Sidney Paget Paintings:

Part II of the Sidney Paget Original Art Checklist

by Randall Stock, June 4, 2017

While Sidney Paget is best-known for his Sherlock Holmes story illustrations, he also produced many paintings.  The census of Sidney Paget original drawings (Part I) lists all his known existing drawings to illustrate stories.  This page, Part II, lists many of his extant paintings.  I have reports of other paintings, but currently lack the details or photos needed to include them on this checklist.

 

If you know of other Paget paintings, especially ones owned by an institution or by an owner willing to provide details about the painting, please send me e-mail.  As always I will keep owner and source identities private upon request.

 

 

Portraits by Sidney Paget

These portraits include one painted for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a number depicting members of the Paget family, and some portraits of other people. If you know of other portraits, especially ones owned by an institution or by an owner willing to provide details about it, please send me e-mail. See the checklist notes for definitions and assumptions.

 

 

Owner: The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation

The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by John Dickson Carr (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949), facing p. 148.

 

Description: Oil on canvas (43 1/4 x 33 1/2 inches), signed "SIDNEY PAGET | 1898" by the artist in the lower right corner.

 

History: Painted for Conan Doyle in 1897–1898. Owned by his son Adrian Conan Doyle after his father's death, and taken by Adrian to the Château de Lucens in Switzerland by the mid-1960's. Held by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Foundation (Switzerland) after Adrian's death in 1970. Lent by the Foundation to the Sherlock Holmes Museum of Lucens in 2001.

 

Collection Notes:

 

Photos:

 

Notes: Although the painting is dated 1898, Paget's receipt book includes an entry in October 1897with payment of £52.10.0 for this portrait. Conan Doyle's guest book and other materials show that Paget visited Undershaw, Conan Doyle's home, on December 17, and started painting the portrait there on December 20, 1897.

 

The family coat of arms appears in the upper right corner of Conan Doyle's portrait. Utechin and Cooke examined it and concluded the coat of arms was "painted separately and affixed after the portrait's composition." While they could not determine who added it or when that was done, the arms do appear in a photo of the painting in Carr's 1949 biography.

 

Both the portrait and its frame suffered some damage over the years, and as part of the 2014 exhibition, the Museum of London funded extensive conservation work on it. The Sherlock Holmes Society of London also contributed to the conservation. (Last updated: 8/14/15)

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Paget Family Portraits

Sidney Paget produced at least seven portraits of Paget family members. Besides the five shown and described here, there are definite reports of portraits of Robert Paget (Sidney's father and vestry clerk of Clerkenwell) and Robert Ernest Paget (his oldest brother, who succeeded their father as vestry clerk). See below for details on the missing Paget family portraits, but if you have information about them or any other family portraits, please send me e-mail.

 

 

Owner: Descendant of Sidney Paget

 

Description: Oil painting (55 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches inside frame), signed "SIDNEY PAGET" by the artist in the lower left corner.

 

History: Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1902. Owned by Sidney Paget and his descendants.

 

Notes: Held in a gilt frame. This three-quarter length portrait was probably done before their 1893 wedding. Paget family history has it that Sidney painted in the ring on her finger at a later date, and this could well have occurred shortly before the 1902 RA Exhibition in order to match the subject to its title of "Mrs. Sidney Paget." Mattias Boström notes that a report in The Graphic of 18 March 1893 forecast that Paget would show a portrait of "Miss Hannsfield" in the Summer 1893 Royal Academy exhibition. That's probably a reference to this painting with a misspelling for "Hounsfield." In any case, Paget did not exhibit at the RA in 1893. (Last updated: 8/30/15)

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Owner: Descendant of Sidney Paget

 

Description: Watercolor painting (8 x 6 1/2 inches), initialed "S. P. | SEPTEMBER | 1890" by the artist in the lower left corner and captioned "REMEMBRANCE" at top in arc integral to the drawing.

