A Study in Scarlet

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Robert Richardson

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MOMENT IN TIME: NOVEMBER 20, 1886

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On November 20, 1886, author Arthur Conan Doyle sold the copyright to “A Study in Scarlet” for a piddling £25 to Ward Lock & Co., which published it in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. It was this story which introduced Conan Doyle’s famous detective, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, to the world. GEORGES DE KEERLE/HULTON ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sells copyright for the first Sherlock Holmes story
The opening of A Study in Scarlet, “In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army,” is more akin to “It was a dark and stormy night” than “Call me Ishmael.” It’s the ponderous first line in a mystery novel that features houndstooth-clad sleuth Sherlock Holmes, the literary world’s first forensic detective (he knew chemistry, literature, astronomy and used a magnifying glass). But on this date in 1886, author Arthur Conan Doyle sold the copyright to the story for a piddling £25 (about $5,600 in today’s money) to Ward Lock & Co., which published it in Beeton’s Christmas Annual of 1887. Perhaps Doyle, having written Scarlet in three weeks when he was 27, lacked confidence in his work. Perhaps he needed the money. The story is about a murder investigation – “There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life” – and introduces Holmes, who says in Scarlet, “to a great mind, nothing is little” and his friend, Dr. Watson. Doyle eventually realized his mistake and never dealt with that publisher again. –Philip King

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