Rare Holmes manuscript to be sold

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh in 1859

A rare manuscript of one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's final Sherlock Holmes stories is expected to fetch a £250,000 at auction.

The handwritten copy of The Adventure of the Three Gables goes under the hammer at Sotheby's New York in June.

Edinburgh University, where the author studied medicine, is expected to be among those interested in purchasing the document.

Sir Arthur was born at Picardy Place, Edinburgh, in 1859.

'Beautiful writing'

Marsha Malinowski of auctioneers Sotheby's said: "Conan Doyle had extraordinarily clear and beautiful writing.

"He was the sort of writer who would not put pen to paper until he had thought out clearly what he wanted to write.

"So, although there are more than 100 amendments, they are usually minor changes such as clarification or emphasis."

The document, bound in vellum, was once owned by the Marquis of Donegall and has been in a private collection since the 1970s.

Sotherby's have put an estimate of $350,000 to $500,000 on the manuscript, which will go on sale on 21 June.