An autograph manuscript of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of Black Peter has sold for $317,000 at Christie's New York.
The lot crossed the block at the Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana on June 19.
 Conan Doyle's The Adventure of Black Peter was published in 1905 |
It was first published in Collier's and Strand Magazine in the early 1900s, before appearing in The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905).
The plot centres on the murder of a much-hated sea captain, Black Peter, by a mysterious harpoon-wielding assailant. Doyle spent a short time aboard an Antarctic whaling ship during the 1880s, an experience that he drew on for the nautical scenes in the story.
The lot is inscribed to the publisher of Collier's and reads: "To Mr. Collier with best Xmas wishes, December 1908 from Arthur Conan Doyle."
We have this incredible handwritten list by Conan Doyle available.
Timothy O Sullivan and William Bell's Photographs Showing Landscapes, Geological and Other Features of Portions of the Western Territory of the United States, Obtained in Connection with Geographical and Geological Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian made $269,000 - an increase of 438% on a $50,000 estimate.
The photographs were taken on the Wheeler Surveys, which ran between 1869 and 1879 and resulted in the production of a range of topographic maps charting the southwestern United States.
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