Dorothy Sayers’ Imaginary Books
Dorothy Sayers’ Imaginary Books
Imaginary books in mysteries usually serve as plot devices. Imaginary mysteries are books that appear in mysteries to characterize the detective or another significant player.
I have in general resisted the temptation to organize the collection by the author of origin, but the imaginary books of Dorothy Sayers are wholly irresistible.
A Study of Le Fanu
HARRIET VANE [Lady Peter Wimsey]
Oxford: Shrewsbury College, 1944.
First mentioned in Dorothy L. Sayers’ Gaudy Night.
While Harriet Vane was in post-graduate residence at Shrewsbury, she pursued work on the Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu, a bookish young Victorian who managed to educate himself in a private library and became perhaps the premier ghost story writer of his time. The book reflects the scholarly side of Harriet Vane and makes a convincing case that she would have had a brilliant career had she chosen to remain within the Academy.
A History of Prosody
M. LYDGATE
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1935.
First recorded in Dorothy Sayers’ Gaudy Night.
This book deals definitively with English prosody from Beowulf to Bridges. A magisterial work from a highly-respected Oxford don from Shrewsbury College, it benefited from substantial editorial work by Harriet Vane. The Times Literary Supplement called it a “category-killer.”
The Murderer’s Vade-Mecum or 101 Ways of Causing Sudden Death
PETER DEATH BREDON WIMSEY
London: Privately Printed, 1920.
First mentioned in Dorothy Sayers’ Clouds of Witness.
Lord Peter’s observations on various methods of murder, both real and hypothetical, some of which are quite creative. Some of the schemes are matters of considerable ingenuity, such as “Murder by Depilatory” or “The Trampoline Trap.” More than one accused murderer has been convicted as a result of an obvious parallel between their modus operandi and an underlined passage in their personal copy of this book.
Caveat lector.
Death ‘Twist Wind and Water
HARRIET VANE
London: MG, 1923.
First mentioned in Dorothy L. Sayers’ Gaudy Night.
The fifth of Harriet Vane’s mysteries, Death ‘Twixt Wind and Water was successful partly because of cleverness of the intricate mystery plot but mostly because of the verisimilitude of the new characters with which she peopled it. Her hero, Wilfred, is an almost alarmingly distressed young man whose occasional outbursts seem almost to disconcert the writer herself. He is the most convoluted, and most sympathetic of all fictional detectives.
Death in the Pot
HARRIET VANE (Lady Peter Wimsey)
London: MG, 1922.
First mentioned in Dorothy Sayers’ Strong Poison.
The third of Harriet Vane’s mystery novels. She was writing this book at the time she was arrested for the murder of her lover, a coincidence that no doubt contributed to its spectacular success.
This is the first edition in its jacket.
Death in the Pot
HARRIET VANE (Lady Peter Wimsey)
London: MG, 1922.
First mentioned in Dorothy Sayers’ Strong Poison.
This is a copy that was bound in poison: the green is arsenic, and the red is cyanide. It is believed to have been made for the library at Duke’s Denver (for display only, of course) as a humorous birthday present for Harriet from young Lord Saint-George. It would certainly have been disapproved of by Lord Peter.
Notes on the Collecting of Incunabula
PETER DEATH BREDON WIMSEY
London: Privately Printed, 1927.
First mentioned in Dorothy Sayers’ Clouds of Witness.
A member of the Roxburghe and the Grolier Clubs in addition to the Bellona Club, Lord Peter assembled a truly exceptional collection of early printing at 110A Piccadilly in the 1920s. Although begun as a jeu d’esprit, and of extremely limited circulation, this little volume has been highly influential among both scholars and bibliophiles.
Privately printed at Lord Peter’s expense and given as gifts. Signature of Charles Parker, Wimsey’s brother-in-law, on the front free end paper.
Change-Ringing for Country Churches
The Rev. THEODORE VENABLES, M.A. Camb.
London: Mcmillan, 1901.
Instanced in Dorothy Sayers’ The Nine Tailors.
The much-loved book on Change-Ringing. The first imprint of the classic text. This copy bears the bookplate of the library at Duke’s Denver and was presented to Lord Peter Wimsey with gratitude on the occasion of his participation in a full ring of Kent Treble Bob Major at Fenchurch St. Paul. Bell-rope with its sally, from the D bell of the ring at Fenchurch St. Paul (“Batty Thomas”), frequently rung by the Rev. Mr. Venables in his youth.