His Last Bow

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His Last Bow is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the title of one of the stories in that collection. Originally published in 1917, it contains the various Holmes stories published between 1908 and 1913, as well as the one-off title story from 1917.

The collection was originally called Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes and did not contain the actual story His Last Bow, which appeared later, after the full-length The Valley of Fear was published. However later editions added it and changed the title. Some recent complete editions have restored the earlier title.

[edit] Contents

"The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge"
"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" (this story is in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in British editions of the canon)
"The Adventure of the Red Circle"
"The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans"
"The Adventure of the Dying Detective"
"The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax"
"The Adventure of the Devil's Foot"
"His Last Bow"

When the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes were published in the USA for the first time, the publishers believed "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" was too scandalous for the American public, since it dealt with the theme of adultery. As a result, this story was not published in the USA until many years later, when it was added to His Last Bow.

Even today, most American editions of the canon include it with His Last Bow, while most British editions keep the story in its original place in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge was not originally published under that name; it is a lengthy two-part story, consisting of The Singular Experience of Mr John Scott Eccles and The Tiger of San Pedro, and on original publication it bore no collective title other than "A Reminiscence of Mr Sherlock Holmes". Indeed, the first seven stories in the collection were originally grouped under the title Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes before the late addition of His Last Bow, a story told in the third person and detailing an aged Holmes' anti-German activities in the years leading up to the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. Subtitled "The War Service of Sherlock Holmes", there is considerable evidence to suggest that Doyle intended the story to be his last Holmes effort, and that the publication of this collection was meant as a rounding-up of all previously uncollected material to allow the author to concentrate on other projects closer to his heart. Doyle apparently found the financial inducements to continue writing the Holmes stories too much to resist, however, as he was back writing them within four years.

The elements of nationalism and espousal of war as a cleansing force in the title story aside, most scholars regard this late-period collection as being every bit as strong as its predecessor The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1904).