DOYLE, Sir ARTHUR CONAN

A leaf from the original autograph manuscript of The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1 page (12 3/4 x 7-7/8 in.; 325 x 200 mm), [n.p., 1901], in dark brown ink on the recto of a sheet of blue-ruled tan paper, with two revision and two corrections by Doyle, part of the compositor’s copy with a spindle-hole in upper left corner and a few marginal penciled words and markings; a blue tint from an ink and waterstain at bottom quarter of the page affecting the background of about ten lines of text, a similar, lighter tinge to blank upper left corner, remnant of a small label also at same corner, a few slight skillful repairs to horizontal folds on verso.

The manuscript page is the beginning of Chapter XII, headed “Death on the Moor,” just after Dr. Watson is startled by Sherlock Holmes in the hut on the moor at the end of Chapter XI: “For a moment or two I sat breathless, hardly able to believe my ears. Then my senses and my voice came back to me, and a crushing weight of responsibility seemed in an instant to be lifted from my soul. ‘Holmes!’ I cried ‘Holmes!’ ‘Come out’ said he ‘and please be careful with the revolver!...’” The leaf, corresponding to text on pages 259, 260, and part of 261 of the first London book edition, ends with Holmes revealing to Watson that he detected his presence from his cigarette stub – to which Watson’s replies, “Exactly.” Since Holmes does not appear, or is even mentioned, in about two-thirds of the novel, a manuscript leaf – such as this – in which both he and Watson figure is very uncommon and especially desirable.

The Hound of the Baskervilles was serialized in Strand Magazine from August 1901 through April 1902, with Chapter 12 appearing in the February 1902 issue.  The first book edition was published in London by George Newnes on 25 March 1902; the American edition, issued in New York by McClure, Phillips, came out on 15 April. Doyle’s original manuscript was broken up in 1902 when single leaves were provided to American booksellers by McClure, Phillips, for window display. The late bookseller and Doyle specialist Lew David Feldman (House of El Dieff) tried to re-gather as many of the leaves from the scattered manuscript as he could. The largest single holding of leaves from The Hound is at the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library.