The Adventure of the Speckled Band’, in The Strand Magazine, Vol. III

1892

Storage Journal AP 4 S77, V. 3

London: George Newnes

The Strand Magazine (1891-1950) was founded by George Newnes, who envisioned it as a journal for the middle-class. It cost sixpence a week. The first editor, H. Greenhough Smith, was keen on publishing stories that featured a recurring hero, often a detective. This approach netted Smith a loyal cohort of readers, and the magazine became known for its crime fiction. Newnes contracted Arthur Conan Doyle to write his Sherlock Holmes tales for the Strand. The great detective had made his debut in A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. Holmes appeared in the Strand’s first issue in 1891, marking the beginning of a long association with the magazine, and with Sidney Paget, the illustrator responsible for Holmes’s now-famous deerstalker hat.