it transferred to the Duchess Theatre in London's West End. The Daily Telegraph described it as a ‘wonderfully delightful spoof’, whilst The Sunday Times praised its ‘mad hilarity that will make you feel quite sane’. This adaptation continues to be presented by both amateur and professional companies around the world.[49]
Stage performances have also been performed in the U.K. in dramatisations by Joan Knight, Claire Malcolmson, Harry Meacher, and Roger Sansom, among others. Meacher's version has been produced three times, each time with himself the actor playing Holmes.[50]
In 2021 an adaption for the stage by Steven Canny and John Nicholson for Peepolykus, directed by Tim Jackson & Lotte Wakeman toured the UK produced by Original Theatre Company and Bolton's Octagon Theatre.[52] It was a continuation the adaptation that was directed by Lotte Wakeman for English Theatre, Frankfurt, Jermyn St Theatre and Octagon, Bolton.
Video games
The Hound of the Baskervilles is utilised in the final case in The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures in which the protagonist teams up with Herlock Sholmes (Sherlock Holmes in the original Japanese version) to investigate mysteries based on various entries in the Holmes chronology. In particular, the manuscript of The Hound of the Baskervilles is a key part of the case.[53]
Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles is a casual game by Frogwares. It departs from the original plot by introducing clear supernatural elements. Despite its non-canonical plot, it received good reviews.[54]
The stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have been very popular as adaptations for the stage, and later film, and still later television. The four volumes of the Universal Sherlock Holmes (1995) compiled by Ronald B. De Waal lists over 25,000 Holmes-related productions and products. They include the original writings, "together with the translations of these tales into sixty-three languages, plus Braille and shorthand, the writings about the Writings or higher criticism, writings about Sherlockians and their societies, memorials and memorabilia, games, puzzles and quizzes, phonograph records, audio and video tapes, compact discs, laser discs, ballets, films, musicals, operettas, oratorios, plays, radio and television programs, parodies and pastiches, children's books, cartoons, comics, and a multitude of other items — from advertisements to wine — that have accumulated throughout the world on the two most famous characters in literature."
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1981 Soviet television film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. It was the third instalment in the TV series about adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1959 British gothic mystery film directed by Terence Fisher and produced by Hammer Film Productions. It is based on the 1902 novel of the same title by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It stars Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, Sir Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville and André Morell as Doctor Watson. It is the first film adaptation of the novel to be filmed in colour.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1939 American gothic mystery film based on the 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel of the same name by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Directed by Sidney Lanfield, the film stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John Watson. Released by 20th Century Fox, it is the first of fourteen Sherlock Holmes films produced between 1939 and 1946 starring Rathbone and Bruce.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 2002 television adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel of the same name.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1978 British comedy film spoofing the 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It starred Peter Cook as Sherlock Holmes and Dudley Moore as Dr. Watson. A number of other well-known British comedy actors appeared in the film including Terry-Thomas, Kenneth Williams and Denholm Elliott.
Sherlock Holmes is the overall title given to the BBC Radio 4 radio dramatisations of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories, with Bert Coules as head writer, and featuring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Dr Watson. Together, the two actors completed radio adaptations of every story in the canon of Sherlock Holmes between 1989 and 1998.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1937 German mystery film directed by Carl Lamac and starring Peter Voss, Fritz Odemar and Fritz Rasp. It is an adaptation of the 1902 Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam and on location at the neo-Gothic Moyland Castle. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Wilhelm Depenau and Karl Vollbrecht.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1983 British made-for-television mystery thriller film directed by Douglas Hickox, starring Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Churchill as Dr. John H. Watson. It is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a Canadian television film directed by Rodney Gibbons and starring Matt Frewer and Kenneth Welsh. The film is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel of the same name.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1932 British mystery film directed by Gareth Gundrey and starring John Stuart, Robert Rendel and Frederick Lloyd. It is based on the 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, in which Sherlock Holmes is called in to investigate a suspicious death on Dartmoor. It was made by Gainsborough Pictures. The screenplay was written by Edgar Wallace.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1921 British silent mystery film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Eille Norwood, Catina Campbell and Rex McDougall. It is based on the 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. It was made by Stoll Pictures, Britain's largest film company at the time. It was the first British film adaptation of the famous novel.
