A lot of times when we are referring to stories in Holmes Canon, such as “A Scandal in Bohemia” [SCAN], it is often followed by four letters that look like at least part of the title mentioned. They are actually some short hand that a lot of Holmes societies use, particularly if referring to a lot of them at once (rather than writing them all out). This comes in particularly handy if listing several of them in a long range plan for society meetings (like ours, for example).
The four letter abbreviations were created by Jay Finley Christ to give a shorter reference to the titles of all 60 stories (short AND novella) in the Holmes Canon (if anybody can shed some light on further history of that, it would be appreciated).
Here they are in Canonical order:
STUD – A Study in Scarlet
SIGN – The Sign of Four
Adventures
SCAN – A Scandal in Bohemia
REDH – The Red-Headed League
IDEN – A Case of Identity
BOSC – The Boscombe Valley Mystery
FIVE – The Five Orange Pips
TWIS – The Man with the Twisted Lip
BLUE – The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
SPEC – The Adventure of The Speckled Band
ENGR – The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
NOBL – The Adventure of The Noble Bachelor
BERY – The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
COPP – The Adventure of The Copper Beeches
Memoirs
SILV – Silver Blaze
YELL – The Yellow Face
STOC – The Stockbroker’s Clerk
GLOR – The “Gloria Scott”
MUSG – The Musgrave Ritual
REIG – The Reigate Squire
CROO – The Crooked Man
RESI – The Resident Patient
GREE – The Greek Interpreter
NAVA – The Naval Treaty
FINA – The Final Problem
HOUN – The Hound of the Baskervilles
Return
EMPT – The Adventure of The Empty House
NORW – The Adventure of The Norwood Builder
DANC – The Adventure of The Dancing Men
SOLI – The Adventure of The Solitary Cyclist
PRIO – The Adventure of The Priory School
BLAC – The Adventure of Black Peter
CHAS – The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
SIXN – The Adventure of The Six Napoleons
3STU – The Adventure of the Three Students
GOLD – The Adventure of The Golden Pince Nez
MISS – The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
ABBE – The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
SECO – The Adventure of The Second Stain
VALL – The Valley of Fear
Last Bow
WIST – The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge
CARD – The Adventure of The Cardboard Box
REDC – The Adventure of The Red Circle
BRUC – The Adventure of Bruce-Partington Plans
DYIN – The Adventure of The Dying Detective
LADY – The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
DEVI – The Adventure of The Devil’s Foot
LAST – His Last Bow
Case Book
ILLU – The Adventure of The Illustrious Client
BLAN – The Adventure of The Blanched Soldier
MAZA – The Adventure of The Mazarin Stone
3GAB – The Adventure of The Three Gables
SUSS – The Adventure of The Sussex Vampire
3GAR – The Adventure of The Three Garridebs
THOR – The Problem of Thor Bridge
CREE – The Adventure of The Creeping Man
LION – The Adventure of The Lion’s Mane
VEIL – The Adventure of The Veiled Lodger
SHOS – The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
RETI – The Adventure of The Retired Colourman
…and here they are in alphabetical order (as given by Sherlock Peoria):
ABBE — The Adventure of the Abbey Grange
BERY — The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
BLAC — The Adventure of Black Peter
BLAN — The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier
BLUE — The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
BOSC — The Boscombe Valley Mystery
BRUC — The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
CARD — The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
CHAS — The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
COPP — The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
CREE — The Adventure of the Creeping Man
CROO — The Adventure of the Crooked Man
DANC — The Adventure of the Dancing Men
DEVI — The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot
DYIN — The Adventure of the Dying Detective
EMPT — The Adventure of the Empty House
ENGR — The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
FINA — The Final Problem
FIVE — The Five Orange Pips
GLOR — The Gloria Scott
GOLD — The Adventure of the Golden Pince-nez
GREE — The Greek Interpreter
HOUN — The Hound of the Baskervilles
IDEN — A Case of Identity
ILLU — The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
LADY — The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
LAST — His Last Bow
LION — The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane
MAZA — The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
MISS — The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter
MUSG — The Musgrave Ritual
NAVA — The Naval Treaty
NOBL — The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
NORW — The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
PRIO — The Adventure of the Priory School
REDC — The Adventure of the Red Circle
REDH — The Red-Headed League
REIG — The Reigate Squires
RESI — The Resident Patient
RETI — The Adventure of the Retired Colourman
SCAN — A Scandal in Bohemia
SECO — The Adventure of the Second Stain
SHOS — The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
SIGN — The Sign of the Four
SILV — Silver Blaze
SIXN — The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
SOLI — The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist
SPEC — The Adventure of the Speckled Band
STOC — The Stockbroker’s Clerk
STUD — A Study in Scarlet
SUSS — The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire
THOR — The Problem of Thor Bridge
3GAB — The Adventure of the Three Gables
3GAR — The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
3STU — The Adventure of the Three Students
TWIS — The Man with the Twisted Lip
VALL — The Valley of Fear
VEIL — The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
WIST — The Adventure of the Wisteria Lodge
YELL — The Yellow Face
As of 12 Jan, ’18, all links are from the sherlock-holmes.classic-literature.co.uk/ page until further notice (or we find another source for free Canon links, especially if they’re free from ads [!]).
Update [27 Sep, ’18]- all links on THIS page have been moved to the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia where each story is on ONE page of the site (versus the multiple pages for each story in the previous site) and there are considerably less advertisements [at the time of this update, none at all{!}]. Hopefully we can transfer ALL future Canon references on our other pages to this site as well.
harpooners 