Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
"This is indeed a mystery,' I remarked. 'What do you imagine that it means?" " I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts..." (from A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA, 1891)
Arthur Conan Doyle was born May 22, 1859, at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh (the site stands no more), the son of Charles Altamont Doyle, a civil servant in the Edinburgh Office of Works, and Mary (Foley) Doyle. Both of Doyle's parents were Roman Catholic. His father suffered from epilepsy and alcoholism and was eventually institutionalized. Charles Altamot died in an asylum in 1893; in the same year Doyle decided to finish permanently the adventures of his master detective. Due to financial difficulties, Doyle's mother kept a boarding house. Dr. Tsukasa Kobayashi has suspected in an article, that Doyle's mother had a long affair with Bryan Charles Waller, a lodger and a student of pathology, who had a deep impact on Doyle. Doyle was educated in Jesuit schools, studied medicine at Edinburgh University and in 1884 he married Louise Hawkins. Doyle qualified as doctor in 1885. After graduation Doyle practiced medicine as an eye specialist at Southsea near Porsmouth in Hampshire until 1891 when he became a full time writer.
The first story about Sherlock Holmes, A STUDY IN SCARLET, was published in 1887 in Beeton Christmas Annual. The novel was written in three weeks in 1886. It introduced the detective and his associate and friend, Dr. Watson, and made famous Holmes' address at Mrs. Hudson's house, 221B Baker Street, London. Their major opponent was the malevolent Moriarty, the classic evil genius who was a kind of doppelgänger of Holmes, and the beautiful opera singer Irene Adler, who also caused much trouble for Holmes. Sherlock Holmes' roots were threefold. His literary forefather was Edgar Allan Poe's detective C. Auguste Dupin. A person known to Doyle, Joseph Bell, a teacher in the University of Edinburgh, served as another model, as well as Eugène Francois Vidoq, a former criminal, who became the first chief of the Sûreté on the principle of 'set a thief to catch a thief '. The second Sherlock Holmes story, THE SIGN OF THE FOUR, was written for Lippincott's magazine. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES started to appear in the Strand magazine. By 1893 Doyle was so wearied of his famous detective that he devised his death in FINAL PROBLEM (published in the Strand). In the story Holmes meets Moriarty at the fall of the Reichenbach in Switzerland and disappears. Watson finds a letter from Holmes, stating "I have already explained to you...that my career had...reached its crisis, and that no possible conclusion to it could be more congenial to me than this." In THE HOUND OF BASKERVILLES (1902) Doyle narrated an early case of the dead detective. Doyle resurrected his popular hero in THE EMPTY HOUSE (1903) because of public demand. "I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I turned again Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across my study table. I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted for the first and last time in my life." (from THE EMPTY HOUSE) By 1920 Doyle was one of the most highly paid writers in the world, in no small part due to Holmes; Sherlock Holmes stories have been translated into more than fifty languages, and made into plays, films, radio and television series, a musical comedy, a ballet, cartoons, comic books, and numerous advertisements.
During the South African war (1899-1902) Doyle served for a few months as senior physician at a field hospital, and wrote THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA, in which he took the imperialistic view. In 1900 and 1906 he ran unsuccessfully for Parliament and was knighted in 1902. In 1907, fourteen months after his first wife died, Doyle married his second wife, Jean Leckie. He dedicated himself to spiritualistic studies, including many literary works, after the death of his son Kingsley (one of Doyle's five children) from wounds sustained in World War I. An example of these works is THE COMING OF FAIRIES, in which he supported the existence of "little people" and spent more than a million dollars on their cause. He was a key figure in the incident of the Cottingley fairy photographs. He also became president of several important spiritualist organizations. Doyle's other publications include plays, verse, memoirs, short stories, and several historical novels and supernatural and speculative fiction. His stories of Professor George Edward Challenger in THE LOST WORLD and THE POISON BELT, adventures which blended science fact with fantastic romance, were very popular. The model for the professor was William Rutherford, Doyle's teacher from Edinburgh. Doyle's medical practice, and other experiences, including seven months in the Arctic as ship's doctor on a whaler and three on a steamer bound to the West Coast of Africa, provided rich material for his writings. Doyle died on July 7, 1930 from heart disease at his home, Windlesham, Sussex.
