A single page from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) is up for auction at Bonhams.
It's one of a number of leaves from the original manuscript that were sent to book sellers in the US to advertise the work - his first full-length novel since Sherlock Holmes plunged into the Reichenbach Falls.
 The lot is the first page of chapter 13 |
It features Holmes and Watson mulling over the case: "...There's the devilish cunning of it! If he were acting through a human agent we could get some evidence, but if we were to drag this great dog to the light of day it would not help us in putting a rope round the neck of its master.
"Surely we have a case.
"Not a shadow of one - only surmise and conjecture. We should be laughed out of court if we came with such a story and such evidence."
It's expected to make around $100,000-150,000 in the April 11 sale in New York, a figure it could easily surpass.
Another leaf distributed to US booksellers realised $158,500 at Christie's in 2012. Around 35 are known to have survived, the majority of which are housed in institutions.
The complete manuscript for Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter is also featured in the sale.
We have this handwritten list from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for sale.
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