The Mystery of Cloomber – A Conan Doyle

It’s *pouring* snow here in my little corner of Montana this morning.  Was only supposed to be a skiff of snow, but it’s at least 4″ of heavy stuff and still pouring down.  It’s a good day to take a minute and find my next read.  Like many bibliophiles, I can’t help but turn to British “classics” in winter.  I’m not sure what it is. Some sense of nostalgia for a place and time I’ve never experienced first-hand must have something to do with it.  No matter, I don’t have to understand it to enjoy it.  Personally, it’s not Dickens at Christmastime, but Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, and PG Wodehouse that usually accompany me before my winter’s naps.  A recent find was this unknown to me book The Mystery of Cloomber.  I know nothing except a man (Santa?) is horrified by what he hears.  I also happen to know this copy was once in West Virginia.  

This copy includes a great book trade label from Bluefield Book & Stationery Company in Bluefield, West Virginia.  Like many book stores approaching the 20th Century, they also sold other goods, like cut glass, china, office equipment, stationery along with “All The Latest Books.”  I also wonder if this book was in a subscription library of some kind with the contemporary numbered label in the upper corner.  Now, where did I put that list?