"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it."
— P.J. O'Rourke
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | First Editions
1859 - 1930
British writer, physician knighted for medical services during the South African War and creator of Sherlock Holmes, the best-known detective in literature and the embodiment of sharp reasoning. Doyle himself was not a good example of rational personality- he believed in fairies and was interested in occultism. When his son Kingsley died from wounds incurred in the Great War, Doyle dedicated himself to spiritualistic studies. An example of these is the rather bizarre and quite touchingly credulous The Coming of Fairies (1922), but he had already showed interest in occult fantasy prior to Holmes and his early novel, The Mystery of Cloomber (1888), concerns a retired general under assault by Indian magic. Doyle supported the existence of 'little people' and spent more than a million dollars on their cause (by 1920 Doyle was one of the most highly paid writers in the world). The so-called 'fairy photographs' caused an international sensation when The Strand published Doyle's favourable account of them in 1920. The photographs showed fairies dancing in the air, but a year later, The Star newspaper reported that the fairies were from a poster. Doyle became president of several important spiritualist organizations and in 1925 he opened the Psychic Bookshop in London. Among his friends was the legendary American magician and escape artist Harry Houdini (1874-1926). Doyle believed that Houdini possessed supernatural powers, which the magician himself denied. Another friend was D.D. Home, whom the author claimed could levitate. Doyle recorded his own psychic experiences in his final book The Edge of the Unknown (1930).See below our stock of Arthur Conan Doyle First Editions, fine bindings, sets, signed copies, and other collectible material.
Arthur Conan Doyle Collection at the Toronto Public Library
Arthur Conan Doyle
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London
Results 26 - 40 (of 40)
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The Sign of the Four.
New York, NY: William L. Allison Co., no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.176. Publisher's maroon cloth with gilt titles to spine. Top edge gilt. Repairs to split endpapers. Quite heavily browned and brittle throughout. Moderate wear to cloth, with some white marks to..... More
![Item #57415 The Sign of the Four. [A Scandal in Bohemia]. Arthur Conan DOYLE, Sir](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/57415.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1596468183)
The Sign of the Four. [A Scandal in Bohemia].
New York, NY: American Publishers Corporation, no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.222. Publisher's mauve cloth with gilt titles to spine and blind decoration to boards. Ownership stamp to front pastedown. Hinges badly split, with rear fly-leaf lost and netting exposed. Heavily browned and..... More
The Stark Munro Letters. Being a Series of Sixteen Letters written by J. Stark Munro, M.B., to his friend and former Fellow-Student, Herbert Swanborough, of Lowell, Massachusetts, during the Years 1881-1884. Edited and arranged by A. Conan Doyle.
London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1895. [Biographical] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 14cm) pp.[8]; 346; [2]; 24. With a tissue-guarded halftone frontispiece and title page vignette. Publisher's catalogue to rear. Dark green cloth lettered in gilt to upper and spine. Bevelled edges. Black endpapers. Leaves faintly toned, a few thumbed..... More
![Item #57829 A Study In Scarlet [and] A Case of Identity. Arthur Conan DOYLE, Sir](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/57829.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1599928503)
A Study In Scarlet [and] A Case of Identity.
Chicago, MI: Donohue, Henneberry & Co., no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.230. Publisher's burgundy cloth with gilt titles to spine; top edge gilt. Extremely heavily browned and brittle. Hinges just starting. Black ink ownerships and stamps to endpapers. Wear and bumping to spine..... More
A Study In Scarlet, and A Case of Identity.
Chicago, IL: E.A. Weeks and Company, no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.232. Publisher's green cloth with gilt titles to spine. Top edge gilt. Textblock browned. Cloth rubbed to extremities, especially to joints, corners and spine ends, some scuffs and marks. Very good... More
A Study In Scarlet.
Chicago, IL: E.A. Weeks and Company, no date [circa 1900s]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.232. With A Case of Identity printed at the rear. Publisher's green cloth blocked to resemble a half morocco binding with gilt titles to spine, top edge gilt. Cheap paper stock a...... More
A Study In Scarlet.
New York, NY: William L. Allison Co., no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.175 [1]. Publisher's maroon cloth with gilt titles to spine. Top edge gilt. Bookplate of Herbert F. Mitchell to front pastedown. Heavily browned throughout. Spine toned and lightly rubbed, with a...... More
A Study In Scarlet.
Rahway, NJ: The Mershon Company, no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.iv; 216 [4]. Publisher's maroon cloth with gilt titles to spine. Top edge gilt. Clean and bright internally, with just a hint of browning to endpapers. Some toning and water sprinkling to spine..... More
A Study In Scarlet.
New York, NY: Hurst and Company, no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.176. Publisher's cyan cloth with gilt titles to spine. Black ink ownership to fly-leaf. Rear hinge badly split, with fly-leaf detached; front fly-leaf nearly detached. Extremely heavily browned and brittle throughout. Quite..... More
A Study in Scarlet.
London: Ward, Lock Bowden Limited, 1895. Scarce printing of the first Sherlock Holmes novel, issued as the supplement to The Windsor Magazine Xmas Number, December 1895. This is the first edition to be illustrated by James Greig. Magazine format, stapled, 62 (of 64pp.). A fragile and worn example, lacking covers..... More
A Study In Scarlet. With an Introduction by Hugh Greene.
London: John Murray and Jonathan Cape, 1974. [Sherlock Holmes] FIRST EDITION THUS. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.145 [3]. Publisher's black cloth with gilt titles to spine. With the pictorial dust-jacket designed by Leigh Taylor, priced at £1.95 to front flap. Tan endpapers illustrated with reproductions of George Hutchinson's drawings from..... More
![Item #57426 A Study In Scarlet. [My Friend the Murderer and The Man from Archangel]. Arthur Conan...](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/57426.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1595869375)
A Study In Scarlet. [My Friend the Murderer and The Man from Archangel].
New York, NY: George Munro's Sons, no date [circa 1900]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.177 [1]; 20; 97-122 [2]. Publisher's brown cloth with gilt titles to spine. Binding detached and re-applied with glue quite roughly to spine, creating a tight back. Front fly-leaf detached, with some..... More
The House of Silk.
London: Orion Books, 2011. [Detective Fiction] SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.[10] 294. One of 1000 numbered copies, SIGNED by the author on the half title. Publisher's black cloth, titles in silver to spine, red endpapers, typographic dust-jacket. Housed in the publisher's black cloth-covered slipcase, titled in silver..... More
![Item #58972 The Adventure of the Abbey Grange [in] Collier's Weekly. Volume XXXIV, Number 14....](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/58972.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1651674198)
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange [in] Collier's Weekly. Volume XXXIV, Number 14.
New York, NY: P.F. Collier & Son, 31st December 1904. [Sherlock Holmes] FIRST APPEARANCE. Large magazine (38 x 27cm), pp.32. With frequent in-text illustrations by various artists, including some by Frederic Dorr Steele to the Doyle story. Publisher's dichromatic paper covers, featuring a Holmes illustration, also by Steele. Sewn, and..... More
![Item #58970 The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez [in] Collier's Weekly. Volume XXXIV, number 5....](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/58970.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1651674198)
The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez [in] Collier's Weekly. Volume XXXIV, number 5.
New York, NY: P.F. Collier & Son, For November 1904. [Literary Magazine] FIRST APPEARANCE. Large magazine (38 x 27cm), pp.32. With frequent in-text illustrations by various artists, including some by Frederic Dorr Steele to the Doyle story. Publisher's dichromatic paper covers, featuring a Holmes illustration, also by Steele. Sewn, and..... More
Results 26 - 40 (of 40)
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