"Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book"
— Stephan Mallarme
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 - 47 (of 47)
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The Leather Funnel.
[Privately bound], [London: McClure's], [1902]. [Mystery] FIRST EDITION, bound from the original McClure's Magazine parts. Octavo (25 x 17cm), unpaginated. With four of the five halftone illustrations by Andre Castaigne. With text and illustrations pasted onto blank leaves. Later black cloth, red gilt-lettered label to spine. Internally clean. Large gift..... More
The Lost World.
New York, NY: Hodder and Stoughton, George H. Doran Company, no date [1915]. [Adventure fiction] LEATHER-BOUND FIRST US EDITION, first impression. Octavo (21 x 15cm), pp.[12] 309 [1]. With 16 illustrated plates, including a frontispiece. Recently re-bound in burgundy half morocco, with raised bands, gilt titles to twin black labels..... More
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. With illustrations by Sidney Paget.
London: George Newnes, 1894. [Literature] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Quarto (25 x 18cm), pp.[6]; 279; [1]. Publisher's dark blue pictorial cloth, printed in black and gilt, patterned endpapers, all edges gilt. Contents lightly foxed, neat and small ownership stamp to front endpaper, near paper pull to same, usual wear to..... More
Mysteries and Adventures.
London: Walter Scott, [March 1890]. [Strange tales] FIRST EDITION, first impression. A major Doyle rarity. Octavo (16 x 12cm), pp.249 [1]. Elegantly hand bound in half tan calf over marbled boards. Bound without the ads. Originally issued in pink paper covers, lacking from this copy and showing some wear to..... More
The Mystery of Cloomber.
London: Ward and Downey, 1889 [December 1888]. [Strange tale] FIRST EDITION, first impression. A major Doyle rarity. Octavo (18 x 13cm), pp.[4] 151 [1]. Elegantly hand bound in half tan calf over marbled boards. Bound without the ads. Originally issued in paper covers, lacking from this copy and showing some..... More
The Parasite.
London: Constable, 1894. [Supernatural Fiction] FIRST EDITION, first impression, the soft wrapper issue. Small octavo (16 x 9cm), pp.[6] 125 [1]. Publisher's blue-green paper wraps titled and decorated in dark green. Published simultaneously with the cloth-bound copy, but in our experience far scarcer. Gently toned, with occasional spotting throughout. Binding..... More
The Poison Belt. Being an account of another amazing adventure of Professor Challenger.
New York: Hodder and Stoughton / George H. Doran, 1913. [Strange tale] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Crown octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.252. With sixteen full-page black and white plates drawn by Harry Rountree. Publisher's gilt-stamped red cloth. Contents clean and fresh, no ink inscriptions, small rub/scuff to fore-edge of text..... More
The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
New York: McClure, Phillips and Co., 1905. [Literature] FIRST CANADIAN EDITION, predates first UK printing. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.vii; 381; [1], blank. With thirteen illustrations by Charles Raymond Macauley. Publisher's mid green cloth pictorially blocked in yellow and black. Contents clean, ink ownership (J. Frank Newby) to front and..... More
The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1905. [Detective mysteries] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[8] 403 [5]. Illustrated with a frontispiece and fifteen further plates by Paget (complete). Publisher's blue cloth, titled in gilt to spine and upper. Contents clean, no ink names, minor toning/spotting to edges, cloth remains..... More
The Sherlock Holmes Collected Edition. With New Intoductions by Hugh Greene, Len Deighton, Julian Symons, John Fowles, Kingsley Amis, Eric Ambler, C.P. Snow, Angus Wilson, and Graham Greene.
London: John Murray and Jonathan Cape, 1974. [Detective fiction series] 9 volumes, complete. Octavo. ALL FIRST EDITIONS of this edition, with new Introductions. Publisher's original black cloth with gilt titles to spines, illustrated end papers, top edge tinted blue; in black pictorial dust wrappers. Contents clean, edges fresh, no inscriptions..... More
![Item #75163 The Sign of The Four [in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine]. Arthur Conan DOYLE, Sir](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/75163.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1779812864)
The Sign of The Four [in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine].
