Sherlock Holmes First Editions: How to Identify the Nine Books

Sherlock Holmes first editions are nine books published in London over forty years, and they are among the most collected books in English. They are also among the most confusing to identify, because Arthur Conan Doyle's publishers reprinted the popular titles in the same year as the first printing, usually in the same cloth, and because the American editions of most titles look like firsts to anyone who has not checked the imprint. This guide takes each book in turn, gives the publisher, the binding and the points that two or more sources agree on, and says where the traps are.

We track each book on its own page, with the first edition and its points recorded against the printing: A Study in Scarlet, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes.

The nine books at a glance

Book	First edition	Form	What to look for
A Study in Scarlet	Beeton's Christmas Annual, Ward, Lock, 1887; book from Ward, Lock, 1888	Magazine, then one volume	The annual itself; for the 1888 book, the first printing lacks the "youuger" misprint reported in the second
The Sign of Four	Spencer Blackett, 1890	One volume, red cloth	First issue binding with Spencer Blackett's name; 32 pages of adverts dated October 1890
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	George Newnes, 1892	One volume, light blue cloth	Blank street sign on the cover vignette; "cucaine" p. 133; "Violent" p. 317
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes	George Newnes, 1894	One volume, blue cloth, all edges gilt	No issue points generally cited; condition of the gilt and cloth
The Hound of the Baskervilles	George Newnes, 1902	One volume, red cloth, 16 plates	"you" for "your" on p. 13, line 3
The Return of Sherlock Holmes	George Newnes, 1905	One volume, dark blue cloth, 16 plates	Plates present; adverts at the end
The Valley of Fear	George H. Doran, New York, February 1915 (true first); Smith, Elder, London, 1915 (first UK)	One volume	The US edition came first
His Last Bow	John Murray, 1917	One volume	Murray imprint and 1917 date
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes	John Murray, 1927	One volume, with dust jacket	The jacket, and whether it is original

A Study in Scarlet: the annual and the book

Holmes first appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887, a shilling magazine in paper wrappers published by Ward, Lock, where A Study in Scarlet was the lead story. That annual is the true first edition of the first Holmes story and the most valuable item in the field. Randall Stock's census for Best of Sherlock lists the known copies, and they number a few dozen, many of them incomplete or in institutions. One copy sold at Sotheby's in 2007 for $156,000, and copies have been scarcer since. If you are offered one, the census is the first place to check.

The story's first appearance as a book is the Ward, Lock edition of 1888, with illustrations by Conan Doyle's father, Charles Doyle. Ward, Lock printed it more than once that year. Whitmore Rare Books describes a second printing by a misprint in the publisher's preface, where "younger" is set as "youuger"; a first printing should read correctly. Because the firm's name changed to Ward, Lock, Bowden and Co. in 1891, any copy with the longer imprint is a later edition, as is the illustrated edition of 1891 with pictures by George Hutchinson.

The Sign of Four, 1890

The second novel first appeared in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in February 1890, and the first edition in book form came from Spencer Blackett of London later that year. Bonhams catalogued a first issue in April 2022 as "first edition in book form, first issue": publisher's red cloth, with 32 pages of advertisements dated October 1890 bound in at the end. That copy, with a damp stain and repairs, sold for £5,100 including premium, which shows how far condition moves the price of a book whose fine copies are offered at many times that.

The binding is the thing to check. Spencer Blackett's own name on the spine and title page marks the first issue; dealers report that the sheets were later reissued under the Griffith Farran imprint, and those copies are not first issues. Smithsonian Magazine's account of the manuscript's sale in 2024 tells the story of the dinner with Lippincott's editor at which Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde were both commissioned, Wilde producing The Picture of Dorian Gray for the same magazine.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892

The first collection gathers the twelve stories from the Strand, with Sidney Paget's illustrations, and it was published by George Newnes in October 1892 in light blue cloth decorated in black and gilt. Dealers agree on three first-issue points, and they are the ones to confirm before you pay a first-issue price:

1. The street sign in the vignette on the front cover is blank. Later issues lettered it.
2. On page 133 "cocaine" is misprinted "cucaine".
3. On page 317 "Violet" is misprinted "Violent".

