The First, Second, and Third Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories - from John Murray

I really love the John Murray editions of Arthur Conan Doyle stories, especially the Sherlock Holmes editions. Of course, I don't own any super-special or rare editions (first editions etc) but the great news is that because of their popularity, there are plenty left. I particularly like to buy books with their dustjackets - usually the editions I can buy aren't elite, so the dustjackets are rarely in brilliant condition, but the important point is that they are together and pretty.

Here are some examples of John Murray editions in dust jackets (or dust wrappers if you prefer) that I think are pretty (which is how I choose what I want to buy):

For some reason, I hadn't been aware of these three books shown below, aimed at younger readers:

It's possible I didn't notice them because I always look for books with dust-jackets. These books appear to be aimed at school-age readers, and were first published by John Murray in 1950 in a series of three:

• The First Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
• The Second Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories
• The Third Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories

I have not seen one of these editions with a dustjacket - though books for the 'young adult' (as we would say now) experience a greater degree of physical abuse as they are carried in school bags, lent to friends, etc. The cover design is classical, with Holmes clearly wearing a dearstalker, smoking a calabash pipe, and examining a newspaper or magazine while Watson looks on. 

The stories included in each volume are as follows:

The First Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories

• Silver Blaze
• The Stockbroker's Clerk
• The Final Problem

The Second Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories

• The Empty House
• The Red-Headed League
• The Dying Detective
  

The Third Book of Sherlock Holmes Stories

• The Man with the Twisted Lip
• The Dancing Men
• His Last Bow
  

The stories are nicely arranged to capture the major milestones of Sherlock, with the first ending with the Final Problem, the second starting with Empty House, and the third closing with His Last Bow. None of the stories contain inferences to social (i.e., sexual) scandal are present, such as Scandal in Bohemia, Charles Augustus Milverton, or the Illustrious Client.

There are some other elements that the book contains that make the book useful as an educational tool.

All three books contain an identical introduction by H. M. King, B.A., Ph.D., Headmaster, Regent's Park Secondary School for Boys, Southampton. The school itself as a boys school appears to have ceased operating in that capacity around 1967, and the campus is now a Community College.

Remarkably, the author of the introduction who edited these stories was Horace Maybray King, later Baron Maybray-King. King (1901-1986). King was an English school teacher from the early 1920s onwards in Southampton, who completed a PhD part-time on the Shakespeare folios, and in the late 1940s became Headmaster of the Regent's Park Seconday School.  King became involved first in local politics, then was elected to Parliament in 1950 just as the John Murray books were being published. In 1965 he became Speaker of the House of Commons, and was made a Baron upon retirement in 1971. Pretty impressive accomplishments for Sherlockian! 

Along with the introductory material, the end of each story contains an explanation or definition of complex topics, and a small number of questions (perfect for stimulating discussion about a story at a scion meeting!).

Finally, there are about a dozen new illustrations across the three volumes (one is shown above), by an illustrator who signs as 'BEARDS'. Thanks to a comment from a reader, the illustrator is William Harold Beards (1895-1974), a popular mid-century British artist who did a lot of comic postcards.