View source for The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone

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{{Use British English|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox short story <!--See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]]-->
| name              = The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
| image             = The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone 03.jpg
| caption           = 1921 illustration by [[Alfred Gilbert]] in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]''
| title_orig        =
| translator        =
| author            = [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]
| country           =
| language          =
| series            = ''[[The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes]]''
| genre             =
| published_in      =
| publication_type  =
| publisher         =
| media_type        =
| pub_date          = October 1921
| english_pub_date  =
| preceded_by       = [[His Last Bow (short story)|His Last Bow]]
| followed_by       = [[The Problem of Thor Bridge|Thor Bridge]]
}}
"'''The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone'''" is one of 12 [[Sherlock Holmes]] short stories by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] in ''[[The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes]]'' (1927).<ref name="Kent">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WOFlMCzqEIC&pg=PA155 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science |volume=29 |title=Stanford University Libraries to System Analysis: Stories, Appendix 1 |first1=Harold |last1=Lancour |first2=Jay E |last2=Daily |editor-first1=Allen |editor-last1=Kent |editor-first2=Harold |editor-last2=Lancour |editor-first3=Jay E |editor-last3=Daily |isbn=9780824720292 |year=1980 |publisher=CRC Press |access-date=16 October 2018 |page=155}}</ref> It was first published in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'' in the United Kingdom in October 1921, and was also published in ''[[Hearst's International]]'' in the United States in November 1921.<ref name="Smith 183"/>
==Plot==
[[File:The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone by Frederic Dorr Steele 2.jpg|thumb|1921 illustration by [[Frederic Dorr Steele]] in ''[[Hearst's International]]'']]
Watson arrives in [[221B Baker Street]] where the page boy Billy shows him a wax effigy of Holmes placed near a curtained window in the sitting room. The effigy produces a shadow on the curtain that, when viewed from outside, is the unmistakable profile of Sherlock Holmes. Using this visual trick, Holmes aims to give a perfect target to a would-be murderer with a rifle. Holmes names his murderer as Count Negretto Sylvius, the diamond thief he has been following in disguise. He gives the criminal's address to Watson, then sends the doctor out the back for the police. As the Count arrives, Holmes has Billy invite him inside, then takes him by surprise when he attempts an assault on the effigy. Holmes then offers the Count and his helper, boxer Sam Merton, freedom if they give up the jewel, or jail if not.
He invites them to discuss the deal while he plays violin in the next room. When the Count decides to double-cross Holmes and takes the stone from his secret pocket to show Sam in window light, the detective springs from the chair in place of his replica and grabs the £100K jewel. His bedroom has a gramophone and secret passage to behind the curtain.
After the police take away the villains, Lord Cantlemere sweeps in. Unlike the Prime Minister and Home Secretary, he did not want Holmes. When tricked into insisting on arrest for whoever is found possessing the diamond, he finds the jewel in his pocket – where Holmes has placed it – and apologizes. Finally, Holmes can eat.
==Analysis==
It is notable for being one of only two Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes stories, aside from a couple of humorous vignettes, to be written in [[Third-person narrative|third person]].<ref name="Hofstra">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UIrr2lOnkp8C&oi&pg=PA29 |title= Theory and Practice of Classic Detective Fiction |author= Hofstra University |date=1997|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |access-date=16 October 2018|page=29}}</ref> The other is "[[His Last Bow (story)|His Last Bow]]". "The Mazarin Stone" was written this way because it was adapted from a stage play, ''The Crown Diamond'',<ref name="Wainwright">{{cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/485764 |title=Sherlock Holmes and Game Theory  |first=Michael |last=Wainwright |date=September 2012|work=Mosaic: a journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature |volume=12|issue=3|publisher=ProjectMUSE |access-date=16 October 2018|pages=81–98 }}</ref> in which Watson hardly appeared. Its adaptation from the theatre also explains why the action in this story is confined to one room. The plot twist in which Holmes reveals he had been listening to the two criminals as they spoke freely would also not have been possible using a first person narrative.
