Рассказы конан дойля о шерлоке холмсе список

Шерлок Холмс – главная фигура литературного детективного мира. Персонаж, ненавидимый своим автором. Герой, который воскрес благодаря любви королевы Виктории. Человек удивительной выдержки и поразительной дедукции. Непостижимый умом, завораживающий с первых страниц. Книги про Шерлока Холмса обладают удивительным талантом: их хочется перечитывать снова и снова. Затем смотреть фильмы, а потом снова перечитывать. 

Вы как раз собрались взяться за это благодарное дело, освежив в памяти историю знакомства Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона или страшное происшествие в Баскервиль-холле? Или (и тогда мы вам завидуем!) только собираетесь прочитать серию книг про Шерлока Холмса? Тогда скорее сохраняйте себе вкладку с этим текстом. Сейчас мы расскажем, в каком порядке вам стоит прочитать все 56 рассказов и 4 повести. Несмотря на внушительное число, они удивительно быстро заканчиваются. Итак, Шерлок Холмс по порядку. И хотя истории объединены самим автором в сборники, мы приводим полный список, с перечислением всех рассказов. Это связано с тем, что Шерлока Холмса переиздают часто и в странных конфигурациях, нарушая заведённый Артуром Конан Дойлом порядок. А так вы точно не запутаетесь!

1. Этюд в багровых тонах (1887)

Первый рассказ про Шерлока Холмса и его будущего помощника доктора Ватсона, написанный 27-летним Артуром Конан Дойлом на скорую руку. Скорость никак не сказалась на качестве: сначала Холмс удивит Ватсона своими способностями к дедукции, а затем уже они вместе помогут лондонской полиции распутать дело об убийстве американца, рядом с трупом которого кто-то неровными буквами вывел слово «Месть». 

2. Знак четырёх (1890)

Второе знаменитое дело Шерлока Холмса, дело о загадочном «знаке четырёх», которое перебросит нас из холодного Лондона в жаркую Индию. Не лишённая экзотической романтики история о пропавших сокровищах, которая заканчивается предложением руки и сердца. Не от Холмса, конечно – он может любить только загадки. 

3. Приключения Шерлока Холмса. Сборник рассказов (1891–1892)

В сборник «Приключения Шерлока Холмса» автор поместил рассказы о самых интересных делах сыщика. Одно из них, «Скандал в Богемии», расскажет нам интересный факт: Холмс впервые влюбится. И в кого! В авантюристку Ирэн Адлер, шантажирующую особу королевских кровей. 

В сборник вошли рассказы «Скандал в Богемии», «Союз рыжих», «Установление личности», «Тайна Боскомской долины», «Пять зёрнышек апельсина», «Человек с рассечённой губой», «Голубой карбункул», «Пёстрая лента», «Палец инженера», «Знатный холостяк», «Берилловая диадема», «Медные буки».

4. Записки о Шерлоке Холмсе. Сборник рассказов (1892–1893)

Этим сборником обиженный на персонажа Артур Конан Дойл (никто не читал других его книг, все хотели только Шерлока!) собирался завершить карьеру сыщика. В финальном рассказе, прямо названном «Последнее дело Холмса», он убил его руками профессора Мориарти. Но что тут началось! Писателю не дали спокойно жить. За Шерлока просила лично королева Виктория – факт недоказанный, но широко растиражированный. Дойлу пришлось уступить армии раздражённых фанатов. Но надо признать, он долго держался. Следующий рассказ вышел почти через восемь лет. 

В сборник вошли рассказы «Серебряный», «Жёлтое лицо», «Приключения клерка», «Глория Скотт», «Обряд дома Месгрейвов», «Рейгетские сквайры», «Горбун», «Постоянный пациент», «Случай с переводчиком», «Морской договор», «Последнее дело Холмса». 

5. Собака Баскервилей. (1901–1902)

Если это была месть Артура Конан Дойла за то, что его заставили продолжать, то она вышла по-шерлоковски изящной. Небольшая, но быстро ставшая легендарной повесть «Собака Баскервилей» публиковалась с августа 1901 по апрель 1902 года в ежемесячном журнале Strand Magazine. Фанаты еле могли дождаться очередного кусочка, чтобы узнать, чем же всё кончится!

В роду Баскервилей из поколения в поколение передаётся легенда о дьявольской собаке, которая преследует всех мужчин этого рода. И вот умирает сэр Чарльз Баскервиль, причём при странных обстоятельствах. Шерлок Холмс не верит в призраков и прибывает в поместье вместе с племянником сэра Чарльза Генри, последним отпрыском рода Баскервиль. 

6. Возвращение Шерлока Холмса. Сборник рассказов (1903–1904)

Тринадцать историй этого сборника продолжают отдавать «вынужденностью»: очевидно, что автор больше не живёт и не дышит приключениями своего персонажа. Однако все они написаны на самом высоком уровне, а разгадать интригу самостоятельно почти невозможно. В этих рассказах пособники Мориарти попытаются отомстить сыщику за гибель своего босса, а Холмс займётся одним из самых своих любимых дел – делом о «пляшущих человечках». 

В сборник вошли рассказы «Пустой дом», «Подрядчик из Норвуда», «Пляшущие человечки», «Одинокая велосипедистка», «Случай в интернате», «Чёрный Питер», «Конец Чарльза Огастеса Милвертона», «Шесть Наполеонов», «Три студента», «Пенсне в золотой оправе», «Пропавший регбист», «Убийство в Эбби-Грейндж», «Второе пятно». 

7. Долина ужаса. Повесть (1914–1915)

Артур Конан Дойл черпает вдохновение в реальных событиях судебной хроники. «Долина ужаса» частично основана на деле о тайном обществе ирландских шахтёров. В повести Шерлоку Холмсу предстоит разоблачить шайку «Чистильщиков» – масонскую ложу, известную своей кровожадностью. 

8. Его прощальный поклон. Сборник рассказов (1917)

Название сборнику дал финальный рассказ «Его прощальный поклон», и сам Шерлок Холмс в нём почти не фигурирует. В этой сборке из семи повестей мы наконец близко знакомимся со старшим братом Шерлока Майкрофтом. До этого он уже вскользь встречался в трёх повестях, но детальной проработки удостоен не был. Майкрофт обладает таким же дедуктивным талантом, что и Шерлок, но принципиально его не использует, служа на благо Великобритании. А кем – большой секрет. 

В сборник вошли рассказы «В Сиреневой сторожке» (альтернативное название «Происшествие в Вистерия-лодж»), «Картонная коробка», «Алое кольцо», «Чертежи Брюса-Партингтона», (Майкрофт будет здесь!), «Шерлок Холмс при смерти», «Исчезновение леди Фрэнсис Карфэкс», «Дьяволова нога», «Его прощальный поклон».

9. Архив Шерлока Холмса. Сборник рассказов (1927) 

Самые последние рассказы Дойла о Шерлоке Холмсе, который он выдавал жаждущей публике с 1921 по 1927 год. Всего их двенадцать, и почти каждый – фактически не детектив. Новеллы либо вовсе не содержат «состава преступления», либо в них почти не фигурирует Шерлок Холмс. А одна из повестей, «Три Гарридеба», практически повторяет интригу знаменитой повести «Союз рыжих». 

