Hours & Location, opens an overlay Help, opens an overlay
Main navigation Programs
Open search form

A Study in Sherlock & His Creator

A Study in Sherlock & His Creator: 50 Years of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection

Virtual exhibit of early cookbooks, familiar Toronto menus and more morsels of food history.

Published: June 13, 2024
Scroll down this page to discover more information.

Introduction

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes. For 50 years, Toronto Public Library has been home to a world-class collection dedicated to Conan Doyle's life and works. The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection has grown to over 25,000 items: books, manuscripts, periodicals, posters, memorabilia, original art and more. (See a timeline of the collection's history at the bottom of its webpage.)

To mark the collection’s 50th anniversary, this exhibit celebrates the breadth and richness of its holdings. Explore the many facets of the ever-popular Great Detective. Discover Conan Doyle’s other published works. Learn more about the public and private lives of Holmes’ creator.

This virtual exhibit features over 40 items — including rare editions of the original detective stories and one-of-a-kind manuscripts by Conan Doyle — from an in-person exhibit on display in the TD Gallery at Toronto Reference Library.

In this exhibit

Conan Doyle's Life & Trips to Canada

View vintage cookbooks and appliance catalogues.

Sherlock Holmes: The Original Stories

Rare editions from the Sherlock Holmes canon.

Letters to the Strand

Conan Doyle's handwritten notes to the magazines's editor.

Picturing the Great Detective

Drawings by influential illustrators of Holmes.

A_Case_in_Sherlock_thumbnail_6_358c84f439

Holmes on Stage & Screen

A look at actors who played Sherlock Holmes.

A_Case_in_Sherlock_thumbnail_4_59ff4f0ad8

Conan Doyle’s Other Works & Spiritualism

Conan Doyle's works beyond Baker Street.

Conan Doyle's Life & Trips to Canada

Whether preparing a home-cooked meal for family and friends or preserving food for a long winter, "eating in" can become quite involved. Which appliances and cookware will you use to create your fantastical feast? We invite you to compare these older cookbook and shopping catalogues to the ones you use today.

General

Arthur Conan Doyle at the Colosseum in Rome / Unknown photographer / 1907 ━━━━━━━━ In 1907, Conan Doyle married his second wife, Jean Leckie. The couple went on a Mediterranean cruise for their honeymoon visiting Paris, Berlin, Venice, Rome, Constantinople, Dresden, Naples, Athens and Smyrna.
Life's Journey Postcard / Unknown photographer, autographed by Arthur Conan Doyle / Approximately 1920 / Gift of A. H. Thompson
Portrait of Arthur Conan Doyle / Unknown photographer / Approximately 1920
Arthur Conan Doyle at Redbank Plains Apiary in Australia / Unknown photographer / 1921 ━━━━━━━━ In 1920 Conan Doyle set out on a tour lecturing on the subject of Spiritualism that took him to Australia and New Zealand. In January 1921, he visited an apiary near Brisbane, run by the beekeeper H. L. Jones.
Arthur Conan Doyle and Family in Switzerland / Central Press Photos, 1924 ━━━━━━━━ Conan Doyle visited Switzerland many times. It was there where he came up with the idea to kill off his character, Sherlock Holmes, at the Reichenbach Falls, located outside the Swiss town of Meiringen.

