On August 30th, 1889, the managing editor of Lippincott’s, an American literary magazine, came to London. The editor, J.M. Stoddart, was recruiting authors to write for a British version of the magazine. He threw a dinner party at the elegant Langham Hotel, and invited two young writers named Oscar Wilde and Conan Doyle. The two had never met. At the time, Doyle had published one novel—“A Study in Scarlet”—introducing the private detective, Sherlock Holmes. It had been published in the magazine Beeton’s Christmas Annual, and had been reasonably well-received, although far from a blockbuster. Wilde, an Irish playright and author, was already famous.
During the dinner, Stoddart convinced the two writers to submit stories to the magazine, which became a turning point in both their careers. Wilde went on to write The Picture of Dorian Gray, which appeared in the magazine a few months later, in 1890, and which Wilde later rewrote and expanded into a book version that came out in 1891. Doyle submitted his second Sherlock Holmes story ever, “The Sign of the Four,” which was a breakout success.
