Two of the most famous literary creations are Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett and Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Everyone knows Holmes and nearly everyone Lizzy Bennett (the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice). These two characters were not only well developed in their own right but have been further developed by scores of authors who have written prequels, sequels, and requels (a made up word meaning a retelling in a different voice) of the stories using these two world famous characters. Lizzy and Sherlock’s original stories have been made into countless movies and theatrical productions. Lizzy has been played by over twenty different actresses (including Greer Garson, Keira Knightly, Gemma Atherton, and my favorite Lizzy, Jennifer Ehle). And Sherlock boasts over fifty different actors representing him including Robert Downey, Jr., Christopher Plummer, John Barrymore, and, the Holmesian archetype, Basil Rathbone. On Amazon, there are hundreds of books listed of new Sherlock Holmes stories by new authors who have taken the character and developed him further. And there are hundreds of continuations of Pride and Prejudice too, a few of which actually recreate pretty accurately Jane Austen’s wit and tone and are quite fun to read – I’m reading a pretty good one now, available for free on kindle unlimited.
There have been many famous literary characters developed by a few of the world’s greatest writers but none have spawned the numerous novels and movies that take and expand on the lives and dram of these two characters. Certainly, Charles Dickens had created as vivid and fleshed out characters as Elizbeth Bennett. But by the end of a Dickens novel we don’t want to know more about David Copperfield or Esther Summerson (the heroine and narrator of much of Bleak House). So there are no follow ups using these characters. And a few of the more interesting literary creations, who could have many more stories than their originators wrote, such as James Bond, are still under copy write and so cannot be used by other authors.
Jane Austen, Lizzy Bennett, and Sherlock Holmes have made it onto numerous postage stamps. Collecting authors and fiction on stamps is a well known and rich part of our hobby. Many collectors go further and try to collect famous authors and their connection to stamps. The highlight of my collection is a Penny Black, the world’s first stamp used on an envelope sent by Charles Dickens.