Visiting Canada

Map of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Transatlantic Voyage / Norddeutscher Lloyd, 1894 ━━━━━━━━ This map shows Conan Doyle’s 1894 voyage to the United States and Canada. Daily mileage is recorded in red ink. Information about the steamship’s captain, port of entry and arrival is noted in black ink.
Arthur Conan Doyle and the Grand Trunk Railway / Unknown photographer / 1914 ━━━━━━━━ This photograph was taken during Arthur Conan Doyle's month long tour of Canada in 1914. The Grand Trunk Railway gave him a private car named the “Canada.” He and his wife Jean travelled west from Montreal to British Columbia and back again. He recorded his journey in articles published in Cornhill Magazine, later collected and published in Western Wanderings.
Arthur Conan Doyle and the Grand Trunk Railway / Unknown photographer / 1914 ━━━━━━━━ This photograph was taken during Arthur Conan Doyle's month long tour of Canada in 1914. The Grand Trunk Railway gave him a private car named the “Canada.” He and his wife Jean travelled west from Montreal to British Columbia and back again. He recorded his journey in articles published in Cornhill Magazine, later collected and published in Western Wanderings.
Family Picnic in Jasper National Park / Press Association / 1923 ━━━━━━━━ Conan Doyle brought his whole family on his 1923 trip and set aside some time to visit Jasper National Park. He is pictured with his wife Jean and children, Adrian, Jean (“Billie”) and Denis.
Lady Jean Conan Doyle’s Travel Diary / 1914 ━━━━━━━━ Lady Jean Conan Doyle (1874-1940) kept this diary when she accompanied her husband on his tour of Canada and the United States in 1914. In it she describes her impressions of the Canadian landscape, the growing cities and the people she met. Below are two excerpts related to Canada. ... "Saturday, May 16, 1914 Trees & Ferns I saw in Canada I saw no ferns whatever until our return journey – Skirting Lake Superior I saw some bradson [?] ferns & later some of our tongue-shaped ferns. In Alberta we I saw lots of “Balm of Gilead” a very sweet-smelling tree – firs & gum firs. White beeches – maples in Ontario. Certainly the forests for beauty of trees & variety are not to be compared to our lovely woods." ... Sunday, May 17, 1914 "Wild Flowers I Saw in Canada Lupines – blue – about the size or a little smaller than the garden ones. Wild roses – growing close to the ground – slightly larger than ours & a more vivid pink. Tiger lilies – a yellow – ruddy colour about 3 inches across. Blue Irises – honey suckle bushes – about 2 or 3 ft. high – never growing in long trails. Clustering blue bell-like flowers, bay shaped – several on one stem. Bunch-berries: a small waxen[?] star-like flower set in a close frame of leaves – very common in Canada. The “Indian paint brush” it grows from 6-15 in high & in a cluster of spikey long leaves which grow in a bunch & turn into a brilliant red & look exactly like a flower. The ‘Lily’ like our Spirea with lily of the valley leaves – it has a strong sweet scent. The Vetch – like ours only much larger & more brilliant in colour. The daisy – stumpier than our Margarite. A strong looking, thickly potted sturdy little flower."

Sherlock Holmes: The Original Stories

Sherlock Holmes is the iconic detective. Conan Doyle's detective stories helped define an entire genre of fiction. Holmes is the original “consulting detective,” who assists clients privately when the police are unable to do so.

Holmes uses his powers of observation and deduction, his forensic skills and his intellect to solve mysteries. Conan Doyle based the character on his medical school professor Dr. Joseph Bell. Bell was said to have applied excellent powers of observation and deduction when diagnosing his patients.

Of the 60 Sherlock Holmes stories written, 58 were first published in The Strand Magazine. Collier’s, an American weekly, published 20 of the Sherlock Holmes stories between 1903 and 1924.

Stories in Magazines

A Study in Scarlet in Beeton’s Christmas Annual / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London: Ward, Lock & Co., 1887 ━━━━━━━━ This rare periodical includes the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in print. The story describes the meeting of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they solve their first crime together.
The Sign of the Four in Lippincott’s / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London: Ward, Lock; Philadelphia: Lippincott 1890 / First American edition ━━━━━━━━ Joseph M. Stoddart, publisher of Lippincott’s,organized a dinner in London with Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle. He was looking to commission novels by British authors for a new British counterpart to the magazine. Out of this meeting came The Sign of the Four (the second Holmes novel) and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde, published in a later issue.
The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist in Collier's / Vol. 32, no. 13, January 1903 / Illustrated by Frederic Dorr Steele (1873-1944) / New York: P. F. Collier
The Adventure of the Second Stain in Collier’s / Vol. 34, no. 18, January 1905 / Illustrated by Frederic Dorr Steele (1873-1944) / New York: P. F. Collier
The Adventure of the Dying Detective in Collier’s / Vol. 52, no. 10, November 1913 / Illustrated by Frederic Dorr Steele (1873-1944) / New York: P. F. Collier

