Literature - 23 - Bauman Rare Books “Not Such A Hound As Mortal Eyes Have Ever Seen” 19. CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. London, 1902. Octavo, original black- and giltstamped pictorial red cloth. $9500. First edition, first issue, of the third Sherlock Holmes novel, widely regarded as the best of the series and “one of the most gripping stories in the English language,” with 16 illustrations by Sidney Paget. With a presentation note on Conan Doyle’s Windlesham stationery: “With Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s compliments—3 June 1924,” penned by Conan Doyle’s secretary Alfred H. Wood. Although Conan Doyle had killed off his most famous character by sending him over the Reichenbach Falls while grappling with Professor Moriarty in “The Final Problem” (December 1893), his readership demanded the sleuth’s return. The author obliged with this, the third—and still considered by many the best—Sherlock Holmes novel, carefully positioned on the title page as “another adventure” of Holmes. The Hound of the Baskervilles remains “one of the most gripping books in the language” (Crime & Mystery 100 Best 6). “The supernatural is handled with great effect and no letdown. The plot and subplots are thoroughly integrated and the false clues put in and removed with a master hand. The criminal is superb… and the secondary figures each contribute to the total effect of brilliancy and grandeur combined. One wishes one could be reading it for the first time” (Barzun & Taylor 1142). First issue, with “you” for “your” on page 13, line 3 and the illustration facing page 76 reversed (as it was originally in the Strand Magazine, October 1901). Without extremely scarce dust jacket. Green & Gibson A26. Pencil gift inscription, dated 1950. Presentation note with splits along folds, annotations on verso. Foxing to endpapers, a few minor smudges to text. Bump to spine, some slight toning to cloth, gilt bright. An exceptionally good copy.
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