A Study in Scarlet
by Arthur Conan Doyle 1859–1930
The book, and the century it came out of.
An army surgeon home from Afghanistan needs cheap lodgings and is introduced to a man conducting experiments in a hospital laboratory. Doyle wrote the first Holmes story in three weeks and sold it outright for twenty-five pounds — the worst bargain in publishing history. The method, the rooms in Baker Street and the friendship all arrive fully formed here. Illustrated with 59 full-page plates — paintings by Ferri, Peron and Waldorp among them.
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.
A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.
It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.
- Series
- Mystery & Crime
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 128 pages
- Reading time
- about 3 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785486989049
59 paintings are bound into this edition
Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.
London, 1887 — a doctor with no patients
Conan Doyle was twenty-seven, running a practice in Southsea that had almost no patients, and wrote to fill the time. He sold the story outright for twenty-five pounds and kept no rights in it.
The method he gave his detective was not invented either: he had studied under Joseph Bell in Edinburgh, a surgeon who diagnosed patients’ trades and travels from their hands and their gait before they had spoken. Forensic science barely existed — fingerprinting was not yet used by police — and the idea that a crime could be reasoned out from physical traces was, in 1887, close to science fiction.
This book in culture: 7 versions
Most people meet a book like this one on a screen first. Here is what was made of it — and none of these is the book.
The whole afterlife of A Study in Scarlet — screen, stage and beyond →
- 1914 A Study in Scarlet Francis Ford
- 1914 A Study in Scarlet George William Pearson
- 1916 Sherlock Holmes Arthur Berthelet short film
- 1933 A Study in Scarlet Edwin L. Marin
- 1983 Sherlock Holmes and a Study in Scarlet animated film
- 2010 A Study in Pink Paul McGuigan TV film
- — Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson Igor Maslennikov TV film
A page from this edition
Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
A Study in Scarlet, first published 1887, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Mystery & Crime shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.
Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785486989049, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of A Study in Scarlet?
- Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
- What exactly did you change?
- The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Arthur Conan Doyle's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
- Are the pictures really in the book?
- Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
- How long is it?
- About 128 pages, which is roughly about 3 hours of reading.
- What do I actually get?
- An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
