Sherlock Holmes is the greatest fictional detective in the world. The hero of 56 short stories and four novels, he is so convincing that letters still arrive at 221b Baker Street seeking his help, and when it was thought that he had died in his clash with the evil Professor Moriarty ('the Napoleon of Crime') young men in London wore black armbands. This handsome edition, quarter bound in real cloth, with head and tail bands, a ribbon marker, gilt top edge and illustrated cover boards, presents all of the short stories, illustrated by Sidney Paget, who prepared these inspired black-and-white drawings for the original publication in "The Strand Magazine". This edition has an Introduction by David Stuart Davies, Editor of "Sherlock Magazine".
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer. In addition to the Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger, and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the brigantine Mary Celeste, found drifting at sea with no crew member aboard.