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Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters

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This is the first book of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's private letters, many of which have never been published. It provides an intimate and unvarnished view of the famous author that should appeal to both serious Sherlockians and casual readers interested in Conan Doyle.

These letters reveal details of everyday life not mentioned in biographies, and clarify events that many biographers tend to gloss over. We also learn some new things about the Sherlock Holmes stories, including the fact that two prominent Holmes fans encouraged Conan Doyle to continue writing them when he might have stopped.

As a Conan Doyle researcher, I've produced FAQs and web checklists of Conan Doyle manuscripts and archival materials. I'd expected this to be purely a reference book but I ended up reading it straight through. Conan Doyle's style is very readable, and the editors provide excerpts from his autobiography and other details for a smoothly-flowing narrative that's interesting and engaging.

Anyone doing research on Conan Doyle or Sherlock Holmes will want to consult this volume. Even if you've already read a biography about Conan Doyle, you should read this book of his uncensored letters. You're certain to learn something new and get a fresh perspective on the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

It took me about a week to read this volume, and it became a very comfortable companion. I felt the three editors, men with uniquely close relationships with the life of Arthur Conan Doyle, were intelligent commentators on the material that hovered outside the actual letters, and made good decisions on what the reader needs to understand the text. I have read several biographies over a lifetime of study of Dr. Doyle's most famous creation, but I never before felt a real sense of kinship with the author. All knowledge had been perceived through the filter of each biographer's particular prejudices, not to mention the inavailability of much family material including these letters. Reading this book, I felt the full strength of his personality and the familial forces that had shaped his principles and politics. What's more, his sometimes puckish, sometimes ponderous sense of humor was demonstrated clearly to me for the first time.

Everything about the book -- the photographs and drawings, the clear and handsome style of each page, the careful index -- gave further examples of the intelligent, thoughtful decisions by its editors and publishers. Let me recommend this book.

The presentation represents unique unpublished letters of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The letters were written in the
1860s- some are dated others are not dated. There are
noted drawings and photos in the book including:

o drawings by John Doyle (the son)
o photo of Mary Kingsley Conan Doyle
o Conan Doyle as a country gentleman
o aboard "Eira" ship's master with Conan Doyle

The presentation describes how Conan Doyle dedicated the
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to Joseph Bell who
reviewed the work glowingly in "The Bookman". Clearly,
Conan Doyle learned some of the medical technology from
Joseph Bell. Nonetheless, Conan Doyle attended medical
school where he picked up a considerable body of knowledge
applied in the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

This is a wonderful historical document for academicians,
literary buffs, English students, students of literature
and students of the historical period of the 1860s.
The work is worth acquiring as a gift to the student
in your house.

Three well informed editors have done outstanding work in presenting Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's personal letters in a clean and understandable format.

While by its nature not a biography, this book certainly helps reveal the very robust, varied, and patriotic life led by the creator of Sherlock Holmes. It is also a touching study in letters of the lifelong love of a son for a devoted mother.

All Baker Street Irregulars, as well as students of English literature of the period, are encouraged to buy this book for their libraries.

Mention the name of Sherlock Holmes and the name of his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is instantly recalled. Doyle (1859-1930) was a fascinating man whose life story cries out for a biopic! Doyle was born in Edinburgh Scotland to an artist and his intellectually gifted wife Mary. Doyle's father died in an asylum suffering from alcohol and depression in 1893. His mother lived a ripe old age until 1920. It is to Mary Doyle, the mother he adored and confided in throughout his life, that over 90% of these fascinating letters are sent.Several of her own letters to favorite son Arthur are also included.
Doyle became a doctor graduating from the Edinburgh Medical School, traveled to the North Pole as a ship's physician and set up his shingle in the city of Portsmouth in the 1880s. It was during this period he began "A Study in Scarlet" which introduced Holmes and Watson to the British and American public. He also wrote several adventure stories and historical fiction works in homage to his literary idol Sir Walter Scott. His"White Company" about medieval Europe is still in print. While in Portsmouth he wed Louisa Hawkins who bore him two children Mary and Kingsley. Kingsley died from disease in World War I.
With his literary star rising, Dr. Holmes and his famiy moved to London. He there associated himself with the literary world of the day knowing such luminaries as George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Welles, Thomas Hardy, George Meredith. He also socialized with the aristocracy and once sat beside King Edward VII at a dinner.
Dr. Doyle was no stay at home writer. He served in the medical service during both the Boer War and World War I. Doyle enjoyed such varied sports as golf, tennis, cricket and skiing. He loved bicycling and owned a new fanagled motor car particpating in auto races. He and his famiily traveled widely across Europe. He often visited the United States. Doyle liked America and dreamed of a union between Great Britain and the United States. He caught the political bug twice running without success for a seat in Parliament representing an Edinburgh district. He was opposed to Irish Home Rule and along with his friend Winston Churchill was a strong advocate of the British Empire. He and his friend Rudyard Kipling glorified the British soldier.
The brilliant Doyle stuck his neck out by defending persons he thought had been wrongly convicted. He was an advocate for changing England's Divorce Law. He had an often rocky relationship with his five children but by all accounts was a good father. His first wife Louise died iin 1906 and after a brief time he married the lovely Jean Leckie. Jean and he had a happy marriage. They had three children: Denis, Adrian and Jean. It is uncertain whether his affair with Jean was platonic or not prior to the death of Louise.
Doyle was a very busy man who wanted to do away with Sherlock Holmes but continued writing stories of the great detective due to the public insistence for more Holmes adventures. During World War I he wrote a long history of the war which is little read. Science fiction works featuring Dr. Challenger were popular. Doyle was a friend of Baden Powell involving him in Boy Scout work. He was an Edwardian gentleman who was rich, famous and in love with his wife and family. He even delved in playwrigthing and his hero Sherlock Holmes was played on stage by William Gillette. The Holmes character was also seen on the slient movie screen.
World War I saw the death of his son, brother, brother-in law and other
relatives and friends. He increasingly became drawn to spiritualism. He broke with his friend magician Harry Houdini over the spiritualist movement. Doyle lectured widely in Britain, USA, Canada and Australia about spiritualism. He and his wife Jean both believed in seances. He was involved in several public debates concerning spiritualism writing books and articles to defend his position. Doyle was knighted in 1902 despite his objections. He died in 1930 being best remembered for those Sherlock Holmes Stories he thought were minor chapters in his literary oeuvre.
This seven hundred page compendium of the letters between Holmes, mother Mary and others has been edited by three experts on Doyle. Those experts are Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley. These editors put the letters in chronological order from the days when the Roman Catholic born Doyle was a student until 1920. The letters are connected by biographical narrative aiding the reader's understanding of what was happening in the life of Doyle and his interesting family.
The book is lavishly illustrated. If you want to learn about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this book and the recently published "The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes" by Andrew Lycett are the two tomes you need! Elementary My Dear Watson! This book is a winner!

