The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Illustrated)

By Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective and illustrated by Sidney Paget. These are the first of the Sherlock Holmes short stories, originally published as single stories in the Strand Magazine from July 1891 to June 1892.

This ebook contains 104 illustrations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Press
• Release date: Feb 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9786050357271

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was a Scottish author best known for his classic detective fiction, although he wrote in many other genres including dramatic work, plays, and poetry. He began writing stories while studying medicine and published his first story in 1887. His Sherlock Holmes character is one of the most popular inventions of English literature, and has inspired films, stage adaptions, and literary adaptations for over 100 years.

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THE AUTHOR

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was born in England of Irish Catholic descent, and his mother, Mary (née Foley), was Irish Catholic. His parents married in 1855. In 1864 the family dispersed due to Charles's growing alcoholism and the children were temporarily housed across Edinburgh. In 1867, the family came together again and lived in squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place.

Supported by wealthy uncles, Doyle was sent to the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst, at the age of nine (1868–70). He then went on to Stonyhurst College until 1875. From 1875 to 1876, he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria. By the time he left, he had rejected religion and become an agnostic, though he would eventually become a spiritualist mystic.

From 1876 to 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, including periods working in Aston, Sheffield and Ruyton-XI-Towns, Shropshire. While studying, Doyle began writing short stories. His earliest extant fiction, The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe, was unsuccessfully submitted to Blackwood's Magazine. His first published piece, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, a story set in South Africa, was printed in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879. On 20 September 1879, he published his first academic article, Gelsemium as a Poison in the British Medical Journal.

Doyle was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and, after his graduation from university in 1881 as M.B., C.M., as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his M.D. degree (an advanced degree in England beyond the usual medical degrees) on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885.

Doyle's father died in 1893, in the Crichton Royal, Dumfries, after many years of psychiatric illness.

Name

Although Doyle is often referred to as Conan Doyle, his baptism entry in the register of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, gives Arthur Ignatius Conan as his Christian names, and simply Doyle as his surname. It also names Michael Conan as his godfather. The cataloguers of the British Library and the Library of Congress treat Doyle alone as his surname.

Steven Doyle, editor of the Baker Street Journal, has written, Conan was Arthur's middle name. Shortly after he graduated from high school he began using Conan as a sort of surname. But technically his last name is simply 'Doyle'. When knighted he was gazetted as Doyle, not under the compound Conan Doyle. Nevertheless, the actual use of a compound surname is demonstrated by the fact that Doyle's second wife was known as Jean Conan Doyle rather than Jean Doyle.

Medical career

In 1882 he joined former classmate George Turnavine Budd as his partner at a medical practice in Plymouth, but their relationship proved difficult, and Doyle soon left to set up an independent practice. Arriving in Portsmouth in June 1882 with less than £10 (£900 today) to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea. The practice was initially not very successful. While waiting for patients, Doyle again began writing fiction.

In 1890 Doyle studied ophthalmology in Vienna, and moved to London, first living in Montague Place and then in South Norwood. He set up a practice as an ophthalmologist at No. 2 Upper Wimpole St, London W1. (A Westminster Council plaque in place over the front door can be seen today.)

Literary career

Sherlock Holmes

Doyle's first work featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was the novel A Study in Scarlet. It was taken by Ward Lock & Co on 20 November 1886, giving Doyle £25 for all rights to the story. The piece appeared later that year in the Beeton's Christmas Annual and received good reviews in The Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald. Holmes was partially modelled on his former university teacher Joseph Bell. Doyle wrote to him, It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes … round the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up a man. Dr. (John) Watson owes his surname, but not any other obvious characteristic, to a Portsmouth medical colleague of Doyle's, Dr James Watson.

Robert Louis Stevenson was able, even in faraway Samoa, to recognise the strong similarity between Joseph Bell and Sherlock Holmes: My compliments on your very ingenious and very interesting adventures of Sherlock Holmes. … can this be my old friend Joe Bell? Other authors sometimes suggest additional influences—for instance, the famous Edgar Allan Poe character C. Auguste Dupin.

A sequel to A Study in Scarlet was commissioned and The Sign of the Four appeared in Lippincott's Magazine in February 1890, under agreement with the Ward Lock company. Doyle felt grievously exploited by Ward Lock as an author new to the publishing world and he left them. Short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes were published in the Strand Magazine. Doyle first began to write for the 'Strand' from his home at 2 Upper Wimpole Street, now marked by a memorial plaque.