 

History: Owned by Sidney Paget and his descendants.

 

Notes: Painted on the back of a cartoon drawing captioned "The Grand Old Cherub" and initialed "H E B" (almost certainly Herbert E. Butler). This half-length portrait was done two months after the couple first met in July 1890. They were married in June 1893. (Last updated: 8/30/15)

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Owner: Granddaughter of Sidney Paget

 

Description: Oil painting.

 

History: Owned by Sidney Paget and his descendants.

 

Notes: This is probably a portrait of Sidney's sister Edith Louise Paget (1872-1961), and thus drawn very early in Sidney's career. However, the sitter might be Edith Muriel Paget (1897-1980), who was Sidney's second daughter and third child. The family believes there is a separate portrait of Edith Muriel (Molly) Paget, but that has not been located. (Last updated: 8/9/12)

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Owner: Granddaughter of Sidney Paget

 

Description: Oil painting.

 

History: Owned by Sidney Paget and his descendants.

 

Notes: Evelyn Merevale Paget (1898-1995) was Sidney's third daughter and fourth child. This quarter-length portrait is held in an ornate wooden frame and was probably painted between 1904 and 1908. (Last updated: 8/9/12)

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Owner: Granddaughter of Sidney Paget

 

Description: Oil painting.

 

History: Owned by Sidney Paget and his descendants.

 

Notes: Beryl May Paget (1902-1955) was Sidney's fourth daughter and fifth child. This quarter-length portrait is held in a gilt wooden frame and was probably painted between 1905 and 1908. (Last updated: 8/9/12)

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Owner(s): Not Identified

 

Notes: Sidney exhibited "A Family Portrait" at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1879, but that sitter and painting has not been identified. In 1885 he showed a portrait of his father at the Royal Academy. That painting, along with a portrait of Sidney's brother Robert Ernest Paget, hung in the Finsbury town-hall circa 1912. Their current locations are not known. A Paget family member believes Sidney drew portraits of all four of his daughters, but portraits of Winifred and Edith Muriel have not been confirmed. (Last updated: 8/31/15)

 

Portrait Photos & Locations Needed:

 

Please contact me if you have information or photos of any of these Paget family portraits.

 

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Other Portraits

 

Owner: City of Westminster

 

Description: Oil painting (61 x 41 1/2 inches), signed "SIDNEY PAGET | 1903" by the artist in the lower left corner. Held in a gilt frame with a commemorative plaque at bottom.

 

History: Presented to Paddington Borough Council, which merged with the Westminster and Marylebone boroughs in 1965.

 

Notes: Aird was best known for damming the Nile, completing construction at Assuan and Assyût by 1902. See the Sources page of this Census for an article by Catherine Cooke which shows the plaque and the framed painting, and has more information about this portrait. The Art UK website has a larger photo of Paget's portrait of Sir John Aird. Photo courtesy of the City of Westminster. (Last updated: 5/16/17)

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Owner: City of Westminster

 

Description: Oil painting (50 x 37 1/2 inches), signed "SIDNEY PAGET | 1903" by the artist in the lower left corner. Held in a gilt frame with a commemorative plaque at bottom.

 

History: Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1903. Presented to Paddington Borough Council, which merged with the Westminster and Marylebone boroughs in 1965.

 

Notes: Dethridge was Vestry Clerk of Paddington for 40 years and became the first Town Clerk of the Borough of Paddington in 1900. See the Sources page of this Census for an article by Catherine Cooke which shows the plaque and close-ups of parts of the painting and has more information about this portrait. The Art UK website has a larger photo of Paget's portrait of Dethridge. Photo courtesy of the City of Westminster. (Last updated: 5/16/17)

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Owner: Mill Hill School

 

Description: Oil painting (approx. 40 x 30 inches), not signed or dated but with a plaque in the frame's lower edge identifying the subject and artist.

