Which 1892 book was the first collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories?

The first collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories was *The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes*, published in 1892.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s twelve stories first appeared in *The Strand Magazine* between July 1891 and June 1892. George Newnes then collected them in book form on 14 October 1892, with illustrations by Sidney Paget. The volume established the format that made Holmes a worldwide literary phenomenon: Dr. Watson narrates cases in which Holmes applies observation, deduction, and scientific reasoning.

The collection begins with “A Scandal in Bohemia,” introducing Irene Adler, and includes “The Red-Headed League,” “The Speckled Band,” and “The Five Orange Pips.” These stories were published in magazine sequence, not in a carefully arranged fictional chronology.

A frequent mistake is to identify *A Study in Scarlet* as the first collection. It was actually the first Holmes novel, published in 1887. Later collections include *The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes* in 1894 and *The Return of Sherlock Holmes* in 1905.