Hope Deferred was published in reproduction as the supplement to the Photographic News on October 23rd., 1885, and a sketch of the image was reproduced in the Photographic Society's exhibition review in the British Journal of Photography, October 9th, 1885. The accompanying text read "Hope Deferred" by H. P. Robinson, exhibits in a marked degree the power, which is possessed by so very few, of influencing the expression as well as the pose of the model so as to make them in harmony with the idea which it is intended to represent. The chiaroscuro is bold, natural and effective, and the whole work bears evidence of that artistic treatment which we expect of its author." This subject was also exhibited at the International Photographic Exhibition at Oporto, Portugal in April 1886, when it was awarded the Gold Medal.

Prof. Margaret Harker, in her monograph on the photographer, writes with reference to this image that "All attempts to locate an original print have failed....", thus indicating the rarity of this surviving example.