The Lord
Peter Wimsey Companion
by Stephan P. Clarke
The Mysterious Press, New
York. 1985. Hardcover in dust jacket. 563 pages. (8¾ X 11¼). To the Reader by
the author. A massive, very complex compilation of everything you would ever
want to know about Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey. The author claims that
this volume is not complete, but you are likely to argue with him. The author
provides a rather complex system of codes and abbreviations to help the reader
locate and identify certain items. Each item is numbered and goes from 1 to
7509. There are many cross-references and abbreviations that force you to jump
all over the book. There are several illustrations and photos relating to the
subject. There is a long bibliography of related material. The entire book is in
the form of a typewritten manuscript in two columns per page. The index is
highly complex in that it has large listings of item numbers. For instance,
Murder Must Advertise is broken into chapters and each chapter heading has close
to a hundred item numbers attached to it. I notice that I purchased my copy of
this book for only $4.95. The original price was $49.95.
Scan and
Commentary by Bob Gaines
The Mysterious Press, New
York. 1985. Hardcover in dust jacket. 563 pages. (8¾ X 11¼). To the Reader by
the author. A massive, very complex compilation of everything you would ever
want to know about Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey. The author claims that
this volume is not complete, but you are likely to argue with him. The author
provides a rather complex system of codes and abbreviations to help the reader
locate and identify certain items. Each item is numbered and goes from 1 to
7509. There are many cross-references and abbreviations that force you to jump
all over the book. There are several illustrations and photos relating to the
subject. There is a long bibliography of related material. The entire book is in
the form of a typewritten manuscript in two columns per page. The index is
highly complex in that it has large listings of item numbers. For instance,
Murder Must Advertise is broken into chapters and each chapter heading has close
to a hundred item numbers attached to it. I notice that I purchased my copy of
this book for only $4.95. The original price was $49.95.