The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is a book by Vincent Starrett originally published in 1933. It is considered the first book on Sherlock Holmes scholarship and a cornerstone of the study of Sherlockiana. It has been credited with jumpstarting the creation of Sherlockian Societies. It has been used as an inspiration and a reference for "biographies" of Sherlock Holmes such as Nick Rennison's 2005 Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography. The book was dedicated to William Gillette, Frederic Dorr Steele, and Gray Chandler Briggs.