The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, First Edition, 1892, Signed Asprey Binding

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

First Edition, First Printing, 1892

Signed Binding by Asprey, London

Illustrated by Sidney Paget

This is a rare first edition, first printing of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” published by George Newnes, London, 1892 with "Southampton Street" absent from sign on the upper cover and the misprint in the final paragraph of the final page (317) reading "Miss Violent Hunter" as called for in the first printing. These are the first of the Sherlock Holmes short stories, originally published as single stories in the Strand Magazine from July 1891 to June 1892. They comprise: 'A Scandal in Bohemia'; 'The Adventure of 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' and 'The Adventure of the Copper Beeches'. The Literary Encyclopedia points out, “"Although Edgar Allan Poe is credited with inventing the detective story in the 1840s, and although two novellas featuring Sherlock Holmes appeared in 1887 (A Study in Scarlet) and 1890 (The Sign of the Four), it was the series of twelve Holmes stories that appeared in The Strand Magazine between July 1891 and June 1892, published together late in 1892 as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [the edition on offer here], that gave the modern detective story its form and made it, along with science fiction and fantasy, one of the most popular genres of fiction for over a century. Thus The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ranks among the most important works of popular fiction of the last 125 years, since it created one of popular culture’s most enduring icons: the detective. . . . One of the distinctive features of the Holmes stories—and no doubt a source of their enduring appeal—is the cool rationality displayed by Holmes in contrast to the 'bizarre' adventures that his logic tries to fathom and explain. But if we focus only on Holmes’s intellect, we are apt to miss the romance. Again and again, the stories enact the tension between the rationality of Holmes and the strangeness of the mysteries presented to him. . . . The romance formula is closely related to what is perhaps the ultimate appeal of the Holmes stories and the real source of their enduring popularity: their power to evoke a mystery that even the great detective himself cannot account for. . . . a double mystery: a manifest mystery, or rather a puzzle, which Holmes has no difficulty solving, and a latent mystery—hidden, submerged—which the story fails to clear up and which is the source of its power."

Measuring 9” x 6” and featuring 104 illustrations in the text by Sidney Page, the book is bound in later full morocco signed leather binding by Asprey, London with raised bands, gilded titles to the gilded paneled spines, double gild rule to the boards, marbled endpapers, gilted end pages, gild dentelles. Bound into the rear of the book are the publisher’s original blue cloth front and back cover as well as the spine. The gold stamp of Asprey, London appears on the bottom border of the back inside cover.

The condition of the book is Near FINE+ with some minor shelf wear to the boards that entails a rub to the front board and a few spots of soiling to the spine. Internally, the book is very clean with no evidence of foxing.

Photographs of the binding, endpapers, Asprey binding stamp, bound in original covers, and some illustrations from the book appear below. Please note that although the photographs appear digitized as thumbnails, they are viewable in the photo viewer by clicking the thumbnail.