''The Crown Diamond'', subtitled ''An Evening with Sherlock Holmes'', was first performed on 2 May 1921 at the [[Bristol Hippodrome]], and was written before the short story, which was first published in October 1921. However, historians do not agree on when the play was written, with some believing it was penned in early 1921 while others believe it was written years earlier.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Theatrical Sherlock Holmes |pages=10–11 |last=Hayes |first=Paul Stuart |chapter=Introduction |year=2012 |publisher=Hidden Tiger |isbn=978-1-291-26421-0}}</ref> In the original play, the villain was Holmes's enemy Colonel [[Sebastian Moran]] of "[[The Adventure of the Empty House]]" infamy, not Count Negretto Sylvius.<ref name="Wainwright" />
[[File:Diamant le Sancy (Louvre).jpg|thumb|The [[Sancy]] diamond, one of the diamonds bequeathed by [[Cardinal Mazarin]] to [[Louis XIV]]]]
According to [[Leslie S. Klinger]], the name used to describe the "Mazarin stone" in the short story implies the stone once belonged to [[Cardinal Jules Mazarin]], who, upon his death in 1661, bequeathed to the French monarch a collection of eighteen diamonds thereafter called the "Mazarin Diamonds". The name "Mazarin" is not mentioned in the original play, though the stone is described as a yellow Crown diamond in both the play and the short story.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Klinger |editor-first=Leslie S. |title=The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volume II |publisher=W. W. Norton |year=2005 |pages=1512, 1516 |isbn=0-393-05916-2}}</ref>
==Publication history==
"The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" was published in the UK in ''[[The Strand Magazine]]'' in October 1921, and in the US in ''[[Hearst's International]]'' in November 1921.<ref name="Smith 183">{{harvnb|Smith|2014|page=183 }}</ref> The story was published with three illustrations by [[Alfred Gilbert]] in the ''Strand'', and with four illustrations by [[Frederic Dorr Steele]] in ''Hearst's International''.<ref name="Cawthorne 155">{{harvnb|Cawthorne|2011|page=155 }}</ref> It was included in the short story collection ''[[The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes]]'',<ref name="Cawthorne 155"/> which was published in the UK and the US in June 1927.<ref>{{harvnb|Cawthorne|2011|page=151 }}</ref>
==Adaptations==
===Film and television===
A short silent film based on the story was released in 1923 as part of the [[Sherlock Holmes (Stoll film series)|Sherlock Holmes film series]] by [[Stoll Pictures]], with [[Eille Norwood]] as Holmes and [[Hubert Willis]] as Watson.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eyles |first=Allen |title=Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration |page=132 |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1986 |isbn=978-0060156206 |url=https://archive.org/details/sherlockholmesce0000eyle/page/132}}</ref>
An episode of [[BBC]]'s ''[[For the Children]]'' adapted the story for television in 1951.<ref name="barnes1">{{cite book |first=Alan |last=Barnes |author-link=Alan Barnes (writer)|title=Sherlock Holmes on Screen |year=2002 |publisher=Reynolds & Hearn |pages=61–62 |isbn=1-903111-04-8}}</ref> Featuring Andrew Osborn as Holmes and [[Philip King (playwright)|Philip King]] as Watson, no footage is believed to have survived.<ref name="barnes1"/>
This story was heavily rewritten for [[Granada Television]]'s Sherlock Holmes series.  In 1994, it was merged with another story, "[[The Adventure of the Three Garridebs]]".<ref name="barnes2">{{cite book |last=Barnes|first=Alan| author-link=Alan Barnes (writer) |title=Sherlock Holmes on Screen |year=2011 |publisher=[[Titan Books]]|page=117 |isbn=978-0857687760 }}</ref>  The most noticeable change is that Holmes does not feature except in the prologue and final scene (actor [[Jeremy Brett]] was away due to illness). It is [[Mycroft Holmes]] ([[Charles Gray (actor)|Charles Gray]]) who takes up the case of the stolen diamond, while Watson is retained to look into the Garrideb mystery.<ref name="barnes2"/>
"The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" was adapted as "[[Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century#Second season (2001)|The Adventure of the Mazarin Chip]]" for a 2001 episode of the animated television show ''[[Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barnes|first=Alan| author-link=Alan Barnes (writer) |title=Sherlock Holmes on Screen |year=2011 |publisher=[[Titan Books]]|page=226 |isbn=978-0857687760 }}</ref>
===Radio===
