The complete Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930

Book - 2004

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MYSTERY/Doyle, Arthur Conan v. 1
vol. 1: 1 / 1 copies available
vol. 2: 2 / 2 copies available
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1st Floor MYSTERY/Doyle, Arthur Conan v. 1 v. 1 Checked In
1st Floor MYSTERY/Doyle, Arthur Conan v. 2 v. 2 Checked In
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Subjects
Published
New York : Barnes & Noble Classics 2004.
Language
English
Main Author
Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 (-)
Other Authors
Kyle Freeman (-)
Edition
Paperback ed
Item Description
"Published in 2003 with new introduction, notes, biography, chronology, a note on conveyances, comments & questions, and for further reading"--T.p. verso, v. 1.
Physical Description
2 v.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9781593082031
9781593080341
9781593082048
9781593080402
  • Vol. I. The world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes
  • General introduction / by Kyle Freeman
  • Introduction to volume I / by Kyle Freeman
  • A note on conveyances
  • A study in scarlet
  • The sign of four
  • Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. A scandal in Bohemia ; The Red-headed League ; A case of identity ; The Boscombe Valley mystery ; The five orange pips ; The man with the twisted lip ; The adventure of the blue carbuncle ; The adventure of the speckled band ; The adventure of the engineer's thumb ; The adventure of the noble bachelor ; The adventure of the beryl coronet ; The adventure of the copper beeches
  • Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Silver blaze ; The yellow face ; The stock-broker's clerk ; The "Gloria Scott" ; The musgrave ritual ; The reigate puzzle ; The crooked man ; The resident patient ; The Greek interpreter ; The naval treaty ; The final problem
  • The hound of the baskervilles
  • Endnotes
  • Comments & questions
  • For further reading.
  • Vol. II. The world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes
  • General introduction / by Kyle Freeman
  • Introduction to volume II / by Kyle Freeman
  • A note on conveyances
  • The return of Sherlock Holmes. The adventure of the empty house ; The adventure of the norwood builder ; The adventure of the dancing men ; The adventure of the solitary cyclist ; The adventure of the priory school ; The adventure of Black Peter ; The adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton ; The adventure of the six Napoleans ; The adventure of the three students ; The adventure of the golden pince-nez ; The adventure of the missing three-quarter ; The adventure of the Abbey Grange ; The adventure of the second stain
  • The valley of fear
  • His last bow : The adventure of Wisteria Lodge ; 1. The singluar experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles ; 2. The tiger of San Pedro ; The adventure of the cardboard box ; The adventure of the red circle ; The adventure of Bruce-Partington plans ; The adventure of the dying detective ; The disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax ; The adventure of the devil's foot ; His last bow
  • The case book of Sherlock Holmes. The adventure of the illustrious client ; The adventure of the blanched soldier ; The adventure of the mazarin stone ; The adventure of the three gables ; The adventure of the Sussex vampire ; The adventure of the three garridebs ; The problem of Thor Bridge ; The adventure of the creeping man ; The adventure of the lion's mane ; The adventure of the veiled lodger ; The adventure of Shoscombe Old Place ; The adventure of the retired colourman
  • An introduction to Doyle's parodies
  • Two parodies by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle : 1. The field bazaar ; 2. How Watson learned the trick
  • Two essays by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle : 1. The truth about Sherlock Holmes ; 2. Some personalia about Mr. Sherlock Holmes
  • Endnotes
  • Comments & questions
  • For further reading.
Review by Library Journal Review

