He had lung problems for which there was no
cure at the time. He went to Margate to benefit from the sea air and died
there.
He was only 47 years old.
Just as C. S. Lewis’s Narnia stories wouldn’t
be the same without Pauline Baynes’s illustrations, or Lewis Carroll’s Alice
books without the pictures of John Tenniel, Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t be the
same without Sidney Paget’s contributions.
The deerstalker cap and Inverness cape
associated with Holmes were his invention.
If I could have just one of his
illustrations, it would be this one:
The story is that Sidney Paget got the
commission from the Strand Magazine by mistake: the letter should have been
addressed to his brother Walter. Perhaps this mistake was the work of some
unseen benevolent force. Sidney Paget always denied the suggestion that either
Walter or his other brother or indeed any other person was the model for Holmes.
I have my doubts about that!
This is Sidney Paget:
The Complete Adventures and Memories of Sherlock Holmes: A Facsimile of the Original Strand Magazine Stories, 1891-1893 together contains all of Sidney Paget's illustrations:
