Lost Conan Doyle papers finally found

A lost hoard of personal papers belonging to British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, has been found in London, auction house Christie8217;s said. The collection contains 3,000 items which went missing during a legal dispute over the writer8217;s estate following his death in 1930, Christie8217;s said on Tuesday. It includes personal letters, notes and hand-written manuscripts which illustrate the course of the writer8217;s creative output. Most have never been published.

The collection, found in the offices of a legal firm in London, will go on display in May before being sold by Christie8217;s for an estimated US 3.6 million. One of the most important items is a sketch for the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes in the novel A Study in Scarlet, with the original title A Tangled Skein crossed through.

Jane Flower, a manuscript consultant for Christie8217;s, said: 8216;8216;The whereabouts of this material was previously unknown and it is for this reason that no modern day biography of the author exists.8217;8217; Tom Lamb, the head of Christie8217;s books and manuscripts department, added: 8216;8216;Opening the dozen or so large cardboard boxes, which had housed the archive since the 1960s, was a spine-tingling moment that I will never forget.8217;8217; 8212;PTI