"The Crooked Man" Manuscript:
RR Auction 2025 Sale

By Randall Stock, September 21, 2025 (revised)

RR Auction offered page 1 of Conan Doyle's manuscript for "The Crooked Man," a Sherlock Holmes short story, in September.

Topics

Manuscript Description

History

Manuscript Photos

Catalog & Sale Info

Description of Page 1 of "The Crooked Man" Manuscript

Lot 7058: Page 1 of the Manuscript of "The Crooked Man"

One page written on the recto only of a leaf measuring approximately 8 x 12.75 inches. Not signed or dated but c. 1893. Headed as "The Adventure of the Crooked Man," with a blind stamp of "Reform Club, Pall Mall S.W." in the upper right corner. As is common for Holmes manuscripts, the sheet includes a small hole in the upper left corner from a paper fastener.

Conan Doyle wrote in ink on the lined paper. This autograph leaf includes the story's title, the name "Watson," and the full name "Sherlock Holmes." It also contains two small revisions in the first sentence, with "evening" changed to "night" and "fireside" changed to "hearth."

Only the first four pages still exist from the manuscript of "The Crooked Man," with a total of about 1,100 words. This leaf as page 1 consists of approximately 290 words. All four pages were sold at Sotheby's in 2023.

For photos from that sale, including page 1, see my report for the Crooked Man manuscript sale at Sotheby's in 2023.

Presale Estimate: US$50,000+

Online bidding opened on August 22 with a minimum bid of US$5,000.

Sale Results

Bidding did not reach the undisclosed reserve and the manuscript page went unsold. The highest bid reported online prior to the live auction was $37,023, but that probably reflected the auction house bidding up to the reserve.

For more information about the auction itself, see the auction catalog section below.

Topics

History & Provenance

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887, but the detective gained worldwide fame with twelve short stories for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892). Conan Doyle continued the series with a further twelve Holmes stories, including "The Crooked Man," for The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1893).

Most of his early Holmes manuscripts no longer exist. The only complete manuscript from the Memoirs is "The Greek Interpreter." Of the other stories in the Memoirs, four pages remain from "The Crooked Man," as well as single pages from "The Reigate Squires" and "The Final Problem." The Sherlock Holmes Manuscript Census lists all the Holmes manuscripts.

For more details about "The Crooked Man," see the history section of my report for the Crooked Man manuscript sale at Sotheby's in 2023.

The story appeared in the July 1893 Strand Magazine, and in America in both the July 8, 1893 issue of Harper's Weekly and the August 1893 number of the New York Strand. Collected in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, George Newnes published the English first edition in 1893 (although dated 1894), and Harper & Brothers produced the American first edition in 1894.

Provenance:

Christie's London April 28, 1966 lot 189 to Maggs; a California dealer (from Maggs); Lew David Feldman / House of El Dieff (Catalogue 71 issued November 1971, item 15); Alastair B. Martin (purchased from Feldman, died 1/12/10); Robin Bradley Martin (bequest of Alastair B. Martin, sold July 20, 2023 in lot 1185 via Sotheby's NY ); page 1 offered via RR Auction September 20, 2025 as lot #7058.

Topics

"The Crooked Man" Manuscript Photos

See my report for the 2023 Crooked Man manuscript sale with photos of page 1 as well as the fourth page and part of page two of the manuscript.

Topics

RR Auction Catalog & Sale Information

RR Auction provides an online listing and bidding page for Lot #7058: Manuscript page 1 from "The Crooked Man". Their website includes a photo of the manuscript's first page.