His Last Bow

His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes is the fourth collection of Sherlock Holmes stories published by Arthur Conan Doyles. It begins with a preface by Dr. John Watson, supposedly written in 1917, assuring the reader that Holmes is still alive but living in quiet retirement in Sussex.This collection contains the well-known stories "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans," in which Holmes has to track down stolen plans for a new kind of submarine; and "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot" in which a Cornish family is found one morning driven mad or dead, with expressions of horror on their faces. The titular story "His Last Bow" is set on the very eve of the outbreak of the First World War, and involves Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement to defeat a German spy. 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.[1]

The collection contains "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", which was also included in the first American 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.[2][3] 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".[4] 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.[