Doyle's attitude towards his most famous creation was ambivalent. In November 1891 he wrote to his mother: I think of slaying Holmes … and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things. His mother responded, You won't! You can't! You mustn't!. In an attempt to deflect publishers' demands for more Holmes stories, he raised his price to a level intended to discourage them, but found they were willing to pay even the large sums he asked. As a result, he became one of the best-paid authors of his time.

In December 1893, to dedicate more of his time to his historical novels, Doyle had Holmes and Professor Moriarty plunge to their deaths together down the Reichenbach Falls in the story The Final Problem. Public outcry, however, led him to feature Holmes in 1901 in the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.

In 1903, Doyle published his first Holmes short story in ten years, The Adventure of the Empty House, in which it was explained that only Moriarty had fallen; but since Holmes had other dangerous enemies—especially Colonel Sebastian Moran—he had arranged to also be perceived as dead. Holmes was ultimately featured in a total of 56 short stories - the last published in 1927 - and four novels by Doyle, and has since appeared in many novels and stories by other authors.

Jane Stanford compares some of Moriarty's characteristics to those of the Fenian John O'Connor Power. 'The Final Problem' was published the year the Second Home Rule Bill passed through the House of Commons. 'The Valley of Fear' was serialised in 1914, the year Home Rule, the Government of Ireland Act (18 September) was placed on the Statute Book.

Other works

Doyle's first novels were The Mystery of Cloomber, not published until 1888, and the unfinished Narrative of John Smith, published only in 2011. He amassed a portfolio of short stories including The Captain of the Pole-Star and J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement, both inspired by Doyle's time at sea, the latter of which popularised the mystery of the Mary Celeste and added fictional details such as the perfect condition of the ship (which had actually taken on water by the time it was discovered) and its boats remaining on board (the one boat was in fact missing) that have come to dominate popular accounts of the incident.

Between 1888 and 1906, Doyle wrote seven historical novels, which he and many critics regarded as his best work. He also authored nine other novels, and later in his career (1912-1929) five stories, two of novella length, featuring the irascible scientist Professor Challenger. The Challenger stories include what is probably his best-known work after the Holmes oeuvre, The Lost World. He was a prolific author of short stories, including two collections set in Napoleonic times featuring the French character Brigadier Gerard.

Doyle's stage works include Waterloo, the reminiscences of an English veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, the character of Gregory Brewster being written for Henry Irving; The House of Temperley, the plot of which reflects his abiding interest of boxing; The Speckled Band, after the short story of that name; and the 1893 collaboration with J.M. Barrie on the libretto of Jane Annie.

Sporting career

While living in Southsea, Doyle played football as a goalkeeper for Portsmouth Association Football Club, an amateur side, under the pseudonym A. C. Smith. (This club, disbanded in 1896, has no connection with the present-day Portsmouth F.C., which was founded in 1898.) Doyle was a keen cricketer, and between 1899 and 1907 he played 10 first-class matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He also played for the amateur cricket team the Allahakbarries alongside authors J. M. Barrie and A. A. Milne.

His highest score, in 1902 against London County, was 43. He was an occasional bowler who took just one first-class wicket (although one of high pedigree—it was W. G. Grace). Also a keen golfer, Doyle was elected captain of the Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in Sussex for 1910. (He had moved to Little Windlesham house in Crowborough with his second wife, Jean Leckie, living there with his family from 1907 until his death in July 1930.)

Marriages and family

In 1885 Doyle married Mary Louise (sometimes called Louisa) Hawkins, the youngest daughter of J. Hawkins, of Minsterworth, Gloucestershire, and sister of one of Doyle's patients. She suffered from tuberculosis and died on 4 July 1906. The following year he married Jean Elizabeth Leckie, whom he had first met and fallen in love with in 1897. He had maintained a platonic relationship with Jean while his first wife was still alive, out of loyalty to her. Jean died in London on 27 June 1940.

Doyle fathered five children. He had two with his first wife: Mary Louise (28 January 1889 – 12 June 1976) and Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, known as Kingsley (15 November 1892 – 28 October 1918). He also had three with his second wife: Denis Percy Stewart (17 March 1909 – 9 March 1955), second husband of Georgian Princess Nina Mdivani; Adrian Malcolm (19 November 1910 – 3 June 1970); and Jean Lena Annette (21 December 1912 – 18 November 1997).

Political campaigning

Following the Boer War in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century and the condemnation from some quarters over the United Kingdom's role, Doyle wrote a short work titled The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct, which justified the UK's role in the Boer War and was widely translated. Doyle had served as a volunteer doctor in the Langman Field Hospital at Bloemfontein between March and June 1900. Doyle believed that this publication was responsible for his being knighted as a Knight Bachelor by King Edward VII in 1902 and for his appointment as a Deputy-Lieutenant of Surrey. Also in 1900 he wrote a book, The Great Boer War.

