The Complete Illustrated SHERLOCK HOLMES.

K,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated 1st edn thus.FINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn, and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,clean,glossy laminated,pictorial illustrated dw/dj; with negligible shelf-wear and minimal creasing to top edge - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges generally bright and clean,contents bright,tight and clean also.Black paper-covered bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and clean,plain white eps.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,illustrated 1st edn,14-1116pp includes half-title+ title pages,contents list,preface,introducing Sherlock Holmes, Pts 1-3 includes 52 stories in Pt 2,32 stories in Pt 3 - in chronological order as written,profuse b/w contemporary illustrations by original,contemporary assorted artists and 4pp blanks to rear.
It is almost exactly a century (then,1986) since Mr Sherlock Holmes first entered the imagination of Arthur Conan Doyle.Narrowly escaping the names of 'Sherrinford Holmes' and 'Sherrington Hope' recorded in his creator's notebooks,the gaunt,ascetic,ruthlessly logical pursuer of crime and mystery made his debut appearance in 'A Study in Scarlet', published in 1887.Three years later came 'The Sign of Four',and then in 1891,with 'The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' in the now famous Strand Magazine,Holmes began fully to enter the imagination of the people,first of London,then of the whole world.Here for the first time in one volume is every Sherlock Holmes story,including those first two,with every illustration from the pages of those published in The Strand.The dark and moody illustrations intensify the feeling and atmosphere of these amazing adventures, and to make the experience even more authentic, the Strand stories are reproduced in facsimile from the very pages of the original issues: over sixty fascinating tales,including the long stories of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and 'The Valley of Fear'.There is one further difference from previous Sherlock Holmes collections: the stories are in chronological order,as they were written.
The original collection 'His Last Bow' was mostly stories under the general heading of 'Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes',written 1908- 1913.The story 'His Last Bow' was written in 1917,' after 'The Valley of Fear' (1914-15),but was later included with the 'Remininscences' and the whole collection rather confusingly called 'His Last Bow'.This has been remedied here,and the stories appear as they originally did in The Strand.
Arthur Conan Doyle spent forty years of his life telling us of the adventures of his sharply witty and moody detective,and his lovably pedantic and faithful friend Dr. Watson.Conan Doyle died in 1930 at the
age of 71.Holmes and Watson are ageless and seem to be destined to be immortal.
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