All Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The first story featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was written by the twenty-eight-year-old Arthur Conan Doyle in 1886. Before that, the young bachelor of medicine was engaged in private medical practice. His mother, who had a passion for books... and a talent for storytelling, instilled in him a love for literature. The brightest memories of his childhood were associated with the fascinating stories she entertained him with. His first literary experience came when he described his life at the Jesuit college in detail to her. Many such letters have survived — about one and a half thousand. By the way, Arthur's sworn enemies at this college were the Moriarty brothers. The prototype of the detective created by Conan Doyle is believed to be Joseph Bell — a professor at Edinburgh University, where Arthur received his medical education. This man was known for his ability to discern a person's character and past from the smallest details.
The start of Conan Doyle's literary career did not arouse much interest. However, in 1889, Conan Doyle met with the editor of the American magazine 'Lippincott' and promised him to write a story for this publication. As a result, the novella 'The Sign of Four or The Mystery of Sholto' appeared in the February issue of the magazine in 1890. The story was reprinted by several British magazines and then published as a separate book. The image of the private detective featured in it attracted public attention. The unquestionable success of 'The Sign of Four' prompted Doyle to create several more stories about the insightful detective Holmes and his faithful companion Dr. Watson. Over the years, the writer devised new and new stories about Holmes and eventually began to feel burdened by this character. After all, Conan Doyle considered himself primarily an author of historical novels. However, his attempt to permanently part with Holmes, by throwing him to the bottom of the Reichenbach Falls, proved unsuccessful. The beloved hero had to be resurrected, and the 'Holmsiana' continued with the novella 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', which is now considered a classic of the detective genre.
In total, the complete collection of all canonical works about the famous detective consists of four novellas: 'A Study in Scarlet', 'The Sign of Four', 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', 'The Valley of Fear' and fifty-six short stories. All of them are arranged in this collection in chronological order of their publication. The book also includes five stories that are not part of the main collections. The edition is adorned with illustrations by several artists: R. Broders, A. Gilbert, R. Courtois, S. Padgett, J. Hutchinson, and F. Wiles.