Description

AN EXTRAORDINARY RARITY: FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES,  INSCRIBED BY CONAN DOYLE— THE CHARLES PLUMPTRE JOHNSON-LORD DONEGALL COPY, FOUNDER OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES SOCIETY

CONAN DOYLE, Sir Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. London: George Newnes, 1902. Octavo, mid-20th century three-quarter brown morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt.

First edition, first issue, of the third Sherlock Holmes novel, widely hailed as the best of the series and “one of the most gripping stories in the English language,” handsomely bound and inscribed by the author on the title page, “Yours sincerely, Arthur Conan Doyle.” From the collection of noted Holmes collector Charles Plumtre Johnson, with his bookplate; specially bound for Edward Chichester, Lord Donegall, founder of The Sherlock Holmes Society of London.

Although Conan Doyle had killed off his most famous character by sending him over the Reichenbach Falls in “The Final Problem” (December 1893), readers demanded the sleuth’s return. The author obliged with this, the third—and, according to many devotees, the best—Sherlock Holmes novel, carefully positioned on the title page as “another adventure” of Holmes. “But,” as Howard Haycraft notes, “the seed of doubt was planted”; and while the novel proved an immediate success, readers continued to clamor for more. Conan Doyle finally relented and engineered Holmes’ “resurrection” in 1903. The Hound of the Baskervilles remains “one of the most gripping books in the language” (Crime & Mystery 100 Best 6). “The supernatural is handled with great effect and no letdown. The plot and subplots are thoroughly integrated and the false clues put in and removed with a master hand. The criminal is superb? and the secondary figures each contribute to the total effect of brilliancy and grandeur combined. One wishes one could be reading it for the first time” (Barzun & Taylor 1142). First issue, with “you” for “your” on page 13, line 3 and the illustration facing page 76 reversed (as it was originally in the Strand Magazine, October 1901). With 16 illustrations by Sidney Paget. With original pictorial cloth-gilt bound in at rear. Green & Gibson A26. De Waal A87. Bookplate of of distinguished collector Charles Plumptre Johnson, Justice of the Peace and expert on the works of Dickens, Thackeray and W.S. Gilbert. Johnson was one of the oldest members of the esteemed Bibliographical Society. Specially bound for Edward Chichester, 6th Marquis of Donegall and founder of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London. This, in addition to Adventures, Memoirs, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes, were among the high spots of Donegall’s famed collection, and were all bound specifically for him. Doyle was known for brief inscriptions even to his close associates.

A fine copy with exceptional provenance,  exceedingly rare and desirable inscribed by Conan Doyle.