Arthur Conan Doyle began writing while studying medicine at university in the late 1870s, and had his first short story, "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley", published in September 1879. Eight years later his first Sherlock Holmes story, the novel A Study in Scarlet, was published by Ward Lock & Co. It was well received, but Doyle was paid little for it; after a sequel novel, The Sign of the Four, was published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, he shifted his focus to short stories.[1] Soon after The Strand Magazine was inaugurated in January 1891, its editor Herbert Greenhough Smith received two submissions to the new monthly from Doyle. Later he described his reaction: "I at once realised that here was the greatest short story writer since Edgar Allan Poe."[2] The first of them, "A Scandal in Bohemia", was published near the back of the July issue with ten illustrations by Sidney Paget.[3] The stories proved popular, helping to boost the circulation of the magazine,[1] and Doyle was paid 30 guineas each for the initial run of twelve.[2] These first twelve stories were published monthly from July 1891 until June 1892,[4] and then were collected together and published as a book, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on 14 October 1892 by George Newnes, the publisher of The Strand Magazine.[5] The initial print run of the book was for 10,000 copies in the United Kingdom, and a further 4,500 copies in the United States, which were published by Harper Brothers the following day.[6]
Sidney Paget illustrated all twelve stories in The Strand and in the collection. The preceding Holmes novels had been illustrated by other artists.
