# Sherlock Holmes and the price of "Silver Blaze" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 3, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066 "2004-08-03T02:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066/1 "2004-08-03T02:11:07Z")
I recently started rereading the Sherlock Holmes stories, and this inspired me to also reread Dex’s terrific [article](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msherlock.html) on Holmes. In rereading the article, I noticed something that seemed at odds with the editor’s introduction to my copy of _The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes_. Dex says: > [@](#): > > By 1892, Doyle received £1,000 ($5,000) for the Sherlock Holmes short story “Silver Blaze.” My Oxford University Press “World’s Classics” edition of _Memoirs_ says on page xiv: > [@](#): > > But Conan Doyle was not keen to produce furthur Holmes stories . . . He considered how to get around the _Strand_’s latest approach and decided to ask **one thousand pounds for the new series** in hope that this would prove a detterent. (He had been paid thirty guineas for each of the stories of the first series, and fifty guineas for each of the second series.) But the _Strand_ accepted his terms without hesitation and Conan Doyle had now to begin considering ideas for the stories that would eventually become _The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes_. (bolding mine) It seems to me that Dex must have mis-read his source, and Doyle was actually paid 1000 pounds for the _entire series_ of twelve stories which _began_ with “Silver Blaze.” Check it out if you can Dex, and let me commend you again on your great article. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066/2 "2004-08-03T03:55:05Z")
I think you’re correct in your interpretation. John Dickson Carr’s _The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle_ quotes a letter from Doyle to his mother: > [@](#): > > “They’ve been bothering me for more Sherlock Holmes tales,” he told the Ma’am in February, 1892. “Under pressure I offered to do a dozen for a thousand pounds, but I sincerely hope that they won’t accept it now.” > > But they did accept it, immediately. And the author paused to reflect. > > However modest this sum may now seem for a series which was to include _Silver Blaze_, _The Reigate Squires_, and _The Naval Treaty_, it was a very large payment for 1892. It somewhat dazed him; he could not get used to being a celebrity, because he felt no different. No British magazine of the day could possibly afford the equivalent of $5,000 per story, even for Sherlock Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066/3 "2004-08-03T13:16:12Z")
Hm. I seem to have misread “for the stories” as meaning “for each story.” Y’all are correct, and I’ll have the Staff Report amended. Thanks for the correction, and thanks for the kind words, **Loopus**! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066/4 "2004-08-04T04:48:44Z")
**Dex** , while you’re changing the column, you may want to change this sentence: > [@](#): > > Many authors bring Holmes into contact with real-life contemporary people, such as Sigmund Freud or Oscar Wilde or Jack the Ripper or Harry Flashman, or even with fictional characters such as Tarzan, the Loch Ness monster, or Dracula. Or did you mean, for some reason (a joke perhaps?), to imply that Flashman was non-fictional? (If you were under the impression that Harry was a real person, I’m sorry disillusioned you.) ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066/5 "2004-08-04T10:23:15Z")
Bear in mind that the £1,000 for 12 stories was just for the British serial rights. He also received payment for American serial rights as well as payment and royalties for US and UK book rights. (At least I think Newnes, who published _The Strand Magazine_, as well as the first UK editions of the books, had to pay additional fees for the books.) Add to this money received for play rights and early film rights and it is easy to see how Conan Doyle was one of the highest paid authors of his time. I always see him credited with being _the_ highest paid writer in the world, but have never seen verifiable confirmation. It could be difficult to prove. **Dex’s** Holmes article is what got me hooked on SDMB. **Dex** , you still hold top rank with godlike powers, second only to Cecil himself, in my universe (and in the universes of many others), although **Una Persson** is rapidly gaining on you with her spate of incredible articles. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066/6 "2004-08-04T12:47:49Z")
> [@](#): > > _By dtilque_: Or did you mean, for some reason (a joke perhaps?), to imply that Flashman was non-fictional? (If you were under the impression that Harry was a real person, I’m sorry disillusioned you.) WHAT??? Sacriligious nonsense, if not actionable heresy. Yes, of course, it’s a joke. I couldn’t resist. **Mycroft** , thanks for the kind words. Wow! I don’t think I’ll amend the Report to cover the point you make, since the purpose of that sentence was not how much he earned, but how much it grew – from £25 for the first novel, to £1000 for a sequence of 12 stories. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sherlock-holmes-and-the-price-of-silver-blaze/258066/7 "2004-08-04T17:52:32Z")
Most welcome Good Sir. No, I did not mean to suggest that you include the information I wrote about. It gets too complicated and the effect is well illustrated by the £25-for-one to £1,000-for-twelve example you are using. I know some people trying to get a handle on the actual earnings for various stories over the various years, but they get bogged down by murky details and big gaps in information. The recent sale of many long-hidden Doyle archives at Christie’s in May has released more information that Sherlockians are trying to digest. Among the items, I think, was a ledger of some of Doyle’s earnings for stories. Quite interesting to those of us fanatically into that sort of thing. (When does a hobby change to an obsession or even an affliction? Never mind, I think I know.)