The Illustrator Who Gave Sherlock Holmes His Deerstalker Cap

Sidney Paget and his illustrations have had a lasting impression on pop culture.

Picture of Sidney Paget with his own deerstalker hat. Photographer unknown, n.d. Public domain via Wikimedia commons.

He could not have known it then, but 31-year-old Sidney Paget sat his mark on history when he chose to accept a commission to make illustrations for a detective story.

The art director of Strand Magazine had sent a letter addressed to Mr. Paget in the spring of 1891. The magazine was about to start publishing penny serials about a fictional master detective named Sherlock Holmes. The author, Conan Doyle, had published stories about Holmes before, and they’d achieved moderate success. Now, the magazine was searching for someone to make illustrations to accompany Conan’s short stories.

Sherlock Holmes (right) Dr. John Watson (left) in “The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter” (1893). Illustration by Sidney Paget. Public domain via Wikimedia commons.

Herbert Smith, the art director, was not going to advertise that he was looking for an artist. He had someone in mind. A while back, he’d seen the works of a talented young illustrator that had impressed him. Smith couldn’t remember the first name of the artist, so he simply wrote “Mr. Paget, illustrator”.

The letter did reach the illustrator Mr. Paget, but not the Paget he was thinking…