Detective illustrations have a charm all their own. It is hard to imagine a time long gone when images came to readers not from a million websites, blogs or screaming from the television or the silver screen. The early detectives of the 19th Century did not have many-layered media that cemented a certain actor or type of actor in a role. Because of this, the illustrations that went with stories were almost as important as the tales themselves. Whether they show the streets of London or the moors of Devonshire, it was those illustrations that froze those images in your mind.
Today your idea of Sherlock Holmes may be Benedict Cumberbatch or Jeremy Brett, (a few maybe, Robert Downey Jr.) for the older bunch Basil Rathbone. These actors have made iconic portraits of this famous character, but in 1891 when the The Strand Magazine hired the wrong brother to illustrate what was going to be the most famous fictional detective in history, it was Sidney Paget (1860-1908) that mattered. Later, as Holmes moved to the stage, the actor William Gillete would add to this but Gillette had much to lean on in his version as readers worldwide knew Holmes and Watson and their respective appearances from the stories in The Strand and its American counterpart, Collier’s.
It was once believed Paget based Sherlock’s look on his older brother, Walter
Paget was so much associated with Holmes and Mysteries that when The Strand tried to find someone to fill while Holmes was away between series, they turned to Arthur Morrison’s Martin Hewett. There was only one source for detective illustrations for the job, Paget.
In this way Sidney Paget set the rules for British Mystery illustration. In America, they had other ideas, with Arthur I. Keller (1967-1924) and more so Frederick Dorr Steele (1873-1944) creating their own version of Holmes. The American version of Sherlock looks more like William Gillette than Paget’s.
Another early writer of Mysteries for The Strand was L. T. Meade (1884-1914), a woman writer who usually teamed up with a man to produce her Mystery tales. Her first was a series called The Diary of a Doctor written with Dr. Clifford Halifax. Later she would team up with Robert Eustace (1854-1943) for a series of horror-tinted mysteries including The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings (1899) and The Sorceress of the Strand (1902-3). Gordon Browne produced detective illustrations for this last piece, about a diabolical woman who pretends to be a psychic while she works her evil.
Edgar Allan Poe invented the final form of the Mystery in 1831 with C. August Dupin in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”. Graham’s Magazine was not an illustrated publication but many decades later Harry Clarke (1889-1931) would produce what would be the pinnacle of Poesque illustration. Clarke’s use of white on black creates a feeling of strangeness that matches Poe’s spirit so well.
After the coming of films, the age of illustration would take a lesser part in audiences imagining their heroes. Detectives like Hercule Poirot, Miss Marples, Nero Wolfe, Ellery Queen and Father Brown would be sold in books without illustrations, their detectives played by memorable actors who set our way of seeing these characters. Radio portrayals would tell us what they sounded like, even if we had to imagine their faces. Comic strips and Pulp magazines would feature new images and the day of the illustrator came to an end. There is a charm to reading the original Sherlock Holmes stories with Paget’s illustrations even to this day. I can’t recommend it enough.
