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I haven't finished my search yet, and something may yet be lurking in the land of unpublished manuscripts, but it appears that no one has written a detailed, book-lengh analytical social history of Sherlockian (or Holmesian, as it is called on the other side of the pond) scholarship and fandom. Because I am that kind of person, mere "writings on the writings" are not enough for me, and I demand writings on the writings on the writings. A nice little piece on the origins of the pastime in the writings of Ronald Knox and Christopher Morley can be found here, and the Baker Street Journal has its own history series, but I'm hankering for something of a slightly different flavor and scope.
Ideally it would have extensive juicy detail on the particulars regarding the founding and develoment of the largest societies, but also plenty about how Sherlockiana intersects with other trends in reception history in the 20th century, as well as the relationships among Sherlockian scholarship, pastiche, and related readerly activities, including but not limited to the history of fanfic in general. It would have, if anything, more to say about (pseudo)scholarship in the Sherlockian mode than about pastiches. And it would be written by someone really contentious and fun, like John Carey (not that he would ever have the slightest interest in writing any such thing).
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