Beschreibung:

DOYLE, Arthur Conan, Sir, contributor. The Strand Magazine . London: George Newnes, 1891-1927. Volume I, number 7 - volume LXXIII, number 436. Illustrations by Sidney Paget Walter Paget Frank Wiles, Howard Elcock, and others. Together 79 issues, 8 o. Many frontispieces and text illustrations, some double-page. Original printed blue or full color wrappers depicting the view of the Strand after G.H. Haite. Color wrappers after 1925 and on most Christmas issues (a few spines perished, some tape repairs, scattered small chips and light stains, one cover with larger tear); custom Strand boxes, neatly labelled with story titles. A COMPLETE SET OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES STORIES AND NOVELS PUBLISHED IN THE STRAND , MOSTLY BEING THE FIRST APPEARANCES IN PRINT. Greenhough Smith, an editor of The Strand , recognized immediately the appeal that Sherlock Holmes would have for his readers. He would later describe his first package from Doyle's agent as, "a gift from Heaven, a godsend in the shape of a story that brought a gleam into the despairing life of this weary editor. Here was a new and gifted story-writer; there was no mistaking the ingenuity of the plot, the limpid clearness of style, the perfect art of telling a story." With encouragement from Newnes, Doyle delivered the first four stories of Adventures all within April 1891. Though Sherlock Holmes had already been introduced in A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four , it was not until his appearance in The Strand that he became a phenomenon. Conan Doyle himself was profiled as a celebrity in the December 1891 issue. Ten years later, the serialized Hound of the Baskervilles was, "an unprecedented success...the queues at the publisher's offices and throughout the country were extraordinary." (Gibson & Green p. 130). In addition to popularity, The Strand also provided Sherlock with a visual identity. Their chosen illustrator was Sidney Paget (1860-1908) who modeled Holmes after his younger brother Walter. (Walter was also an artist and numbered among those who continued to illustrate Holmes after Sidney's death.) It was Sidney who first supplied Holmes with a deerstalker cap, in the Boscombe Valley Mystery. Doyle was pleased both with the illustrations and the success, but remained markedly ambivalent towards his leading character. In fact, without the cajoling of magazine editors and their willingness to pay ever-increasing advances, Doyle would never have obliged his public with as many Sherlock Holmes stories as he did. Green & Gibson A10, A14, A26, A29, A39, A40, and A46. See also: Reginald Pound, The Strand Magazine , London, 1966 (included in this lot). The works were originally divided in series as follows: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . July 1891-June 1892 and December 1892-December 1893. -- The Hound of the Baskervilles. Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes . August 1901-April 1902. -- The Return of Sherlock Holmes . October 1903-December 1904. -- The Valley of Fear. A New Sherlock Holmes Story . September 1914-May 1915. -- [ Reminiscences and New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes ]. September 1908-December 1911. -- His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes . September 1917. -- [ New Sherlock Holmes Stories ]. October 1921-April 1927. LIST OF ADVENTURES, BY COLLECTED EDITION: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes : "A Scandal in Bohemia," July 1891, pp. 61-75; "The Red-Headed League," August 1891, pp. 190-204; "A Case of Identity," September 1891, pp. 248-59; "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," October 1891, pp. 401-16; "The Five Orange Pips," November 1891, pp. 481-9; "The Man with a Twisted Lip," December 1891, pp. 623-37; "The Blue Carbuncle," January 1892, pp. 73-85; "The Speckled Band," February 1892, pp. 142-57; "The Engineer's Thumb," March 1892, pp. 276-88; "The Noble Bachelor," April 1892, pp. 386-99; "The Beryl Coronet," May 1892, pp. 511-25; "The Copper Beeches," June 1892, pp. 613-28. -- Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes : "Silver Blaze," December 1892, pp. 645-60; "The Ye