The Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Four Novels and Fifty-Six Short Stories Complete [Hardcover]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author), William S. Baring-Gould (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 20, 1992

The complete texts of the four novels and fifty-six short stories that made the legendary detective famous are accompanied by an introduction, notes, maps, diagrams, photographs, and drawings in this oversized edition--an indispensable possession for all mystery fans.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1512 pages
• Publisher: Wings Books (September 20, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517481022
• ISBN-13: 978-0517481028
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.6 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #843,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Sherlock Homes enthusiasts, December 6, 2000

By 

Michael Benitah (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Four Novels and Fifty-Six Short Stories Complete (Hardcover)

If you ever wanted to read the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, this is the best book to buy. Also, if you are one of those Sherlock fans, you will certainly appreciate this book. Apart from Conan Doyle's original text, this book presents lots of interesting information about Victorian England, linking it with the text. If Holmes spends a crown on something, Baring-Gould will not only calculate its value today but will also show you a picture of the coins at that time. If Holmes and Dr. Watson have to take a transportation to go somewhere, Baring-Gould will show a picture and description of the exact transportation they used. Finally, if the two inseparable friends have to investigate something in a specific address, the book shows a map or picture of the site. However, the book most interesting quality is an extensive research the editor made in order to sort the stories chronologically, not in the order Conan Doyle wrote them but in the order they in fact happened. All those details make the book so real that after you finish this book, you will get a strange feeling that the most famous fictitious detective in the world really lived at 221b Baker Street or a strange feeling that Holmes was not simply a delusion of Dr. Watson, himself the alter ego of Conan Doyle.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A standard-bearer for Holmes collections, July 23, 2004

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Four Novels and Fifty-Six Short Stories Complete (Hardcover)

William S. Baring-Gould (1913-1967) was one of the greatest Sherlock Holmes scholars ever. Publishing several works on Holmes publically and privately, this two-volume annotation of the Holmes canon is perhaps his greatest work, and was his last. Published in 1967, the copyright inscription shows that it is held by his widow, Lucile M. Baring-Gould. Baring-Gould himself was a life-long devotee of Holmes in particular, and mysteries in general. He is also noted for the fictional biography of Nero Wolfe, in which he puts forward the idea that Nero Wolfe is the son of Sherlock Holmes, via THE woman, Irene Adler, of 'A Scandal in Bohemia'.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the best known detectives in the world -- so famous in fact, that 221B Baker Street in London continues to get mail adddressed to this fictional character almost a century after he would have died had he been a real person. There are groups of people -- Sherlockians and Holmesians, the distinction between which is rather subtle -- who delight in retelling the tales. There are forever questions and debates about the ordering of the stories; Baring-Gould is one authority often referred to in these debates, thanks to his work on the Chronology of Holmes, used as a framework for this annotated set.

Baring-Gould breaks the time frame into the follow divisions:

- The Early Holmes (1874 - 1879)
- The Partnership with Watson to Watson's first marriage (1881 - 1886)
- Watson marriage to his wife's death (1886 - 1887)
- Partnership until Watson's second marriage (1887- 1889)
- Watson's second marriage to Holmes' disappearance (1889 - 1891)
- Holmes' return to Watson's third marriage (1894 - 1902)
- The end of the Partnership (1903)
- Sherlock Holmes in Retirement (1909)
- An epilogue (1914)

Baring-Gould introduces the series with a 12-part series of essays that look at various aspects of the Sherlock Holmes legend, including foreign translations, translation into stage and screen, and highlights of particular personalities (Watson, Moriarty). He includes a wonderful brief essay by Edgar W. Smith, an early Sherlockian, which asks (and answers) the question, 'What is it that we love in Sherlock Holmes?' In the end, beyond the setting and the culture and the chase, it is the values 'implicit and eternal in ourselves' that we recognise as manifest in Holmes that keeps him an enduring character.

The volumes are the complete texts of all short stories and novels, backed up with an almost equivalent amount of textual annotation, richly accentuated with photographs, engravings, maps, and other graphics (diagrams, coats-of-arms), often taken from Holmesian sources such as journals, playbills, early editions, and even 'The Strand' magazine.

Sherlock Holmes introduces us to a world foreign yet familiar, past yet somehow present -- the stories are very contextually bound yet timeless in almost inexplicable ways, and present mysteries beyond the face-value plots. Baring-Gould's love for his subject is very apparent throughout the over 800 pages of these volumes. Some editions of this book come with a slip-cover.

This is my favourite of all my Holmes books. It is must for any fan of Holmes.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A godsend for any Holmes fan, August 1, 2000

By 

Robert James (Culver City, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Four Novels and Fifty-Six Short Stories Complete (Hardcover)

Sherlock Holmes has been an obsession of mine since adolescence. When I came across this relatively expensive set of books in junior high school, I ran home and did every chore in the world in my entire neighborhood for three straight days --and added up the dimes and quarters people would give me until I had enough to buy these two volumes. They have been with me ever since. For the first time, I understood what all those words were that I couldn't find in a dictionary, with illustrations and explanations. Even more amazing, I learned that Sherlock Holmes was a real person -- or at least, the editors of these books believed so! The product of a great generation of Holmes fanatics, this collection is full of the arguments over what each story means, what has been included by Dr. Watson, and what must have been left out to protect the innocent. The one truly indispensable volume for Holmes fans, "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes" is an unadulterated joy!