While the Sherlock Holmes stories are fictional, they occur in actual places. Langham Hotel, located on Langham Place, is significant in the story “A Scandal in Bohemia.” The first map is a modern one of Langham Hotel, the second is a satellite image, and the third is from the London Town Plan of 1893-6. I placed markers over the areas I’ll be focusing on.

                                                                                  In the story, the King of Bohemia visits Holmes and Watson asking for their detective assistance. The King is staying at the Langham Hotel under the name Count Von Kramm (Doyle). According to Charles Booth’s Poverty Maps, Langham Place (specifically the hotel) is predominantly upper middle class, and upper classes (Charles Booth).

                                                                                It’s no surprise that Conan Doyle decided to have the King stay here, given it’s decadence. The sheer extravagance of the hotel can be seen in this picture from Google Maps– 

According to British History Online, the price to build the hotel was £300,000. It has been hosting guests since 1865, and the opening ceremony was performed by the Prince of Wales. It is still considered to be one of the largest buildings in the city, and one of the best preserved traditional hotels in London (British History Online).

By looking at Old Bailey trials concerning the Langham Hotel, it’s usually not the scene of a crime, but instead used as a landmark to identify where someone was when the crime happened. In Frances John Harris’ trial, the clock opposite the Hotel is used as a landmark (“Frances John Harris, Royal Offences”). Or, the staff at the Hotel are asked for statements. In the case of Stephen Cullen, a woman interviewed was the kitchen maid at the Langham Hotel (“Stephen Cullen, Killing”).

Overall, the Langham Hotel is an important part of both the Sherlock Holmes stories and life in London.

Works Cited:

Here’s the link to the table: https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1abyF2cratV7QoGUpUynYgTWn6C5ZsoNPy1MZ8uyd

Cards:

Map indicating the birthplace of authors: 

Bar Graph:    

Pie Charts:                                                              

Network Visualization: Are there fantasy creatures? 

Here’s my video essay! https://www.wevideo.com/view/492464034

For my Google Ngrams, I chose to compare three of Jane Austen’s books- Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. I hypothesized that Pride and Prejudice would be the one with the most mentions, given that it’s the most-read among all her novels and is a popular favorite. I did this because I adore Pride and Prejudice and I wanted to see what people in the 19^th century thought of Jane Austen’s work. Her first novel published, Sense and Sensibility, came out in 1811. Pride and Prejudice was her second novel and it was released in 1813. Northanger Abbey was published posthumously in 1817 and Austen’s brother decided to add a “Biographical Note of The Author” to the edition, naming Jane Austen as the author, making it the first time Austen’s literary genius is publicly recognized. She published Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice under the pseudonym “By A Lady.” This is the reason why I chose not to use “Jane Austen” as one of the terms searched, because she probably wasn’t mentioned in published writing.

Pride and Prejudice’s popularity skyrocketed in 1810, which I found strange because it was published in 1813. This means that perhaps Austen mentioned the title in a letter that has been placed into a collection of letters. I did make sure to uncheck the “case-insensitive” box so the Ngram Viewer would read the terms as a title, not as separate words. Pride and Prejudice reached its highest point in 1900; a new edition of the book came out that year, which could possibly explain this rise in mention. Northanger Abbey’s sales declined after 1818. In 1820, Austen’s novels were discarded of and remained out of print for twelve years, which explains the low mentions during that time. Sense and Sensibility stayed high and fluctuated little between 1840 and 1873. Then, in 1891 it had its highest peak, which is probably because a new edition came out this year.

By using Google Ngrams to analyze language through time, we can get a glimpse into what people living and writing in the 19^th century were and weren’t interested in.

 Sources

“Jane Austen.” Bio.com. Ed. Biographhy.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d.              Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

 “Jane Austen”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica           Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015       <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Austen>.

 “The Works of Jane Austen.” Austen.com | The Works of Jane Austen. The                 Spring, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

I found this assignment to be extremely exciting and interesting. Upon receiving instructions, I knew immediately that I wanted to find something by one of my favorite poets, John Keats. I found the Keats section and determinedly looked through every single book there. Alas, nothing was left behind for me to find. With a heavy heart I turned away from the Keats shelf, disappointed in the Victorians, and saw the Dickens shelf right behind me. I thought to myself why not give Dickens a try? After looking through a few books, I found the first volume of the Works of Charles Dickens, and inside I found an inscription! Once I was finished with my happy dance I took a closer look at what the inscription said: Amy Louise Cooper June 28th 1888. This was probably a gift to Amy, and she was given it on the 28th of June 1888. The book itself was published in 1868 in New York. I flipped through the other volumes of Dickens’ work on the shelf and found her name in two more, meaning that she or a family member must have donated the books, possibly after her death. I felt a strange connection with Amy, as if I gained some sort of access to her personal life. Now, I will not hesitate to mark up my books! Maybe in the future a student will find my books in the library while doing research on the 21st century.The importance of this assignment is that it forced us to actively seek out 19^th century books and to crack their spines and look through the pages. I ended up telling my sister, who devours books on the daily, about this project and I sent her on a mission. I told her to go to our local library and look through the 19th century books in the collection. I advised her that patience and time were required for this task, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

Here’s my Book Traces submission.

For my Omeka exhibition I added three digital paintings of different actors playing Sherlock Holmes.

1) http://holmesiana.net/items/show/159

2) http://holmesiana.net/items/show/106

3) http://holmesiana.net/items/show/87

Collection: http://holmesiana.net/collections/show/22

Exhibition: http://holmesiana.net/exhibits/show/digitalportraits/digitalpaintings