“Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin slipped the handcuffs over his wrists” — illustration to Arthur Conan Doyle's “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” by Sidney Paget

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Holmes clapped a pistol to his head and Martin slipped the handcuffs over his wrists

Sidney Paget

1893

Photographic reproduction of ink or watercolor on paper

Illustration for Arthur Conan Doyle's “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” p. 479.

Like many of the full-page illustrations that serve as frontispieces, this fine example of Paget's dramatic dark plates shows the climax of a story that the reader has not yet read.

See below for passage illustrated.

Formatting and text by George P. Landow

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage illustrated

We waited in silence for a minute—one of those minutes which one can never forget. Then the door opened and the man stepped in. In an instant Holmes clapped a pistol to his head, and Martin slipped the handcuffs over his wrists. It was all done so swiftly and deftly that the fellow was helpless before he knew that he was attacked. He glared from one to the other of us with a pair of blazing black eyes. Then he burst into a bitter laugh.

Bibliography

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes. “Reproduced from the original publication in The Strand Magazine with the classic illustrations by Sidney Paget.” Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, [after 1954]. Internet Archive version of a copy donated by Friends of the San Francisco Library. Web.

Last modified 15 December 2013