" It is a man's duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life. "
— Henry Ward Beecher
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 51 - 62 (of 62)
Page 3 of 3
A Study In Scarlet.
New York, NY: William L. Allison & Co., no date [1899]. [Sherlock Holmes] PIRATE EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.188 [4]. Publisher's burgundy cloth with gilt titles to spine and blind decoration to boards. Fly-leaf detached, with a black ink gift inscription dated 1899. Repairs to split rear hinge. Extremely..... 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. [A Case of Identity]. Arthur Conan DOYLE, Sir](/pictures/thumb/57421.jpg?v=1595869375)
A Study In Scarlet. [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 cream cloth with gilt titles to spine and black decoration to spine and upper. Black ink ownership to fly-leaf. Extremely browned and brittle throughout. Title page nearly detached, with chipping..... More
![A Study In Scarlet. [My Friend the Murderer and The Man from Archangel]. Arthur Conan DOYLE, Sir](/pictures/thumb/57426.jpg?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
Three of Them.
London; John Murray 1923. First Edition. Small 8vo. Fine in publisher's grey paper covered boards over red linen spine with paper label. Fresh, clean and bright in a near fine dustwrapper, closed tear to spine hinge of upper rear panel. Slight scuffing and soiling, very light edgewear. Internally clean and..... More
The Valley of Fear.
London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1915. First UK edition. Octavo, pp.[8] 306 [6]. With the black and white frontispiece by Wiles. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine and upper. With later red cloth protective wrapper. Some moderate spotting throughout. Slight lean to the text block. Covers shows quite..... More
The Valley of Fear. A Sherlock Holmes Novel.
New York, NY: George H. Doran Company, 1914. [Detective fiction] TRUE FIRST EDITION, prior to UK first printing, which was not illustrated. Post octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.320. With seven full-page illustrations by Arthur I. Keller, including the frontispiece. Publisher's red cloth blocked in gilt. Light wear only, some minor..... More
The Vital Message.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, no date [1919]. [Spiritualism] FIRST EDITION. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.228. With four black and white photographic plates. Pages 1-2 are pasted to cover as endpapers (as issued; Green and Gbson, p.302, line 1). Bound in dark grey cloth lettered in gilt to the backstrip. Contents..... More
The House of Silk.
London: Orion Books, 2011. [Detective Fiction] LIMITED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.294. One of 1000 numbered copies, signed by the author on the half title. A fine/as-new copy in jacket, in a silver-titled black cloth slipcase, in the original shrinkwrap. Anthony Horowitz's first Sherlock Holmes continuation novel, followed..... More
The House of Silk.
London: Orion Books, 2011. [Detective Fiction] LIMITED FIRST EDITION. Octavo (24 x 16cm), pp.294. One of 1000 numbered copies, SIGNED by the author on the half title. As new, in jacket, in titled slipcase, in original shrinkwrap. Anthony Horowitz's first Sherlock Holmes continuation novel, followed up by Moriarty in 2014..... More
![The Disappearance of Lady Carfax [in] The American Magazine. Arthur Conan DOYLE, Sir](/pictures/thumb/58328.jpg?v=1609174447)
The Disappearance of Lady Carfax [in] The American Magazine.
New York, NY: The Phillips Publishing Company, December 1911. [Sherlock Holmes] TRUE FIRST APPEARANCE. Octavo magazine (26 x 18cm), pp.[36] 129-256 [37-100]. With illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele. Publisher's illustrated paper covers, priced at 15c. All edges untrimmed. Toning to first and final leaves. A large portion of a rear..... More
Booklet Packet from the YMCA. His Last Bow; The Luck of Roaring Camp; Out of the Fog; When Johnny Comes Marching Home; Some Words of President Wilson About Religion; The Stuff that Wins; Captain Dick Takes a Vacation; The Next War.
New York, NY: Published for the National War Work Council of Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States by Association Press, 1919. [Soldier's Transport Stories] RARE BOOKLET COLLECTION. Four booklets held in a card box. Sexagesimo-quarto (9 x 6cm), pp.81 [3]; pp.66 [2]; pp.73 [3]; pp.33 [1]. Publisher's plain..... More
Results 51 - 62 (of 62)
Page 3 of 3