Frederic Dorr Steele - Illustrations for *The Return of Sherlock Holmes*

Frederic Dorr Steele was born 1873 in Eagle Mills, Michigan and died 1944.During his early years in New York, Steele first made the acquaintanceship of Sherlock Holmes. His friend Alfred Heinrich read aloud to him three stories from the weekly published The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The experience attached Steele to Sherlock and his good Doctor for his life. Later, Steele was selected by Collier’s Weekly Magazine to draw pictures for "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" stories. He provided Collier’s Weekly with eleven spectacular color cover drawings and nearly 50 interior black and white compositions. Steele established a standard for Holmes illustrations far superior to that of all previous American artists.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes stories were originally published by Collier’s Magazine, New York beween September 1903 and January 1905. They subsequently appeared in The Strand Magazine, London, from October 1903 to December 1904.
According to Martin Dakin in his 1972 masterpiece A Sherlock Holmes Commentary, Frederic Dorr Steele’s "model for Holmes was the portrayal of the character by the American actor William Gillette and he was largely responsible for the association of Holmes with the calabash pipe and deerstalker hat."