В сборник вошли рассказы «Камень Мазарини», «Загадка Торского моста», «Человек на четвереньках», «Вампир в Суссексе», «Три Гарридеба», «Знатный клиент», «Происшествие на вилле «Три конька», «Человек с побелевшим лицом», «Львиная грива», «Москательщик на покое», «История жилички под вуалью», «Загадка поместья Шоскомб».

Шерлок Холмс прочитан, порядок книг освоен, но вам всё ещё хочется продолжать? Знайте, что есть специальный термин шерлокиана – им обозначаются рассказы о приключениях сыщика, написанные другими авторами. Их тысячи, перечислять все бессмысленно. Если возьмётесь за это чтение, обратите внимание на рассказы сына писателя Адриана Дойла («Подвиги Шерлока Холмса»). В основе этих рассказов, по словам наследника, сюжеты отца, которые он не успел написать сам. Также о приключениях Шерлока Холмса писали Марк Твен («Детектив с двойным прицелом»), Стивен Кинг («Дело доктора Ватсона»), Борис Акунин («Узница башни, или Краткий, но прекрасный путь трёх мудрых»), Сергей Лукьяненко («Царь, царевич, король, королевич»).

Читайте также «Миллениум». Порядок чтения».

Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the 56 short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.^[1] In this context, the term «canon» is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle’s original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters.

Usually capitalized by aficionados of the Sherlockian game as «the Canon», the description of these 60 adventures as the Sherlock Holmes canon and the game of applying the methods of «Higher Criticism» to it was started by Ronald Knox as a playful use of the traditional definition of canon as an authoritative list of books accepted as holy scripture.^[2]

Novels[edit]

The four novels of the canon:

1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901–1902)
4. The Valley of Fear (1914–1915)

Short stories[edit]

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
4. His Last Bow (1917)
5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)[edit]

Published 14 October 1892; contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892 with original illustrations by Sidney Paget.^[3]

1. «A Scandal in Bohemia» (June 1891)
2. «The Red-Headed League» (August 1891)
3. «A Case of Identity» (September 1891)
4. «The Boscombe Valley Mystery» (October 1891)
5. «The Five Orange Pips» (November 1891)
6. «The Man with the Twisted Lip» (December 1891)
7. «The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle» (January 1892)
8. «The Adventure of the Speckled Band» (February 1892)
9. «The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb» (March 1892)
10. «The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor» (April 1892)
11. «The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet» (May 1892)
12. «The Adventure of the Copper Beeches» (June 1892)

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893–94)[edit]

Contains 12 stories published in The Strand as further episodes of the Adventures between December 1892 and December 1893 with original illustrations by Sidney Paget (after the magazine publication, Doyle included «The Adventure of the Cardboard Box» only in the His Last Bow collection).

1. «The Adventure of Silver Blaze» (December 1892)
2. «The Adventure of the Cardboard Box» (January 1893)
3. «The Adventure of the Yellow Face» (February 1893)
4. «The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk» (March 1893)
5. «The Adventure of the Gloria Scott» (April 1893)
6. «The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual» (May 1893)
7. «The Adventure of the Reigate Squire» (June 1893)
8. «The Adventure of the Crooked Man» (July 1893)
9. «The Adventure of the Resident Patient» (August 1893)
10. «The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter» (September 1893)
11. «The Adventure of the Naval Treaty» (October–November 1893)
12. «The Final Problem» (December 1893)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)[edit]

Contains 13 stories published in The Strand between October 1903 and December 1904 with original illustrations by Sidney Paget.

1. «The Adventure of the Empty House» (October 1903)
2. «The Adventure of the Norwood Builder» (November 1903)
3. «The Adventure of the Dancing Men» (December 1903)
4. «The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist» (January 1904)
5. «The Adventure of the Priory School» (February 1904)
6. «The Adventure of Black Peter» (March 1904)
7. «The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton» (April 1904)
8. «The Adventure of the Six Napoleons» (May 1904)
9. «The Adventure of the Three Students» (June 1904)
10. «The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez» (July 1904)
11. «The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter» (August 1904)
12. «The Adventure of the Abbey Grange» (September 1904)
13. «The Adventure of the Second Stain» (December 1904)

His Last Bow (1917)[edit]

Contains 7 stories published 1908–1917. Many editions of His Last Bow have eight stories, with «The Adventure of the Cardboard Box» being a part of this collection rather than in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

1. «The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge» (1908)
2. «The Adventure of the Red Circle» (1911)
3. «The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans» (1908)
4. «The Adventure of the Dying Detective» (1913)
5. «The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax» (1911)
6. «The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot» (1910)
7. «His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes» (1917)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)[edit]

Contains 12 stories published 1921–1927.

1. «The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone» (1921)
2. «The Problem of Thor Bridge» (1922)
3. «The Adventure of the Creeping Man» (1923)
4. «The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire» (1924)
5. «The Adventure of the Three Garridebs» (1924)
6. «The Adventure of the Illustrious Client» (1924)
7. «The Adventure of the Three Gables» (1926)
8. «The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier» (1926)
9. «The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane» (1926)
10. «The Adventure of the Retired Colourman» (1926)
11. «The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger» (1927)
12. «The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place» (1927)

Conan Doyle’s Favourite Stories[edit]

1. «The Adventure of the Speckled Band» (1892)
2. «The Red-headed League» (1891)
3. «The Adventure of the Dancing Men» (1903)
4. «The Final Problem» (1893)
5. «A Scandal in Bohemia» (1891)
6. «The Adventure of the Empty House» (1903)
7. «The Five Orange Pips» (1891)
8. «The Adventure of the Second Stain» (1904)
9. «The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot» (1910)
10. «The Adventure of the Priory School» (1904)
11. «The Musgrave Ritual» (1893)
12. «The Reigate Squires» (1893)^[4]

[edit]

Since the author’s death, professional and amateur Holmesians have discussed endlessly the expansion of this canon, to include other works by Doyle, including works in other media, into the current complete adventures.^[5] Rumours have always surrounded lost works,^[1] and in recent years further investigations have revealed more to the traditionally collected canon. As there exists no definitive body to argue what is, and what is not canon beyond the already established novels and stories, it is unlikely that any piece, no matter how good its claim to be «canonical» will ever be popularly received into published versions of the Complete Sherlock Holmes. However, as many as eighteen works have been cited as possible entrants. These works include plays, poems, essays on the character, and even short stories.

