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Frederic Dorr Steele Hound Drawing:
Quinn's 2021 Sale Information
By Randall Stock, July 10, 2021 (revised)
Quinn's sold a rare original drawing by Frederic Dorr Steele for The Hound of the Baskervilles at auction in July 2021. Most experts consider Steele to be the foremost American illustrator of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
The Hound of the Baskervilles Drawing Description
Lot 223: Steele Slavering Hound Illustration
Original crayon drawing by Frederic Dorr Steele for The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Crayon and watercolor on paper. Drawn on a 10 x 9 7/8 inches sheet with matting of 13 x 16 inches, mounted to board.
Labeled in a slot in the matting below the drawing as "39. 'THE SLAVERING HOUND.' Original unpublished crayon drawing in two colours by Frederick Dorr Steele. Lent by Mr. Edgar W. Smith." This label comes from a 1952 exhibition catalog that misspelled Steele's first name. See the Provenance section below for details.
Reported in 2014 as framed with a label on the back for E.H. & A.C. FRIEDRICHS Co. Serving Art Since 1868. 40 E. 43rd St. 140 W. 57th St., 140 Sullivan St. New York. The verso of the drawing has minor pencil notations, including "Rough sketch for a Hound – not used," and "#9."
Bidding opened at US$400, and the pre-sale estimate was US$800 - 1,200.
Sale Results
The drawing sold on July 8, 2021 for a price realized of US$8,255 including the 27% buyer's premium (a $6,500 hammer price).
See below for more photos of the drawing as well as links to Quinn's for more information.
History of the Slavering Hound Drawing
Frederic Dorr Steele (1873–1944) was an American artist best known for his Sherlock Holmes illustrations. He illustrated twenty-six of the last thirty-three Holmes stories for their initial appearance in American magazines. His Holmes illustrations also appeared in newspapers, books, and publicity materials.
Steele first drew the great detective for Collier's Weekly in the 1903 series The Return of Sherlock Holmes. While he did not illustrate the early publications of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), he did produce drawings for The Hound in the late 1930s.
To promote the 1939 movie version of The Hound of the Baskervilles with Basil Rathbone, the studio commissioned publicity illustrations from Steele. He drew "The Slavering Hound" as part of his work for the 1939 movie.
The University of Minnesota Sherlock Holmes Collections holds a number of his drawings with a similar style, including this nearly identical sketch of the Hound that they date as 1939.
Twentieth Century-Fox published "The Slavering Hound" in their 24-page pressbook for the movie, and made the illustration available in various marketing pieces.
The illustration was used in The Movies...and the People Who Make Them, a weekly publication for cinephiles. It might have appeared in newspaper reports or advertisements for the movie, but none have been identified at this time.
The Limited Editions Club published a collection of Sherlock Holmes books in the 1950s that included illustrations by Steele. However, it used a different drawing of the hound by Steele and did not reproduce "The Slavering Hound."
For more about Steele and his drawings, see this PDF from the University of Minnesota of "The Frederic Dorr Steele Memorial Collection" (1987) by Andrew Malec.
Provenance of the Slavering Hound Drawing
Edgar W. Smith (1894–1960) was an executive at General Motors and the driving force behind the Baker Street Irregulars literary society for 20 years. Smith edited The Baker Street Journal from its inception in 1946 until his death in 1960. He owned more than 15 of Steele's original drawings, and listed "The Slavering Hound" in a report on his personal collection in The Baker Street Journal for July 1948.
Smith loaned the drawing in 1951 to the Sherlock Holmes Exhibition at Abbey House in London. The catalog describes this as "35. 'THE SLAVERING HOUND.' Original unpublished crayon drawing in two colours by Frederick Dorr Steel, the outstanding American illustrator of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Lent by Mr. Edgar W. Smith of New York."
A revised version of the exhibition travelled to New York in 1952. That catalog lists the drawing as "39. 'THE SLAVERING HOUND.' Original unpublished crayon drawing in two colours by Frederick Dorr Steele. Lent by Mr. Edgar W. Smith." Both catalogs misspelled Steele's name. The label on the current drawing came from the New York catalog.
Carl H. Anderson (1902–1989) was a founding member of a Philadelphia BSI scion (The Sons of the Copper Beeches) and an early member of the BSI. A fire destroyed Anderson's first Sherlockian collection, and he then purchased Smith's entire collection shortly after Smith's death. Anderson sold his collection to Lew David Feldman (the House of El Dieff) in early 1975.
Feldman's catalog Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockiana: 76 Items (1975) included "The Slavering Hound" as Item #54, and reproduced the drawing in black and white on the catalog's front cover.
Brian Wilkinson purchased the drawing from Weschler’s Metro Auction in Washington, D.C., on 2/11/14, and sold it in 2021 through Quinn's Auction Galleries in Falls Church, Virginia. BSI member Jerry Margolin purchased the drawing from Quinn's on 7/8/21 and added it to his extensive collection of Sherlockian artwork.
If you know who owned it between 1975 and 2014, please contact me (I keep names private upon request).
For more about Smith's and Anderson's collections, see "Exposing 'Charles Augustus Milverton': The Manuscript and Its History" by Randall Stock in The Worst Man in London (2019).
Photos of The Slavering Hound Drawing
The Slavering Hound by Frederic Dorr Steele, matted on board
Slavering Hound Drawing Detail
Close-up of The Slavering Hound by Steele
For more information about the drawing and a photo of its label, see the description section above.
Quinn's Catalog & Sale Information
This auction and its catalog are both online. See Quinn's listing for Lot 223: Steele Slavering Hound Illustration.
Sale Information
Quinn's Book Department Catalog Auction July 8, 2021
Online-Only Auction
Thursday, July 8, 2021
360 S. Washington St.
Falls Church, VA 22046
The buyer's premium is 27%.
Acknowledgements and Page History
Drawing photos courtesy of Quinn's Auction Galleries.
My thanks to Catherine Payling and Andrew Shifler at Quinn's, and to Peter E. Blau, Andrew Malec, Jerry Margolin, and Brian Wilkinson for their invaluable assistance.
This page is based on information provided by Quinn's, and from other research including prior catalogs and reports.
The first version of this page appeared on June 29, 2021. A revision on July 10, 2021 added some details about the drawing's history and provenance, and included sale results with the price realized.
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Randall Stock. All Rights Reserved.