Amador ledger., 1906-06-15
SHERLOCK HOLMES.
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what should do if some sporting kind
Of publisher were suddenly to stride
in and make me bid of forty shil-
lings or so for the To-" When the
book at last fell into the hands of Mr..
Andrew Lang, then acting for Messrs.
Longmans, Green & Company, the
success of Micah Clarke was assured.
and its authors literary career placed
on firmer footing. The "Sign of
the Four followed in 1889, in which
story Sherlock Holmes, who had made
his bow to the public in ga Study in
Scarlet" reappeared and increased DR..
Doyle's rising reputation. His heart,
however, was in the historical novel,
and in 1890 he followed up the success
of Micah with "The White Company"
in the preparation of which he read
one hundred and fifteen volumes,
French and English, dealing with the
fourteenth century in England His
delight in the work is expressed in his
own words: 'To write such books"
he once said, speaking of Micah Clarke
and The White Company, zone must
have an enthusiasm for the age about
which he is writing. He must think it
great one, and then he must go de-
liberately to work and reconstruct it.
Then is his splendid JOY"
STUDY IN SCARLET FOR S125oo
However, DR.. Doyle may prefer to
write historical romances, and what
ever his personal estimate of his great
detective may be, the fact remains
that in Sherlock Holmes he has
created character whose exploits are
as familiar as household words, and
who has entered into the very fibre
of Anglo-SaXon life and literature. 1t
is actually said that at times DR..
Doyle has expressed a wish that nr.
Watson had never met Sherlock
Holmes. It is on record that he
thought so little of ga Study in Scar
let" the story in which Sherlock
Holmes first appeared, that he sold it
outright for $125. The value of eher-
lock Holmes has gone up since those
days, however.
DIR. Doyle acknowledges some If
debtedness to Dupin, the detective in
Poes short stories, s'The Murders in
the Rue Morgue" and "The Purloined
Letter" This is the more interesting
for the reason that in GA Study in
Scarlet" Sherlock Holmes is made to
speak rather contemptuously of
Dupin's skill and acumen. To quote
DR.. Doyle again: 'rIn work which con-
sists in the drawing of detectives
there are only one or two quail. s
| which one can use, and an author Is
forced to bark back upon them con-
stantly, so that every detective must
really resemble every other detec' =
| to a greater or less extent. There is
no great originality required in de-
vising or constructing such a man,
and the only possible originality which
one can get into story about a detec-
tive is in giving him original plots
and problems to solve, as in his equip
ment there must be of necessity an
alert acuteness of mind to grasp IS
and the relation which each Of them
bears to the other"
CONSTRUCTION OF SHERLOCK.
DR.. Doyle went to work, therefore
to build up scientific system in which
everything might be logically reasoned
out. Where Sherlock Holmes differed
from his predecessors wGs that he had
an immense fund of exact knowledge
upon which to draw, in consequence
of his previous scientific education
He was practical, he was sy' ematic
he was logical, and his success in
the detection of crime was to . the
result, not of chance or luck, but of
his characteristic qualities. "With
this idea," says DIR. Doyle, 81 wrote
a book on the lines 1 have indicated,
and produced "A Study in Scarlet
That was the first appearance of Sher.
lock; but he did not arrest much at.
tention, and no one recognized him as
being anything in particular About
three years later, howe r, 1 was
asked to do small shilling book for
! Lippincott's Magazine, which pub.
fishes, as you know, a complete story
in each number. 1 didn't know what
to write about, and the thought oc.
Cured to me, why not try to rig up
the same chap again? did it, and the
result was The Sign of the -Four.
Although the criticisms were f-vor
able, don't think that even then Sher
lock attracted much attention to his
Individuality" But this shows Mr.
Doyle's modesty.