Between 1921 and 1924, many of Britain and Ireland's most significant writers contributed handwritten books to the miniature library of Queen Mary's Dolls' House. The collection of tiny manuscripts was organised by Princess Marie Louise, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and the writer E.V. Lucas.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle played cricket with E.V. Lucas, and cricket forms part of the ‘unpublished novelette’, in his words, that he wrote especially for his friend’s project. His miniature book, How Watson Learned the Trick, is a new Sherlock Holmes story that he wrote, in his own hand, for the Dolls’ House. In the short tale, Watson attempts to make deductions about Holmes, but the famous detective proves him wrong on every point.

There was some speculative fun had amongst contributors to Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House that fairies might live in it. For Doyle, this would have been a little more serious. He believed he had seen evidence that fairies really exist in the infamous Cottingley Fairies photographs, and was publishing articles on this subject at the same time as writing for the Dolls’ House.