Books

First British edition, first impression, of the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel. The Valley of Fear was serialized in the Strand Magazine between September 1914 and May 1915. This UK edition, published on 3 June 1915, was preceded by the US edition, which was released on 27 February of the same year. It is, however, far less common, with some 20,000 fewer copies issued in Britain. The story was famously hailed by Doyle's biographer John Dickson Carr as the author's "best detective novel... From the opening chapter, with its noble Holmes-Watson dialogue, to the solution of the crime in the study, the reader is told every vital clue. These clues are emphasized, flourished, underlined. More than this, it is our clearest example of Conan Doyle's contribution to the detective story" (pp. 231-4). Octavo. Original red cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt. Frontispiece by Frank Wiles. Spine slightly cocked and faded, foxing to edges and a few internal leaves, endpapers lightly toned, else clean. A very good copy. Green & Gibson A39a. John Dickson Carr, The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1949.

The Valley of Fear is the fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel by Arthur Conan Doyle. It recounts the detective's investigation into a murder at Birlstone Manor. The story is divided into two parts; the first details Holmes' investigation, while the second provides the background to the events leading up to the murder.