 

History: Commissioned by the Old Millhillians' Club in 1886 as a lasting memento to the School's Headmaster. Displayed at the Old Millhillians' Dinner in October 1886 and presented to the School in 1887. Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1887.

 

Collection Notes:

 

Notes: A three-quarter length portrait in scarlet robes at D.Litt. Weymouth (1822-1902) was appointed Headmaster of Mill Hill School in 1869 and retired in 1886. (Last updated: 6/25/12)

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Owner: Mill Hill School

 

Description: Oil painting (approx. 4.5 x 3.5 feet), not signed or dated.

 

History: Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1901. By 1912 it was held by Mill Hill School and resides there to this day.

 

Collection Notes:

 

Notes: This portrait of Sir William Henry Wills (1830-1911) was painted while he was a baronet. In 1906 he was raised to the peerage and became Lord Winterstoke. Educated at Mill Hill School, he was a major donor in later years and gave £10,000 to the School's centenary fund. The School's Winterstoke House was converted to Grimsdell Pre-preparatory School in 1995. See also the entry below. (Last updated: 6/25/12)

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Owner: Ramsgate Library

 

Description: Oil on canvas (35 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches), signed "SIDNEY PAGET | 1901" by the artist in the lower right corner.

 

History: Probably held by Winterstoke's adopted daughter, Janet Stancomb-Wills, circa 1912, and later donated by her to the Ramsgate Library. That library was almost completely destroyed by fire in 2004, and this painting is marked "destroyed by fire" at a BBC website. Ramsgate library staff said on 8/19/15 that it is "not in our painting store or on our list of surviving paintings" and it "must have been lost in the fire."

 

Notes: See above for more about Sir William Henry Wills. This second portrait is probably the "study" of Wills mentioned in Paget's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography (1912). It's not clear if the damage seen in this photo was done to the painting itself or to the photo of it. The Art UK website has a larger photo of Paget's portrait of Sir William Henry Wills. Photo courtesy of Ramsgate Library. (Last updated: 5/16/17)

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Owner(s): Not Identified

 

Notes: Sidney painted four other portraits that he exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in the years noted below. Their current locations are not known. An 1893 newspaper article suggests he did a portrait of Fred Leslie (likely the actor Frederick George Hobson (1855-1892)), but this has not been confirmed. (Last updated: 8/31/15)

 

Portrait Photos & Locations Needed:

 

Please contact me if you have information or photos of any of these portraits, or any other portraits by Paget not listed above.

 

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Oil Paintings by Sidney Paget

These Sidney Paget oil paintings are listed in order by width, with the widest one given first. See the checklist notes for definitions and assumptions.

 

 

Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (48 x 96 inches), signed "SIDNEY PAGET" at lower right. Possibly depicting a "troupe of cavemen in the snow." Shown London, Royal Academy, 1899, no.557. Last reported as offered at a November 1997 Christie's London auction. Please contact me if you have a photo of it. (Last updated: 6/23/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (40 1/2 x 61 inches), signed "Sidney Paget" at lower right (not seen). Shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, 1891, no. 164. Donated to the Bristol Art Gallery circa 1907, and reported as sold in 1961. Described as the "best known of his pictures" in the Dictionary of National Biography (1912) entry for Sidney Paget. This image is from an 1891 black & white illustration of the painting. Please contact me if you know its location or have a color photo of it. (Last updated: 8/29/15)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (32 x 53 inches). Sold at auction in 2005. (Last updated: 6/15/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (40 x 50 inches) of an extensive landscape with people walking on a path below an old castle, signed "S. Paget" in the lower center. Sold at auction June 2011. (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil painting on canvas (31 x 38 inches). Last reported offered at auction March 2009. (Last updated: 6/23/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil painting (28 x 36 inches), signed. Last reported sold at auction July 2001. This image is a black & white reproduction. (Last updated: 6/21/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (20 x 30 inches), signed at lower right. Offered at auction December 2007. (Last updated: 3/16/08)

