First Students' Classics

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Dec 2011 · First Students' Classics Issue #12 · Singapore Asia Publishers Pte Ltd

About this ebook

 Suitable for children 8-12 years old, great literary classics are retold in full-colour, graphic novel style.

The story is engaging and easy to read and a child's first exposure to great classics and remarkable authors.

Excellent as introductory readers to great literary works.

About the author

 Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), was a Scottish author and creator

of the detective-hero Sherlock Holmes. His mastermind sleuth and his companion Dr John H. Watson redefined the detective genre. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in A Study in Scarlet and went on to appear in fifty-five more stories and four novels. Arthur’s works include The Lost World, The Coming of the Fairies and Memories and Adventures. Translated into many languages, his works are still in print.

Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on 22 May, 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the eldest son of Mary née Foley and artist Charles Altamont Doyle. His father, who was prone to depression, died in 1893. Arthur’s education started in 1868 at the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder. He then attended Stonyhurst College. Next, he travelled to Austria to study at the Jesuit College. At Edinburgh University, he studied medicine and met his mentor Doctor Joseph Bell. He later became his assistant. He graduated in 1885. During his studies and afterwards, he wrote various articles and stories for the Edinburgh Journal, The Pall Mall Gazette and the London Society to name a few.

In 1882, Conan Doyle moved to Southsea, England andstarted practising medicine. In 1885, he married Louise Hawkins. They had two children. Arthur first published Beeton’s Christmas Annual (1887) followed by A Study in Scarlet (1888). His novel The Mystery of Cloomber was released followed by The Sign of the Four (1890), The Firm of Girdlestone (1890), and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891). In 1892, Louise contracted tuberculosis and the Doyles moved to Surrey.

In 1900, as a doctor at the Longman Hospital during the South African War, Doyle wrote war-related works. Doyle was knighted for his works in 1902. In 1906, Louise died. A year later, he married Jean Blyth Leckie. They had three children.

One of his last works, The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes was published in 1927. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died at his home ‘Windlesham’ in Crowborough, Sussex, on 7 July, 1930. His grave memorial reads ‘Steel True, Blade Straight, Arthur Conan Doyle, Knight, Patriot, Physician, & Man of Letters.’