Mortimer's, the tobacconist

[keannu]

Are these two different ones or same one?

The Red-headed league
.."I would like to remember the order of the buildings here. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, and the Coburg branch of the City Bank."

 

[emsr2d2]

Are these two different ones or same one?

The Red-headed league
.."I would like to remember the order of the buildings here. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, and the Coburg branch of the City Bank."

Not quite sure what your question is but I read that to mean there are three buildings: 1) Mortimer's, the tobacconist's shop, 2) a little newspaper shop and 3) a bank branch. However, it is quite possible that there are four and that we are just supposed to know what Mortimer's is.

 

[Rover_KE]

I took it to mean four shops at first, but on reflection I think Conan Doyle would have written the tobacconist's if it had been a separate shop.

 

[Amigos4]

The OP did not provide Sherlock Holmes's complete quote: source (page 17)

"Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner, and glancing along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist; the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building depot.

So, there are actually five 'houses' along the line.

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher


The OP did not provide Sherlock Holmes's complete quote: source (page 17)

I came across that version of the text as well and noticed that it had a semi-colon after "tobacconist", which seemed to settle the matter – Mortimer's was a tobacconist's shop. But I soon realized that it's the only version online that uses a semi-colon, punctuation which is not supported by the original text in The Strand Magazine, 1891 (see image). So I feel that the ambiguity remains. However, there is no other reference to Mortimer's in the story which suggests to me that "the tobacconist" does refer to Mortimer's because, as emsr2d2 says, it otherwise assumes we know what Mortimer's is.

The Red-Headed League, 1891.