Published collections of extracanonical works include: Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha, edited by Jack Tracy; The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Peter Haining; The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes, edited by Richard Lancelyn Green; and the final volume of Leslie S. Klinger’s Sherlock Holmes Reference Library titled The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes. These works, each with slightly different contents, discussed several titles and their place in the canon.^[6]

Noncanonical works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle[edit]

In addition to the canon, Doyle wrote (occasionally with a co-writer) a number of vignettes, play adaptations and essays involving Holmes, and two short stories in which Holmes makes a possible cameo appearance. Most were published in various places during his lifetime; another has only come to light since his death. These are listed below with further detail. All these works except the plays are collected in The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Short stories[edit]

«The Field Bazaar» (1896)[edit]

«The Field Bazaar» was written for an Edinburgh University fundraising event. Doyle had been requested by his university to contribute a short piece of literature for a charity magazine. In the story, Watson has received a similar request and whilst he reads the letter at breakfast, Holmes correctly deduces the sender of the letter and Watson’s thoughts with regard to the letter. It has many similarities with the canonical stories, most notably the metafictional twist in which Watson supplants Doyle as the author publishing his own stories in a magazine. It also plays upon not only the famous skill of Holmes’ observations producing apparently miraculous results, but also the notion of the «traditional breakfast scenes» which open many Holmes short stories.^[7]

«The Story of the Man with the Watches» (1898)[edit]

Though Doyle had killed off his character in «The Final Problem» (1893), he still wrote other short stories for publication in The Strand Magazine, including «The Story of the Man with the Watches» (published in July 1898, with illustrations by Frank Craig). It was collected in Doyle’s Round the Fire Stories (1908) and Tales of Terror and Mystery (1922).^[8] The story concerns the appearance of a dead man in a railway carriage, with six pocket watches in his jacket. An explanation is offered by an unnamed «well-known criminal investigator», but the narrator notes that it is flawed, as it doesn’t take into account all the facts. A man involved in the accidental murder of the victim writes a letter to the detective, saying that it was a «mighty ingenious» solution but entirely incorrect and continues to share the true events of that day. Some commentators have proposed that the unnamed detective is Holmes. The story shares the same backing for categorising as a Sherlock Holmes story as «The Story of the Lost Special», and appears in French anthologies.^[9] The story was adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 2009 as «The Thirteen Watches», in an episode from The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The number of watches was changed because the new title came from a reference (in the Holmes story «The Noble Bachelor») to Holmes’ involvement with the watches incident. The story was also adapted for radio in 2012 as «The Addleton Tragedy», an episode of the Imagination Theatre radio series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.^[10]

«The Story of the Lost Special» (1898)[edit]

«The Story of the Lost Special» was published in The Strand Magazine in August 1898.^[8] It depicts a seemingly inexplicable mystery in which a special train and its few passengers disappear between two stations. After the mystery is described in full, it is stated that a letter appeared in the press, giving a proposed solution from «an amateur reasoner of some celebrity». As with «The Story of the Man with the Watches», it is possible, and has been proposed by Haining, Tracy, and Green, amongst others that this «amateur reasoner» was Sherlock Holmes. The strongest clue to this is the quotation, «once one has eliminated the impossible…», used by Holmes throughout his deductions. However, this suggested solution is proved wrong by a confession from the organising criminal once he is later arrested for an unrelated crime. Haining suggested that Doyle was «getting out some Holmes» during the series hiatus, but given the failure of the unnamed detective it appears he was parodying his most famous creation. The story was published in book form in Doyle’s Round the Fire Stories (1908), and has for years appeared in French editions of the complete adventures.^[9]

Plot for Sherlock Holmes Story (c. 1900)[edit]

When searching through Doyle’s papers, Hesketh Pearson, a biographer of his, came across a plan for an unwritten story. As Richard Lancelyn Green notes, «there is no evidence to show that it is by [Doyle] and strong internal evidence to suggest that it’s not».^[11] Various authors have attempted to complete the story (named «The Adventure of the Tall Man» by Peter Haining) and put it alongside the canon. Some are very close to Doyle’s plot, others include variations from it.^[12] However no ‘official’ completion has been made (In the same way as The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes was intended as an official continuation of the canon).

«How Watson Learned the Trick» (1924)[edit]

In 1922, several authors were approached to contribute to the library of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House. Doyle wrote a short Sherlock Holmes story, just 503 words long, onto the tiny pages of a specially constructed miniature book: «How Watson Learned the Trick». The story was later published alongside works by other authors in The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House Library (1924). Though written 28 years after «The Field Bazaar», this is almost a companion piece to that story. Like «The Field Bazaar», this story is a breakfast scene, during which Watson attempts to mimic Holmes’ style in guessing his thoughts. Watson’s intuitions are proved wrong, however. Unlike almost all parts of the Sherlock Holmes story it is written in the third person, presumably due to its length.^[13]

Stageplays[edit]

Angels of Darkness (c. 1889)[edit]

Unpublished until 2000, this play was written shortly after A Study in Scarlet was published. It is essentially a rewrite of the American chapters of A Study in Scarlet, with the London action moving to San Francisco. Holmes is not present, but Watson is, in a very different form. He acts discreditably and even marries another woman. The publication of this play was at first suppressed, Doyle’s biographer, John Dickson Carr stated that it would do no good for the public to read this, a view that Haining endorses readily.^[14] The play is notable for its contrasting sensationalist and comic scenes, and it is contained in Klinger’s Apocrypha.^{[citation needed]}

Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts (or Sherlock Holmes) (1899)[edit]

The original Sherlock Holmes play written by Arthur Conan Doyle and William Gillette had a successful run of over 30 years. It has many original parts which are not found in the short stories but borrows many events from the canonical adventures, namely «A Scandal in Bohemia» and «The Adventure of the Final Problem». Also, it had elements from A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, «The Boscombe Valley Mystery», «The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter», and «The Adventure of the Naval Treaty». It includes the very first mention of the phrase «Elementary, my dear Watson».^[15][16] While Doyle wrote the original version, it is unclear how much of his material survived in the play as performed, which was written by Gillette. Doyle and Gillette later revised the play together; it has since been revised by others twice.^{[citation needed]}

The Speckled Band (or The Stonor Case) (1902)[edit]

Around 1902, Doyle wrote and produced a play based on his short story «The Adventure of the Speckled Band». It premièred 8 years later, at the Adelphi Theatre, London on 4 June 1910, with H. A. Saintsbury as Sherlock Holmes and Lyn Harding as Dr. Grimesby Roylott. The play, originally entitled The Stonor Case, differs from the story in several small details, such as the names of some of the characters^[17] and the timeline is also changed. Holmes mentions Mary Morstan, who had already proposed Dr. Watson, twice and Charles Augustus Milverton also appears as a character.

The Crown Diamond: An Evening With Mr Sherlock Holmes (1921)[edit]

«The Crown Diamond» is an alternate version of the short story «The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone» though it predates its counterpart by some time,^[18] Sometime during the original run the short story was adapted from the play, this is the reason that the narrative is told in third person rather than by the traditional narrator Watson. Some claim that the play originally appeared in an early draft of «Sherlock Holmes» (above) and was later removed, with some elements finding their way into «The Adventure of the Empty House» before the entire play was resurrected, some years later, into «The Crown Diamond» and «The Mazarin Stone.»