During the early years of the 20th century, he twice stood for Parliament as a Liberal Unionist—once in Edinburgh and once in the Hawick Burghs—but although he received a respectable vote, he was not elected. In May 1903 he was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.

Doyle was a supporter of the campaign for the reform of the Congo Free State, led by the journalist E. D. Morel and diplomat Roger Casement. During 1909 he wrote The Crime of the Congo, a long pamphlet in which he denounced the horrors of that colony. He became acquainted with Morel and Casement, and it is possible that, together with Bertram Fletcher Robinson, they inspired several characters in the 1912 novel The Lost World. Doyle broke with both Morel and Casement when Morel became one of the leaders of the pacifist movement during the First World War. When Casement was found guilty of treason against the Crown during the Easter Rising, Doyle tried unsuccessfully to save him from facing the death penalty, arguing that Casement had been driven mad and could not be held responsible for his actions.

Correcting injustice

Doyle was also a fervent advocate of justice and personally investigated two closed cases, which led to two men being exonerated of the crimes of which they were accused. The first case, in 1906, involved a shy half-British, half-Indian lawyer named George Edalji who had allegedly penned threatening letters and mutilated animals in Great Wyrley. Police were set on Edalji's conviction, even though the mutilations continued after their suspect was jailed.

It was partially as a result of this case that the Court of Criminal Appeal was established in 1907. Apart from helping George Edalji, his work helped establish a way to correct other miscarriages of justice. The story of Doyle and Edalji was fictionalised in Julian Barnes's 2005 novel Arthur & George and dramatised in an episode of the 1972 BBC television series, The Edwardians. In Nicholas Meyer's pastiche The West End Horror (1976), Holmes manages to help clear the name of a shy Parsi Indian character wronged by the English justice system. Edalji was of Parsi heritage on his father's side.

The second case, that of Oscar Slater, a German Jew and gambling-den operator convicted of bludgeoning an 82-year-old woman in Glasgow in 1908, excited Doyle's curiosity because of inconsistencies in the prosecution case and a general sense that Slater was not guilty. He ended up paying most of the costs for Slater's successful appeal in 1928.

Spiritualism

Following the death of his wife Louisa in 1906, the death of his son Kingsley just before the end of the First World War, and the deaths of his brother Innes, his two brothers-in-law (one of whom was E. W. Hornung, creator of the literary character Raffles) and his two nephews shortly after the war, Doyle sank into depression. He found solace supporting spiritualism and its attempts to find proof of existence beyond the grave. In particular, according to some, he favoured Christian Spiritualism and encouraged the Spiritualists' National Union to accept an eighth precept – that of following the teachings and example of Jesus of Nazareth. He was a member of the renowned supernatural organisation The Ghost Club.

On 28 October 1918, Kingsley Doyle died from pneumonia, which he contracted during his convalescence after being seriously wounded during the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Brigadier-General Innes Doyle died, also from pneumonia, in February 1919. Sir Arthur became involved with Spiritualism to the extent that he wrote a novella on the subject, The Land of Mist, featuring the character Professor Challenger. The Coming of the Fairies (1922) appears to show that Conan Doyle was convinced of the veracity of the five Cottingley Fairies photographs (which decades later were exposed as a hoax). He reproduced them in the book, together with theories about the nature and existence of fairies and spirits.

In 1920, Doyle debated the notable sceptic Joseph McCabe on the claims of Spiritualism at Queen's Hall in London. McCabe later published his evidence against Doyle and Spiritualism in a booklet entitled Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? which claimed Doyle had been duped into believing Spiritualism by mediumship trickery.

In 1922, the psychical researcher Harry Price accused the spirit photographer William Hope of fraud. Doyle defended Hope, but further evidence of trickery was obtained from other researchers. Doyle threatened to have Price evicted from the National Laboratory of Psychical Research and claimed if he persisted to write sewage about spiritualists, he would meet the same fate as Harry Houdini. Price wrote Arthur Conan Doyle and his friends abused me for years for exposing Hope. Because of the exposure of Hope and other fraudulent spiritualists, Doyle in the 1920s led a mass resignation of eighty-four members of the Society for Psychical Research, as they believed the Society was opposed to spiritualism.

Doyle and spiritualist William Thomas Stead were duped into believing Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead claimed the Zancigs performed telepathy. In 1924 Julius and Agnes Zancig confessed that that their mind reading act was a trick and published the secret code and all the details of the trick method they had used under the title of Our Secrets!! in a London newspaper. In his book The History of Spiritualism (1926), Doyle praised the psychic phenomena and spirit materializations produced by Eusapia Palladino and Mina Crandon, who were both exposed as frauds. In 1927, Doyle spoke in a filmed interview about Sherlock Holmes and spiritualism.

