What are the composition dates of the Holmes stories, and when did they supposedly take place?
[Thanks to Chris Redmond for this reponse!] The first of the original stories (A STUDY IN SCARLET) was published in 1887, and describes events of (probably) 1881. The remaining stories appeared intermittently over four decades, the last to be published being SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACE in 1927. Precise information appears in various bibliographical and reference works. (The SHERLOCK HOLMES REFERENCE CARD includes publication dates as well as page numbers in the Annotated Sherlock Holmes, and standard abbreviations. To obtain a Reference Card send an unstamped, self-addressed business size envelope, accompanied by two 29-cent stamps, to Chris Redmond, 523 Westfield Drive, Waterloo, Ontario N2T 2E1 Canada. Canadians can send a stamped self-addressed envelope instead.) As for the dates when Holmes’s cases took place, there are close to a dozen full-length “chronologies” — attempts to date the cases from evidence in the stories, with special attention to such cruxes as THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE, whic