Essays and retrospectives[edit]

Arthur Conan Doyle rarely gave interviews or publicly discussed his character. However, the following is a list of Doyle essays on his character which are currently in publication, either in Green or Haining’s book or in standard editions of the Complete Stories:

«To An Undiscerning Critic» (1912)[edit]

Guiterman first published his homage in America in Life (5 December 1912) and then in London Opinion (14 December 1912), and in his collection The Laughing Muse. Doyle’s answer appeared in the 26 December 1912 issue of London Opinion and was reprinted in the memoir of the editor of London Opinion, Lincoln Springfield. The late Dean Dickensheet appears to be the first to print the poems together, in An ‘Undiscerning Critic’ Discerned.^{[citation needed]}

«Some Personalia about Mr. Sherlock Holmes» (1917)[edit]

This essay was featured in The Strand Magazine as a Christmas treat to its readers. It talks of the way Holmes had caught the public imagination and Doyle’s view on his character.^[19]

«The Truth About Sherlock Holmes» (1923)[edit]

An essay from Collier’s Weekly, in which Doyle explains exactly where Holmes came from. It contains, at the end, J. M. Barrie’s «The Adventure of the Two Collaborators».^[20]

«Mr. Sherlock Holmes to His Readers» (1927)[edit]

This appeared in The Strand Magazine to introduce a competition to name the best Sherlock Holmes adventures. The same essay, with two paragraphs cut, appears as the preface to The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.^{[citation needed]}

«How I Made My List» (1927)[edit]

This is the sequel to the article mentioned above. In it, Doyle listed what he thought were the best Holmes adventures. He noted that had he been able to include stories from The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes he would certainly have included «The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane» and «The Adventure of the Illustrious Client».^[21] The list is as follows:

1. «The Adventure of the Speckled Band»
2. «The Red-Headed League»
3. «The Adventure of the Dancing Men»
4. «The Adventure of the Final Problem»
5. «A Scandal in Bohemia»
6. «The Adventure of the Empty House»
7. «The Five Orange Pips»
8. «The Adventure of the Second Stain»
9. «The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot»
10. «The Adventure of the Priory School»
11. «The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual»
12. «The Adventure of the Reigate Squire»

Richard Lancelyn Green’s The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes also includes five prefaces to the various editions of Sherlock Holmes stories and novels, Doyle’s speech at the Stoll Convention Dinner (1921), some chapters from Doyle’s autobiography Memoirs and Adventures, and several interviews.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]

These are works which have in the past been thought to have been written by Doyle. Some have been conclusively proved to have no Doyle input, the composition of others still remains unclear.

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes (1954)[edit]

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, is a 1954 collection of stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle’s son Adrian Conan Doyle and Arthur’s biographer, novelist John Dickson Carr. The stories are generally extrapolations of cases briefly mentioned in the canonical work, but tend to contradict themselves and each other. They are generally considered Sherlock Holmes pastiches.^[22]

The stories contained in the collection are:

1. «The Adventure of the Seven Clocks»
2. «The Adventure of the Gold Hunter»
3. «The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers»
4. «The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle»
5. «The Adventure of the Black Baronet»
6. «The Adventure of the Sealed Room»
7. «The Adventure of Foulkes Rath»
8. «The Adventure of the Abbas Ruby»
9. «The Adventure of the Dark Angels»
10. «The Adventure of the Two Women»
11. «The Adventure of the Deptford Horror»
12. «The Adventure of the Red Widow»

Short stories[edit]

«The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted» (c. 1914)[edit]

This mystery, a completed Sherlock Holmes story, was found in 1942 by a Doyle biographer, Hesketh Pearson, searching through a box of Doyle’s papers. It was originally announced that the story would not be published by the Doyle estate, but it was announced it certainly was by Doyle, as the manuscript supposedly appeared in his own handwriting. However, according to Jon L. Lellenberg in Nova 57 Minor, the manuscript was not in Doyle’s handwriting, but typewritten. The Strand Magazine published extracts from it in August 1943, and it was finally published after demand from Sherlock Holmes societies in 1947, when it was embraced as a new (if slightly inferior) part of the canon by The Baker Street Irregulars amongst others.^[23] Initial suspicions of forgery were reported by Vincent Starret.^[24]

In September 1945, a letter was received by Hesketh Pearson, a biographer of Sir Arthur. The letter stated, «My pride is not unduly hurt by your remark that ‘The Man who was Wanted’ is certainly not up to scratch for the sting is much mitigated by your going on to remark that it carries the authentic trade–mark! This, I feel, is a great compliment to my one and only effort at plagiarism.» The letter was written by an architect named Arthur Whitaker who had sent the story to Arthur Conan Doyle in 1911 with a suggestion that they publish it as a joint collaboration. Doyle refused, but sent Whitaker a «cheque for ten guineas» in payment for the story.^[25] After seeing it attributed to Sir Arthur in the Sunday Dispatch, Whitaker wrote a letter to Denis Conan Doyle explaining the true authorship. Denis forwarded the letter to his brother Adrian, who became angry, demanded proof, and threatened legal action. Whitaker had retained a carbon copy and the Doyles admitted in 1949, after seeing the carbon copy and listening to people who had read it in 1911, that Whitaker was the author.

Doyle had bought the story, in the thought that he might use the idea at a later date, but he never did.^{[citation needed]} Pearson, Green, Tracy and the Doyle estate agree that Whitaker wrote the story, though Haining still claims that «the opening scene between Holmes and Watson betrays the hand of the master», and that the story is partly written by Doyle. He points out that Doyle’s wife, sons and biographer were fooled by the style, and it is possible there was a redraft made.^[26] The story is published in Penguin’s The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes collection under the title of «The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker.»

«The Adventure of the Two Collaborators» (first published 1923)[edit]

Though never claimed by any serious critic to be a Doyle work, this parody is listed here due to a popular misconception that this was written by Doyle for his friend, J. M. Barrie (of Peter Pan fame). (Perhaps contributing to this misconception is the fact that the story appears for the first time only in a work of Doyle’s, and all subsequent printings are from that source.) In fact, this story was written by Barrie for Doyle following a period of the two of them working together on a play, Jane Annie. The story itself involves Doyle and Barrie visiting Holmes, with Doyle killing Holmes due to his irritating intelligence (which perhaps reflects Doyle’s killing off of the character in «The Adventure of the Final Problem»).

Stageplays[edit]

The Painful Predicament of Mr Sherlock Holmes (1905)

The recognition of William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes was growing as a result of the success of the play Sherlock Holmes. Playing upon his most famous role, a short comedy sketch performed by William Gillette as a curtain raiser to an unrelated play. It involves a mute Sherlock Holmes, and a very talkative client. In Haining and Tracy’s books, they speculate as to whether or not this play was written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Certainly Gillette would have needed Doyle’s consent to write an original work involving Sherlock Holmes, as the character was under copyright, but it is presumed by most Sherlockians that Gillette wrote the whole thing himself. Haining, however claims that Gillette may have asked Doyle to ‘whip up something quickly for him’. However, no manuscript exists in Doyle’s hand, and no reference of the play is left by him, it has been assumed by most that it is little more than a William Gillette curiosity.^[27]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Doyle, Arthur Conan (1980). Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-29454-1. Edited by Jack Tracy.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan (1981). The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Secaucus: Castle Books. ISBN 0-89009-407-1. Edited by Peter Haining.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan (1983). The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes. Harmondsworth Eng.: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-006432-X. Edited by Richard Lancelyn Green.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan (2009). The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes. Indianapolis: Gasogene. ISBN 978-0-938501-49-7. Edited by Leslie S. Klinger.
• Lellenberg, Jon L. (1990). Nova 57 Minor. Bloomington: Gaslight Publications.