Doyle was friends for a time with Harry Houdini, the American magician who himself became a prominent opponent of the Spiritualist movement in the 1920s following the death of his beloved mother. Although Houdini insisted that Spiritualist mediums employed trickery (and consistently exposed them as frauds), Doyle became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers—a view expressed in Doyle's The Edge of the Unknown. Houdini was apparently unable to convince Doyle that his feats were simply illusions, leading to a bitter public falling out between the two.

Richard Milner, an American historian of science, has presented a case that Doyle may have been the perpetrator of the Piltdown Man hoax of 1912, creating the counterfeit hominid fossil that fooled the scientific world for over 40 years. Milner says that Doyle had a motive—namely, revenge on the scientific establishment for debunking one of his favorite psychics—and that The Lost World contains several encrypted clues regarding his involvement in the hoax. Samuel Rosenberg's 1974 book Naked is the Best Disguise purports to explain how, throughout his writings, Doyle left open clues that related to hidden and suppressed aspects of his mentality.

Death

Doyle was found clutching his chest in the hall of Windlesham Manor, his house in Crowborough, East Sussex, on 7 July 1930. He died of a heart attack at the age of 71. His last words were directed toward his wife: You are wonderful. At the time of his death, there was some controversy concerning his burial place, as he was avowedly not a Christian, considering himself a Spiritualist. He was first buried on 11 July 1930 in Windlesham rose garden.

He was later reinterred together with his wife in Minstead churchyard in the New Forest, Hampshire. Carved wooden tablets to his memory and to the memory of his wife are held privately and are inaccessible to the public. That inscription reads, Blade straight/Steel true/Arthur Conan Doyle/Born May 22nd 1859/Passed on 7th July 1930.

The epitaph on his gravestone in the churchyard reads, in part: Steel true/Blade straight/Arthur Conan Doyle/Knight/Patriot, Physician, and man of letters.

Undershaw, the home near Hindhead, Haslemere, which Doyle had built and lived in between October 1897 and September 1907, was a hotel and restaurant from 1924 until 2004. It was then bought by a developer and stood empty while conservationists and Doyle fans fought to preserve it. In 2012 the High Court ruled the redevelopment permission be quashed because proper procedure had not been followed.

A statue honours Doyle at Crowborough Cross in Crowborough, where he lived for 23 years. There is a statue of Sherlock Holmes in Picardy Place, Edinburgh, close to the house where Doyle was born.

(source wikiperdia.org)

THE ILLUSTRATOR

Sidney Edward Paget (4 October 1860 – 28 January 1908) was the fifth of nine children born to Robert Paget, the vestry clerk of St. James and St. John in Clerkenwell and Martha Paget (née Clarke), a music professor. In 1881 Paget entered the Royal Academy Schools. Here he befriended Alfred Morris Butler, an architecture student who may have become the model for Paget's illustrations of Dr. John Watson. Between 1879 and 1905, Paget contributed eighteen miscellaneous paintings, including nine portraits, to the Royal Academy exhibitions.

Paget's drawings appeared in the Strand Magazine, the Pictorial World, The Sphere, The Graphic, the Illustrated London News, and the Pall Mall Magazine, and his work became well known in both the United Kingdom and United States. He provided illustrations for Arthur Morrison's Martin Hewitt detective stories, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes work, doing much to popularise both series.

On 1 June 1893, Sidney Paget married Edith Hounsfield (born 1865), daughter of William Hounsfield, a farmer. They had four daughters and two sons together; Leslie Robert (1894); Winifred (1896); Edith Muriel (1897); Evelyn Mereoah (1899); Beryl May (1902) and John L. Paget. Sidney Paget died in Margate on 28 January 1908, after suffering from a painful chest complaint for the last few years of his life. According to his death certificate, the cause of Sidney Paget's death was Mediastinal tumour, 3 years, exhaustion. Mediastinal tumors are growths that form in the middle of the chest area which separates the lungs. As the tumor grows, the patient's breathing becomes more and more constricted. It's a rare condition and, in the early 1900s, it was a painful and certain death sentence. Then and now, no known causes exist, and there are no known links between the condition and any substance.

Paget was buried in East Finchley Cemetery. Two brothers, H.M. (Henry Marriott) Paget (1856–1936) and Wal (Walter Stanley) Paget (1863–1935) were also successful portraitists and illustrators.

