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Sherlock Holmes "born"
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Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle Born
Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was English of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, was Irish. They married in 1855. In 1864 the family dispersed due to Charles's growing alcoholism and the children were temporarily housed across Edinburgh. In 1867, the family came together again and lived in squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place. source: Wikipedia -
A Study in Scarlet Published
Doyle struggled to find a publisher for his work. His first significant piece, A Study in Scarlet, was taken by Ward Lock & Co on 20 November 1886, giving Doyle £25 for all rights to the story. The piece appeared later that year in the Beeton's Christmas Annual and received good reviews in The Scotsman and the Glasgow Herald.[5] The story featured the first appearance of Watson and Sherlock Holmes, partially modelled after his former university teacher Joseph Bell. -
The Sign of Four Published
The novel first appeared in the February 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine as The Sign of the Four (five-word title), appearing in both London and Philadelphia. The British edition of the magazine originally sold for a shilling, and the American for 25 cents. Surviving copies are now worth several thousand dollars. Over the following few months in the same year, the novel was then re-published in several regional British journals. Source: Wikipedia -
Per passare il tempo
"To pass the time" - first crossword ever published, in the Italian magazine Il Secolo Illustrato della Domenica. It was designed by Giuseppe Airoldi. Airoldi's puzzle was a four-by-four grid with no shaded squares; it included horizontal and vertical clues. Source: Wikipedia -
The Strand Magazine - first issue published
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890. Its immediate popularity is evidenced by an initial sale of nearly 300,000. Sales increased in the early months, before settling down to a circulation of almost 500,000 copies a month lasting well into the 1930s. -
A Scandal in Bohemia published
"A Scandal in Bohemia" was the first of Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories to be published in The Strand Magazine and the first Sherlock Holmes story illustrated by Sidney Paget. Doyle ranked "A Scandal in Bohemia" fifth in his list of his 12 favorite Holmes stories. Scan of original with illustrations here:
A Scandal in Bohemia -
Strand Magazine Puzzles
In addition to the many fiction pieces and illustrations, The Strand (1891-1950) was also known for some time as the source of ground-breaking brain teasers, under a column called Perplexities, first written by Henry Dudeney. Dudeney introduced many new concepts to the puzzle world, including the first known crossnumber puzzle, in 1926. In that same year, Dudeney produced an article, "The Psychology of Puzzle Crazes," reflecting and analyzing the demand for such works. -
Arthur Wynne publishes Word-cross in New York World
Arthur Wynne, a journalist from Liverpool, England, published a "word-cross" puzzle in the New York World that embodied most of the features of the genre as we know it. This puzzle is frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle, and Wynne as the inventor. Later, the name of the puzzle was changed to "crossword". Source: Wikipedia -
His Last Bow
Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes 7 (or 8) final Holmes stories, final story set in August 1914 -
Crosswords officially a "thing"
In 1921, the New York Public Library reported that "The latest craze to strike libraries is the crossword puzzle," and complained that when "the puzzle 'fans' swarm to the dictionaries and encyclopedias so as to drive away readers and students who need these books in their daily work, can there be any doubt of the Library's duty to protect its legitimate readers?" -
First Book of Crosswords published
The first book of crossword puzzles appeared in 1924, published by Simon and Schuster. "This odd-looking book with a pencil attached to it" was an instant hit and crossword puzzles became the craze of 1924. Source: Wikipedia -
New Yorker Magazine - first issue
In The New Yorker's first issue, released in 1925, the "Jottings About Town" section wrote, "Judging from the number of solvers in the subway and "L" trains, the crossword puzzle bids fair to become a fad with New Yorkers." -
First NY Times Crossword