A STUDY IN SCARLET, 1887
THE SIGN OF FOUR, 1890
THE WHITE COMPANY, 1891
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1892
THE REFUGEES, 1893
JANE ANNIE, 1893 (with J.M. Barrie)
MYSTERIES AND ADVENTURES, 1893
THE GREAT SHADOW, 1893
THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1894
MY FRIEND THE MURDERER, 1894
ROUND THE RED LAMP, 1894
SONGS OF ACTION, 1898
A DUET: WITH AN OCCASIONAL CHORUS, 1899
THE MAN FROM ARCHANGEL, 1899
THE GREEN FLAG, 1900
THE GREAT BOER WAR, 1900
THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA: ITS CAUSE AND CONDUCT, 1902
THE HOUND OF BASKERVILLES, 1902
THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1905
THROUGH THE MAGIC DOOR, 1907
WATERLOO, 1907 (with W. Gillette)
ROUND THE FIRE STORIES, 1908
THE CRIME OF THE CONGO, 1909
THE LAST GALLEY, 1910
ONE CROWDED HOUR, 1911
SONGS OF THE ROAD, 1911
THE LOST WORLD, 1912
THE SPECKLED BAND, 1912
THE POISON BELT, 1913
GREAT BRITAIN AND THE NEXT WAR, 1914
TO ARMS!, 1914
THE GERMAN WAR, 1914
WESTERN WANDERINGS, 1915
A VISIT TO THREE FRONTS, 1916
THE ORIGIN AND OUTBREAK OF THE WAR, 1916
HIS LAST BOW, 1917
DANGER! AND OTHER STORIES, 1918
THE NEW REVELATION, 1918
THE VITAL MESSAGE, 1919
OUR REPLY TO THE CLERIC, 1920
A PUBLIC DEBATE ON THE TRUTH OF SPIRITUALISM, 1920
(with Joseph McCabe)
THE GODS CAME THROUGH, 1920
SPIRITUALISM AND RATIONALISM, 1920
THE WANDERINGS OF A SPIRITUALIST, 1921
THE EVIDENCE FOR FAIRIES, 1921
FAIRIES PHOTOGRAPHED, 1921
OUR AMERICAN ADVENTURE, 1921
THE POEMS OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, 1922
THE COMING OF THE FAIRIES, 1922 (with others)
THE CASE FOR SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY, 1922
OUR SECOND AMERICAN ADVENTURE, 1923
THE LAST OF THE LEGIONS AND OTHER TALES OF LONG AGO, 1923
TALES OF TERROR AND MYSTERY, 1923
TALES OF THE RING AND CAMP, 1923
THROUGH THE MAGIC DOOR, 1923
TALES OF PIRATES AND BLUE WATERS, 1924
TALES OF ADVENTURE AND MEDICAL LIFE, 1924
TALES OF TWILIGHT AND THE UNSEEN, 1924
MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES, 1924
THE SPIRITUALISTS' READER, 1924
translation: THE MYSTERY OF JOAN OF ARC, 1924 (by D. Leon and J. Murray)
PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES, 1925
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND MODERN SPIRITUALISM, 1925
TALES OF LONG AGO, 1925
EXILE, 1925
THE LAND OF THE MIST, 1926
THE HISTORY OF SPIRITUALISM, 1926 (2 vols.)
PHENEAS SPEAKS, 1927
THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS, 1928 (6 vols.)
THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1927
THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1927
WHAT DOES SPIRITUALISM ACTUALLY TEACH AND STAND FOR, 1929
THE MARACOT DEEP AND OTHER STORIES, 1929
THE CONAN DOYLE STORIES, 1929
AN OPEN LETTER TO THOSE OF MY GENERATION, 1929
OUR AFRICAN WINTER, 1929
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 1929
WORKS, 1930 (24 vols.)
THE EDGE OF THE UNKNOWN, 1930
THE CONAN DOYLE HISTORICAL ROMANCES, 1931 (2 vols.)
COMPLETE PROFESSOR CHALLENGER STORIES, 1952
THE CROWN DIAMOND, 1958
STRANGE STUDIES FROM LIFE, 1963
THE ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1967
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE ON SHERLOCK HOLMES, 1981
UNCOLLECTED STORIES, 1982
ESSAYS ON PHOTOGRAPHY, 1982
LETTERS TO THE PRESS, 1986
THE SHERLOCK HOLMES LETTERS, 1986