The cipher message begins with a large 534, does it not? We may take it as a working hypothesis that 534 is the particular page to which the cipher refers. So our book has already become a large book, which is surely something gained. What other indications have we as to the nature of this large book? The next sign is C2.
What do you make of that, Watson?"
"Chapter the second, no doubt."
"Hardly that, Watson. You will, I am sure, agree with me that if the page be given, the number of the chapter is immaterial. Also that if page 534 finds us only in the second chapter, the length of the first one must have been really intolerable."
"Column!" I cried.
"Brilliant, Watson. You are scintillating this morning.
[VALL, 771-772]

Let us canonize the Canon

by Gianluca Salvatori, CHS, BS

Luke, VIII, 17; Art. 7 Legge 22 Aprile 1941, n. 756; Inferno, Canto II, 234. Even the less attentive reader, after overcoming his initial confusion, will probably understand that indicated above are nothing other than coordinates, references or "links" (to use the modern parlance) useful for tracking down a precise text, or an excerpt of a text, within a larger corpus such as the Bible, the law and the Divine Comedy. If in fact the reader, for his own use, is able to mark a noteworthy passage with a postcard, a bus ticket or the picture of his fiancée, when it comes to communicating to others a given passage, it is absolutely necessary to avail oneself of similar tools. The organization or identification via biblical verses, legal articles, or poetic stanzas is universally recognized as indispensable for communicating with others the precise passage of a work to which one refers or to which one intends specifically to evoke. I will say more. The mapping of the text is the first step that the serious scholar must take towards a successful exegesis.

Let's try to see what happens with our Canon.

If I put you on the spot and ask you where to find this most well-known phrase: "And a few days later I found myself in Florence", I am sure that most of you would certainly go directly to "The Adventure of the Empty House." But... on what page would you go? And, if instead, more maliciously, I were to ask you where the color of the dressing gown of the Great Detective is revealed? In which adventure and to which page would you send me? The answer is quickly disclosed. Here in Italy – strange but true – those questions are destined to remain without a response. I emphasize "here in Italy" because our English and American colleagues have the fortune to be able to respond to the first question with a reassuring "EMPT, 487" and to the second by directly rattling off "TWIS, 240; BLUE, 244; EMPT, 494 and BRUC, 929."

Our colleagues certainly know that Jay Finley Christ, ignoring the harsh polemics raised in all five continents, has managed to impose his own code of abbreviations on the 56 stories and the 4 novels; thus, EMPT is "The Adventure of the Empty House," TWIS is "The Man with the Twisted Lips," BRUC is "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" and BLUE is "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle." The page number complies with the standard pagination of the publisher, e.g., Doubleday, Penguin. At this point, my friends, I think that my idea is clear to you. Our efforts to study and investigate the Sacred Canon, no matter how tenacious and steady they are, will never be able to rise to the level of higher criticism.

This is true precisely because we lack the possibility of communicating and sharing our work with other readers today, as well as making it available to future scholars. What is more, it is not even possible to avail ourselves of the valid research already carried out by our colleagues at home or across the seas, and this too for the same reason. As we try to understand in depth a critical text, rich in citations and references, we are denied the assistance of pagination that concords with that universally accepted by the Holmesian Societies throughout the world.

The Italian version, completely retranslated following due philological rigor, and annotated in its most salient points, is interpolated throughout with a series of square brackets within which are designated the page numbers of the standard reference edition. This system has been chosen in order to avoid limiting the editor to a determined format or to a particular pagination; at the same time, the alternative solution of pagination in the margins has been discarded because the surgical precision of the chosen method has prevailed over an undoubtedly greater legibility. In this way it is possible to fix with absolute certainty the precise moment in which – in the original version – there is a page change. I hope that these few words have sufficed to make my thoughts clear while at the same time they convey to you a bit of my personal mania for the realization of the first Italian translation of the Sacred Canon.

On the other hand, the more I think of it the more I am convinced: it is unacceptable in this century, all too noted for its excess of information, that there are people prevented from communicating and expressing their own thoughts. Moreover, Stamford has taught us that "it is not easy to express the inexpressible." Go look for it in STUD, 2.

Note
It is unnecessary to mention the enormous amount of work involved in the realization of such a project. Should this enterprise begin to take shape, any help offered will be greatly appreciated, even if it be a single footnote. Anyone interested in discussing this further, in participating in the project or simply throwing his invectives is invited to do so at the following addresses:

Gianluca Salvatori, CHS, BS
Casella Postale 14
55042 Forte dei Marmi
Lucca – Italia
mycroft@versilia.toscana.it
gianluca@bellonda.com

For the translation into English, Ms. Linda Armao, PhD of Tiburon, California. Every error and omission is the fault of the editor.