Today, Sidney Paget is best known as the creator of the popular image of Sherlock Holmes from the original publication of Conan Doyle's stories in the Strand Magazine. He was inadvertently hired to illustrate The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, a series of twelve short stories that ran from July 1891 through December 1892, when the publishers accidentally sent him the letter of commission rather than his younger brother, Walter Paget.

Despite the commonly held belief that Paget based Holmes' appearance on that of Walter, his brother Henry Marriott (H.M.) Paget denied this was the case. The assertion that the artist's brother Walter, or any other person, served as model for the portrait of Sherlock Holmes is incorrect.

In 1893, Paget illustrated The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published in The Strand as further episodes of the Adventures. When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle revived the Sherlock Holmes series with The Hound of the Baskervilles, serialised in The Strand in 1901–02, he specifically requested that Paget be the illustrator. Paget went on to illustrate another short story series, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, in 1903–04. In all, he illustrated one Holmes novel and 37 Holmes short stories. His illustrations have influenced interpretations of the detective in fiction, film and drama.

The Strand became one of Great Britain's most prestigious fiction magazines, with the Holmes series its most popular feature. As Holmes' popularity grew, Paget's illustrations became larger and more elaborate. Beginning with The Adventure of the Final Problem in 1893, almost every Holmes story in the The Strand featured a full-page illustration as well as many smaller pictures within the text. The illustrations also gained a darker tone as Paget used the black-and-white medium to reflect the grim mood of the stories. The deep, shadowy look of Paget's illustrations was a probable influence on American detective movies and film noir and has had a profound influence on every film version of the Holmes stories.

Paget is also credited with giving the first deerstalker cap and Inverness cape to Holmes, details that were never mentioned in Arthur Conan Doyle's writing. The cap and coat first appear in an illustration for The Boscombe Valley Mystery in 1891 and reappear in The Adventure of Silver Blaze in 1893. They also appear in a few illustrations from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. (The curved calabash pipe was added by the stage actor William Gillette.

Altogether, Sidney Paget did some 356 published drawings for the Sherlock Holmes series. After his death in 1908, other illustrators found that they had to imitate Paget's style when drawing Sherlock Holmes. The Paget illustrations have been reprinted in many Holmes anthologies and have become iconic in depicting the fictional character.

A complete set of Strand issues featuring the illustrated Sherlock Holmes tales is one of the rarest and most expensive collector's items in publishing history. Paget's original 10.5 x 6.75-inch drawing of Holmes and Moriarty in Mortal Combat at the Edge of the Reichenbach Falls was sold by Sotheby's in New York on 16 November 2004 for $220,800.

The two-handed clasp that Paget shows Holmes using on Moriarty in the illustration was used by Holmes for the same scene in the 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, though the specific description of the fight is never actually mentioned in the book.

(source wikiperdia.org)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Illustrated by

Sidney Paget

© Arcadia ebook 2015

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THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

1

A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA

I

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer—excellent for drawing the veil from men’s motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.

I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of my former friend and companion.

One night—it was on the twentieth of March, 1888—I was returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which had formerly been in part my own.

His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.

THEN HE STOOD BEFORE THE FIRE.

Wedlock suits you, he remarked. I think, Watson, that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.

Seven! I answered.

Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not tell me that you intended to go into harness.

Then, how do you know?

I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless servant girl?

My dear Holmes, said I, this is too much. You would certainly have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can’t imagine how you deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it out.

He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together.

It is simplicity itself, said he; my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession.

I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. When I hear you give your reasons, I remarked, the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.

Quite so, he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.

Frequently.

How often?

Well, some hundreds of times.

Then how many are there?

How many? I don’t know.

Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because I have both seen and observed. By the way, since you are interested in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this. He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted notepaper which had been lying open upon the table. It came by the last post, said he. Read it aloud.

The note was undated, and without either signature or address.

There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o’clock, it said, a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask.

This is indeed a mystery, I remarked. What do you imagine that it means?

"I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one

Reviews for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Illustrated)

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This collection of a dozen short stories recorded by Dr. Watson showcases the deductive skills of Sherlock Holmes. The crimes range from murder to blackmail, robbery, and missing persons. They’re not in chronological order. Watson is married in some stories, and in others he is a bachelor sharing rooms with Holmes. The impression one gets is that Watson is writing up cases from his notes as something triggers his memory of a particular case. This time around I listened to the audio by Ralph Cosham. I prefer Edward Hardwicke’s narration of the Holmes stories, perhaps because he played Watson in the Granada TV series.

