DOYLE (ARTHUR CONAN) Autograph letter signed ('A. Conan Doyle') to an unknown recipient ('Dear Sir'), suggesting that as Britain is short of merchant shipping '...Why should we not buy all the German ships in American ports?...', this to be undertaken through an intermediary '..without the seller knowing who the real purchaser was. It is trading with the enemy but if the value of the ships to us is greater for war purposes than the money to them, it is surely good policy...', docketed in red ink on reverse in another hand, one page, dust-staining, discolouration and marks, rust stains, 8vo (203 x 127mm.), Windlesham, Crowborough, 6 January 1916; with an autograph postcard signed ('A. Conan Doyle') to an unknown recipient ('Dear Sir'), saying he has read his article on the faulty criminal system ('... It is clear you never read the speech of Sir Robert, now Lord Strathclyde, when he hounded Oscar Slater to the Gallows... when an innocent man - no one could doubt it who knows the facts - was so nearly hanged & has been in jail 18 years...') and offering him to send his book on the subject, 2 pages, slightly discoloured, oblong 12mo (90 x 134mm.), Bignell Wood, Minstead, 14 August [n.y.] (2) Footnotes: 'WHY SHOULD WE NOT BUY ALL THE GERMAN SHIPS IN AMERICAN PORTS?': CONAN DOYLE COMES UP WITH A PLAN TO RESTOCK BRITAIN'S MERCHANT SHIPPING. Whilst too old to serve at the outbreak of war in 1914, Conan Doyle was nonetheless determined to play an active role, and due to his fame and reputation, he expected to be taken seriously, here presumably writing to a contact in the Admiralty with an idea to increase Britain's merchant shipping. He threw himself into the war effort with enthusiasm, and successfully reorganised his local volunteer force, guarded German prisoners of war, and composed pamphlets for the Propaganda Bureau. Not only that, he travelled to France as a war correspondent and wrote a six-volume History of the Great War. In 1917 he was inspired to write his last Sherlock Holmes story, His Last Bow, in which an aged Holmes unmasks a German spy. The second item in the lot refers to the case of Oscar Slater, one of two cases where Conan Doyle fought against a miscarriage of justice, becoming a 'real life' Sherlock Holmes. Provenance: The first mentioned Sotheby's New York, 3 June 2014, lot 94. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing