How long does it take to read The Sign of Four?

About 2 h 59 min at 260 words per minute, assuming 275 words per page. At 30 minutes a day that is 6 days.

How many words is The Sign of Four?

Roughly 46,000 words, estimated from the median page count at 275 words per page. Open Library does not record word counts, so this is an estimate.

Book · by Arthur Conan Doyle · first published 1982

How many pages is The Sign of Four?

The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle has a median of 169 pages across 151 English-language print editions with a recorded page count; the middle half of editions run 144 to 171 pages.

Median pages

169

151 editions counted

Range

80–306

shortest to longest edition

Reading time

3.0h

at 260 wpm (fiction average)

Words (est.)

46k

at 275 words per page

How long will The Sign of Four take you?

Starts at the fiction average of 260 words per minute and 275 words per page. Move the slider to your own speed.

Reading speed 260 wpm

Page density

Reading time

2 h 59 min

At 30 min a day

6 days

At 1 hour a day

3 days

Page count of every edition, by year

Each dot is one English-language print edition. Shaded: middle half of editions. Line: median.

Open Library edition records (2026-09-30 dump). 2 editions without a publication year not plotted.

Pages by format

Hardcover, paperback and mass-market editions are typeset differently, so the same text can run to more or fewer pages.

Format	Median pages	Editions	Reading time
Hardcover	168	9	2 h 58 min
Paperback	153	31	2 h 42 min
Mass market	160	2	2 h 49 min

Editions counted

The 151 editions behind the figures above, newest first. 3 more editions were set aside because the page count was less than half or more than 2.2 times the median, which usually means an abridged text, an omnibus, or a typing error. Open Library lists 962 editions of this work in all languages and formats.

