# Sherlock Holmes (1887)

> Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published Nov 1887: publication record, synopsis, a verified quotation and sources.

Canonical page: https://lineageofshadows.com/works/sherlock-holmes/

Title: The Sherlock Holmes stories (the canon, 1887 to 1927)
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Attribution: Treated as one entry for the whole canon of novels and short stories; the Hound of the Baskervilles also has its own entry.
Form: Story canon
First appearance: Nov 1887 (timeline year 1887)
Includes: [The Hound of the Baskervilles](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/hound-of-the-baskervilles/)
Themes: Detection, The city, Empire, Science

## Publication record

- In one issue of Beeton's Christmas Annual, Nov 1887: Ward, Lock & Co., London. A Study in Scarlet, the first Holmes story. The Annual's title page is dated 21 November 1887; four illustrations by D. H. Friston. Doyle wrote it in about six weeks in March and April 1886 under the working title 'A Tangled Skein'. [1, 2]
- In one issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Feb 1890: J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia and London. The Sign of the Four, commissioned at the Lippincott dinner on or about 30 August 1889. First book edition: Spencer Blackett, 1 October 1890. [3, 4]
- Story, Jul 1891: The Strand Magazine, George Newnes, London. 'A Scandal in Bohemia', first of the Strand short stories, with ten illustrations by Sidney Paget. [5]
- Story, Dec 1893: The Strand Magazine, George Newnes, London. 'The Final Problem', nine Paget illustrations; the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia also lists a US newspaper appearance on 26 November 1893. Doyle's diary for December 1893 reads 'Killed Holmes'. [6]
- Story, Oct 1903: The Strand Magazine, George Newnes, London. 'The Adventure of the Empty House' opens The Return of Sherlock Holmes (US: Collier's, 26 September 1903; the collected Return followed in February 1905). [7]
- Serial, Sep 1914 – May 1915: The Strand Magazine, George Newnes, London. The Valley of Fear (US magazine run 20 September to 22 November 1914; first book edition Doran, New York, 27 February 1915). [8]
- Story, Apr 1927: The Strand Magazine, George Newnes, London. 'The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place', numbered the 62nd Holmes story in publication order by the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia; Liberty (US) ran it first, on 5 March 1927. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes appeared on 16 June 1927 (John Murray). [9, 10, 11]

## Synopsis

In Baker Street, London, the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes takes the cases that baffle Scotland Yard, and his friend Dr John Watson, an army surgeon invalided home from Afghanistan, writes them up. Holmes reads a stranger's trade from a stained cuff, follows a footprint through the fog and treats a crime as a problem in evidence rather than in feeling. Across forty years of stories he meets blackmailers, forgers, a criminal professor and enemies from the empire's far corners. His apparent death in 1893 and his return ten years later are among the best-known interruptions in popular fiction.

## Setting

Victorian and Edwardian London, centred on 221B Baker Street; Watson first appears as an army doctor back from Afghanistan. Places: London; Baker Street; Dartmoor; Afghanistan [12]

## From the text

> “No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin,” he observed. “Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow.

A Study in Scarlet, Part I, Chapter 2 (The Science of Deduction). Project Gutenberg ebook #244: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/244 (Taken from A Study in Scarlet (ebook 244); Gutenberg file does not name its source edition)

## Facts

- Holmes sneers at his fictional predecessors in the very first story. When Watson compares him to Poe's Dupin, he answers that 'Dupin was a very inferior fellow', and of Gaboriau's Lecoq he says 'Lecoq was a miserable bungler'. Doyle himself said in 1892 that 'the best detective in fiction is Edgar Allan Poe's Monsieur Dupin; then Monsieur Le Cocq, Gaboriau's hero.' [12, 13]
- The Strand run began in July 1891 with 'A Scandal in Bohemia', illustrated by Sidney Paget, whose pictures defined Holmes's look: ten for that first story, sixty for the Strand serial of The Hound of the Baskervilles. [5, 14]
- Doyle killed Holmes in 'The Final Problem' (Strand, December 1893). Popular accounts say about 20,000 readers cancelled their Strand subscriptions, but a Trinity College Dublin scholar presents that figure as a report and finds no evidence for the story that London clerks wore black armbands. [6, 15]
- The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia numbers 'Shoscombe Old Place' (Liberty, 5 March 1927; Strand, April 1927) as the 62nd Holmes story in publication order and lists it last in the Strand, about forty years after Holmes first appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual. [9, 1, 16]

## Threads in

- Descends from: [Murders in the Rue Morgue](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/murders-in-the-rue-morgue/): Doyle named Poe's C. Auguste Dupin as the best detective in fiction in 1892, and Watson compares Holmes to Dupin in A Study in Scarlet. [13, 12]
- Descends from: Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq: Doyle ranked Gaboriau's Lecoq second among fictional detectives (1892), and A Study in Scarlet has Holmes and Watson discuss Lecoq by name. [13, 12]

## Threads out

- Shares an origin with: [Dorian Gray](https://lineageofshadows.com/works/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/). Dorian Gray and The Sign of the Four were both commissioned by J. M. Stoddart for Lippincott's at the same dinner on or about 30 August 1889. [4, 17]

## Notes on dates and attribution

- Date of A Study in Scarlet: the Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia shows 'Beeton's Christmas Annual (21 november 1887, title page)'. Shown as November 1887 because a title-page date does not prove the day of issue.
- Last story published: the Encyclopedia lists Shoscombe last in the Strand and numbers it 62nd; the Case-Book order (Shoscombe 11th, Colourman 12th) is not publication order.
- The first printing of 'The Final Problem' may be a US newspaper appearance on 26 November 1893, before the Strand's December 1893 number; the Strand date is the anchor.

## Sources

1. A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/A_Study_in_Scarlet (accessed 2026-10-09)
2. A Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Chronology. The Victorian Web. https://victorianweb.org/authors/doyle/chronology.html (accessed 2026-10-09)
3. The Sign of the Four, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Sign_of_Four (accessed 2026-10-09)
4. Borrowed Sins (account of the Lippincott dinner, quoting Doyle's diary and Stoddart's letter of 30 August 1889). Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/Borrowed_Sins (accessed 2026-10-09)
5. A Scandal in Bohemia, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/A_Scandal_in_Bohemia (accessed 2026-10-09)
6. The Final Problem, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Final_Problem (accessed 2026-10-09)
7. The Adventure of the Empty House, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Empty_House (accessed 2026-10-09)
8. The Valley of Fear, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/The_Valley_of_Fear (accessed 2026-10-09)
9. Shoscombe Old Place, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Shoscombe_Old_Place (accessed 2026-10-09)
10. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/The_Case-Book_of_Sherlock_Holmes (accessed 2026-10-09)
11. The Adventure of the Retired Colourman, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Retired_Colourman (accessed 2026-10-09)
12. A Study in Scarlet (ebook 244). Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/244/pg244.txt (accessed 2026-10-09)
13. Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia (collects Doyle's statements on Poe and Dupin, 1892 to 1930). Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe (accessed 2026-10-09)
14. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles (accessed 2026-10-09)
15. Article by Clare Clarke (Trinity College Dublin) on the Holmes stories and Victorian detective fiction. Scroll.in. https://scroll.in/article/1013912/scroll_in (accessed 2026-10-09)
16. The Strand Magazine, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/The_Strand_Magazine (accessed 2026-10-09)
17. Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/wiki/Lippincott%27s_Monthly_Magazine (accessed 2026-10-09)