Paget was the original choice of publisher George Newnes to illustrate Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand Magazine, but through a misunderstanding the commission went to his brother, Sidney.

[4] Paget served as a war correspondent for the Gordon Relief Expedition and provided interesting sketches of camp life which the Illustrated London News reproduced.

He was at the British base of Suakim on the Red Sea and accompanied Sir Gerald Graham's army to Tamai in 1884.

[5] Walter Paget provided illustrations for numerous authors of the era, including the 1910 edition of Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare,[6] and Doyle's 1913 Holmes short story, "The Adventure of the Dying Detective," in The Strand Magazine.

The work was very well received by reviewers: Just as the publication of the fine-art Robinson Crusoe in installments was coming to an end, Cassell's published it as a single volume book.