I have to confess that I've never read a story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but after I watched Sherlock Holmes (2009)the movie I was so engrossed in the whit and adventurous nature of the characters, that as soon as I got home I went on Wikipedia to read about their creator. Although there is a lot of material out there about the life of Arthur Conan Doyle, this book is a first account of his life, because it's delivered mostly from his pen, as his journey comes to light through a series of letters that a chronicled in this book.

I am off to read the Sherlock Holmes stories next, now that I feel like I know their author so closely.

Loved this book. It's optimistic and inspirational - highly recommended.

If you love Sherlock Holmes (I really do) you will love finding out about the creator behind the worlds greatest creation. Having read only a few pages, I am all too interested in it. This is as close as I will get to knowing, in Sir Doyles own words, about the life he had lived, since his autobiography is out of print and available through third sellers at astronomical prices.

For those interested you will be enthralled and wowed at the highly active, adventurous life this man experienced. It's no wonder he was able to keep the minds of several nations shrouded in mystery and their own personal adventures while reading his works. A wonderful literary success about the man, practically by the man.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in Arthur Conan Doyle's 'life' (his relationship to his family members), as opposed to his 'letters' (ie. his literary works) I counsel the reader to skip the schoolboy letters unless you are really avid to get at Conan Doyle from the start. They read like the average letters any boy would send from camp or boarding school : ie. Mom I need ... Mom, please send ... . If I read it again, I would start at the letters he sent from the whaling ship, or just before, when he went to 'finishing' school in Switzerland. There the unique Arthur Conan Doyle emerges.

A minus - which may actually be a plus - is that most of the letters are to one person, his mother. It's centering, which is good. One sees a bit of Mary Foley Doyle through her son's letters - also a plus. But it's confining. No son tells his mom all the 'bad stuff' that happened to him, no matter how close they are. Arthur does his best to sound cheerful and confident, and I think he skimmed over incidents that affected him more strongly than he let on to her. I would have liked to read more of his letters to other people - his agents, his first wife and children, his literary and sporting friends, his enemies even. It would've have fleshed out the man more. Also, there are only one or two letters from the Ma'am. (I suspect Doyle didn't keep them) And (gnashing teeth) no letters in this book after Mary Foley Doyle's death. Houdini, guys! Spiritualism! Roger Casement! Come on! Even Bertram Fletcher Robinson and the Hound of the Baskervilles. Were there no letters about them?

But a charming book and worth reading.

I read this book only recently to see whether or not Doyle was a gullible person (contrary to his Sherlock Holmes) as many authors, like Ruth Brandon in her book (1983) "The Spiritualists," judge him. The relevant material appears in the last chapter of the book, His Last Crusade.
His last quoted letter (of 27 December 1920) in the book appears in the last of the chapter, in which he wrote about his psychic experience with a medium, Mrs. Roberts, in Dunedin, New Zealand. Doyle apparently received a message from his dying mother in England through the medium. His mother Mary Doyle died on 30 December 1920.
Skeptics may be right to say that Doyle was gullible to have the psychic experience through the medium; if he was not, he did not receive the message.

Doyle believed in afterlife and hence, he did his last crusade to the end of his life at 71. If there really is an afterlife, the weight of Doyle's soul, if measured by Dr. Duncan MacDougall, might have weighed at more than 21 grams. By the way (if you do not mind), I recently published a technical paper to show theoretically the validity of MacDougall's experiment of measuring the change in weight at the moment of death in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 24, pp. 5-39; the Journal is on sale at amazon.com.