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The code book


Jedothek

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at the beginning of the Valley of Fear , Holmes and Watson are trying to deduce/guess the proper book to use in decoding Porlock's message. Holmes reasons,  "The vocabulary of Bradshaw is nervous and terse, but limited. The selection of words would hardly lend itself to the sending of general messages. We will eliminate Bradshaw. The dictionary is, I fear, inadmissible for the same reason. " This is the reverse of the truth. The dictionary, is beyond comparison, the book richest in vocabulary. I suggest that what Doyle meant was that, as with the bible, there  are too many dictionaries with different paginations; and Doyle mistakenly lumped in the dictionary with Bradshaw. Thoughts? 

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Hello, Jedothek, and welcome to Sherlock Forum!   :welcome:

Been a while since I read The Valley of Fear, but judging by your quotes, that code was apparently the basis for the code subplot of the Sherlock episode "The Blind Banker."  If so, I think Holmes's central objection to such common books as the Bible or a certain dictionary ought to be that there are numerous editions of each, with different pagination and/or different wording of critical passages.  I am far too sleepy at the moment to address your actual questions!

Because your comments concern an ACD canon story, I am moving this thread to "The Casebooks" subforum, where it's more likely to attract the attention of the major Doyle fans who pop in now and then.

 

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