Lot 183
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930) British physician and writer, best known for his detective stories about Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street and his friend and collaborator, Dr. Watson. He also wrote historical novels and, in later life, was an advocate of spiritualism.
Autograph Manuscript, one page, legal folio (12¾ x 8 inches), n.p., n.d. Although unsigned, the manuscript is written entirely in Doyle's hand. One page of the original manuscript for Doyle's fifth "Sherlock Holmes" novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, published in 1902. The title of the leaf indicates "Chapter XIII, Fixing the Nets," but the contents are actually at the end of Chapter XII, "Death on the Moor."
In full: "'We're at close grips at last,' said Holmes, as we walked together across the moor. 'What a nerve the fellow has! How he pulled himself together in the face of what must have bee a paralysing shock when he found that the wrong man had fallen a victim to his plot. I told you in London, Watson, and I telll you now again, that we have never had a foeman more worthy of our steel.'
'I am sorry that he has seen you.'
'And so was I at first. But there was no getting out of it.'
'What effect do you think it will have upon his plan, now that he knows you are here?'
'It may cause him to be more cautious or it may drive him to desperate measures at once. Like most clever criminals, he may be too confident in his own cleverness and imagine that he has completely deceived us.'
'Why should we not arrest at once/'
'My dear Watson, you were born to be a man of action. Your instinct is always to do something energetic. But supposing for argument's sake that we had him arrested tonight, what on earth the better off should we be for that? We could prove nothing against him. I know where he keeps his hound, but what of it? [This last sentence is crossed out]. There's the devilish cunning of it! If he were acting through a human agent we could get some evidence, but if we were to drag this great dog to the light of day it would not help us in putting a rope round the neck of its master.'
'Surely we have a case.'
'Not a shadow of one - only surmise and conjecture. We should be laughed out of court if we came with such a story and such evidence.'
'There is Sir Charles's death.'
'Found dead without a mark upon him. You…."
After killing Sherlock Holmes off in 1894, Doyle brought him back by popular demand in 1902 in The Hound of the Baskervilles. It proved to be one of the most popular of the series. To promote the book and the return of Holmes, the American publisher (McClure, Phillips & Company, New York) asked Doyle for the original manuscript and mounted an elaborate publicity campaign for the book by breaking up the pages and offering them one by one to dealers. (The other "Sherlock Holmes" manuscripts were not subjected to this treatment and remain complete). Because the pages of this manuscript were written and mounted on highly-acidic paper, many of them did not survive and very few are in as good condition as the page offered here. This particular page is very rare in that it has an actual mention of Holmes' name; only a handful of pages ever say Holmes' name. There are also two mentions of Watson's name on this page, including the famous phrase, "My dear Watson." Equally important is the fact that this page contains a whole scene in which Holmes converses with Dr. Watson about the mysterious murder on the moor. Most of the action in The Hound of the Baskervilles centers on Dr. Watson; Holmes only appears in about one-third of the story.
Archival repairs to folds on verso, otherwise fine. Housed in a custom-made case. An extremely important Doyle manuscript and an extremely rare "Sherlock Holmes"-related document.
Estimated Value $115,000 - 125,000
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