Autograph manuscript leaf from Arthur Conan Doyle's draft for the Sherlock Holmes story 'The Crooked Man,' one page, with a couple of minor revisions (Doyle changing "evening" to "night," and an editor replacing "fireside" with "hearth"), 8 x 12.75, blindstamped "Reform Club, Pall Mall" stationery, no date but circa 1893.
One of the first 'Locked Room' mystery stories ever written, Holmes himself called The Crooked Man 'one of the strangest cases which ever perplexed a man’s brain.' The story employs a different, and more interiorized, literary technique than most Sherlock Holmes adventures—the narrative of the adventure is largely taken up with Holmes openly ruminating on the known facts of the case (seeking to deduce the missing key to the crime)—and makes an especial point of highlighting Holmes’ keen observational skills and logical abilities. This fabulous manuscript leaf—the very first page of the story!—boasts the title heading, "The Adventure of the Crooked Man," and details a scene, written from Watson's perspective, relating the late-night arrival of Sherlock Holmes amidst pipe smoke and a murder mystery.
In part: "One summer night, a few months after my marriage I was seated by my own hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel for my day's work had been an exhausting one. My wife had already gone upstairs, and the sound of the locking of the hall door some time before told me that the servants had also retired. I had risen from my seat and was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when I suddenly heard the clang of the bell. I looked at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve. This could not be a visitor at so late an hour. A patient, evidently and possibly an all-night sitting. With a wry face I went out into the hall and opened the door. To my astonishment it was Sherlock Holmes who stood upon my step.
'Ah, Watson,' said he, 'I hoped that I might not be too late to catch you.'
'My dear fellow, pray come in.'
Originally published in the July 1893 issue of The Strand Magazine, 'The Crooked Man' was subsequently reprinted as one of twelve adventures in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle himself ranked The Crooked Man among his fifteen favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, and it is famous for being the presumed source of the phrase 'Elementary, my dear Watson' (a phrase Doyle himself never in fact penned, but which derives from the 1929 movie The Return of Sherlock Holmes). Beyond being a 'Locked Room' mystery, the story is distinctive among Doyle’s work for being a moralistic tale of karma, in which the apparent victim is revealed to actually be the villain. This autograph leaf of the story is particularly desirable as its first page, boasting both the title and the iconic name "Sherlock Holmes" in Doyle's own hand.
Individual autograph leaves from Sherlock Holmes stories are very rare in commerce. Though leaves from The Hound of the Baskerville are occasionally encountered (typically at a six-figure price), leaves from Sherlock Holmes short stories are almost never offered for sale.
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$100.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