External links[edit]

Canon[edit]

• «Sherlock Holmes». 8 July 1930. at Internet Archive
• Sherlockian-sherlock.com: Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Canon – with online audiobooks
• Sherlockian.Net: The original stories
• Arthur Conan Doyle at Project Gutenberg
• Writings about the Agent, the Canon, and the Apocrypha

[edit]

• Classics of Sherlockiana: the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes
• Sherlockian parodies or apocrypha Archived 12 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Other Works on the Web
• Four Noncanonical Sherlock Holmes Short Stories public domain audiobook at LibriVox

Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the 56 short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.^[1] In this context, the term «canon» is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle’s original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters.

Usually capitalized by aficionados of the Sherlockian game as «the Canon», the description of these 60 adventures as the Sherlock Holmes canon and the game of applying the methods of «Higher Criticism» to it was started by Ronald Knox as a playful use of the traditional definition of canon as an authoritative list of books accepted as holy scripture.^[2]

Novels[edit]

The four novels of the canon:

1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901–1902)
4. The Valley of Fear (1914–1915)

Short stories[edit]

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
4. His Last Bow (1917)
5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)[edit]

Published 14 October 1892; contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892 with original illustrations by Sidney Paget.^[3]

1. «A Scandal in Bohemia» (June 1891)
2. «The Red-Headed League» (August 1891)
3. «A Case of Identity» (September 1891)
4. «The Boscombe Valley Mystery» (October 1891)
5. «The Five Orange Pips» (November 1891)
6. «The Man with the Twisted Lip» (December 1891)
7. «The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle» (January 1892)
8. «The Adventure of the Speckled Band» (February 1892)
9. «The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb» (March 1892)
10. «The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor» (April 1892)
11. «The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet» (May 1892)
12. «The Adventure of the Copper Beeches» (June 1892)

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893–94)[edit]

Contains 12 stories published in The Strand as further episodes of the Adventures between December 1892 and December 1893 with original illustrations by Sidney Paget (after the magazine publication, Doyle included «The Adventure of the Cardboard Box» only in the His Last Bow collection).

1. «The Adventure of Silver Blaze» (December 1892)
2. «The Adventure of the Cardboard Box» (January 1893)
3. «The Adventure of the Yellow Face» (February 1893)
4. «The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clerk» (March 1893)
5. «The Adventure of the Gloria Scott» (April 1893)
6. «The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual» (May 1893)
7. «The Adventure of the Reigate Squire» (June 1893)
8. «The Adventure of the Crooked Man» (July 1893)
9. «The Adventure of the Resident Patient» (August 1893)
10. «The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter» (September 1893)
11. «The Adventure of the Naval Treaty» (October–November 1893)
12. «The Final Problem» (December 1893)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)[edit]

Contains 13 stories published in The Strand between October 1903 and December 1904 with original illustrations by Sidney Paget.

1. «The Adventure of the Empty House» (October 1903)
2. «The Adventure of the Norwood Builder» (November 1903)
3. «The Adventure of the Dancing Men» (December 1903)
4. «The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist» (January 1904)
5. «The Adventure of the Priory School» (February 1904)
6. «The Adventure of Black Peter» (March 1904)
7. «The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton» (April 1904)
8. «The Adventure of the Six Napoleons» (May 1904)
9. «The Adventure of the Three Students» (June 1904)
10. «The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez» (July 1904)
11. «The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter» (August 1904)
12. «The Adventure of the Abbey Grange» (September 1904)
13. «The Adventure of the Second Stain» (December 1904)

His Last Bow (1917)[edit]

Contains 7 stories published 1908–1917. Many editions of His Last Bow have eight stories, with «The Adventure of the Cardboard Box» being a part of this collection rather than in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

1. «The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge» (1908)
2. «The Adventure of the Red Circle» (1911)
3. «The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans» (1908)
4. «The Adventure of the Dying Detective» (1913)
5. «The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax» (1911)
6. «The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot» (1910)
7. «His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes» (1917)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)[edit]

Contains 12 stories published 1921–1927.

1. «The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone» (1921)
2. «The Problem of Thor Bridge» (1922)
3. «The Adventure of the Creeping Man» (1923)
4. «The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire» (1924)
5. «The Adventure of the Three Garridebs» (1924)
6. «The Adventure of the Illustrious Client» (1924)
7. «The Adventure of the Three Gables» (1926)
8. «The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier» (1926)
9. «The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane» (1926)
10. «The Adventure of the Retired Colourman» (1926)
11. «The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger» (1927)
12. «The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place» (1927)

Conan Doyle’s Favourite Stories[edit]

1. «The Adventure of the Speckled Band» (1892)
2. «The Red-headed League» (1891)
3. «The Adventure of the Dancing Men» (1903)
4. «The Final Problem» (1893)
5. «A Scandal in Bohemia» (1891)
6. «The Adventure of the Empty House» (1903)
7. «The Five Orange Pips» (1891)
8. «The Adventure of the Second Stain» (1904)
9. «The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot» (1910)
10. «The Adventure of the Priory School» (1904)
11. «The Musgrave Ritual» (1893)
12. «The Reigate Squires» (1893)^[4]

[edit]

Since the author’s death, professional and amateur Holmesians have discussed endlessly the expansion of this canon, to include other works by Doyle, including works in other media, into the current complete adventures.^[5] Rumours have always surrounded lost works,^[1] and in recent years further investigations have revealed more to the traditionally collected canon. As there exists no definitive body to argue what is, and what is not canon beyond the already established novels and stories, it is unlikely that any piece, no matter how good its claim to be «canonical» will ever be popularly received into published versions of the Complete Sherlock Holmes. However, as many as eighteen works have been cited as possible entrants. These works include plays, poems, essays on the character, and even short stories.