[asxz-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first collection of Sherlock's shorts and they were super fun. Witty, varied, self-referential, Holmes is a much gentler fellow in these tales than he appears in recent incarnations. He fights for the underdog and cares about the wronged. Some of these stories seem to have been told and retold in every detective series ever imagined but they shine here in their original forms.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read this multiple times, having first come to Holmes as a teenager. This was the first time I've listened to them, and having Stephen Fry narrate is a stroke of genius. He has that patrician voice that seems to match nicely with the tone I can hear in Watson as he narrates the stories. The short stories make it easy to listen while commuting. That and the fact that as I listened to them I could remember what the puzzle or situation involved meant this was a bit like revisiting an old friend and finding them both changed and reliably the same.

[ragwaine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (Son is accused but daughter stole it, son got it back.)-The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (Steals the jewel then loses it. Good.)-The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (Hired to impersonate, daughter because she's locked up.)-The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb (Not really a mystery. Just a tale. Bad guys got away too.)-The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (Bride finds outher old husband is alive and disappears.)-The Boscombe Valley Mystery (Average, Holmes style mystery with killer who is not really a bad guy.)-The Five Orange Pips (Way to short. Cool that the KKK guys died but Holmes didn't get a chance to punish them.)-The Red-headed League (Too short but the red-headed league was very original.)

[andrew1theqm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this one, it had a number of interesting short stories in highlighting the skills of Sherlock Holmes. I much prefer longer novels to short stories but I did all these stories fully engaging. Onto the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes now.

[bohemima · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A strong collection of Holmes stories, highlighted by the powerfully creepy “The Speckled Band,” the modesty gothic “The Copper Beeches,” and the delightful “A Scandal in Bohemia.”The only story that was substandard for me was “The Blue Carbuncle,” in which the plot was too fantastic to be believed. But even that story is full of the late Victorian atmosphere and Holmes at his best.We tend to forget how much mystery stories and novels owe to Conan Doyle. His ideas and plots are being used even today as inspiration for authors.If you long for gas-lit London, hansom cabs, fog, and excellent detecting, try this volume, either for the first or fifth time. You’ll be glad you did.

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Holmes and Watson come alive in short stories. Someone (who, I wish I'd recall) once said that if you only read Agatha Christie's short stories, and Conan Doyle's novels, you'd think both were terrible writers. It certainly seems true in Conan Doyle's case (from the two I've read thus far).

Either way, of the twelve stories in this collection, all of them are quite enjoyable. They showcase a slightly more even relationship between the two heroes, as well as featurnig a varied array of guest characters, and mysteries which Conan Doyle easily shifts from political intrigue, to international conspiracy, to simple mistaken identity. In fact, the only story that I don't think really works anymore is "The Five Orange Pips" - and this is only because it has dated to the point where the killer's identity was something new and curious in the 1800s, but is now quite commonly known by most Westerners, meaning that most readers will probably catch on from about page three.

After this, I have renewed vigour to move on to the 4th of Holmes' 9-book canon. We'll see!

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These are the first Sherlock Holmes short stories--twelve of them--that first appeared in the magazine The Strand from 1891 to 1892. This presents Doyle at the top of his game with Holmes, and it was one of the short stories in this volume, "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" that was my introduction to Holmes when it was assigned in school. I'd definitely name that story as a standout, although I think my favorite might very well be the first story, "A Scandal in Bohemia" where the famously misogynistic Holmes is impressed by Irene Adler who manages to outwit him--not something you'd often see. I'd also call "The Red-Headed League" among the most memorable Sherlock Holmes story, although there's not one story in this volume I didn't love. Even more than the Holmes novels, its these short stories that made me fall in love with Holmes--and his "Boswell" Doctor James Watson--Holmes friend and our narrator and sharper and more insightful in these stories than the reputation he gained from the films.

[momma2_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed immensely the first few stories about Holmes however by the end of the book some of the themes were recurring and tedious. Holmes and Watson are a wonderful team and I do enjoy Holmes deductions. I did find some of Watson's preamble a little unnecessary but overall this book was an entertaining read.

[paulsikora · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jeremy Brett is the best Sherlock Holmes ever, antisocial, arrogant, deeply flawed, his super human deductive powers brilliantly evoked. Edward Hardwicke's Dr. Watson avoids playing the fool, more subtly playing the foil to Holmes with his merely average high intelligence and his natural humanity.

[jenniferrobb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Prior to this, the only Sherlock Holmes I had attempted to read was "The Hound of the Baskervilles" which I started at least twice but never finished. I've enjoyed the PBS series "Sherlock" and a friend mentioned that some of the events in that corresponded with what she'd read in the stories/novels. So when this one came up as free on Amazon, I downloaded it and decided I'd give it a try. I enjoyed the stories, but I don't follow the clues that Holmes sees/hears as he investigates--so his reveal is always a bit of a surprise to me.

