Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the 56 short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term "canon" is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle's original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters.
Usually capitalized by aficionados of the Sherlockian game as "the Canon", the description of these 60 adventures as the Sherlock Holmes canon and the game of applying the methods of "Higher Criticism" to it was started by Ronald Knox as a playful use of the traditional definition of canon as an authoritative list of books accepted as holy scripture.
Sherlock Holmes and his biographer Dr John Watson, as depicted in a Sidney Paget drawing in "The Adventure of the Empty House"
First edition cover of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published 1894.
Promotional poster for Sherlock Holmes: A Drama in Four Acts, first performed in 1899.
Cover of The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, published 1954.
The canon of a work of fiction is "the body of works taking place in a particular fictional world that are widely considered to be official or authoritative; [especially] those created by the original author or developer of the world". Canon is contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction and other derivative works.
The Royal Book of Oz, a canonical work in the Oz series, although written in 1921 after the death of original series writer L. Frank Baum in 1919, by another writer Ruth Plumly Thompson authorized by original publisher Reilly & Lee
"The Field Bazaar" was rediscovered and reprinted by A. G. Macdonell in 1934.
