His Last Bow

''His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes'' is a 1917 collection of previously published Sherlock Holmes stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, including the titular short story, " His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes" (1917). The collection's first US edition adjusts the anthology's subtitle to ''Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes''. All editions contain a brief preface, by "John H. Watson, M.D.", that assures readers that as of the date of publication Holmes is long retired from his profession of detective but is still alive and well, albeit suffering from a touch of rheumatism.

Publication history

The book was published in the UK by John Murray in October 1917, and in the US by George H. Doran Co. that same month.

The collection contains "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", which was also included in the first edition of ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'' (1894) but was dropped from later editions of that book.

Six of the stories were published in ''The Strand Magazine'' between September 1908 and December 1913. ''The Strand'' published "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" as "A Reminiscence of Sherlock Holmes" and divided it into two parts, called "The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles" and "The Tiger of San Pedro". Later printings of ''His Last Bow'' correct ''Wistaria'' to ''Wisteria''.

The final story, " His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes" (1917), an epilogue about Holmes' war service, was first published in ''Collier's'' on 22 September 1917—one month before the book's premiere on 22 October.

Contents

# Preface by John H. Watson (1917)
# "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge" (1908)
# "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" (1892)
# "The Adventure of the Red Circle" (1911)
# "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" (1908)
# "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" (1913)
# "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" (1911)
# "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" (1910)
# " His Last Bow. The War Service of Sherlock Holmes" (1917)

Adaptations

Series for which all the stories in ''His Last Bow'' were adapted include the Sherlock Holmes Stoll film series (1921–1923) and the radio series ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' (1930–1936). All the stories in the collection except "His Last Bow" were adapted as episodes of the 1939–1950 radio series ''The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'', and all were dramatised for the BBC Sherlock Holmes 1952–1969 radio series.

Except for the short story "His Last Bow", the stories in the collection were adapted for television as episodes of the Granada television series (1984–1994). ''His Last Bow'' was dramatised for BBC Radio 4 in 1994 as part of the BBC Sherlock Holmes 1989–1998 radio series. All the stories in the collection were adapted as episodes of the radio series ''The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' (2005–2016). The stories in ''His Last Bow'' have also been adapted for various other productions.

References

First edition dustjacket image courtesy of Lucius Books Ltd.

External links

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{{Authority control

1917 short story collections
Collections of Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
John Murray (publishing house) books