[SHERLOCK HOLMES]. DOYLE, Sir Arthur Conan (1859-1930). The Speckled Band. New York and London: Samuel French Limited, 1912. 8vo. 124pp [+2, ads]. Illustrated. Original light green wrappers, glued to spine. EXTREMELY SCARCE FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION of Arthur Conan Doyle's three-act stage adaptation of the "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." The production opened at the Adelphi Theater in London on June 4, 1910, with H.A. Saintsbury as Holmes and Claude King as Watson. Doyle had leased the Adelphi Theater at his own expense and hastily mounted the production to recoup his losses after the failure of his previous play, The House of Temperley.  "I do not think that I exaggerate if I say that within a fortnight of the one play shutting down I had a company working upon the rehearsals of the second one, which had been written in the interval" (Memories and Adventures). After the outstanding success of the production, running for 169 performances, the play was committed to print, with four impressions. This first impression has all points present, the first and second impressions differing only in the thickness of paper. Green & Gibson A36. 

Binding with marginal chipping and soiling, minor toning at extremities and top right corner bumped. Thumbsoiling and infrequent spots with gutter separation at pp. 48-49, 64-65, 80-81, 96-97, 112-113 and wrappers separated from spine at rear. The role of "Foreman" underlined in pencil throughout. Very good.