Sherlockian Abbreviations

These standard abbreviations are used by Sherlockians as a shorthand for the titles of all 60 stories in the canon written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The idea was originally thought up by Jay Finley Christ and proposed in 1947. The general rule is to take the first four letters of the first important word in the title, while ignoring phrases like "The Adventure of" or "A Case of".

I have ordered this list alphabetically by abbreviation, in two columns to save space. An example of how to use these in discussion would be something like this: "Of the four novels, HOUN is considered the best." Or you might say: "Did you ever notice the similarity in plot between REDH and STOC?"

Abbrev.	Story Title	Abbrev.	Story Title
3GAB	The Three Gables	LION	The Lion's Mane
3GAR	The Three Garridebs	MAZA	The Mazarin Stone
3STU	The Three Students	MISS	The Missing Three-Quarter
ABBE	The Abbey Grange	MUSG	The Musgrave Ritual
BERY	The Beryl Coronet	NAVA	The Naval Treaty
BLAC	Black Peter	NOBL	The Noble Bachelor
BLAN	The Blanched Soldier	NORW	The Norwood Builder
BLUE	The Blue Carbuncle	PRIO	The Priory School
BOSC	The Boscombe Valley Mystery	REDC	The Red Circle
BRUC	The Bruce-Partington Plans	REDH	The Red-Headed League
CARD	The Cardboard Box	REIG	The Reigate Puzzle
CHAS	Charles Augustus Milverton	RESI	The Resident Patient
COPP	The Copper Beeches	RETI	The Retired Colourman
CREE	The Creeping Man	SCAN	A Scandal in Bohemia
CROO	The Crooked Man	SECO	The Second Stain
DANC	The Dancing Men	SHOS	Shoscombe Old Place
DEVI	The Devil's Foot	SIGN	The Sign of Four
DYIN	The Dying Detective	SILV	Silver Blaze
EMPT	The Empty House	SIXN	The Six Napoleons
ENGR	The Engineer's Thumb	SOLI	The Solitary Cyclist
FINA	The Final Problem	SPEC	The Speckled Band
FIVE	The Five Orange Pips	STOC	The Stock-Broker's Clerk
GLOR	The Gloria Scott	STUD	A Study in Scarlet
GOLD	The Golden Pince-Nez	SUSS	The Sussex Vampire
GREE	The Greek Interpreter	THOR	The Problem of Thor Bridge
HOUN	The Hound of the Baskervilles	TWIS	The Man with the Twisted Lip
IDEN	A Case of Identity	VALL	The Valley of Fear
ILLU	The Illustrious Client	VEIL	The Veiled Lodger
LADY	The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax	WIST	Wisteria Lodge
LAST	His Last Bow	YELL	The Yellow Face

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