Scottish Historian Finds a Lost Sherlock Holmes Story by Arthur Conan Doyle While Searching Around in His Attic

The Book o’ the Brig

A Scottish historian named Walter Elliot recently unearthed a “lost” Arthur Conan Doyle story while he was looking around in his attic. The story, “Sherlock Holmes: Discovering the Border Burghs and, by deduction, the Brig Bazaar“, was part of The Book o’ the Brig, a compilation of stories written to raise money to rebuild Bannerfield’s Bridge, a wooden bridge in Selkirk, Scotland after a great flood wiped it out in 1902.

It is believed the story – about Holmes deducing Watson is going on a trip to Selkirk – is the first unseen Holmes story by Doyle since the last was published over 80 years ago. Mr Elliot, a great-grandfather, said: “In Selkirk, there was a wooden bridge that was put up some time before it was flooded in 1902. “The town didn’t have the money to replace it so they decided to have a bazaar to replace the bridge in 1904. They had various people to come and do things and just about everyone in the town did something.

Bannerfield Bridge