Description
AN EXTRAORDINARY RARITY: FIRST ENGLISH EDITION OF THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, HANDSOMELY BOUND, INSCRIBED BY CONAN DOYLE— THE CHARLES PLUMPTRE JOHNSON-LORD DONEGALL COPY, FOUNDER OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES SOCIETY
CONAN DOYLE, Sir Arthur. The Return of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Newnes, 1905. Octavo, mid-20th century three-quarter brown morocco gilt, raised band, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt.
Preferred first English edition, considered far more desirable and valuable than the American printing (which preceded it by only one month), illustrated with 16 plates by Sidney Paget, handsomely bound, inscribed by the author on the title page, “Your sincerely, Arthur Conan Doyle.” The copy formerly belonging to noted collector Charles Plumtre Johnson, with his bookplate; specially bound for Edward Chichester, sixth Marquis of Donegall and founder of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London.
Having tired of his phenomenally popular sleuth, Conan Doyle sent Sherlock Holmes tumbling over the Reichenbach Falls at the close of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893). Although Holmes returned in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), the author took care to set that adventure in the series’ internal chronology prior to the detective’s demise, leaving Holmes-so Conan Doyle hoped-to rest forever in peace. The author was, however, “persuaded to revive Sherlock Holmes by the generous offers made by the proprietors of [Collier’s Weekly Magazine]: $25,000 for six stories, $30,000 for eight or $45,000 for 13. No conditions were attached. He replied on a postcard: ‘Very well. A.C.D.… The plots did come and 13 stories were written, among them some of the most interesting in the whole series” (Green & Gibson, 140-41). The first of the new series, “The Adventure of the Empty House,” debuted in October 1903. “When the story went on sale, the bookstores and stalls in London were mobbed by thousands of purchasers who literally fought for copies” (Nash, 1016). “Both in fertility of imagination and in felicity of phrase most of these 13 stories… set a high level” (Barzun & Taylor 3754). The game was thus once more afoot, and the great detective would don his deerstalker for 20 more short stories and one novel before Conan Doyle retired him permanently in 1927. Original cloth bound in at rear. Green & Gibson A29a. De Waal 625. Bookplate 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 and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles, 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.
