In all Lee appeared in over 2500 tales set in every corner of the globe, making him one of the most published fictional detectives of all time.

[2] The world would meet him at the open of Chapter 2: Nelson Lee, the famous detective, sat in his room in Gray’s Inn Road, dealing with his morning’s correspondence.

[4] Tales from this era include:[5] Towards the end of the 19th century Staniforth had a falling out with his editor and switched to publishing in other story papers.

Nipper was a street urchin who made his first appearance in A Dead Man’s Secret ten years earlier.

Following in Lee's footsteps, Sexton Blake was given a boy assistant, Tinker, the following year, in Cunning against Skill, a tale penned by William Murray Graydon in 1904.

Tinker and Nipper were influential in the subsequent creation of boy-detectives in the British story papers with subsequent authors following the pattern that they established: "uncultured but extraordinarily sharp street urchins, rescued from poverty and obscurity by a famous London private detective.

The first issue of The Nelson Lee Library was published on 12 June 1915, entitled "The Mystery of Limehouse Reach" and written by Sexton Blake writer A. C. Murray.

A few issues of note: Maxwell Scott wrote just four adventures for the paper that bore his greatest creation's name, A Miscarriage of Justice (1915), The Convict's Dilemma (1915), In Borrowed Plumes (1915), and When Rogues Fall Out (1916).

Teed following on the wild success of his Sexton Blake creation Yvonne Cartier, gave Nelson Lee his first female foe: The Black Wolf, a cross-dressing martial arts aristocrat.

[10] Not to be outdone, Brooks introduced Eileen Dare the female detective in Nelson Lee's Lady Assistant (1916).

[16] Lord Dorrimore or Dorrie, a somewhat eccentric millionaire, was one of the most popular characters to appear in the Nelson Lee Library.

The two worked together on The Winged Terror, penned by Maxwell Scott, a tale that ran in issues #329-336 of Boys' Herald in 1909.

[16] Some of the most famous included: Jim the Penman (created by Edwy Searles Brooks), was the nickname of Douglas James Sutcliffe, a solicitor turned forger and a master of disguise.

Professor Cyrus Zingrave (created by Edwy Searles Brooks), the Monster of Moat Hollow, a Napoleon of Crime.

Dr. Mortimer Crane (created by George Hamilton Teed) a brain and nerve specialist whose talents had been diverted to wrong doing.