Books

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London: G. Newnes, 1894 ━━━━━━━━ These 12 stories were originally intended to be Holmes’ last. “The Final Problem” introduces Professor Moriarty, England’s leading criminal mastermind. Holmes and Moriarty meet their tragic end at Reichenbach Falls. The death of the Great Detective was met with vocal protest from readers. Conan Doyle later decided to revive the character.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London: G. Newnes, 1898 ━━━━━━━━ First published in 1892, this volume compiles the first 12 Sherlock Holmes stories. Conan Doyle includes a dedication to his medical school professor Dr. Bell who served as inspiration for the character. “A Scandal in Bohemia” introduces the adventuress Irene Adler – one of the few characters to ever outsmart the Great Detective!
The Hound of the Baskervilles: Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London: George Newnes, Limited, 1902 / First edition ━━━━━━━━ The idea for this story came to Conan Doyle on a golfing trip. Journalist Fletcher Robinson had shared the legend of a ghost hound that roams the moors. The novel’s success helped revive the Great Detective. It is still considered the most popular Holmes novel.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London: G. Newnes, ca. 1913 ━━━━━━━━ First published in 1905, the third volume of collected Holmes stories begins with “The Adventure of the Empty House.” In it, the detective makes a triumphant return after his presumed death. Conan Doyle had been presented with an generous offer he couldn’t refuse from the editor of Collier’s to bring back the Holmes character.
His Last Bow: A Reminiscence of Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / Toronto: Hodder & Stoughton Limited Publishers, 1917 / First Canadian Edition / Gift of the Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection ━━━━━━━━ The title story of this collection includes an epilogue by Sherlock Holmes written in the third person. All but four of Conan Doyle’s Holmes stories are narrated by Dr. John Watson.

Letters to the Strand

Herbert Greenhough Smith was the editor of The Strand Magazine from 1891 to 1930. He and Conan Doyle shared a long standing business relationship and a great respect for each other. Conan Doyle was loyal to The Strand for 39 years, publishing 121 short stories, 70 articles, nine novels, two interviews and one poem.

In 1974, the library acquired one of the largest known sets of correspondence between Conan Doyle and Greenhough Smith. In total, there are 74 letters and six postcards dating from 1893 to 1928. Most are written by Conan Doyle’s hand. The letters shed light on his writing process and business dealings with Greenhough Smith. There are 21 references to the Holmes stories starting with The Hound of the Baskervilles. Others deal with plotting and negotiations for stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

