ALS, one page, 5 x 8, personal letterhead, December 30, 1910. Letter to an unidentified gentleman. In full: “I should be much indebted to you if you would warn your readers against some swindler who is touring the Country and professing to be my representative. He has some story of a School of literature and extracts dollars by a promise of epistolatory lessons. I have heard from at least two people who have received visits from him, one of whom was so deceived that he wrote me a reproachful letter, which drew my attention to the matter.” In fine condition, with small tear and staple hole to top edge, and a vertical fold through a single letter of signature.
This misrepresentation clearly irked Conan Doyle, who at the time had just published The Last Galley and was finishing One Crowded Hour and Songs of the Road. A few years prior to writing this letter, Conan Doyle investigated two closed crime cases after discovering a potential miscarriage of justice. The first exonerated a man convicted of sending threatening letters and mutilating animals, and the second case revolved around a man found guilty of killing an elderly woman. The author was fascinated by inconsistencies in the cases, and led to the release of both incarcerated souls. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