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Owner: Leeds City Art Gallery

 

Notes: Oil on Canvas (20 x 30 inches), signed and inscribed by Paget. Bequeathed in 1889 by Alderman T. W. George (accession number LEEAG.PA.1889.0085.A). The Art UK website has a larger photo of Paget's Mountainous landscape. Photo courtesy of Leeds Museums and Galleries. (Last updated: 5/16/17)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Probably by Sidney Paget. Oil on canvas (18 x 26 inches), signed at lower left as "S. Paget." Sold at auction in 1997. (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: Descendant of Sidney Paget

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (15 x 24 1/2 inches), signed "Sidney Paget" at bottom right. Reported as a deathbed effort to raise money for his family, thus 1907 or January 1908. See also the next painting. Held in a gold-painted wood frame. (Last updated: 8/30/15)

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Owner: Descendant of Sidney Paget

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (16 x 24 inches). Reported as a deathbed effort to raise money for his family, thus 1907 or January 1908. Held in a gold-painted wood frame. (Last updated: 8/30/15)

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Owner: Granddaughter of Sidney Paget

 

Notes: Oil painting (11 x 22 1/2 inches) described as a rough study and known to the owner as "Passage Perilous." The brightly-colored painting includes a winged horse with rider and cherub-type characters. It's held in a gilt frame and displayed under a semicircular matte. This might be an early study or alternate version of the painting that Paget exhibited in 1905 at the Royal Academy entitled "The Passage Perilous." There are also reports of a Paget painting sold in 1972 known as "The Perilous Passage." (Last updated: 7/5/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil painting (29 x 21 inches), signed. Last reported at a Keys Fine Art Auctioneers December 1996 sale. Some reports have the dimensions reversed. Please contact me if you have a photo of it or other details. (Last updated: 6/23/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (16 1/2 x 21 inches), signed "SE Paget." Sold at auction in February 1992 at Christie's London. Please contact me if you have a photo of it. (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil painting on board (13 x 20 inches), signed. Attributed to S Paget. Last reported offered at auction July 2003. (Last updated: 6/23/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Oil on canvas (12 x 7 inches), signed and dated 1881. Last reported sold at auction June 2014. (Last updated: 6/1/15)

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Watercolor Paintings by Sidney Paget

These Sidney Paget watercolor paintings are listed in order by width, with the widest one given first. See the checklist notes for definitions and assumptions.

 

 

Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (26 3/4 x 34 1/2) landscape with a cart hauling timber and three large trees in foreground, signed. Sold by Richard Gardner Antiques 3/28/12 (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Pencil and watercolor heightened with white (20 x 28 3/4 inches), of a waterfall with mountains to either side, signed "S. PAGET" in lower right. Sold at auction March 2006. (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (17 x 28 1/2 inches) with fisherman and mountains in the background, signed "S. Paget" in lower right. Sold at auction May 2012. (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (19 x 28 inches). Last reported offered at auction June 2010. (Last updated: 6/23/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor landscape (17 x 27 inches) of a river with rocks and boulders in a mountainous region with two male fishermen and a female figure behind, signed ("S. Paget") at lower right. Sold at a December 1998 Sotheby's London auction by Norman L. Rosenbaum. Please contact me if you have a photo of it. (Last updated: 7/6/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (13 x 26 inches) with trees and three small figures at right, signed "S. Paget" in lower center. Sold at auction February 2015 and attributed to Sydney Paget. (Last updated: 6/1/15)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (16 x 24 1/2 inches) signed, of several boats sailing. Last reported sold at auction February 2017. Probably the same painting described as "Off the French coast, coastal craft in choppy seas," "Shipping in the Channel," and "Fishing smacks in a choppy sea." (Last updated: 5/16/17)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (17 x 24 1/2 inches) with two small figures on a path, signed "S. Paget" in lower left. Probably the same painting described as "fisherman and woman chatting on a country road to a lake and castle." Last reported offered at auction February 2015. (Last updated: 6/1/15)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (17 x 24 inches), signed. Last reported sold at auction October 2000. (Last updated: 6/20/08)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (14 x 24 inches) with three boats in the foreground, signed "S. PAGET" in lower left. Also described as "Shipping boats in a swell." Sold at auction March 2010. (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (12 x 23 inches) with one boat in the foreground. Last reported at auction September 2011. (Last updated: 6/1/15)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (13 1/2 x 21 inches) of five people and two beached boats in the foreground, signed. Sold at auction in 2008. (Last updated: 6/23/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (13 x 20 7/8 inches), of two figures by a river with two trees to their left, signed "S. PAGET" in lower left. Sold at auction August 2008. (Last updated: 6/16/12)

