All Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The first story featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was written by the twenty-eight-year-old Conan Doyle in 1886. Before that, the young bachelor of medicine was engaged in private medical practice. His mother, who passionately loved books and had a talent for storytelling, instilled in him a love for literature. The brightest memories of childhood for young Arthur were connected to the captivating stories that she entertained him with. His first literary experience came when he detailed his life at a Jesuit college 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 considered to be Joseph Bell—a professor at Edinburgh University, where Arthur received his medical education. This man was famous for his ability to deduce the character and past of a person from the smallest details.
The beginning of Conan Doyle's literary career did not attract much attention. However, in 1889, Conan Doyle met with the editor of the American magazine 'Lippincott' and promised to write a story for this publication. As a result, in the February issue of the magazine in 1890, the story 'The Sign of the Four or the Mystery of Sholto' appeared. The story was reprinted by several British magazines, and then it was published as a separate book. The image of the private detective featured in it attracted public attention. The undeniable success of 'The Sign of the Four' prompted Doyle to create several more stories about the perceptive detective Holmes and his faithful companion Dr. Watson. For several years, the writer invented new and new stories about Holmes and eventually began to feel burdened by this character. After all, Conan Doyle considered himself primarily a writer of historical novels. However, his attempt to part ways with Holmes forever, by casting him into the depths of the Reichenbach Falls, turned out to be unsuccessful. The beloved hero had to be resurrected, and the 'Holmesiana' continued with the story '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 the 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. Paget, J. Hutchinson, and F. Wiles.