The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

5RR Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrations by Sidney Paget. London, 1892 and 1894. First Editions Rebound.

Notes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in 1892. These stories feature the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend and chronicler, Dr. John Watson, as they solve a variety of complex cases in Victorian London. The stories showcase Holmes's brilliant deductive reasoning and attention to detail as he tackles mysteries ranging from the disappearance of valuable items to the unraveling of intricate criminal schemes. Notable stories in this collection include "A Scandal in Bohemia," in which Holmes faces off against the clever Irene Adler, and "The Red-Headed League," which highlights Holmes's uncanny ability to solve bizarre cases. This collection solidified Holmes's place as one of the most famous literary detectives and marked the height of Conan Doyle's popularity as an author.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is the second collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, first published in 1894. It contains a further series of adventures, and it is notable for the events that unfold regarding Holmes's relationship with Professor Moriarty, his arch-nemesis. The collection includes some of the most famous stories in the Holmes canon, such as "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual," "The Adventure of the Final Problem," and "The Adventure of the Yellow Face." The last story in the collection, "The Final Problem," originally intended by Conan Doyle to be Holmes's final case, ends with a dramatic confrontation at the Reichenbach Falls, where Holmes appears to meet his demise, seemingly vanquished by Moriarty. This event caused widespread public outcry, leading Conan Doyle to eventually resurrect Holmes in later stories, but The Memoirs remain a pivotal moment in the series, reflecting both the evolution of Holmes as a character and Conan Doyle's shifting relationship with his creation.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was first published as a collection in 1892, following its serialization in The Strand Magazine from 1891 to 1892. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes was published in 1894, also in The Strand Magazine, and then as a book. These stories were not only groundbreaking in their portrayal of a brilliant detective solving complex, intellectual cases, but they also captured the public's imagination in a way that was unprecedented for the time.

At the time of their publication, the genre of detective fiction was relatively new. Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin stories (beginning with The Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841) were some of the earliest examples of detective fiction, and Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone (1868) is considered one of the first detective novels in English. However, Conan Doyle’s creation of Sherlock Holmes brought a level of complexity, intellectual rigor, and memorable character development that set his stories apart. Holmes was a brilliant yet eccentric detective who used logic, observation, and deductive reasoning to solve mysteries, which made his methods uniquely compelling. Furthermore, the close relationship between Holmes and his companion, Dr. Watson, added a humanizing element to the stories and contributed to their appeal.

Description

Light blue leather rebinding. Double line gilt borders on upper and lower boards. Five raised bands with gilt details in each compartment. Gilt lettering on a red leather label in the second compartment and gilt lettering on a green leather label in the third compartment. Gilt embossed turn ins and marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Some minimal scuffing to the spine but very clean boards. Original covers and spines attracted to the final blank leaves in both volumes. Illustrations throughout. Intact, pristine interiors. Very fine condition. Housed in a light blue cloth bound slipcase with a silk ribbon.