The Mysterious World of Sherlock Holmes

Lavishly illustrated, The Mysterious World of Sherlock Holmes is a companion guide to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Great Detective.The book includes a biography of Conan Doyle, a history of Sherlock Holmes in print as well as on stage and screen, and an examination of the Holmes phenomenon today. Wexler also briefly touches on Sherlock Holmes' role in the evolution of crime fiction, the class structure of Victorian society, Victorian medicine and Holmes' use of forensic investigative techniques.Over 150 illustrations are beautifully presented throughout the book. Many of Sidney Padget's iconic images are reproduced as full or half-page illustrations. There are many photographs of Victorian London and weapons that were common to the era. The section picturing some of Holmes' key possessions (such as his deerstalker hat, magnifying glass, pipe, Persian slipper, and violin) was especially interesting to me. When I first read through the Sherlock Holmes stories as a teenager, I had no idea what a Persian slipper looked like. I would have had no such trouble envisioning Holmes' quirky method of tobacco storage if this book had been available then.While the illustrations shine, the text -- unfortunately -- does not. While I am by no means a Sherlock Holmes scholar, I picked up on several factual and typographical errors throughout the book. Mary Morstan, a prominent character in The Sign of Four, is referred to as "Mary Morstam", several quotations from Doyle's work are incorrect, and more than once, the word "to" is used where "too" is actually the correct form. Better editing would have served this volume well. Wexler also asserts that Doyle's non-Holmes works have "withered away from disregard." While it is certainly true that the Sherlock Holmes stories are Doyle's most popular work and will likely remain so, I would not be so hasty to dismiss the rest of his body of work.Overall, I would not hesitate to recommend this book based on the quality and variety of the illustrations alone. If you can look past the rather unfortunate errors, there is a lot to enjoy here.

I was somewhat on the fence because although the preview looked OK, it didn't look all that exciting. That's because the preview was of the Kindle version and not the hardcover. Understandably, the Kindle version can't replicate the layout of the over-sized hardcover book. The book looks great! Not that there aren't any advantages to having the Kindle version. It might not be so bad to have both. One review insists that the Kindle version has no illustrations. In that case it wouldn't be worth it, but the preview definitely has illustrations. They're just not as attractively laid out as they are in the print version.

I bought this book for my son for his birthday. It was very hard to give it up after I leafed through it. The pages are charmingly printed to look old. It’s filled with color photographs and info about everything you ever wanted to know about Sherlock Holmes.

The information about the times when the books were being written was very interesting to me. I actually got this book for my 12 year old grandson who likes Sherlock Holmes, but I readit before I passed it on to him. He has also liked this book. It broadened his interest in other Sherlock books and learning more about this time period as well.Jody

I collect Holmes books. I bought the e-book to review before I invested in the hardcover version. Looks like I WILL be buying it! Very comprehensive, beautifully laid out.

a FUN book to read about Conan Doyle with pictures of him, his wives, and of course Sherlock Holmes. I enjoyed it very much. Nothing new, but a fun book with lots of pictures and illustrations. Would buy again.

I bought the Kindle edition of this book on 05/02/2021. Contrary to some of the reviews, the copy I received appears to be fully illustrated. Most interesting and enjoyable.

Great pictures and tid bits for Holmes fans.

Volume molto bello e ben fatto. Da non far mancare nella propria collezione nella libreria di casa

This is quite an interesting book for fans of Sherlock Holmes, a background of Conan Doyle, a look into the times in which he lived, along with other info such as Holmes in TV and film. Sadly it is spoiled somewhat by the amount of typos, grammatical mishaps and silly errors. A bit of proofreading would have helped before it was let out to the masses!

From the way this book is advertised I was expecting something different. Don't get me wrong it's absolutely fine, just not what I thought.

The story of the man that created the worlds greatest detective and everywhere the story has appeared on stage, screen, in print and on the radio.Also an in depth look at the character, the times in which he lived and his motivations and hobbies.Well worth a read.

No Spoilers