"The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" was adapted by [[Edith Meiser]] as an episode of the American radio series ''[[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (radio series)|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]''. The episode aired on 9 February 1931, with [[Richard Gordon (actor)|Richard Gordon]] as Sherlock Holmes and Leigh Lovell as Dr. Watson.<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|page=27 }}</ref> Another dramatisation of the story adapted by Meiser aired on 23 May 1936 (with Gordon as Holmes and Harry West as Watson).<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|page=74 }}</ref>
Meiser also adapted the story as episodes of the American radio series ''[[The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]'' that aired on 5 January 1941 (with [[Basil Rathbone]] as Holmes and [[Nigel Bruce]] as Watson)<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|page=96 }}</ref> and 4 January 1948 (with John Stanley as Holmes and Alfred Shirley as Watson).<ref>{{harvnb|Dickerson|2019|page=244 }}</ref>
Two BBC radio adaptations of the story aired as part of the [[Sherlock Holmes (1952 radio series)|1952–1969 radio series]] starring [[Carleton Hobbs]] as Sherlock Holmes and [[Norman Shelley]] as Dr. Watson. The first aired on 2 December 1954 on the [[BBC Home Service]] and was dramatised by [[Felix Felton]], with [[Ralph Truman]] as Count Negretto Sylvius. The second aired on 4 September 1962 on the [[BBC Light Programme]], and was dramatised by [[Michael Hardwick]], with [[Francis de Wolff]] as Count Sylvius.<ref>{{cite book |last=De Waal |first=Ronald Burt |title=The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes |year=1974 |publisher=Bramhall House |pages=385, 389–390 |isbn=0-517-217597 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldbibliograph00dewa/page/385}}</ref>
"The Mazarin Stone" was dramatised for [[BBC Radio 4]] in 1994 by [[Bert Coules]] as part of the [[Sherlock Holmes (1989 radio series)|1989–1998 radio series]] starring [[Clive Merrison]] as Holmes and [[Michael Williams (actor)|Michael Williams]] as Watson. It featured [[Anthony Bate]] as Lord Cantlemere and [[Nigel Anthony]] as Count Sylvius.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://merrisonholmes.com/casebook.php |title=The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes |access-date=12 December 2016 |website=The BBC complete audio Sherlock Holmes |first=Bert |last=Coules}}</ref>
In 2006, the story was adapted for radio as part of ''[[The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]]'', a series on the American radio show ''[[Imagination Theatre]]'', with [[John Patrick Lowrie]] as Holmes and Lawrence Albert as Watson.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.old-time.com/otrlogs2/classicsh_sw.log.pdf |website=Old-Time Radio |title=The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Broadcast Log |last=Wright |first=Stewart |date=30 April 2019 |access-date=10 June 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources==
* {{cite book |title=A Brief History of Sherlock Holmes |last=Cawthorne |first=Nigel |author-link=Nigel Cawthorne |publisher=Running Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0762444083}}
* {{cite book |last=Dickerson |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Dickerson |title=Sherlock Holmes and His Adventures on American Radio |publisher=BearManor Media |year=2019 |isbn=978-1629335087}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Daniel |title=The Sherlock Holmes Companion: An Elementary Guide |publisher=Aurum Press |year=2014 |edition=Updated |orig-year=2009 |isbn=978-1-78131-404-3}}
==External links==
*{{wikisource-inline|single=true|The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone}}
*{{Commons category-inline|The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone}}
*{{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/arthur-conan-doyle/the-casebook-of-sherlock-holmes|Display Name=''The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes'', including ''{{PAGENAMEBASE}}''|noitalics=true}}
*{{librivox book|title=The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone|author=Arthur Conan Doyle}}
{{SH-casebook}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventure of the Mazarin Stone}}
[[Category:Sherlock Holmes short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle|Mazarin Stone, The Adventure of the]]
[[Category:1921 short stories]]
[[Category:Works originally published in The Strand Magazine]]
[[Category:Works based on plays]]