Sir Edmund Fowell, 1st Baronet of Fowelscombe in the parish of Ugborough in Devon, was a Member of Parliament for Ashburton in Devon from 1640 to 1648.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1972 American made-for-television mystery film directed by Barry Crane and starring Stewart Granger as Sherlock Holmes and Bernard Fox as Doctor Watson. The movie is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1982 British television serial made by the BBC. It was produced by Barry Letts, directed by Peter Duguid, and starred Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes and Terence Rigby as Doctor Watson. The adaptation aired as a four-part serial. The serial is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. The music score was composed and conducted by Carl Davis.
"The Hounds of Baskerville" is the second episode of the second series of the BBC crime drama series Sherlock, which follows the modern-day adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and was first broadcast by BBC One on 8 January 2012. It was written by co-creator Mark Gatiss, who also portrays Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's brother in the series, and was directed by Paul McGuigan. The episode is a contemporary adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous works.
Der Hund von Baskerville is a 1914 German silent film adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's 1902 novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, the first film adaptation of the work. According to the website silentera.com, the film was considered lost, but has been rediscovered; the Russian Gosfilmofond film archive possesses a print, while the Filmmuseum München has a 35mm positive print.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1929 German silent mystery film directed by Richard Oswald and starring Carlyle Blackwell, Alexander Murski, Livio Pavanelli. The film is an adaptation of the 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. It was the last Sherlock Holmes adaptation in the silent film era. The film boasted an unusually international cast, including American actor Carlyle Blackwell, German actor Fritz Rasp, British actress Alma Taylor, Russian actor Alexander Murski and Italian actor Livio Pavanelli.
Richard Cabell, of Brook Hall, in the parish of Buckfastleigh on the south-eastern edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, is believed to be the inspiration for the wicked Hugo Baskerville, "the first of his family to be hounded to death when he hunted an innocent maiden over the moor by night", one of the central characters in Conan Doyle's novel The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-2), the tale of a hellish hound and a cursed country squire. When asked in 1907 about his inspiration for the novel Conan Doyle wrote in reply: "My story was really based on nothing save a remark of my friend Fletcher Robinson's that there was a legend about a dog on the moor connected with some old family". Cabell's tomb survives in the village of Buckfastleigh.
Sherlock Holmes is the overall title given to the series of radio dramas adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories that aired between 1952 and 1969 on BBC radio stations. The episodes starred Carleton Hobbs as Sherlock Holmes and Norman Shelley as Dr. Watson. All but four of Doyle's sixty Sherlock Holmes stories were adapted with Hobbs and Shelley in the leading roles, and some of the stories were adapted more than once with different supporting actors.
↑ Spiring, Paul R.; Pugh, Brian W. (25 May 2011). Bertram Fletcher Robinson: A Footnote to the Hound of the Baskervilles Kindle Edition. London: MX Publishing. pp.1075–1137. ISBN978-1904312406.
1 2 Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.125, pedigree of Cabell of Buckfastleigh
↑ Roy, Pinaki (2022). "Reclaiming the Elementaries of Context: Ponderings on Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles". Popular Literature: Texts, Contexts, Contestations. Ibidem Press. p.168. ISBN978-3838216669.
↑ Weller, Philip, The Hound of the Baskervilles – Hunting the Dartmoor Legend, Devon Books, Halsgrove Publishing, c.2002, quoted in
↑ Payton, Gordon; Grams, Martin Jr. (2015) [1999]. The CBS Radio Mystery Theater: An episode guide and handbook to nine years of broadcasting, 1974–1982 (Reprinteded.). McFarland. p.195. ISBN9780786492282.
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