Not only does David Timson offer superlative performances of the 56 short stories and five novels featuring Holmes and Watson, he also has written a booklet that contains comprehensive notes on each story. Smaller packages of Timson's brilliant performances are available. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Kyle Freeman's Introduction to The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I Arthur Conan Doyle began writing A Study in Scarlet in 1886 while waiting for patients in his newly furnished doctor's office in Southsea, Portsmouth. He sent it to what seemed like every publisher in England before it was finally accepted by a small firm called Ward, Lock & Co. He was paid a one-time sum of £25, relinquishing all other rights to the publisher. The company thought it would be most effective in one of its big holiday issues, Beeton's Christmas Annual , so Conan Doyle had to wait nearly a year before seeing it in print in December 1887. Thus after this long and uncertain gestation the world finally saw the birth of the resplendent career of the character who would become the greatest literary detective, Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle got the idea for a detective story from the acknowledged creators of the genre. Edgar Allan Poe had written three short stories featuring Parisian sleuth C. Auguste Dupin: "Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Mystery of Marie Rogêt," and "The Purloined Letter." Conan Doyle lifted so much detail from Poe that he seemed a plagiarist to some. He took several key components from Dupin. Holmes, like Dupin, is a prodigious pipe smoker. He also places ads in the newspaper to lure the perpetrator of the crime to his apartment. He goes to the scene of the crime to find clues the police had overlooked. Yet another component borrowed from Dupin was his trick of breaking in on his companion's thought process by guessing the links in his train of thought. Ironically, Holmes complains in this first story that this habit of Dupin annoys him, but apparently not as much as he claims, as he adopts it himself in two later stories. Most important, like Poe, Conan Doyle decided to give his detective a companion to narrate the case. Such a narrator provides several advantages. He can frame the story more dramatically than the detective could because the companion is in the dark about the outcome. He therefore can sustain suspense and share his surprise with us when the mystery is solved. The narrator also has the freedom to glorify his friend, something the detective as narrator couldn't do for himself without suffering the inevitable backlash from readers who don't usually take kindly to braggarts. Conan Doyle also borrowed from the work of Émile Gaboriau, a Frenchman who wrote the first police novels. His Inspector Lecoq uses scientific methods to build a solid case against the criminal piece by piece. Holmes's scientific method owes the most to this source. Gaboriau also divides his novels into two equal parts, with flashbacks to prior action, a device Conan Doyle copied in the first two Holmes novels. Conan Doyle based Holmes's deductive process--lightning quick and seemingly intuitive, though informed by careful observation of detail and mountains of precise knowledge--on Conan Doyle's teacher at the medical school at Edinburgh, Dr. Joseph Bell. Once embarked on the process of stirring all these ingredients together, Conan Doyle had to choose a name for his detective. The first he chose was J. Sherrinford Holmes, then Sherrington Hope, and finally the one we know today. We don't know where he got the name Sherlock, but we can be sure that the last name was a tribute to Oliver Wendell Holmes, the American physician and author, father of the great U.S. Supreme Court justice of the same name. Conan Doyle had read and greatly admired his work, saying of him, "Never have I so known and loved a man whom I had never seen." On his first trip to America Conan Doyle made a reverential visit to the author's grave. A Study in Scarlet introduces the formula that almost all the other Holmes stories will follow. Someone seeks out the detective at his Baker Street rooms to solve an unusual mystery. Holmes and Watson then set out to explore the scene of the mystery. The police are often involved, but of course they never have a clue. After an adventure or two that builds suspense, Holmes solves the case in the most dramatic way. The two investigators end up back at Baker Street, where Holmes explains any point in his chain of reasoning that might have escaped Watson's understanding, and all's once again right with the world. Doyle varies this formula in minor ways in a few of the stories in this first volume, but not often. (He will cleverly foil our expectations of this pattern in later stories.) This plot repetition, which might seem a weakness, turns out to be a strength. It contributes to that sense of solidness we get from this world in which logic triumphs over superstition, and where justice in one form or another is meted out to violators of the social order. The sense of order that runs through this world is one of the great satisfactions of these stories. No matter how bizarre the circumstances, Holmes will tender a rational explanation for everything. Criminals are caught not because they make a fatal error, but because all human actions, good and bad, leave traces behind. If you pay close enough attention to the causative chain of events in everyday life, and you've trained yourself to think logically, you'll be able to follow that chain when someone has committed a crime. Excerpted from The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.