The Case of the Wrong Edition

It was the second Wednesday of December 1893 when Mr Caldecott, a wealthy collector of early English drama, brought to us a quarrel with Mr Berriman the bookseller of Charing Cross Road.

"I bought a Shakespeare First Folio of '23 from Mr Berriman last Friday at four hundred pounds. It was delivered to my house in Cavendish Square by his messenger at six o'clock. I unwrapped it at eight. The binding is the binding I inspected at the shop; the leather is right; the boards are right. The edition within is the Second Folio of '32 - eighty pounds at the trade-price. The volumes have been substituted in transit."

We walked across to Charing Cross Road through a sharp December afternoon. Passing the bookseller's window I noticed a young clerk in a threadbare dark suit pause for the briefest moment, his brown leather portfolio shifted to his other arm and his ink-stained left middle finger touching the glass before he walked on toward the Strand. Mr Berriman met us at his counter - a thin, careful man of sixty, his apron clean, his face troubled.

The Scene

Hand-drawn route map from Charing Cross Road to Cavendish Square and Cecil Court, marking the hansom-cab substitution. — The ground in question.

Setting: Mr Berriman's bookshop, Charing Cross Road
Time: Wednesday afternoon, second Wednesday of December 1893
Weather: Cold; a bright winter sun on the south side of the road
Atmosphere: A narrow shop with high oak shelves; the smell of leather and paper-dust; a wood-stove glowing red in the back corner.

The Suspects

Mr Berriman

Bookseller of Charing Cross Road

A thin, careful man of sixty, twenty-five years in the trade, with a clean reputation. He had inspected the volume in his customer's presence on the Friday and had wrapped it himself for the messenger.
Mr Penn

Mr Berriman's shop-assistant, two years

A neat young man of twenty-five, in plain shoes and a steady manner. He had been at the shop till five on Friday and had been present at the wrapping.
Mr Strack

Rival book-dealer in Cecil Court

A florid, prosperous man of fifty, who had lost the same Folio at Sotheby's the previous week by twenty pounds and had been heard to remark that he should not be sorry to see Mr Berriman's quiet customer disappointed.
The messenger boy

Boy of seventeen, hired by the day for delivery

A clean-faced boy in cap and apron, presented at the shop on Friday with a chit from a respectable hiring-stable. The boy spoke little, and he had carried the parcel by hansom to Cavendish Square at half past five.

The Evidence

The substituted folio

The volume delivered was an honest Second Folio of '32, in the binding of Mr Berriman's First. The First's identifying paper-grain and the Second's distinct lettering were the giveaway upon close inspection. The substitution was after the wrapping; the wrapping itself bore signs of a careful re-tying.
The messenger's chit

Holmes asked Mr Berriman for the messenger boy's hiring-stable chit. The chit named the Strand stable of Mr Mead, where boys were hired by the day for two shillings. The signature on the chit was Mr Mead's own - but the boy who answered it had not, on Mr Mead's evidence taken from a hansom that morning, ever been in his stable.
The boy's West End accent

Mr Penn, when pressed by Holmes for any small note of the boy, said: "Now you mention it, sir, his accent was not the East-End boy's I should have looked for. There was a West-End softness in it; he said "sir" too easily for the Strand stables."
Mr Strack's Sotheby's loss

Mr Strack had lost the same Folio at the Sotheby's auction the week before by twenty pounds, and had been heard at his club to wish ill upon Mr Berriman's quiet customer. He had no son or younger brother in the trade.
Mr Pelmer of Cecil Court

Mr Pelmer, a quieter dealer of Cecil Court, had bid against Mr Berriman for the same Folio at Sotheby's and lost it - though, unlike Mr Strack, he had made no public complaint of the matter. His shop was kept with the help of his own son, a boy of seventeen lately apprenticed to the trade.

Statements & Testimony

Mr Berriman Reliable

Bookseller

“"I wrapped the volume at five with my own hands. I put it into the boy's care at half past five. The boy left in a hansom for Cavendish Square. I have no notion how the volumes were exchanged."”
Mr Mead Reliable

Strand stable-master, hires boys by the day

“"The chit is in my hand, sir, but the boy was not in my stable that day. I had four boys out at four o'clock and not a fifth. The chit was forged before me; I should have noticed it had I not been busy with a four-wheeler at the time."”

The Scene

The Suspects

The Evidence

The substituted folio

The messenger's chit

The boy's West End accent

Mr Strack's Sotheby's loss

Mr Pelmer of Cecil Court

Statements & Testimony

Your Verdict