Letters

Letter from Arthur Conan Doyle to Herbert Greenhough Smith / Morley’s Hotel, Trafalgar Square, London, ca. 1901 ━━━━━━━━ Transcription: ... My dear Smith Watt tells me there are several eager buyers from America for the serial rights of “The Hound”. I dare say you could recoup yourself for most of your outlay if you chose to resell. I will refer him to you. I presume that I am not rigidly tied to 50,000 words in the serial, and that if the development of the story should require a few thousand more I am not debarred from charging for them. I could only give an approximate length until I came to write it, and I might possibly run to a few more than I thought at first. I send with this the 4th and 5th installments, the latter consisting of one long chapter. I write under some difficulty through not having any of the proofs, so I cannot refer back. I want a copy of the proofs of No 1 in its final form, and I want Nos 2, 3, 4 and 5 in any form. Just send me a card here to say that you have had these. With all kind regards Yours very truly A Conan Doyle
Letter from Arthur Conan Doyle to Herbert Greenhough Smith / Hill House Hotel, Happisburgh, ca. 1903 ━━━━━━━━ Transcription: My dear Smith I think perhaps this would meet the case. I have a strong bloody story for the fourth. “The Adventure of the Dancing Man.” We could put this third and so separate the two crimeless stories. That would give a stronger start to the series. I must say that I cannot agree with your estimate of the “Norwood Builder”. I read it to a roomful of people and I was never more conscious of holding an audience absolutely spell bound. The other is a dramatic & ingenious plot, but it is weakened by Holmes having little to do with the denouement. Yours, A.C.D.
Letter from Arthur Conan Doyle to Herbert Greenhough Smith / Undershaw, Hindhead, Haslemere, ca. 1904 ━━━━━━━━ Transcription: ... Conan Doyle’s correspondence with his editor reveal insights into his writing process. Here he discusses the Sherlock Holmes story "The Solitary Cyclist." My dear Smith I have gone over the Cyclist again. It strikes me as a dramatic & interesting & original story. The weakness lies in Holmes not having more to do. But Watson now prefaces his account by meeting this criticism. I have gone over it carefully & can do no more to strengthen it. I consider that these four stories will beat any four consecutive Holmes stories that I have written. About the picture, I don’t object to its presence but to its making my story run in two-word lines. With all remembrance Yours ACD The Dancing Men are being typed
Letter from Arthur Conan Doyle to Herbert Greenhough Smith / The Hotel Metropole and Whitehall Rooms, London, August 23, 1912 ━━━━━━━━ Transcription: ... My dear Smith No, I got the Sherlock Holmes suggestion but not the other one. I fear I can't make anything of either of them. It's too delicate and getting too near to self advertisement. I'm glad to understand that the serial has not disappointed you. Home today. Yours very sincerely A Conan Doyle

Related Items

Broadsheet Advertisement for The Hound of the Baskervilles London: The Strand Magazine, 1901
Vol. 54, no. 321, September 1917 London: George Newnes, Ltd.

Picturing the Great Detective

Sidney Paget created the original art for the Sherlock Holmes stories and many of Conan Doyle’s other stories in The Strand Magazine. He got the job by mistake. Herbert Greenhough Smith and W. H. J. Boot (editor and art editor of The Strand) admired the illustrations of Walter Paget in The Illustrated London News. The editors could not remember Walter’s first name and their request for an illustrator was received by his brother, Sidney. Walter would still influence the Holmes stories. He served as the model for Holmes, a far more handsome version than Conan Doyle had described in the stories.

Frederic Dorr Steele was the American illustrator for The Return of Sherlock Holmes published in Collier’s magazine. Dorr Steele used famous stage and screen actor William Gillette as inspiration for his portrayal of Holmes. His illustrations included the deerstalker hat and calabash pipe, details popularized by Gillette.

Illustrations

Illustration for The Adventure of the Cardboard Box / Sidney Paget (1860-1908) / Pen, ink and wash / 1893 ━━━━━━━━ Sidney Paget was the illustrator for the Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine. He helped create the image of Holmes that persists today. This drawing of Holmes and Watson was published in The Strand Magazine in January 1893. The caption reads “I fell into a brown study.”
Illustration for The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans / Frederic Dorr Steele (1873-1944) / Crayon / 1908 ━━━━━━━━ This illustration was published in Collier’s Magazine in December 1908. Watson is shown collecting tools he would use to break into the spy Oberstein’s house. The caption published with the image reads: “I stowed them all discreetly away in my overcoat.”
Sherlock Holmes Caricature for Vanity Fair / “Spy” (Pseudonym), Leslie Ward (1851-1922) / London: Bemrose Dalziel Ltd / Colour print / ca. 1910 ━━━━━━━━ The actor William Gillette is shown in the role of Sherlock Holmes, a role for which he became synonymous. The Vanity Fair caricatures were published in each issue of the magazine starting in 1869.
221B Baker Street / Joseph Aigner / Toronto: Artistic Glass Co., 1997 / Stained glass / Gift of Dr. Peter Lemiski