John Atkinson, Bauman Rare Books and the Grolier Club's Sherlock Holmes in 221 Objects exhibition all record these points. Newnes reprinted the book quickly, so a dated 1892 copy with the sign lettered or the misprints corrected is a later issue of the first edition. The American first, from Harper and Brothers in the same year, is a separate setting with its own typography.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1894

The second collection came from Newnes in December 1893, dated 1894 on the title page, in dark blue cloth blocked in black and lettered in gilt, with all edges gilt. Sotheby's description of the first edition records the binding. Unlike The Adventures, no first-issue points are generally cited for this book, so the first edition is identified by the imprint and date, and its value turns on the brightness of the cloth and gilt.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902

The best-known Holmes novel was serialised in the Strand from August 1901 and published by Newnes in March 1902, in red cloth lettered and decorated in gilt, with sixteen plates by Sidney Paget. The first printing has a misprint that every dealer we checked cites: on page 13, line 3, the text reads "you" where it should read "your". Newnes corrected it in later printings of the same year, which is why a 1902 Newnes Hound is not automatically a first printing.

Two further things to check. First, that all sixteen plates are present, since plates were often lost or removed; John Atkinson's listing of a "true first issue with all 16 plates" makes the point. Second, the illustration facing page 76, which Ulysses Rare Books reports is printed in mirror image in the first printing, with the illustrator's signature reversed. We list that as a reported point rather than a confirmed one until a second source records it. The American first edition, from McClure, Phillips in New York, followed in April 1902.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1905

Newnes published the third collection in March 1905, in dark blue cloth with gilt decoration, with sixteen plates by Paget and the publisher's advertisements at the end. Sotheby's describes the first English edition by those features. The American edition from McClure, Phillips had appeared a month earlier, in February 1905, with illustrations by Charles Raymond Macauley, so for this title the US edition has a claim to be the true first; British collectors still prize the Newnes book.

The Valley of Fear, 1915

Here the order is clear and the other way round. George H. Doran published The Valley of Fear in New York on 27 February 1915, and Smith, Elder published the London edition later that year. Wikipedia and dealers agree on the sequence, so the Doran book is the true first and the Smith, Elder book the first UK edition. Our guide to first editions versus first American editions explains why that distinction matters to the price.

His Last Bow, 1917, and The Case-Book, 1927

The last two collections came from John Murray. His Last Bow was published in October 1917, in red cloth, with the American edition from Doran the same month. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes followed in June 1927, in red cloth with a pictorial dust jacket, and it is the one Holmes first edition that is regularly offered in its original jacket. The jacket carries most of the value, and because the book is common in cloth and scarce in jacket, facsimile jackets are everywhere. Our guide to facsimile dust jackets shows how to tell a reproduction from an original, and the Case-Book page records the jacket's points.

Three traps

Same-year reprints. Newnes and Ward, Lock reprinted their Holmes books within months, in the same cloth and with the same date. The misprints above are the only way to separate the first printing from the second, which is why "1892" or "1902" on a title page proves nothing by itself. Our guide to points of issue explains how such points come to be known.

American editions. Harper, McClure, Phillips and Doran published handsome editions within weeks of the London ones, and they are often listed as "first edition" without the word "American". Except for The Valley of Fear and, arguably, The Return, they are not the true firsts.

Rebound and jacketless copies. Victorian cloth fades and frays, and many copies were rebound in leather by their owners. A rebound copy is still a first edition, but the original cloth is part of what collectors pay for, and a jacket on any title before 1927 needs a history.

What they have sold for

Prices below are reported results with their sources, not valuations. Condition and the first-issue points move them by a factor of ten.

Book	Sale	Price
Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887	Sotheby's, 2007	$156,000
The Sign of Four, first issue, damp-stained and repaired	Bonhams, April 2022	£5,100 including premium
Four first editions (Memoirs, Return, Hound, Valley of Fear), one lot	Sotheby's, 2019	Sold as a group

If you own one of these books, grade it honestly, check the points on its page, and compare it with sold copies in the same state rather than with asking prices.