Year	Publisher	Format	Pages	Open Library
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34241053M
2021	Independently Published	–	152	OL34238754M
2021	Independently Published	–	148	OL34306993M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34304226M
2021	Independently Published	–	184	OL34298781M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34345851M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34205387M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34294416M
2021	Independently Published	–	148	OL34353799M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34360961M
2021	Independently Published	–	142	OL34245573M
2021	Independently Published	–	121	OL34256534M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34202710M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34353837M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34205780M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34305140M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34334508M
2021	Independently Published	–	148	OL34246332M
2021	Independently Published	–	148	OL34326678M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34309770M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34263011M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34338533M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34348377M
2021	Independently Published	–	148	OL34334949M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34310426M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34285387M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34297945M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34304176M
2021	Independently Published	–	80	OL34278949M
2021	Independently Published	–	120	OL34165338M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34354764M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34326646M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34345641M
2021	West Margin Press	–	110	OL33923735M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34282222M
2021	Independently Published	–	148	OL34348716M
2021	Independently Published	–	142	OL34217850M
2021	Independently Published	–	148	OL34354328M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34310847M
2021	Alma Classics	–	160	OL33847494M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34292816M
2021	Independently Published	–	155	OL34202270M
2021	Independently Published	–	169	OL34327448M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34341306M
2021	Independently Published	–	171	OL34312231M
2021	MiraVista Press	–	126	OL34271089M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL34280480M
2020	Independently Published	–	186	OL29975520M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL34140305M
2020	Independently Published	–	155	OL29876289M
2020	Independently Published	–	151	OL29952996M
2020	Independently Published	–	151	OL30332584M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL30336288M
2020	Independently Published	–	186	OL30227187M
2020	Independently Published	–	186	OL30055725M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL34202545M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL30334724M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL30362189M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL30360366M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL30327783M
2020	Independently Published	–	186	OL30277327M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL30330587M
2020	Independently Published	–	109	OL30266528M
2020	Independently Published	–	151	OL30356311M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL34215027M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL30325583M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL34241787M
2020	Independently Published	–	138	OL29936221M
2020	Independently Published	–	128	OL30017071M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL34291867M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL29935340M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL30335513M
2020	Independently Published	–	84	OL34295952M
2020	Independently Published	–	155	OL30227008M
2020	Independently Published	–	151	OL30360686M
2020	Independently Published	–	186	OL30004074M
2020	Independently Published	–	98	OL29954524M
2020	Independently Published	–	151	OL30317949M
2020	Independently Published	–	171	OL30055430M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL34250524M
2020	Independently Published	–	169	OL34213568M
2019	HarperCollins Publishers Limited	–	176	OL28931098M
2019	Independently Published	–	169	OL29847986M
2019	Independently Published	–	105	OL29829371M
2019	Independently Published	–	171	OL29847484M
2018	Scholastic	paperback	167	OL34743262M
2015	Joe Books Inc.	–	192	OL34014696M
2015	Oxford University Press	–	152	OL28577617M
2015	William Collins	Paperback	162	OL29216743M
2015	HarperCollins Publishers Limited	–	256	OL34506006M
2014	Penguin Books, Limited	–	160	OL28538208M
2014	MysteriousPress.com	–	283	OL33486032M
2014	MysteriousPress.com	–	283	OL33494802M
2013	Start Publishing LLC	–	117	OL34005212M
2011	Ulverscroft	Paperback	195	OL29288380M
2010	Broadview Press	–	218	OL30490602M
2009	Filiquarian Publishing	Paperback	162	OL12502457M
2008	House of Stratus, Incorporated	–	142	OL28817692M
2007	ReadHowYouWant.com	Paperback	276	OL9698212M
2007	ReadHowYouWant.com	Paperback	264	OL9382318M
2007	Dodo Press	Paperback	116	OL11678194M
2007	ReadHowYouWant.com	Paperback	172	OL9439712M
2007	Penguin Books	paperback	153	OL31934902M
2006	Headline Review	Paperback	146	OL7993393M
2006	Hard Press	Paperback	98	OL9544569M
2005	Quiet Vision Pub	Paperback	93	OL12238933M
2005	1st World Library	Hardcover	168	OL8491439M
2005	Echo Library	Paperback	236	OL8962788M
2005	Aegypan	Paperback	108	OL8898350M
2005	Punto de Lectura	Paperback	160	OL47068159M
2005	Digireads.com	Paperback	99	OL8490139M
2004	1st World Library	Paperback	168	OL8881851M
2004	Wildside Press	Hardcover	150	OL7978853M
2004	Kessinger Publishing	Paperback	112	OL8482386M
2004	BookSurge Classics	Paperback	172	OL8877327M
2004	The Large Print Book Company	Paperback	152	OL12443669M
2002	IndyPublish.com	Hardcover	120	OL11645618M
2002	IndyPublish.com	Paperback	120	OL8402893M
2001	Penguin Books	Paperback	128	OL3971297M
2001	Broadview Press	Paperback	167	OL3966476M
2001	New Millennium Library	–	120	OL7544853M
2000	Blue Unicorn Editions	Paperback	216	OL12311855M
2000	Blue Unicorn Editions	Paperback	172	OL12311854M
1994	Oxford University Press	Paperback	137	OL1082236M
1994	Quality Paperback Book Club	Paperback	125	OL47067975M
1994	Book of the Month Club	Hardcover	125	OL43264549M
1993	Oxford University Press, USA	–	200	OL7381968M
1993	Applewood Books	Hardcover	296	OL8597800M
1993	Oxford University Press	–	137	OL21155357M
1987	Buccaneer Books	Library binding	108	OL8276635M
1987	Grafton	–	144	OL17417828M
1987	Ballantine Books	Mass Market Paperback	130	OL9814637M
1982	Penguin (Non-Classics)	Paperback	144	OL9301401M
1979	Longman	–	152	OL22788283M
1977	Doubleday	–	134	OL4893980M
1975	Pan Books	–	140	OL22771329M
1975	Ballantine Books	–	130	OL21523745M
1974	J. Murray, : Cape	–	134	OL5121210M
1971	John Murray	paperback	144	OL36463535M
1966	John Murray	Paperback	144	OL22363636M
1960	Hart Publishing Company	Paperback	191	OL5794801M
1950	John Murray	–	154	OL22799771M
1928	C. Scribner's Sons	–	306	OL6720291M
1928	Murray	–	285	OL22396369M
1913	T. Nelson	Hardcover	286	OL24473704M
1908	Smith, Elder & co.	Hardcover	285	OL24173605M
1905	M.A. Donohue & Co.	mass market paperback	189	OL36464258M
1900	T.Nelson	–	286	OL22417959M
1890	I. Pitman & sons, ltd.	–	171	OL6430554M
–	Gregg Pub. Co.	Hardcover	188	OL15464934M
–	Thomas Nelson and Sons	–	286	OL16308224M

More by Arthur Conan Doyle

All 11 books by Arthur Conan Doyle with page counts

Questions

How many pages is The Sign of Four?: About 169 pages: that is the median of 151 English-language print editions on Open Library. Editions range from 80 to 306 pages.
How long does it take to read The Sign of Four?: About 2 h 59 min at 260 words per minute, assuming 275 words per page. At 30 minutes a day that is 6 days.
How many words is The Sign of Four?: Roughly 46,000 words, estimated from the median page count at 275 words per page. Open Library does not record word counts, so this is an estimate.

Data: Open Library monthly data dumps (works, editions, authors, reading log, ratings) (Open Library / Internet Archive); How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate (Marc Brysbaert, Journal of Memory and Language 109 (2019)).