The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published late in 1893 with 1894 date.[1] It was first published in the UK by G. Newnes Ltd., and was published in the US by Harper & Brothers in February 1894.[2] It was the second collection featuring the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, following The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Like the first it was illustrated by Sidney Paget.
The twelve stories were originally published in The Strand Magazine from December 1892 to December 1893 as The Adventures number 13 to 24. For instance, "The Final Problem" was published under the subheading "XXIV.—The Adventure of the Final Problem."[3]
Doyle determined that these would be the last Holmes stories, and intended to kill off the character in "The Final Problem". Reader demand stimulated him to write another Holmes novel in 1901–1902, The Hound of the Baskervilles, set before "The Final Problem". Next year a new series, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, begins with the aftermath of "The Final Problem", in which it is revealed that Holmes actually survived.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Doyle was a prolific writer; other than Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the Mary Celeste.