Regular readers will recall my minor consultancy role on the Babbage project, which is being developed by FrameOnFrame. What they may not know is that this was because of my devotion to the works of Charles Dickens (a contemporary and dinner party friend of Babbage). Remarkably I have never read his unfinished work of 1870 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. Yesterday I put this right when I finished the version completed by Leon Garfield. First published in 1980 this version adds 19 chapters to the original 22 chapters and includes an early Sherlock Holmes (who first appeared 17 years after the original Drood was printed!), an induced ghostly possession and multiple personalities. Not quite what I think Charles would have done at the time but a pretty good stab at completing a work, which has been analysed to “death” over the last 138 years! If fact in my view the first 12 chapters of the original does not represent the best work of CD but he was seriously ill at the time. Even so he still managed to pull off half of what could be the worlds first whodunit? And the Babbage project? That appears to be “off-line” at the moment so no news there I’m afraid but watch this space!
