The Works of Arthur Conan Doyle [set of writings/novels including the Adventures & Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four]

DOYLE, [Sir] Arthur Conan (1859-1930)

Edité par London: Smith Elder, 1903

[Literature] AUTHOR'S EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, LIMITED to 1000 sets of which this No 472, SIGNED by Conan Doyle in the first volume. 12 volumes. Octavo (22 x 15cm), illustrated with plates. In fact only 510 sets were issued in 1903, all being bound by Smith Elder. The dormant 490 quires were reissued in and after 1917 by new owners John Murray with fresh Murray title-pages, back-dated to 1903. All volumes in the present set are First Issue with Smith Elder imprint. Bound in full light blue leather, tooled in gilt to spine, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, others untrimmed. With tipped-in AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED, 'To My Dear Shorter', declining the offer of an interview. The recipient is almost certainly Clement Shorter, the British critic, journalist and friend of Dr. Doyle. Contents clean, presentation label to pastedown, binding gently rubbed and handled; pleasingly aged. The Author considered this edition to be of great importance: he revised parts, and added notes and a number of special introductions, stating: ".I have expended all pains into putting these books into their final form, and so I leave them." Doyle only signed the 1000 copies of the UK edition, and none of the US issue. This set was formerly housed at Rare Books Special Collections, San Diego Public Library, donated in 1975 with ca.700 volumes, to the Wangenheim Room, in memory of Mildred W. Warner, and her father-in-law, Dr. V. Van Zele. Recently de-acquisitioned by The Friends of the Library. there are no institutional stamps or markings apart from the presentation bookplate on the pastedown. An attractive set. Green & Gibson [A60]. N° de réf. du vendeur 74628

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : The Works of Arthur Conan Doyle [set of ...
Éditeur : London: Smith Elder, 1903
Reliure : Couverture rigide
Signé : Signed