Sometimes I'm a little confused when I see different cover designs of the same book from Penguin. Perhaps the designs stem from reprints or differnt editorial editions.
The Sign of Four is one of those, where I first saw the bottom cover design at shop #1 and then the top cover design at shop #2. I prefer the top cover design, as illuminated lamp totally caught my attention in a sea of books.
The Sign of Four was evidently written in a time long past when morphine and cocaine use were once legal, and the start and end of the story featured Sherkock Holmes using cocaine. The book is almost like a short story, narrating the unexplained gist behind an annual gift of pearls that Mary Morstan received. What might today be a sign of racism was not preceived as such during the times of the Victorian British Empire. It was interesting that Doyle weaved in a real event - the Sepoy Mutiny in India - when the sepoys rose against the East India Company, hence the reference to the 'Company' in the story.
I wonder if there was any editing to Doyle's composition, because the story was surprising easy to read. I was perhaps half-expecting quaint expressions no longer in use today. However the notes section at the end of the story merely provided context of where streets and places in the book were.
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