[freddiefreddie_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Recently I read a Yahoo! article that stated many Brits (I forget the percentage) believe Sherlock Holmes was real. For that alone, Doyle deserves four stars. Extra star for the writing.

[purlewe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My first Sherlock Holmes.. and it won't be my last!

[nx74defiant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was nice to re-read these.

[kimidoll_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is made up of a collection of 12 short stories of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It is a cracking good read. Sherlock Holmes is a fascinating and entertaining character. Eccentric and brilliant with Dr Watson an excellent sidekick. I highly recommend these books.

[8f_sam · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book started off pretty good, but then it sorta got more and more boring as it went along. But int he beginning, Sherlock Holmes was so cool! He would say something about someone, and I would be so suprised! Then he would explain how he got it, and it would seem so simple that even I could do it! He's really amazing! But his stories are slightly predictable. I think my favourite one of the short stories in here would be......the Bombsco Vally Mystery. That one was so cool! It involved a murder mystery, and all the evidence points to the murdered man's son, but Sherlock Holmes doesn't think it was the son. But the story was SO predictable. As soon as I heard Sherlock tell the mystery, I already knew who did it! But all in all, it was a pretty good book!

[lostvampire_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

You'll absolutely love this book!

[broadbear_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good indeed, Watson

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think I liked these short stories better than I liked the novels -- or novellas, or whatever you wish to call A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four. I think that was partially because they suffer less from what I think is a pretty off-putting structural problem with the longer stories, and instead keep things simpler. It's also nice that they represent a wider range of cases, with some that aren't specifically crimes/don't involve death, and with Irene Adler there to put Holmes in his place -- just a little.

The stories are also amazingly easy to read. I've read modern work which is less accessible and engaging.

[santhony_35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. This work contains twelve different Sherlock Holmes cases:1. A Scandal in Bohemia2. The Red-Headed League3. A Case of Identity4. The Boscombe Valley Mystery5. The Five Orange Pips6. The Man with the Twisted Lip7. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle8. The Adventure of the Speckled Band9. The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb10. The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor11. The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet12. The Adventure of the Copper BeechesThey are all moderately entertaining, if not spectacular.

[callmecordelia1912 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sherlock Holmes posses an uncanny knowledge of almost everything, which allows him to see through every case. My personal favorite of the short stories was A Scandal in Bohemian, featuring the only woman to ever outsmart Sherlock Holmes...while The Adventure of the Speckled Band kept me on the edge of my seat. This is a must read for any mystery fan.

[andyjb_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great collection of stories showcasing the master detectives talents. Thoroughably enjoyable.

[thatotter-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Simple but effective. An engaging read, if not particularly noteworthy in terms of writing.

[m3dalziel331071 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mr. Sherlock Holmes – a consulting detective with a dark side, solving crimes by the dozen with his trusty partner, Doctor John Watson; the pair of Englishmen are an unstoppable team, Watson under the training of his dubiously intelligent brother of bond, the famous detective known only by the name of Holmes. Sherlock is quite the interesting character, being emotionally unattached to his cases and his only friend, and only strives to solve the mysteries at hand – his work is his only true interest, other than the woman, Irene Adler, who makes short appearances in his life throughout the many stories. Most see him as ruthless and inconsiderate, but he is merely doing what he does best: his job. He considers his job to be his life, and even though it’s the only thing he is committed to, he manages to maintain a relationship with his Boswell, John Watson. John Watson is a loyal man, one of great medical skill, and slowly learning the way of work through his unemotional partner along the way, and is more interested in social life then Holmes. Ironically enough, the two are completely different, yet they share a bond unthinkable to most, one that can never be broken, even through the toughest of hardships. These two are unstoppably unpredictable, and I find their reign wondrous.These two men face much conflict throughout the book, seeing as though it is not one story, but twelve very interesting ones instead. From photographs, to stolen identities, to cases of a governess, the possibilities they face are endless, though not unsolvable. Holmes can solve a case by simply examining the words stated by his client, making sense of nonsense, so it seemed to most. How is it that he solves such mysteries that occur? He examines anything and everything that comes to his eyes or his mind, there’s not a thought that brushes past this claimed madman’s mind, and if there is, well, he’s certainly in for some struggle, but he won’t prevail, nonetheless. It is due to his partners help that he is successful, he admits it often. The two are like opposites, but when you put them together, they make sense of the confusion through observation.These stories take place in nineteenth century London, a time of industry and wealth for the British Empire. The city is alive; the streets are filled with people, not necessarily full of joy, but filled, nonetheless. New business, new trade, new industry, new populations arising, London is reaching its pinnacle of success and standards. The Victorian era only makes the gloomy city all the more interesting, hiding many secrets beneath its surface, having much crime, which makes it the only place where Holmes would have been successful during this certain time period. Holmes isn’t Holmes without his London, or that’s the way I see it. Complications would have been different elsewhere, and much less interesting. The United Kingdom was extremely interesting during the late eighteen hundreds, much more than any other location during this time. This book has taught me that there is always an answer. Just because it isn’t seen at first glance, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to solve it anyhow. You’d be surprised what wonders observation and solving can bring you. It can make you more intelligent and open to what life throws at you, open your eyes anew to its inviting arms. All in all, this book has inspired me endlessly, and is my all-time favorite piece of classic literature.

