LITERATURE 18 “Not Such A Hound As Mortal Eyes Have Ever Seen” First edition, first issue, of the third Sherlock Holmes novel, widely regarded as the best of the series and “one of the most gripping stories in the English language,” with 16 illustrations by Sidney Paget. Although Conan Doyle had killed off his most famous character by sending him over the Reichenbach Falls while grappling with Professor Moriarty in “The Final Problem” (December 1893), his readership demanded the sleuth’s return. The author obliged with this, the third—and still considered by many the best—Sherlock Holmes novel, carefully positioned on the title page as “another adventure” of Holmes. “One of the most gripping books in the language” (Crime & Mystery 100 Best 6). “The supernatural is handled with great effect and no letdown. The plot and subplots are thoroughly integrated and the false clues put in and removed with a master hand. The criminal is superb… and the secondary figures each contribute to the total effect of brilliancy and grandeur combined. One wishes one could be reading it for the first time” (Barzun & Taylor 1142). Text exceptionally clean, with none of the usual foxing. Just a bit of foxing to endpapers, cloth fresh and gilt bright. A nearly fine copy. 17CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. London, 1902. Octavo, original pictorial red cloth, custom slipcase. $12,500 “The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”
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