Harry Dickson - History

History

The original pulp dime-novel series that later became Harry Dickson began in Germany in January 1907 under the title of Detective Sherlock Holmes und seine weltberühmten abenteuer (Sherlock Holmes' Most Famous Cases), published by Verlagshaus für Volksliteratur und Kunst, and comprised 230 issues in total, published until June, 1911. The name Sherlock Holmes was actually used for the first 10 issues. After some concern about the rights of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the series was retitled Aus dem Geheimakten des Weltdetektivs (The Secret Files of the King of Detectives) with No. 11, even though the main character was still called Sherlock Holmes inside. Holmes' Doctor Watson sidekick, however, was a younger man named Harry Taxon.

Sixteen issues of the original German series were adapted into French starting in October 1907 by publisher Fernand Laven for the magazine La Nouvelle Populaire under the title Les Dossiers Secrets de Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes' Secret Files) for No. 1, immediately changed to Les Dossiers Secrets du Roi des Détectives (The Secret Files of the King of Detectives) with issue No. 2.

In December 1927, the Dutch-Flemish publisher Roman-Boek-en-Kunsthandel launched a Dutch translation of the original German series, this time entitled Harry Dickson de Amerikaansche Sherlock Holmes (Harry Dickson, the American Sherlock Holmes).

The name Harry Dickson may have been inspired by that of Harry Taxon (from the German edition above), or by writer Arnould Galopin's Allan Dickson, the King of Australian Detectives which had been created in the early 1900s. Allan Dickson even met Sherlock Holmes in L'Homme au Complet Gris (The Man in Grey) (1912).

The Dutch series lasted 180 issues, until May 1935. In it, Dickson's young assistant was renamed Tom Wills

In 1928, Belgian publisher Hip Janssens asked writer Jean Ray to translate the Dutch series into French, for distribution in Belgium and France. The French-language edition, also entitled Harry Dickson, le Sherlock Holmes Americain, began in January, 1929.

Eventually, Ray became tired of translating the mediocre original stories. Using the titles and the covers from the original pre-World War I German edition (by artist Alfred Roloff, a member of the Berlin Academy) as starting points, he began to write his own stories. The French edition lasted 178 issues, until April, 1938.

Interestingly, there is currently a Harry Dickson residing in Northcote - a colourful, leafy suburb situated within Melbourne, Australia. Some uncanny parallels have been drawn between the famous fictional detective and the noteworthy Australian of the same name.