Published collections of extracanonical works include: Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha, edited by Jack Tracy; The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Peter Haining; The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes, edited by Richard Lancelyn Green; and the final volume of Leslie S. Klinger’s Sherlock Holmes Reference Library titled The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes. These works, each with slightly different contents, discussed several titles and their place in the canon.^[6]

Noncanonical works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle[edit]

In addition to the canon, Doyle wrote (occasionally with a co-writer) a number of vignettes, play adaptations and essays involving Holmes, and two short stories in which Holmes makes a possible cameo appearance. Most were published in various places during his lifetime; another has only come to light since his death. These are listed below with further detail. All these works except the plays are collected in The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Short stories[edit]

«The Field Bazaar» (1896)[edit]

«The Field Bazaar» was written for an Edinburgh University fundraising event. Doyle had been requested by his university to contribute a short piece of literature for a charity magazine. In the story, Watson has received a similar request and whilst he reads the letter at breakfast, Holmes correctly deduces the sender of the letter and Watson’s thoughts with regard to the letter. It has many similarities with the canonical stories, most notably the metafictional twist in which Watson supplants Doyle as the author publishing his own stories in a magazine. It also plays upon not only the famous skill of Holmes’ observations producing apparently miraculous results, but also the notion of the «traditional breakfast scenes» which open many Holmes short stories.^[7]

«The Story of the Man with the Watches» (1898)[edit]

Though Doyle had killed off his character in «The Final Problem» (1893), he still wrote other short stories for publication in The Strand Magazine, including «The Story of the Man with the Watches» (published in July 1898, with illustrations by Frank Craig). It was collected in Doyle’s Round the Fire Stories (1908) and Tales of Terror and Mystery (1922).^[8] The story concerns the appearance of a dead man in a railway carriage, with six pocket watches in his jacket. An explanation is offered by an unnamed «well-known criminal investigator», but the narrator notes that it is flawed, as it doesn’t take into account all the facts. A man involved in the accidental murder of the victim writes a letter to the detective, saying that it was a «mighty ingenious» solution but entirely incorrect and continues to share the true events of that day. Some commentators have proposed that the unnamed detective is Holmes. The story shares the same backing for categorising as a Sherlock Holmes story as «The Story of the Lost Special», and appears in French anthologies.^[9] The story was adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 2009 as «The Thirteen Watches», in an episode from The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The number of watches was changed because the new title came from a reference (in the Holmes story «The Noble Bachelor») to Holmes’ involvement with the watches incident. The story was also adapted for radio in 2012 as «The Addleton Tragedy», an episode of the Imagination Theatre radio series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.^[10]

«The Story of the Lost Special» (1898)[edit]

«The Story of the Lost Special» was published in The Strand Magazine in August 1898.^[8] It depicts a seemingly inexplicable mystery in which a special train and its few passengers disappear between two stations. After the mystery is described in full, it is stated that a letter appeared in the press, giving a proposed solution from «an amateur reasoner of some celebrity». As with «The Story of the Man with the Watches», it is possible, and has been proposed by Haining, Tracy, and Green, amongst others that this «amateur reasoner» was Sherlock Holmes. The strongest clue to this is the quotation, «once one has eliminated the impossible…», used by Holmes throughout his deductions. However, this suggested solution is proved wrong by a confession from the organising criminal once he is later arrested for an unrelated crime. Haining suggested that Doyle was «getting out some Holmes» during the series hiatus, but given the failure of the unnamed detective it appears he was parodying his most famous creation. The story was published in book form in Doyle’s Round the Fire Stories (1908), and has for years appeared in French editions of the complete adventures.^[9]

Plot for Sherlock Holmes Story (c. 1900)[edit]

When searching through Doyle’s papers, Hesketh Pearson, a biographer of his, came across a plan for an unwritten story. As Richard Lancelyn Green notes, «there is no evidence to show that it is by [Doyle] and strong internal evidence to suggest that it’s not».^[11] Various authors have attempted to complete the story (named «The Adventure of the Tall Man» by Peter Haining) and put it alongside the canon. Some are very close to Doyle’s plot, others include variations from it.^[12] However no ‘official’ completion has been made (In the same way as The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes was intended as an official continuation of the canon).

«How Watson Learned the Trick» (1924)[edit]

In 1922, several authors were approached to contribute to the library of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House. Doyle wrote a short Sherlock Holmes story, just 503 words long, onto the tiny pages of a specially constructed miniature book: «How Watson Learned the Trick». The story was later published alongside works by other authors in The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House Library (1924). Though written 28 years after «The Field Bazaar», this is almost a companion piece to that story. Like «The Field Bazaar», this story is a breakfast scene, during which Watson attempts to mimic Holmes’ style in guessing his thoughts. Watson’s intuitions are proved wrong, however. Unlike almost all parts of the Sherlock Holmes story it is written in the third person, presumably due to its length.^[13]

Stageplays[edit]

Angels of Darkness (c. 1889)[edit]

Unpublished until 2000, this play was written shortly after A Study in Scarlet was published. It is essentially a rewrite of the American chapters of A Study in Scarlet, with the London action moving to San Francisco. Holmes is not present, but Watson is, in a very different form. He acts discreditably and even marries another woman. The publication of this play was at first suppressed, Doyle’s biographer, John Dickson Carr stated that it would do no good for the public to read this, a view that Haining endorses readily.^[14] The play is notable for its contrasting sensationalist and comic scenes, and it is contained in Klinger’s Apocrypha.^{[citation needed]}

Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts (or Sherlock Holmes) (1899)[edit]

The original Sherlock Holmes play written by Arthur Conan Doyle and William Gillette had a successful run of over 30 years. It has many original parts which are not found in the short stories but borrows many events from the canonical adventures, namely «A Scandal in Bohemia» and «The Adventure of the Final Problem». Also, it had elements from A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, «The Boscombe Valley Mystery», «The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter», and «The Adventure of the Naval Treaty». It includes the very first mention of the phrase «Elementary, my dear Watson».^[15][16] While Doyle wrote the original version, it is unclear how much of his material survived in the play as performed, which was written by Gillette. Doyle and Gillette later revised the play together; it has since been revised by others twice.^{[citation needed]}

The Speckled Band (or The Stonor Case) (1902)[edit]

Around 1902, Doyle wrote and produced a play based on his short story «The Adventure of the Speckled Band». It premièred 8 years later, at the Adelphi Theatre, London on 4 June 1910, with H. A. Saintsbury as Sherlock Holmes and Lyn Harding as Dr. Grimesby Roylott. The play, originally entitled The Stonor Case, differs from the story in several small details, such as the names of some of the characters^[17] and the timeline is also changed. Holmes mentions Mary Morstan, who had already proposed Dr. Watson, twice and Charles Augustus Milverton also appears as a character.

The Crown Diamond: An Evening With Mr Sherlock Holmes (1921)[edit]

«The Crown Diamond» is an alternate version of the short story «The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone» though it predates its counterpart by some time,^[18] Sometime during the original run the short story was adapted from the play, this is the reason that the narrative is told in third person rather than by the traditional narrator Watson. Some claim that the play originally appeared in an early draft of «Sherlock Holmes» (above) and was later removed, with some elements finding their way into «The Adventure of the Empty House» before the entire play was resurrected, some years later, into «The Crown Diamond» and «The Mazarin Stone.»

