It's probably because it's a bookstore that also hosts many community-oriented events, and so it is a wide-open, loft-like space, though only a one-story building. I'm not sure of the history of the building, but it was possibly some kind of garage or warehouse in the past. Whatever it was, it makes for a gritty yet extremely welcoming bookstore space today. Plus, what other bookstore do you know where you can walk in looking for books, and walk out with a free set of sewing-machine needles for the old Kenmore sewing machine you just received as a gift?
Anyway, books line most of the walls, from floor to ceiling, and while browsing, I found a little corner shelf containing a couple of piles that looked to be yet-cataloged additions to Random Row's offerings.
In these piles I spied what looked like a worn-leather spine, with a crack or two, and as I am always curious to see how old a book that looks like that will be, I took it up and gave it a closer look.
It was The Sign of the Four, the second Sherlock Holmes story written by Arthur Conan Doyle. What it actually was was The Sign of the Four and A Study in Scarlet, which was the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes.
Now my curiosity was peaked. We have a couple of Sherlock Holmes single-volume collections, and so the possibility of finding an early printing was pretty exciting. There was no published date anywhere to be found, so I took it over to Random Row's owner, Ryan, and asked him if he knew anything more about the edition, and how much was he selling it for.
To the first question, there wasn't much to be learned after some minutes of searching ABE books. And since he couldn't come up with any info to place it on any kind of value scale, he settled on $10, and I agreed.
I tried researching this edition myself, and what I found leads me to believe that this is a pirated or reprinted American copy of these two early Conan Doyle works, probably published sometime between 1893-98, likely in 1896. The pirated/reprinted part I am almost certain of after uncovering some info about the publisher, Lovell, Coryell & Company, and the address for said publisher which appears on the title page placing it at time in the publisher's history when it was known to be a reprint publisher/pirate only.
The Sign of the Four was first published in 1890, so whether this is an authorized first American edition (doubtful), the first time The Sign of the Four was published in any way in America (possible, I suppose), or whether it's just an early, but not first, American edition of this Sherlock Holmes tale is unknown to me. But it's still a pretty early edition of these two stories, in an interesting and weathered yet still-functional physical state, and that's all I need.
Book added: The Sign of the Four, Arthur Conan Doyle
Publisher: Lovell, Coryell & Company
Year: Unknown, likely 1896
Where obtained: Random Row Books, Charlottesville, Va.
Price: $10.00
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