ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : Spencer Blackett, 1890. First edition. “Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantelpiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff ...” – Watson looks on aghast. The second Holmes title, published before the short stories in the “Strand Magazine” were to make him famous. It was commissioned at a dinner at the Langham Hotel in 1889, at which Oscar Wilde also agreed to write “Dorian Gray”.
Crown 8vo (189 x 126mm). [iv],(284)pp. Frontispiece by Charles Kerr. Bound in a smart, slightly later (twentieth-century), full red morocco, banded and gilt; inner gilt dentelles; marbled endpapers; lightly rubbed; a few minor marks, but overall a very good copy.

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London : John Murray, (1917). First edition. Eight Sherlock Holmes stories, including “The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge”, “The Adventure of the Red Circle”, “The Adventure of the Dying Detective”, “The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot”, and the title story itself, “His Last Bow” – Holmes brought out of retirement to serve his country in the Great War. “The great detective stands for so much more than himself. He is a type, a myth, a household word, in two continents” (Westminster Gazette, 3rd November 1917).
Crown 8vo (186 x 122mm). (viii),(306),[vi]pp. Bound in an elegant recent half red morocco, lavishly gilt; marbled sides; a very good, clean and sound copy.

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London : John Murray, (1927). First edition. The last of the Sherlock Holmes books, a dozen final stories with no loss of power, including “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client”, “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone”, “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire”, etc. Two of the stories are narrated by Holmes himself, rather than Watson. In announcing this positively final appearance, Conan Doyle noted, “I fear that Mr. Sherlock Holmes may become like one of those popular tenors who, having outlived their time, are still tempted to make repeated farewell bows to their indulgent audiences”.
Crown 8vo (187 x 120mm). 320pp. Bound in an elegant recent half burgundy morocco, banded and gilt; marbled sides; a little spotting, mainly of edges, but a very good copy.

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