1st Print Sherlock Holmes A Conan Doyle - The Strand Magazine - Vol III

Description: This is a bound copy of the Strand Magazine, published by G Newnes containing issues January to June 1892. It's 132 years old and contains the first printed copies of six Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and illustrated throughout by Sidney Paget (my preferred Holmes artist); The Adventure of the Blue CarbuncleThe Adventure of the Speckled BandThe Adventure of the Engineer's ThumbThe Adventure of the Noble BatchelorThe Adventure of the Beryl CoronetThe Adventure of the Copper Beeches Blue pictorial boards featuring 'The Strand Magazine's cover artwork. The boards show signs of wear, commiserate with age. There is some foxing to the pages inside. The front end paper has evidence of something written in pencil which has been erased (you can just about it out). The original owner's name is written neatly inside (Francis M Tucker 1893). Water has leeched onto the top of the pages and left a faint mark - not throughout. All in all, a fabulous copy of the Strand Magazine and those all important Sherlock Holmes stories. I love these magazines, as well as the huge Sherlock Holmes interest, there are also lots of other Victorian related articles and stories. They're fabulous! I do have other bound copies of the Strand Magazine available; please ask if you are looking for a specific copy. The Strand Magazine is of great importance to all collectors of Sherlockania as it contains the first published Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle was to prove one of the Strand’s most popular (and prolific) contributors. From mid-1891 until his death in 1930, there was scarcely an issue that did not contain at least one of his stories or articles. The serialisation of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1901-1902 was estimated to have increased the magazine’s circulation by 30,000. While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories, they was not the work he valued the most. In fact Conan Doyle once referred to them as "an elementary form of fiction". He was very proud of his historical novels and considered them some of his finest work. Although his Sherlock Holmes stories were hugely successful Conan Doyle was concerned that they were keeping him from more important work. As early as 1891 he shared with his mother his concerns about Holmes. "He takes my mind from better things." As time went on Conan Doyle found himself more closely identified with Sherlock Holmes to the exclusion of his other works. "I weary of his name," he told his mother. In his own mind the matter was settled. Holmes must die. The only question was how? Conan Doyle wanted a dramatic finish for the great Sherlock Holmes. In 1893 Conan Doyle visited Reichenbach Falls in the northern Swiss Alps. The Adventure of the Final Problem was published in December of 1893. People were so upset that more than twenty thousand of them cancelled their subscription to The Strand magazine.    When the first Sherlock Holmes short story –"A Scandal in Bohemia"- was published in the July 1891 issue of the Strand Magazine, circulation rose immediately. Arthur Conan Doyle had already published two full-length Holmes stories, A Study in Scarlet and the Sign of Four, neither approaching the success of the short stories that were to follow. Indeed, when The Sign of Four was published in book form in 1890, the Athenaeum commented "Dr Doyle’s admirers will read the little volume through eagerly enough, but they will hardly care to take it up again". However, within two years, the combination of Sherlock Holmes and the Strand had made Conan Doyle one of the most popular authors of the age. Fifty-six Holmes stories appeared in the magazine from 1891 to 1927, many of them illustrated by Sidney Paget’s now famous drawings. The Strand also published Conan Doyle’s historical fiction such as Rodney Stone and The Adventures of Brigadier Gerard. An illustrated interview with him in 1892 included a postscript by Conan Doyle’s former teacher, Joseph Bell, the supposed ‘original’ Sherlock Holmes..

Price: 125 GBP

Location: Coventry

End Time: 2024-11-29T15:39:33.000Z

Shipping Cost: 42.5 GBP