Essays and retrospectives[edit]

Arthur Conan Doyle rarely gave interviews or publicly discussed his character. However, the following is a list of Doyle essays on his character which are currently in publication, either in Green or Haining’s book or in standard editions of the Complete Stories:

«To An Undiscerning Critic» (1912)[edit]

Guiterman first published his homage in America in Life (5 December 1912) and then in London Opinion (14 December 1912), and in his collection The Laughing Muse. Doyle’s answer appeared in the 26 December 1912 issue of London Opinion and was reprinted in the memoir of the editor of London Opinion, Lincoln Springfield. The late Dean Dickensheet appears to be the first to print the poems together, in An ‘Undiscerning Critic’ Discerned.^{[citation needed]}

«Some Personalia about Mr. Sherlock Holmes» (1917)[edit]

This essay was featured in The Strand Magazine as a Christmas treat to its readers. It talks of the way Holmes had caught the public imagination and Doyle’s view on his character.^[19]

«The Truth About Sherlock Holmes» (1923)[edit]

An essay from Collier’s Weekly, in which Doyle explains exactly where Holmes came from. It contains, at the end, J. M. Barrie’s «The Adventure of the Two Collaborators».^[20]

«Mr. Sherlock Holmes to His Readers» (1927)[edit]

This appeared in The Strand Magazine to introduce a competition to name the best Sherlock Holmes adventures. The same essay, with two paragraphs cut, appears as the preface to The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.^{[citation needed]}

«How I Made My List» (1927)[edit]

This is the sequel to the article mentioned above. In it, Doyle listed what he thought were the best Holmes adventures. He noted that had he been able to include stories from The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes he would certainly have included «The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane» and «The Adventure of the Illustrious Client».^[21] The list is as follows:

1. «The Adventure of the Speckled Band»
2. «The Red-Headed League»
3. «The Adventure of the Dancing Men»
4. «The Adventure of the Final Problem»
5. «A Scandal in Bohemia»
6. «The Adventure of the Empty House»
7. «The Five Orange Pips»
8. «The Adventure of the Second Stain»
9. «The Adventure of the Devil’s Foot»
10. «The Adventure of the Priory School»
11. «The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual»
12. «The Adventure of the Reigate Squire»

Richard Lancelyn Green’s The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes also includes five prefaces to the various editions of Sherlock Holmes stories and novels, Doyle’s speech at the Stoll Convention Dinner (1921), some chapters from Doyle’s autobiography Memoirs and Adventures, and several interviews.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]

These are works which have in the past been thought to have been written by Doyle. Some have been conclusively proved to have no Doyle input, the composition of others still remains unclear.

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes (1954)[edit]

The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, is a 1954 collection of stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle’s son Adrian Conan Doyle and Arthur’s biographer, novelist John Dickson Carr. The stories are generally extrapolations of cases briefly mentioned in the canonical work, but tend to contradict themselves and each other. They are generally considered Sherlock Holmes pastiches.^[22]

The stories contained in the collection are:

1. «The Adventure of the Seven Clocks»
2. «The Adventure of the Gold Hunter»
3. «The Adventure of the Wax Gamblers»
4. «The Adventure of the Highgate Miracle»
5. «The Adventure of the Black Baronet»
6. «The Adventure of the Sealed Room»
7. «The Adventure of Foulkes Rath»
8. «The Adventure of the Abbas Ruby»
9. «The Adventure of the Dark Angels»
10. «The Adventure of the Two Women»
11. «The Adventure of the Deptford Horror»
12. «The Adventure of the Red Widow»

Short stories[edit]

«The Case of the Man Who Was Wanted» (c. 1914)[edit]

This mystery, a completed Sherlock Holmes story, was found in 1942 by a Doyle biographer, Hesketh Pearson, searching through a box of Doyle’s papers. It was originally announced that the story would not be published by the Doyle estate, but it was announced it certainly was by Doyle, as the manuscript supposedly appeared in his own handwriting. However, according to Jon L. Lellenberg in Nova 57 Minor, the manuscript was not in Doyle’s handwriting, but typewritten. The Strand Magazine published extracts from it in August 1943, and it was finally published after demand from Sherlock Holmes societies in 1947, when it was embraced as a new (if slightly inferior) part of the canon by The Baker Street Irregulars amongst others.^[23] Initial suspicions of forgery were reported by Vincent Starret.^[24]

In September 1945, a letter was received by Hesketh Pearson, a biographer of Sir Arthur. The letter stated, «My pride is not unduly hurt by your remark that ‘The Man who was Wanted’ is certainly not up to scratch for the sting is much mitigated by your going on to remark that it carries the authentic trade–mark! This, I feel, is a great compliment to my one and only effort at plagiarism.» The letter was written by an architect named Arthur Whitaker who had sent the story to Arthur Conan Doyle in 1911 with a suggestion that they publish it as a joint collaboration. Doyle refused, but sent Whitaker a «cheque for ten guineas» in payment for the story.^[25] After seeing it attributed to Sir Arthur in the Sunday Dispatch, Whitaker wrote a letter to Denis Conan Doyle explaining the true authorship. Denis forwarded the letter to his brother Adrian, who became angry, demanded proof, and threatened legal action. Whitaker had retained a carbon copy and the Doyles admitted in 1949, after seeing the carbon copy and listening to people who had read it in 1911, that Whitaker was the author.

Doyle had bought the story, in the thought that he might use the idea at a later date, but he never did.^{[citation needed]} Pearson, Green, Tracy and the Doyle estate agree that Whitaker wrote the story, though Haining still claims that «the opening scene between Holmes and Watson betrays the hand of the master», and that the story is partly written by Doyle. He points out that Doyle’s wife, sons and biographer were fooled by the style, and it is possible there was a redraft made.^[26] The story is published in Penguin’s The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes collection under the title of «The Adventure of the Sheffield Banker.»

«The Adventure of the Two Collaborators» (first published 1923)[edit]

Though never claimed by any serious critic to be a Doyle work, this parody is listed here due to a popular misconception that this was written by Doyle for his friend, J. M. Barrie (of Peter Pan fame). (Perhaps contributing to this misconception is the fact that the story appears for the first time only in a work of Doyle’s, and all subsequent printings are from that source.) In fact, this story was written by Barrie for Doyle following a period of the two of them working together on a play, Jane Annie. The story itself involves Doyle and Barrie visiting Holmes, with Doyle killing Holmes due to his irritating intelligence (which perhaps reflects Doyle’s killing off of the character in «The Adventure of the Final Problem»).

Stageplays[edit]

The Painful Predicament of Mr Sherlock Holmes (1905)

The recognition of William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes was growing as a result of the success of the play Sherlock Holmes. Playing upon his most famous role, a short comedy sketch performed by William Gillette as a curtain raiser to an unrelated play. It involves a mute Sherlock Holmes, and a very talkative client. In Haining and Tracy’s books, they speculate as to whether or not this play was written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Certainly Gillette would have needed Doyle’s consent to write an original work involving Sherlock Holmes, as the character was under copyright, but it is presumed by most Sherlockians that Gillette wrote the whole thing himself. Haining, however claims that Gillette may have asked Doyle to ‘whip up something quickly for him’. However, no manuscript exists in Doyle’s hand, and no reference of the play is left by him, it has been assumed by most that it is little more than a William Gillette curiosity.^[27]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Doyle, Arthur Conan (1980). Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-29454-1. Edited by Jack Tracy.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan (1981). The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Secaucus: Castle Books. ISBN 0-89009-407-1. Edited by Peter Haining.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan (1983). The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes. Harmondsworth Eng.: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-006432-X. Edited by Richard Lancelyn Green.
• Doyle, Arthur Conan (2009). The Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes. Indianapolis: Gasogene. ISBN 978-0-938501-49-7. Edited by Leslie S. Klinger.
• Lellenberg, Jon L. (1990). Nova 57 Minor. Bloomington: Gaslight Publications.

