Customer Reviews

The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1 (Barnes & Noble Classics)

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For collectors: Barnes & Noble put out three series of hardcover "Barnes & Noble Classics" in the last decade. The first has yellow dust jackets (1992), the second has all black matte dust jackets with gold type and a diamond-design (1997), and the third in 2003 has black-spines with a literary picture on the top of the spine. This edition is the third kind (2003). It has a black silhouette of a detective on a blue background. The book is a regular trade-sized hardback book. It is held together with glue that makes crispy crackling noises when you open it. Normally, I'd love that, but with a book that is well over 700 pages, I worry about the quality and hope that the pages manage to stay in the spine. The edges of the pages are the "rough cut" kind, which is quite charming, even when you're picking the machine-leavings off the side of the book. The text size is readable, which is to say, it's not 8-point font. I'd say more 10 to 11 point.

However, if you're looking at this edition, you're looking at it because it's cheap, not because it's superb quality. And boy, at $9.95 list price for a 709-page book, you are getting a deal.

It looks quite nice on a bookshelf and the extraneous notes within are as listed: a short (short) timeline of Conan Doyle's life, a rather brief introduction to Sherlock Holmes, a page on "Conveyances (Modes of Transportation)," and a few notations in the back. But if you're like me, you're going to initially skip all of that babble for the substance. In this book, you will get: "A Study in Scarlet," "The Sign of Four," "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," and "The Memoir of Sherlock Holmes." If you purchase this volume, it would be wise to buy the matching volume of "The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume II." Worth it and recommendable? Yes, absolutely.

This is a great value edition. I did not find the print to be as legible as I might have wanted it to be for this oversized paperback. I am starting out with volume one first to see how I do; have had some problems with my eyes so some of these jam packed paperbacks which have been scaled down to size are sometimes difficult to read; they pare down everything including the font size. So far so good; but I have put on some reading glasses so as to not tire my eyes out. The print is definately not large enough; and that is the one drawback. I am sure for some this would be a non issue; but not for this reader.

In terms of value you cannot go wrong except with the font size; the paperback is not one of those books which will take a beating either. But the selection of stories is phenomenal.

Now to the volume itself: the price point is good ($7.95); the font size small from my perspective; the stock used thin. But the anthology selection is glorious. There are an introduction and notes by Kyle Freeman who has been a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast for many years; there is a timeline of Doyle's life and outstanding events related to the character Holmes. There is even a note on the conveyances used during that time period. Holmes makes his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet and we are off. The volume has a set of end notes, some questions and answers from some well known authors; there are 23 wonderful classic Holmes tales as well as the The Hound of the Baskervilles, A Study in Scarlet (already mentioned) and The Sign of Four.

It was wonderful to learn more about Arthur Conan Doyle's own life as a young ship's surgeon and how he sailed the Arctic in a whaling ship and all of his very unique adventures. He had a Jesuit education but turned his back on catholicism; though championing spiritualism causes as he grew older. He was knighted by King Edward VII; but one of his greatest influences was Thomas Macaulay who happened to have passed away the same year that Doyle was born. From the time he was introduced to Macaulay at his Jesuit boarding school, he carried a volume of Macaulay's essays around with him for the remainder of his days. Doyle was very frank in admitting that these essays influenced him more than anything else.

Sherlock Holmes remains synonymous with the idea of the great detective. And everyone of us loves the idea of opening up one of Doyle's tales and hearing Holmes utter one of his famous quotes which infers his superior intellect and not too humble demeanor.

"My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know." And so it goes.

Good value, you cannot go wrong; just get a good pair of reading glasses and then everything is elementary!

Bentley/2008
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1 (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Get this two-volume Barnes & Noble hardback edition. The paperback version is hard to see in the skimpy center margins. The hardbacks are small enough to be held comfortably, and the print large enough to read easily for most people. All the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories, plus the four short Sherlock Holmes novels. Helpful introductions and brief notes. A complete collection at a bargain price.
Unless you want to wait indefinitely, you may have to look elsewhere [[...], etc.] for the Volume 2 hardback, which originally was cheaper than the paperback.

I loved Sherlock Holmes as a child, and continue to enjoy reading these classics as an adults. The book is well put together with one exception: Where are all of the original illustrations!?! A good book, but you would be better off with "The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes."

Paul Buckner,

Author of "From Broke to Broker: Stories of Finding Financial Freedom."

These stories have been reviewed enough elsewhere, so I will confine myself to speaking about what differentiates this edition from others. First, I would caution buyers looking for a "complete Sherlock Holmes" -- often a book brags to have the complete stories and novels, then you discover the text is very tiny and the columns are wide enough to accommodate 1-2 sentences each. (Same issue with complete sets of Poe.) This makes for difficult reading, not just on the eyes, but the brain has better retention when the eye doesn't have to follow long rows of text that are easy to get lost in -- and you get those breaks between lines to think about what was read. Enough on that soap box.

This two volume set is comfortable to read, coming in around 1,500~ pages with rough-cut edges that give it an individual feel. It's fairly cheap too, especially buying it used. I've just finished "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and I'd suggest people new to these stories start there also.

A delight to read! I suppose there are a reason some books become classics, and after reading it I can certainly see why the adventures of Sherlock Holmes are one such thing.

"The Hounds of Baskerville", unsurprisingly, is my favorite. "A Study in Scarlet" is the first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories, and it's clear he doesn't have the pacing perfect yet. I was pretty confused when we jumped to Utah after the first part, and I was seriously concerned Doyle was never going to explain the motives of our killer. "The Sign of Four" seemed a pretty specific story to give Watson a wife, and the obvious premise make the whole story a little cheap, as well as the rather. However "The Hounds of Baskerville" happened after several of the shorter stories (a personal favorite of those being "The Adventure of the Red-Headed League"), and Doyle appears to have matured a bit as a writer by that point (published in 1902, with "A Study in Scarlet" being published in 1887) and the story required the reader to know next to nothing outside the context of the story.

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This is a great book, love the stories and that I can read one or two before bed and not feel like I'm leaving a book unfinished. I'm just finishing the last story and already looking forward to volume II.

At 67 years old I thought it was time to read Sherlock Holmes, and I wasn't disappointed. Great read. Going to order Vol 2 soon

This is great book. My 13 years daughter loves it and read it multiple times.

The editorial on this page contains spoilers! HOW INCONSIDERATE!!!

NO SPOILERS BELOW

I am so incredibly disappointed that the "unknown" author of the editorial on this page for the book has included a spoiler about the last book that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Sherlock Holmes.

I am incredibly disappointed in the insensitivity of this spoiler.

I am just getting into reading the novels of Sherlock Holmes and was looking for a book with the complete canon works and to my horrible disappointment this editorial spoils the very last book. I am totally crushed.

I am also very upset that this editorial does not have the author's name attached. Is that an Amazon policy? In this case, the anonymity is annoying.

I ask, PLEASE Amazon, remove the spoilers.

Thanks.