ELOW is one of the most oft-used depictions of Holmes and Watson. This beautiful illustration by Sidney Paget adorned the original Strand publication of Silver Blaze, and is captioned “Holmes gave me a sketch of the events.”

This is the signature image of Sherlock Holmes burnt indelibly into our minds by popular culture. Anyone wearing a deerstalker is therefore automatically assumed to be playing the role of the great detective, applying logic and observation to the unravelling of some crime.

The problem –and this is one of the most basic “secrets” that an initiate into the world of Holmes must learn– is that the Master rarely wore such a hat, if ever. Why? Well, simply put, a deerstalker (or “fore-and-aft cap”) is something used for country excursions. In Silver Blaze, Holmes and Watson went into the countryside where horses were being bred and trained, and hence it’s appropriate in this illustration. The text actually reads:

And so it happened that an hour or so later I found myself in the corner of a first-class carriage flying along en route for Exeter, while Sherlock Holmes, with his sharp, eager face framed in his ear-flapped travelling-cap, dipped rapidly into the bundle of fresh papers which he had procured at Paddington.

Paget interpretted this cap as a deerstalker. The image of Holmes in deerstalker was further spread through the famous play by –and the popular depictions of– the reknowned Holmes actor William Gillette. Eventually, it became synonomous with the character.

But, since it’s meant for country outings, you’d no more wear such a cap in the middle of London than you would wear a top hat climbing a mountain, or a jester’s cap while on safari. Sorry if this leads to any degree of disallusionment, but look at the bright side: you can now impress your friends with your vast knowledge of Victorian headwear. You’ll be the hit of the party, to be sure.

(And don’t forget that you can read Silver Blaze (SILV), replete with the original illustrations, at the incomparable Camden House.)

hen Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Holmes short stories, beginning with A Scandal in Bohemia, were accepted for publication in the fledgeling Strand Magazine, a commission for the illustrations was not sent to Walter Paget (below, left), as was intended, but rather to his older brother Sidney (at right).

Requiring a model who approximated ACD’s description of Sherlock Holmes, Sidney asked Walter to sit for him. This all turned out to be a happy accident indeed, for these illustrations were so linked to the successful series, at least in Britain, that the artwork of one brother and the physical likeness of the other became synonomous with Sherlock Holmes. After Sidney died in 1908, it was only apropos that Walter picked up the pen: he illustrated one Holmes story, The Adventure of the Dying Detective, in 1913.

Many of the illustrations peppered throughout this site are those of Sidney Paget, and are taken from facsimiles of the original Strand stories. To view more illustrations, please wander on over to the excellent Sidney Paget and Walter Paget galleries gracing the walls at Camden House.

Images are from The Life & Times of Sherlock Holmes by Peter Weller.