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Owner: David Barton

 

Notes: Watercolor (14 x 20 inches), of one figure sitting by a path with trees at left and mountain in right background, signed "S. Paget." Purchased from Antiques Atlas. (Last updated: 5/16/17)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (11.5 x 20 inches). Last reported offered at auction February 2015. (Last updated: 6/1/15)

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Owner: Private Collector

 

Notes: Watercolor (12 1/2 x 19 inches image area) signed "S. PAGET" in lower left , of a valley mountainside with clouds above, a ruined castle, two figures in the distance and two closer, the latter with one in blue and the other in gray. (Last updated: 7/3/12)

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Owner: Not known

 

Notes: Watercolor (11.5 x 17 inches) with two boats in the foreground, signed "S. E. Paget" at lower right. Also described as "A Squally Day in the Channel." Sold at auction May 2013. (Last updated: 6/1/15)

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Checklist Key / Notes

Photos and painting titles/captions are provided to assist in identifying each item. Unless noted, these captions are based on descriptions used in auction catalogs or similar sources rather than text actually on the painting.

 

Dimensions are in inches, generally to the nearest quarter, and given as Height by Width. They are generally believed to be of the image area, not including any frame.

 

When reports differ on any aspect of a drawing, I typically provide what appears to be the most authoritative version. Abbreviated dates are in the American form of Month/Day/Year.

 

This checklist information is believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed. It relies on auction listings and/or owner reports. Some items might not have been produced by Sidney Paget. Get an independent appraisal by an expert before buying or selling.

 

I have reports of other paintings, but currently lack the details or photos needed to include them on this checklist. If you know of other Paget paintings, especially ones owned by an institution or by an owner willing to provide details about the painting, please send me e-mail. As always I will keep owner and source identities private upon request.

 

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Sidney Paget Drawings & Memorabilia

 

See Part I of the census with Sidney Paget Drawings, including ones for the Sherlock Holmes stories.

 

See the Sidney Paget Memorabilia page for artifacts, books, and other Holmes-related items once owned by Paget.

 

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More About Sidney Paget & His Art

 

See the Sidney Paget Biography section from Part I of the census.

 

See the list of Paget Exhibitions section of Part I of the census.

 

See the Sources & Acknowledgements section of Part I of the census.

 

 

Please send me e-mail if you have additions, corrections or suggestions for this census.

 

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More Sherlock Holmes Rarities

 

More Sidney Paget artwork is listed in Part 1 of the census of Sidney Paget original drawings.

 

This website has information on many Conan Doyle manuscripts, including both Sherlock Holmes and non-Holmes material.

 

The site also has details on other rarities, including a census of Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887 with the first Sherlock Holmes story, and a census of the rare first edition of "The Unique Hamlet", a Sherlock Holmes pastiche by Vincent Starrett.

 

While not rare, there are also lists of the each year's best Sherlock Holmes books & DVDs, the best Holmes stories, and the most famous Sherlock Holmes quotes

 

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Return to Manuscripts Home page and Introduction

 

 

Vers. 2.0b2x-RN Original work
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