[chlebo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved it, but verrrrrry long.

[annettemcintyre-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of tales from Sherlock Holmes.

[maggieflo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Assortment of short stories narrated by Dr. Watson with Sherlock Holmes as the central character. These are all very interesting and quick to read. I thoroughly enjoyed them all.

[krizia_lazaro_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is very exciting for a classic read. A classic Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys but Sherlock Holmes is definitely a more colorful character, smarter and cooler. He reminds me of Dr. House, someone who loves a good puzzle and they also have the same urge of solving a very difficulty case. Modern day policemen needs to emulate Sherlock Holmes. I commend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for being able to reach out to readers of different ages, different sizes and different nationality.

[cubsfan3410 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great little mystery stories, I had fun reading this!

[fyrefly98 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summary: Everyone's favorite detective is back at work in this collection of short stories. Narrated by his companion John Watson, the twelve stories in this collection show Sherlock Holmes at his best; not always solving the crime, but always applying his unique blend of observation, deduction, and the application of an endless supply of seemingly trivial knowledge into catching criminals and solving the seemingly impossible problems that are brought to his door. The stories included are "A Scandal in Bohemia," "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League," "A Case of Identity," "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," "The Five Orange Pips," "The Man with the Twisted Lip," "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor"," "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet," and "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches."Review: Reading this book was a very interesting experience. I was familiar with the characters, and even with some of the stories, from their various derivative books, movies and TV incarnations, but I'd never actually read any of the original works. It was inevitable that some of my preconceptions based on those other works leaked into my experience of this book, but there were also aspects of the original that definitely surprised me. To start with, I was surprised at how short a lot of the stories were. Had I been thinking about it, I would have realized that packing 12 stories into 9 hours of audiobook necessarily means that they're going to average out to 45 minutes apiece. But I'd watched the BBC Benedict Cumberbatch version fairly recently, and each (90 minute) episode of that has, if not multiple mysteries per se, then at least multiple times when Sherlock is using his deductive powers, and typically a fair number of twists and turns. For example, the very first story, "A Scandal in Bohemia", I was enjoying drawing the connections to the episode "A Scandal in Belgravia," and listening to the original and seeing what stayed and what got updated for the TV version. But then the story just... stopped, or so it seemed to me, and I was left wondering "where's the rest?" Because of course the episode extrapolates and adds on to its source material, but I was still left feeling a little shortchanged. In several other of the stories as well, there's sort of an abrupt feeling, without the same tension or excitement or mysteriousness that I was expecting. I realize that that's not entirely fair to Doyle's work, but it's maybe an inevitable consequence of the order in which I experienced things.At the same time, however, I did find these stories on the whole quite fun, in particular some of the ones with which I was less familiar. I thought "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League" was fun, and complex enough to keep me intrigued, and "The Man with the Twisted Lip" and "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" both had an excellent flavor of different aspects of Victorian London to them. I also liked hearing Watson speak for himself, and thought the language was more modern than I was expecting (although the phrase "knock you up" for "call upon you" - e.g. "Sorry to knock you up so early in the morning" - never failed to confuse/amuse me).I did find that if I listened to more than one or two stories in a row, they quickly got to feel fairly formulaic. Holmes is presented with a crime (or a strange occurrence; not all of the cases involved crimes as such), he and Watson listen to the particulars of the case, Watson is perplexed, Holmes berates him for not observing properly, Holmes then points out the details that Watson missed and deduces the correct answer, the bad guy is caught (or occasionally not), the end. I had a much better time with this book listening to only a story at a time, then switching to something else for a few days. Even so, these aren't the kind of mysteries where all the clues are available to the reader; Holmes typically only points out the details he's noticed when he's explaining what they mean. It's left me very interested to read the novels, rather than the short stories, to see how Doyle develops the mystery over the longer scale. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Definitely worth reading for anyone who likes the Sherlock Holmes adaptations, or mysteries in general, but they're better when not read straight through.