Holmes on Stage & Screen

Countless versions of Sherlock Holmes have graced the stage, radio, motion picture and television screens over the past 100 years. Some of the most famous portrayals of the Great Detective include William Gillette’s early stage performances, Basil Rathbone’s 14 films during the 1940s golden age of cinema, Jeremy Brett’s 1980-1990s Grenada television series and, most recently, Benedict Cumberbatch in the television series Sherlock. Each actor brings their own unique style to the role. Audiences will not always agree on who played the best Holmes!

On Stage

William Gillette in Sherlock Holmes / New York: R. H. Russell, 1900 ━━━━━━━━ This booklet features illustrations from the stage production of Sherlock Holmes at the Garrick Theatre, New York.
Programme for Sherlock Holmes / London: Royal Lyceum Theatre, ca. 1901 ━━━━━━━━ Sherlock Holmes was an original play that blended several Holmes stories. It was written by Conan Doyle and actor William Gillette. As they collaborated, Gillette asked Conan Doyle “May I marry Holmes?” Conan Doyle replied: “You may marry him, or murder him, or do what you like with him.”
Postcard of William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes / London: Rotary Photo co., ca. 1901 ━━━━━━━━ William Gillette was an American actor who portrayed Holmes on stage and screen more than any other actor: about 1300 times! Gillette helped create the image of Holmes that we still know today.
Mr. Harry Yorke by arrangement with Mr. Charles Frohman presents : Sherlock Holmes by A. Conan Doyle and William Gillette / London: McCaw Stevenson & Orr Ltd, ca. 1900 ━━━━━━━━ Mr. Harry Yorke by arrangement with Mr. Charles Frohman presents : Sherlock Holmes by A. Conan Doyle and William Gillette London: McCaw Stevenson & Orr Ltd, ca. 1900 ━━━━━━━━ First premiering in 1899, William Gillette performed as Holmes in this play for over 30 years. Co-written by Conan Doyle and Gillette, the play is the original source of the phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson” which never appeared in the original Sherlock Holmes stories.
Poster for Sherlock Holmes D.T. / Sam Richards & Paul Pelham / London: C. Sheard, 1901 ━━━━━━━━ The voice and piano score for a music hall song performed by Charles Bignell about Sherlock Holmes.Holmes stories.

Conan Doyle’s Other Works & Spiritualism

Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off the character of Sherlock Holmes early in his writing career in order to focus on historical fiction. Ultimately, he revived Holmes, who remains his most famous literary creation.

Conan Doyle wrote a great deal. His fictional works span the genres of adventure, mystery, horror, science fiction, drama, fantasy and historical fiction. He also wrote non-fiction about history, politics, travel, war, true crime and Spiritualism.

Spiritualism is a belief in the ability to communicate with the dead through mediums. Conan Doyle was drawn to the movement after losing his son Kingsley in the First World War. He devoted years and large sums of money trying to prove that communication with the dead was possible.

Conan Doyle became a proud and public proponent of the Spiritualist movement. He was a member of the British Society for Psychical Research. He lectured and published widely on the topic. Conan Doyle also operated the Psychic Bookshop, Library and Museum in London.

