A cause for international celebration—the most important Sherlock Holmes publication in four decades.
Annotation
Winner of the 2005 Edgar Award for Best Critical/Biographical
The Washington Post
-
Daniel Stashower
The result is a beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable edition that somehow manages to synthesize all that has come before, and will appeal to both first-time readers and seasoned veterans. The lavish boxed set presents all the original short stories in the order of their publication (setting aside the eccentric chronology of the earlier annotated edition) and will be followed next year by a third volume devoted to the four longer stories -- including, of course, The Hound of the Baskervilles. An evocative preface by John le Carr? is followed by an informative essay from Klinger, offering useful background on Holmes and his world. More than 800 illustrations are scattered throughout the text, many of them culled from the magazines in which the stories first appeared. Periodic sidebars guide the reader through potentially rocky terrain such as the Boer War; the rules of rugby; and baritsu, the obscure Japanese system of self-defense that proved so helpful to Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls.More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was both a doctor and a believer in spirits, which may partly explain why his Sherlock Holmes is one of literature's most beloved detectives: Holmes always approaches his cases with the gentility and logic of a scientist, but the stories are suffused with an aura of the supernatural. Narrated by devoted assistant Dr. John H. Watson, Holmes's adventures were so addictive that fans protested the master deducer's "death" in 1893 and Doyle had to resurrect him.More About the AuthorCustomer ReviewsReader Rating: Ratings: 8Reviews: 3See All ReviewsFind out what true Sherlock Holmes fanatics are talking about!by LarryFCO
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
February 13, 2009:
If you haven't read the original Sherlock Holmes classics, read them! If you are interested in finding out what "Sherlockian Scholarship" is all about this is a great way to get an overview of what true Sherlock Holmes fans have been writing, discussing, and arguing about, this is the definitive overview of the material side by side with the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This book is ideal for both longtime and new fans of the original 60 stories.
I Also Recommend: The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Volume 3, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I (Barnes & Noble Classics Series). A collection for a lifetimeby Anonymous
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
February 03, 2008:
My parents gave me long ago a hardcover version of 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes'. Over the years I read and re- read the stories finding them immensely enjoyable even though the original mystery was no longer hidden for me. It has been an absolute pleasure to read all the facts and annotations and look at the illustrations in this collection and the stories have come alive yet again for me. As a personal bonus, I discovered there where one or two stories that somehow had escaped me all these years (from 'His Last Bow'). The books are heavy and big, but not so much so that you can only use them as reference, they are very readable and designed to last a lifetime.
More Customer Reviews