External links[edit]

Canon[edit]

• «Sherlock Holmes». 8 July 1930. at Internet Archive
• Sherlockian-sherlock.com: Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Canon – with online audiobooks
• Sherlockian.Net: The original stories
• Arthur Conan Doyle at Project Gutenberg
• Writings about the Agent, the Canon, and the Apocrypha

[edit]

• Classics of Sherlockiana: the Apocrypha of Sherlock Holmes
• Sherlockian parodies or apocrypha Archived 12 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Other Works on the Web
• Four Noncanonical Sherlock Holmes Short Stories public domain audiobook at LibriVox

Библиография текстов о Шерлоке Холмсе, талантливом детективе с Бейкер-стрит, насчитывает более шестидесяти произведений. Их основной объем составляют рассказы и повести, а ведь есть и не вошедшие в цикл пьесы, эссе и даже стихотворение.

Как разобраться хотя бы в канонических и переведенных на русский язык текстах? Читайте наш путеводитель!

Этюд в багровых тонах

Повесть (или роман), где Шерлок впервые предстал перед читателями таким, каким мы его знаем: среднего роста молодой человек, самозабвенно разгадывающий загадки и играющий на скрипке. Доктор Ватсон, от лица которого ведется повествование, характеризует его так:

«Ростом он был больше шести футов, но при своей необычайной худобе казался еще выше. Взгляд у него был острый, пронизывающий, если не считать тех периодов оцепенения, о которых говорилось выше; тонкий орлиный нос придавал его лицу выражение живой энергии и решимости. Квадратный, чуть выступающий вперед подбородок тоже говорил о решительном характере».

В первой главе повести доктор Ватсон только знакомится со своим будущим компаньоном и переезжает в квартиру на Бейкер-стрит под крыло к хозяйственной миссис Хадсон. Но уже в третьей главе новые друзья берутся за первое дело: убийство американца Еноха Дж. Дреббера и его секретаря ​​Джозефа Стэнджерсона.

Этюд в багровых тонах Артур Конан Дойл Электронная книга 159 ₽ На Литрес

В тексте Конан Дойл весьма жестко отозвался о мормонах и уже в следующей повести раскритиковал свое же произведение, авторство которого приписал Ватсону.

Знак четырех

Эта повесть была написана через два года после «Этюда в багровых тонах» для американского журнала Lippincott’s Monthly и называлась «Знак четырех, или Загадка Шолто». А в виде книги текст был опубликован только в 1890-м, уже с сокращенным и привычным нам названием.

По сюжету Шерлок и Ватсон уже несколько лет живут под одной крышей, вполне устраивая друг друга как соседи и компаньоны. Однажды к ним за помощью приходит девушка по имени Мэри Морстен, которая просит найти ее отца и отгадать, кто же на протяжении шести лет ежегодно присылает ей прекрасную жемчужину. Шерлок раскрывает это дело так же легко, как предыдущее: Мэри оказывается наследницей богатейшего клада, но тот, увы, тонет в Темзе, а Ватсон влюбляется в девушку и в конце делает ей предложение.

Знаменитые приключения Шерлока Холмса (комплект из 2 книг: «Собака Баскервилей» и «Его прощальный поклон», «Знак четырех» и «Записки о Шерлоке Холмсе») Остальное

Через несколько лет Мэри умрет, и в рассказе «Человек с побелевшим лицом» (сборник «Записки о Шерлоке Холмсе») сыщик горько констатирует, что Ватсон бросил его ради «очередной» жены.

Сборник «Приключения Шерлока Холмса»

Эта книга окончательно сформировалась в 1892 году. После повестей «Этюд в багровых тонах» и «Знак четырех», которые понравились критикам, но не принесли особой популярности среди читателей, Конан Дойл занялся рассказами. Эти тексты он публиковал в новом на тот момент журнале Strand Magazine и этим принес изданию огромный успех.

Каждый рассказ сборника самостоятелен и может стать началом вашего знакомства с циклом. Но есть одно маленькое исключение. Во флагманской истории «Скандал в Богемии» впервые появляется Ирэн Адлер — единственный персонаж, сумевший обвести вокруг пальца самого Шерлока.

Приключения Шерлока Холмса Артур Конан Дойл Мягкая обложка

Сборник «Воспоминания Шерлока Холмса»

Ежемесячные публикации рассказов продолжались еще год, за который автор так устал от Шерлока, что почти возненавидел его. Кроме того, у Конан Дойла были другие, более «серьезные» произведения, а читатели почему-то оставались влюблены именно в приключения сыщика. В итоге писатель выпустил еще десять рассказов, а в одиннадцатом — «Последнем деле Шерлока Холмса» — убил своего героя.

Как и в предыдущей книге, почти все тексты тут самостоятельны, однако в финальном автор ввел нового талантливого персонажа — профессора Мориарти и описал смерть сыщика.

Собака Баскервилей

Пожалуй, самое известное произведение цикла. История о семейных тайнах, изощренном преступлении и борьбе за наследство так понравилась читателям, критикам, кинематографистам, что одних только экранизаций повести около трех десятков.

Эта история стала первым появлением Шерлока Холмса после его трагической гибели у Рейхенбахского водопада. Писатель перенес время действия за два года до смерти персонажа и снова позволил читателям насладиться атмосферой старого английского поместья.

-23% Собака Баскервилей Артур Конан Дойл Мягкая обложка 207 ₽ 269 ₽ -23% Добавить в корзину

Сборник «Возвращение Шерлока Холмса»

А уже в этой книге автор «выкрутиться» не смог. Бесконечный поток писем от читателей, среди которых, скорее всего, были и сообщения от членов правящего дома, вынудил Конан Дойла вернуть персонажа на литературную арену и снова рассказать о его приключениях.

В «Пустом доме», первом рассказе книги, выясняется, что Холмс вовсе не умер, а два года путешествовал по Тибету, но теперь вернулся и с новыми силами готов взяться за расследования преступлений.

-23% Возвращение Шерлока Холмса Артур Конан Дойл Мягкая обложка 207 ₽ 269 ₽ -23% Добавить в корзину

Долина ужаса

Четвертое и последнее большое произведение о Шерлоке Холмсе, в котором продолжается его противостояние с профессором Мориарти. История отчасти основана на реальных событиях, за основу сюжета Конан Дойл взял рассказ о деятельности тайного общества «Молли Магуайерс».

Странное убийство, события многолетней давности и блестяще раскрытое дело: в этом произведении Конан Дойл остался верен себе. Хронологически повесть стоит после смерти и воскрешения знаменитого сыщика, но читается как отдельное произведение без сложных отсылок к предыдущим текстам.

Сборник «Его прощальный поклон»

События этого сборника отсылают нас к самому началу XX века. В нем Холмс по-прежнему щелкает сложные загадки как орешки, заболевает страшной лихорадкой и даже участвует в Первой мировой войне.

Сборник «Записки о Шерлоке Холмсе»

Единственная книга, где повествование ведется от лица самого сыщика, а не доктора Ватсона. Рассказы раскиданы по разным годам и не привязаны к знаковым датам в биографии Шерлока Холмса.