Philadelphia: J.B.Lippincott Co., 1890. [Detective novel] FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF THE TEXT. Ellery Queen's copy. Octavo (24 x 15cm), pp.[24] adverts (dated February 1890); 147-308; [iv], 'With the Wits'; 29-52, ads. With exclusive title page and frontispiece illustration. Signed on title page as both 'Barnaby Ross' and 'Ellery Queen'..... 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
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 and Bowden, 1893. [Detective novel] THIRD EDITION, reprinted. Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.[xx]; 224; [24] advertisements. With several black and white in-text and full-page illustrations. Bound in publisher's quarter scarlet cloth, gilt titles to spine, beige buckram boards titled in red, floral patterned endpapers, top edge gilt..... 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=1595869359)
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
Tales of Sherlock Holmes. A Study in Scarlet; The Sign of the Four; A Scandal in Bohemia; A Case of Identity.
New York, NY: Triangle Books, 1940. [Sherlock Holmes] VINTAGE HARDCOVER EDITION. Third Triangle Books printing. Octavo (20 x 13cm), pp.[viii]; 415; [5] blank. Publisher's green cloth titled in silver to black label on spine, silver decoration to spine and upper board, edges coloured yellow, pictorial dust-jacket. No inscriptions, textblock toned/browned..... More
The Valley of Fear.
London: George Bell and Sons, 1915. [Detective novel] First English Edition, Colonial issue. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.[viii]; 306; 8, ads; 16, catalogue dated April 1915. Publisher's burgundy cloth (also issued in scarlet), with gilt titles to spine, blocked in blind to upper. Discreet name to pastedown, some spotting to..... More
The Works of Arthur Conan Doyle [set of writings/novels including the Adventures & Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four].
London: Smith Elder, [1903] 1917. [Literature] AUTHOR'S EDITION, SECOND ISSUE, LIMITED to 1000 sets of which this No 904, SIGNED by Conan Doyle in the first volume. 12 volumes. Octavo (22 x 15cm), illustrated with plates. In fact only 510 sets were issued in 1903, all being bound by Smith..... More
![Item #68250 [James Bond novels] Group of Anthologies and Omnibus editions, with entire or partial...](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/68250.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1715704027)
[James Bond novels] Group of Anthologies and Omnibus editions, with entire or partial content from Ian Fleming. Comprising The Spy's Bedside Book (1957), To Catch A Spy (1965), Reader's Digest Condensed Books (1966), Three Great Adventure Stories (1972), Great Stories of Mystery & Suspense (1977), Dr. No & From Russia, With Love (1984), James Bond 007 (1988), Octopussy & 007 In New York (2008), Quantum of Solace (2008).
UK/USA: various, 1957-2008. [Spy stories] 10 volumes, octavos. First editions or first editions thus (Bedside Book and Three Great Adventure Stories are second printings). Various publisher bindings in hardback or softcovers. Contents clean, one has a bookplate, one with owner name, one with owner stamp, jackets lightly are handled, one..... More
![Item #68253 [James Bond novels] Group of Anthologies and each with content from Ian Fleming....](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/68253.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1715704027)
[James Bond novels] Group of Anthologies and each with content from Ian Fleming. Comprising To Catch A Spy (1966), Mammoth Book of Short Spy Novels (1986, and revised edition 2004), Headline Book of Spy Fiction (1992), Oxford Book of Spy Stories (1996).
UK/USA: various, 1966-1996. [Spy stories] 5 volumes, octavos. Publisher's softcovers. All FIRST EDITIONS or first printings thus. Contents clean, no ink names. Generally very good to fine copies. Contains the James Bond stories Risico, From A View To A Kill, and Octopussy, plus extracts from the first Bond novel Casino..... 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 #74645 The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone [and] A Bit of Orange Peel [and] The Bully of...](https://harringtonbooks-co-uk.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/74645.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1773423127)
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone [and] A Bit of Orange Peel [and] The Bully of Brocas Court [and] A Glass of Whisky [and] The Heel of Achilles [and] Jeeves in the Spring-Time [and] The Long Hole [and] The Nightmare Room [and] Painting as a Pastime [and] An Unconventional Introduction [and] The Unexpected Clicking of Cuthbert [in] The Strand Magazine. Volume 62.
London: George Newnes, July to December 1921. [Literary Magazine] FIRST APPEARANCES. Octavo (24 x 17cm), pp.iv; 590. With frequent half-tone illustrations, very occasionally in colour. Publisher's pale blue cloth with black and gilt titles to spine, and black titles and decoration to upper. Some toning and spotting to first and..... More
Results 26 - 47 (of 47)
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