Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term "canon" is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle's original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters.
Canon
The traditional canon consists of the novels and short stories collected in the following books, in this order:
- A Study in Scarlet (published 1887)
- The Sign of the Four (published 1890)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1891–1892 in The Strand )
- The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1892–1893 in The Strand as further episodes of the Adventures )
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (serialised 1901–1902 in The Strand )
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1903–1904 in The Strand )
- The Valley of Fear (serialised 1914–1915)
- His Last Bow (contains stories published 1908–1913 and 1917)
- The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (contains stories published 1921–1927)
Extracanonical works
Since the author's death, professional and amateur Sherlockians have discussed endlessly the expansion of this canon, to include other works by Doyle, including works in other media, into the current complete adventures. Rumours have always surrounded lost works, and in recent years further investigations have revealed more to the traditionally collected canon. As there exists no definitive body to argue what is, and what is not canon beyond the already established novels and stories, it is unlikely that any piece, no matter how good its claim to be 'canonical' will ever be popularly received into published versions of the Complete Sherlock Holmes. However, as many as eighteen works have been cited as possible entrants. These works include plays, poems, essays on the character, and even short stories.
Three works which speak most on this subject were published in the late 1980s and 1990s: Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha edited by Jack Tracy, The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes , edited by Richard Lancelyn Green, and The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by Peter Haining. These works discussed several titles and their place in the canon. More recently, the final volume of Leslie Klinger's Sherlock Holmes Reference Library contained the Apocrypha. All of these works have at least slightly different contents.
Works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
In addition to the canon Conan Doyle wrote (occasionally with a co-writer) a number of vignettes, play adaptations and essays involving Holmes, and two short stories in which Holmes makes a possible cameo appearance. Most of these were published in various places during his lifetime, another has only come to light since his death. These are listed below with further detail.
Short stories
"The Field Bazaar" (1896)
"The Field Bazaar" was written during an Edinburgh University fundraising event. Doyle had been requested by his university to contribute a short piece of literature for a charity magazine. In the story Watson has received a similar request and whilst he reads the letter at breakfast, Holmes correctly deduces the sender of the letter and Watson's thoughts with regard to the letter. It shares many similarities to the canonical stories. Aside from the metafictional twist in which Watson supplants Doyle as the author publishing his own stories in a magazine, it also plays not only about the famous skill of Holmes' observations producing apparently miraculous results, but also upon the notion of the 'traditional breakfast scenes' which open many Holmes short stories.
"The Lost Special" (1898)
Though Doyle had killed off his character by 1894, he still wrote other short stories for publication in the Strand Magazine . "The Lost Special" was one such story, a seemingly inexplicable mystery in which a special train, and its few passengers disappears between two stations. After the mystery is described in full, it is stated that a letter appeared in the press, giving a proposed solution, this provided in the form of a letter by "an amateur reasoner of some celebrity". It is possible, and has been proposed by Haining, Tracy and Green amongst others that this 'amateur reasoner' was Sherlock Holmes. The strongest clue to this is the infamous quote "once one has eliminated the impossible..." used by Holmes throughout his deductions. However, this suggested solution is proved wrong by a confession from the organising criminal, later arrested for an unrelated crime. It is suggested by Haining that Doyle was 'getting out some Holmes' during the series hiatus, but given the failure of the unnamed detective it appears he was parodying his most famous creation. The story was published in book form in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Tales of Terror and Mystery in 1923 and has for years appeared in French editions of the complete adventures.
"The Man with the Watches" (1898)
Like "The Lost Special", "The Man with the Watches" also appeared in the Strand in 1898, and later in Tales of Terror and Mystery . It follows the same pattern, the mystery this time surrounding the appearance of a dead man in a railway carriage, with thirteen pocketwatches in his jacket. An explanation is offered by an amateur detective, but the narrator notes it to be flawed as it doesn't take into account all the facts. A man involved in the accidental murder of the victim writes a letter to the detective, saying that it was a 'mighty clever solution' but entirely incorrect. It shares the same backing for categorising as a Sherlock Holmes story as 'The Lost Special', and appears in French Anthologies. The story was adapted for BBC Radio 4 by Bert Coules in 2009 as 'The Thirteen Watches', and starred Clive Merrison as Holmes (Coules and Merrison had previously been involved in adapting the entire canonical stories during the 1990s.)
"The Adventure of the Tall Man" (c. 1900)
When searching through Conan Doyle’s papers, a biographer of his came across an uncompleted story, complete with plan and quotes. Various authors have attempted to complete the story and put it alongside the canon. Some are very close to Doyle’s plot, others including variations. However no 'official' completion has been made (In the same way as The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes was intended as an official continuation of the canon).
"How Watson Learned the Trick" (1924)
In 1924, several authors were approached to contribute to the library of Queen Mary's Dolls' House. Conan Doyle wrote a short Sherlock Holmes story, just 503 words long, onto the tiny pages of a specially constructed miniature book: "How Watson Learned the Trick". The story was later published alongside works by other authors in The Book of the Queen's Dolls' House Library . Though written 28 years after "The Field Bazaar", this is almost a sister piece to that story. Like the "The Field Bazaar", this story is a breakfast scene, during which Watson attempts to mimic Holmes's style in guessing his thoughts. Watson's intuitions are proved wrong however. Unlike almost all parts of the Sherlock Holmes story it is written in the third person, presumably due to its length.
Sherlock Holmes on stage
Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts (or Sherlock Holmes ) (1899)
The original Sherlock Holmes play written by Arthur Conan Doyle and William Gillette had a successful run of over thirty years. It has many original parts which are not found in the short stories, but borrows many events from the canonical adventures, namely "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Final Problem". Also, it had elements from "A Study in Scarlet", "The Sign of Four", "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" and "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter". It includes the very first mention of the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson." While Conan Doyle wrote the original version, it is unclear how much of his material survived in the play as performed, which was written by Gillette. Conan Doyle and Gillette later revised the play together; it has since been revised by others twice.
The Speckled Band (or The Stoner Case ) (1902)
Around 1902 Doyle wrote and produced a play based on his short story The Speckled Band. It did not premiere until 8 years later, at the Adelphi Theatre, London on 4 June 1910 , with H. A. Saintsbury as Sherlock Holmes and Lyn Harding as Dr. Grimesby Roylott. The play, originally entitled The Stoner Case , differs from the story in several small details, such as the names of some of the characters.
The Crown Diamond: An Evening With Mr Sherlock Holmes (1921)
"The Crown Diamond" is an alternate version of the short story ‘‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’’ though it predates its counterpart by some time, The short story was adapted from the play, this is the reason that the narrative is told in third person rather than by the traditional narrator Watson. Some claim that the play predates the story by a number of years, stati
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