Doyle, Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 1900. This book is titled “Memoirs Of Sherlock Holmes”, written by Arthur Conan Doyle and published by Harper & Brothers in New York and London in 1900. The first edition was published in late 1893 with an 1894 date, and this is a new and revised edition. The book has pale blue boards, gilt lettering and an image of handcuffs on the spine, a foreboding image in black and a gilt title on the front cover, blank endpapers with the inscription of A.D. Claflin in pencil on the front flyleaf, a frontis illustration of “The Death of Sherlock Holmes,” with Holmes on the edge of a cliff in mortal combat with Moriarty, the title page, a copyright page, one page of Contents, with eleven chapters - "The Adventure of the Card-Board Box” has been left out of the revised edition - then a two-page list of Illustrations, with 24 illustrations listed, including the frontispiece, 259 pages of text, and four pages of ads for books at the rear, including one leaf for books by A.C. Doyle published by Harper. This is the fourth novel about Sherlock Holmes, the memoirs are chronicled by Sherlock Holmes’ faithful partner, Dr. Watson, and during the chapter titled “The Final Problem”, Holmes and Professor Moriarty face off on a ledge above Reichenbach Falls and both plunge off the ledge to their deaths. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in 1887, and Holmes is perhaps the greatest and most well-known fictional detective, and despite appearing in only two stories, Moriarty had proven to be the most dangerous of all foes Holmes had ever encountered, Ah, yes - did Sherlock survive the fall? If you were a fan, would you have wanted him to die? Moriarty was Holmes’ arch rival, and public outcry was so great because fans wanted Holmes to just live on and on, and eventually Doyle did write him back into the series in “Hound of the Baskervilles” in 1901, and it was a financial boon to Doyle too. Holmes was ultimately featured in a total of 56 short stories - the last published in 1927 - and four novels by Doyle. And how could Doyle just make Sherlock suddenly reappear? It turns out Holmes did not die at all, it was just a fake. He killed his nemesis Moriarty, but Moriarty was clever and placed his own people all around the falls. Sherlock couldn't help but fake his own death till he eliminated Moriarty’s entire crime circle, which took a few years, of course. "The Final Problem" was first published in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom and McClure's in the United States, under the title "The Adventure of the Final Problem" in December 1893. It appeared in book form as part of the collection "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" in 1894, and the first U.S. edition included the “The Cardboard Box”, but at Doyle’s request, it was taken out of the revised edition. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for “A Study in Scarlet”, the first of four novels featuring Holmes and Dr. Watson. He wrote “A Study in Scarlet” in three weeks, when he was just 27, and the Sherlock Holmes stories became milestones in the field of mystery and crime fiction. But Doyle felt exploited by the publisher, Ward Lock & Co., because they didn’t pay him very well, so after one more novel, “The Sign of the Four,” Doyle left them and published five Holmes stories in the Strand Magazine. Yet Doyle's attitude towards his most famous creation was mixed. In November 1891, he wrote to his mother, "I think of slaying Holmes ... for good …. He takes my mind from better things." His mother responded, "You won't! You can't! You mustn’t!" In an attempt to deflect publishers' demands for more Holmes stories, he raised his price to a level intended to discourage them, but found they were willing to pay even the large sums he asked for. As a result, he became one of the best-paid authors of his time. The book is 8vo. and measures 7 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. wide, with a tight binding and clean pages and text, and the plates are all present and very clean too. There are hints of rubbing at the heel and crown, a tad of wear on the top edge of the front cover, hints of toning on the edges, the tips are slightly turned in, and overall a pleasing copy of the book. The first printing of the first American edition goes for $400 to $1250 on the rare book website we use, so this is the same title at a much lower starting price. #243 #1687