First published November 1887 in Beeton’s Christmas Annual and as a novel in 1888.
Characters: Part One: Holmes, Watson, Inspector Lestrade, Inspector Gregson, Enoch Drebber, Young Stamford; Part two: Jefferson Hope, John Ferrier, Lucy Ferrier
Case date: part one 1881; part two from 1847 to 1860.
The publisher, according to practice, offered £25 to sell the manuscript outright; encouraged by their interest, he decided to press for a royalty. Unfortunately the publisher had heard neither of the Southsea family doctor, nor his rather unusual detective, and replied:
November 2 1886
Dear Sir,
In reply to your letter of yesterday’s date we regret to say that we shall be unable to allow you to retain a percentage on the sale of your work as it might give rise to some confusion. The tale may have to be inserted together with some other in one of our annuals, therefore we adhere to our original offer of £25 for the complete copyright.
We are, dear Sir,
Yours truly,
Ward, Lock & Co.
He never received another penny from this story. He was later to pay £5,000 for the rights to the story.
A Study in Scarlet was published by Ward Lock, who had acquired the business of Samuel Beeton; his best-known publications were his wife’s celebrated cookery books, yet Beeton’s Christmas Annual for 1887 is now extremely valuable because of the appearance of ‘the world’s first consulting detective’, as he styled himself. The first publication of the story in print was a landmark, giving us Doyle’s description of Sherlock Holmes - ‘rather over six feet... excessively lean... sharp and piercing eyes... thin hawk-like nose’, but the simultaneous first illustration, by D H Friston, did nothing at all for Sherlock Holmes, and Dr Watson looks pretty dreary with an excess of facial hair. The pictures were not a success and really neither was the story. In June 1990 a copy was sold in New York for $52,000. Only ten are known to be in existence - the British Library, the Bodleian and Cambridge University do not have examples.
Plot Online
John H. Watson MD, returns to London with wounds incurred in the second Afghan War. In the Criterion Bar, he meets Stamford and tells him that he is looking for new accommodation. Stamford knows Sherlock Holmes, who is looking for someone to share lodgings with him at 221B Baker Street.
The two men have not been sharing one another's company, and eccentricities, for long before Watson learns that Holmes is a consulting detective, helping Scotland Yard occasionally, in a private capacity. To his surprise, Watson finds himself invited to share an adventure. "A bad business at 3, Lauristan Gardens, off the Brixton Road," is the description applied to it by Inspector Tobias Gregson.
An American named Enoch J. Drebber has been murdered, and no clue exists save the word 'Rache', scrawled in blood on the wall. The police find few clues in the house but Holmes is able to deduce a little more and is less surprised than the police when Stangerson, the dead man's private secretary, is also murdered - with 'Rache' again written in blood. Who could have done it, since the police have the chief suspect placed under lock and key?
Download the story from the Guttenburg Project