Fiction & Non-Fiction

Round the Red Lamp / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London: G. Newnes, 1913 ━━━━━━━━ First published in 1894, this is a collection of 15 short medical stories by Conan Doyle. In the preface, Conan Doyle notes that the red lamp is a sign of general practitioners in England.
The White Company / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930; Illustrations by N. C. Wyeth (1882-1945) / New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corp., 1922 ━━━━━━━━ Set during the Hundred Years’ War, Conan Doyle’s most popular work of historical fiction follows the adventures of a band of knights as they travel across England, France and Spain. It was first published in Cornhill Magazine.
The Lost World / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / New York: A.L. Burt Company, Publishers, approximately 1925 ━━━━━━━━ The Lost World was the first of Conan Doyle’s three novels featuring Professor Challenger. Challenger is a brilliant, eccentric explorer who discovers dinosaurs in a remote part of South America. This “photoplay” edition is illustrated with scenes from the 1925 stop motion film adaptation. The novel has been credited with inspiring Jurassic Park.
The Case of Oscar Slater / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London; Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914 ━━━━━━━━ Oscar Slater, a Jewish German immigrant, was convicted of the murder of Marion Gilchrist in Glasgow in 1908. Slater was convicted despite eyewitness testimony and an alibi supporting his innocence. Conan Doyle used his platform to plead for Slater’s release. Slater was finally exonerated 20 years after his conviction.
Adventures of Gerard / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / London, G. Newnes, 1903 ━━━━━━━━ One of Conan Doyle’s other popular characters is Brigadier Etienne Gerard. Gerard is a courageous, arrogant and dim-witted French Army officer from the Napoleonic wars. Toronto Public Library holds the original manuscript for the Marriage of Brigadier Gerard, a gift of the Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection.
The Great Boer War / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / New York: McClure, Philips & Company, 1900 ━━━━━━━━ Conan Doyle wrote most of this account of the Great Boer War while serving as a field doctor in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Success of this book, as well as his service during the war, led to him being knighted by King Edward VII in 1902.
Waterloo Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / New York: S. French, 1907 / First edition ━━━━━━━━ Adapted from Conan Doyle’s short story “A Straggler of 15,” this play is about Corporal Gregory Brewster, an aging veteran who is the last remaining hero of the Battle of Waterloo. Stage actor Henry Irving bought the rights to the play. Irving performed the role of Corporal Brewster when it premiered at the Prince’s Theater in Bristol in 1894.
The Great Shadow / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 1892 / Gift of Clifford Goldfarb ━━━━━━━━ This action and adventures novel was set during the Napoleonic wars. “The Great Shadow” refers to Napoleon himself, who according to Conan Doyle, “scrawled his name in red letters across the map of Europe.”

Spiritualism

Arthur Conan Doyle in Spirit Photograph with His Son Kingsley / Approximately 1920 ━━━━━━━━ Spiritualists like Conan Doyle used photography to capture the images of spirits on film. The inscription on this back of this photograph reads: “This is the head of my son, looking about 7 years younger than he was at death. Every precaution was taken and so far as I could observe no hand but my own ever touched the plate.”
Arthur Conan Doyle in Spirit Photograph / Approximately 1920
Photograph of a Séance / Approximately 1920
The Wanderings of a Spiritualist / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / Brussels: Wm. Collins Sons, 1922 ━━━━━━━━ This volume chronicles Conan Doyle’s tour of Australasia in 1920 and 1921 where he delivered a series of lectures on Spiritualism for 50,000 people.
The Case for Spirit Photography / Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930 / New York: G. H. Doran, 1923 ━━━━━━━━ In 1922 William Hope, medium and leader of the Crewe Circle (a group of spirit photographers) was accused of fraud for manipulating glass plates to produce the effect of spirit photographs. Conan Doyle published The Case for Spirit Photography in defence of Hope and the Crewe Circle. Laid-in to this edition is this 1919 handwritten letter from Conan Doyle to a Reverend George Bainton. Conan Doyle describes his own collection of Spiritualist books, defends the reputation of popular med

More digitized items

arthur-conan-doyle-hero

Explore over 400 items from the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection.
View all items

Related links

Booklists

A Study in Sherlock & His Creator — The Reading List

Activities

Sherlock Holmes Colouring Book (PDF 12 MB)

Sherlock Holmes and the Escape Room

More

All digitized items held by TPL

Video overview of in-person exhibit

Friends of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection

 

 

Back to Top