Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here. “Therefore, not many pages have survived, and of those, few are in this condition, making this important piece of literature a must-have rarity for serious collectors,” said Palomino. This made the paper more vulnerable to deteriorate quickly than many other types of papers. Palomino added that the manuscript was written on paper that was popular at the time but also was very acidic in its chemical composition. The publishers had asked the author for the original manuscript, and after receiving it, they divided the pages and offered them individually to dealers who purchased copies of the book. The stories have helped to make the character by far the most famous fictional detective in the world, as well as a pop culture icon, and the book also helped Doyle to become one of the best-paid authors of his generation.
Talking about how the auction of the page came to be, Heritage Auctions Historical Manuscripts Director Sandra Palomino said in a statement that New York-based publishers of the book, McClure, Phillips & Company, began the publicity campaign in an effort to promote the book and the return of Holmes. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle is a collection of 12 short stories focusing on the character of Sherlock Holmes. Hence the page being auctioned holds more value since it includes an entire scene in which Holmes discusses the mysterious murder on the moor with Watson. In a statement shared by Heritage Auctions it was mentioned that in the novel Holmes appears in less than half of the book and most of the story centers around his assistant, Dr Watson.