COVE

Sidney Paget’s illustration “Staring into the fire” is situated on the third page of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventures of the Man With the Twisted Lip,” a short story first published in Strand Magazine in the December 1891 issue and later republished as one of twelve stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on October 14th, 1892. Located in the middle of the page with text surrounding it above, beside, and below, this vignette is the first of ten black and white watercolour images reproduced photographically within the short story. The illustration depicts Sherlock Holmes in disguise as an old man sitting in front of a fire at an opium den. While Paget often took creative liberty with his illustrations of Holmes, he chooses to follow Conan Doyle’s description of this scene entirely, depicting Holmes sitting on a three-legged stool with his chin resting on his fists and his elbows resting on his knees. Despite the exciting surroundings Watson narrates in this scene, including the people in “strange, fantastic poses” and others with their “heads thrown back” (130), Paget chooses to illustrate Holmes in this solitary, mundane state. It is important to note that at the point this illustration is situated, it has not yet been revealed to Watson or the reader that this man is, in fact, Holmes in disguise. By drawing attention to this one solitary figure in perfect detail despite the other more interesting participants in the scene, the reader’s attention is drawn to this figure at Paget’s suggestion that he will be a figure of importance. Therefore, while this image is situated within the paragraph it illustrates, it serves a proleptic purpose as well by alluding to the importance of this figure by the fire.

Principal Sources: 

"Staring into the fire," The Victorian Web

Sidney Paget, The Victorian Web

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Internet Archive