Studies in Starrett

Studies in Starrett

An exploration of the works of Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett

(October 26, 1886 – January 5, 1974)

Curated by Ray Betzner
Original content owned and copyrighted by Ray Betzner

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Hunting the elusive Starrett arcana

May 14, 2025 by Ray Betzner

Where are the lost stories from Starrett’s autobiography?

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May 14, 2025 /Ray Betzner
Moby Dick, Sherlock Holems, Vincent Starrett, Peter Blau, Patricia Albright, Patricia Rachel Albright, SPODE, LORE, Born in a Bookshop, Fanny Butcher, Chicago Tribune, University of Oklahoma Press, University of Chicago Press, Random House, Society of Midland Authors, Carroll G. Bowen, Harry Hansen

Unpacking The Book Collector’s Packet

February 04, 2025 by Ray Betzner

From a Fragment of Autobiography to Holiday Books.

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February 04, 2025 /Ray Betzner
The Black Cat Press, Walter Klinefelter, Vincent Starrett, Autobiography, Born in a Bookshop, The Book Collector’s Packet, Irvin Haas, The American Book Collector, Otis At Bunker Hill, Lynd Ward, Fragment of Autobiography, A Bibliographical Check-List of Christmas Books, Southworth-Anthoensen Press, Christmas Books, Christopher Morley, Luther A Brewer, Torch Press, Books about Poictesme, An Essay in Imaginative Bibliography, James Branch Cabell, Norman W. Forgue, Thomas N. Fairbanks, Ex Libris A. Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes

Vincent Starrett Goes Clubbing

November 24, 2023 by Ray Betzner

Among Chicago’s Cliff Dwellers

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November 24, 2023 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Scott Monty, Cliff Dwellers, Charles Collins, A Line O' Type or Two., Born in a Bookshop, University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota Anderson Library, Ribston Pippins, Steven DOyle, Jim Montgomery, The Baker Street Irregulars, Clan na Gael, Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Chicago Literary Lions, Fanny Butcher

Back to Peking with Yi Ying

November 17, 2021 by Ray Betzner

What more can we learn about this remarkable woman?

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November 17, 2021 /Ray Betzner
Peking, Murder in Peking, The Great Hotel Murder, Vincent Starrett, Yi Ying, Born in a Bookshop

Books of the Golden Age

May 07, 2020 by Ray Betzner

From no other diversion in life have I had such enduring pleasure as from collecting books.

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May 07, 2020 /Ray Betzner
Charles E. Honce, Books of the Golden Age, Vincent Starrett, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, Caxton Club, Newberry Library, The Freeman, Born in a Bookshop, G.A. Henty, Conan Doyle
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Introduction and prologue: 'Where it is always 1895.'

October 19, 2019 by Ray Betzner

'221B' Part 1

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October 19, 2019 /Ray Betzner
221B, Vincent Starrett, University of Minnesota, Don Yates, The Baker Street Journal, where it is always 1895, Edward R. Murrow, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Born in a Bookshop, The Phoenix magazine

Peking pays off: VS in the Forbidden City, Part 2

June 22, 2018 by Ray Betzner

The Products of Peking

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June 22, 2018 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Ray Latimer, The Laughing Buddha, Murder in Peking, Magna Publications, Born in a Bookshop, Charles Honce, Front Page Mysteries, Walter Edwards, Invincible Press, Editions Diderot, Meurte a Pekin, Valentine Isabel Johnston, Philadelphia Inquirer, Toronto Star, Oriental Encounters, Normandie House, Black Cat Press, Oriental Encounters: Two Essays in Bad Taste, Some Chinese Detective Stories, The Last Bookman
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Vincent Starrett in the Forbidden City, Part 1

June 08, 2018 by Ray Betzner

From Chicago to Peking

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June 08, 2018 /Ray Betzner
China, Vincent Starrett, Ray Latimer, Admiral William H. Allen, SS President Wilson, G.A. Henty, Great Wall of China, Born in a Bookshop, Cambuluc, Beijing, Yi Ying, Francois Villon, Warner Oland, Sino-Japanese War, Legation Quarter, Dollar Line
Comment

The story of his life

May 25, 2018 by Ray Betzner

Where are the missing pages of Starrett’s autobiography?

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May 25, 2018 /Ray Betzner
Born in a Bookshop, Vincent Starrett, Fanny Butcher, Basil Rathbone, Ben Hecht, H.L. Mencken, The Chicago Tribune, University of Oklahoma Press, Chapters from the Chicago Renasennce, Everland magazine, Poetry magazine, Collier's, Nicholas Utechin, Susan Dahlinger, Glen Miranker, Nick Utechin

Ray

October 24, 2017 by Ray Betzner

Rachel Latimer

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October 24, 2017 /Ray Betzner
Rachel Latimer, Ray Latimer, Vincent Starrett, Born in a Bookshop, Lillian Hartsig, Stewart Holbrook, The Laughing Buddha, Murder in Peking, Peter Ruber, University of Minnesota, Baker Street Irregulars, Christopher Morley, Edgar W. Smith, The Hounds of the Baskerville (sic)

How NOT to find one of the country's rarest books, by Vincent Starrett

January 28, 2017 by Ray Betzner in Jimmy Lavender

The story of Starrett's hunt for a rare Poe volume has become a bookdealer's legend.

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January 28, 2017 /Ray Betzner
Tamerlane, Have You a Tamerlane In Your Attic?, Vincent Starrett, David Randall, Charles E. Goodspeed, Born in a Bookshop, Yankee Bookseller, Dukedom Large Enough: Reminiscences of a Rare book dealer, Rebecca Rego Barry, Rare Books Uncovered., J.K. Lilly Jr, Indiana University Library
Jimmy Lavender
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The Grand Master

November 29, 2016 by Ray Betzner

Vincent Starrett and the Mystery Writers of America

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November 29, 2016 /Ray Betzner
Mystery Writers of America, Grand Master, Agatha Christie, Born in a Bookshop, Ellery Queen, Rex Stout, Harry Hanson, Anthony Boucher, Tony Boucher, The Eleventh Juror, Clayton Rawson, Lawrence Treat, Brett Halliday, The New York Times, The Chicago Daily News, Chicago Daily Tribune
Comment

The Jimmie/Jimmy Problem

February 20, 2016 by Ray Betzner

Why can't these publications get the name of his most famous detective right?

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February 20, 2016 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Born in a Bookshop, Philadelphia Inquirer, Jimmy Lavender, Jimmie Lavender, The Case-Book of Jimmie Lavender, Murder in Peking, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
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Missing Ambrose Bierce

March 28, 2015 by Ray Betzner

The story of how Vincent Starrett missed Ambrose Bierce and turned it into a worldwide news story.

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March 28, 2015 /Ray Betzner
Ambrose Bierce, Vincent Starrett, Born in a Bookshop, Twilight Zone, An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, The Devil's Dictionary, Helen Bierce
1 Comment

The Bookman, the School Teacher, and the Other Bookman

February 28, 2015 by Ray Betzner

Can you solve the riddle of the second bookman in this posting?

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February 28, 2015 /Ray Betzner
Otto Penzler, Mattias Bostom, Evelyn Byrne, The Mysterious Bookshop, Attacks of Taste, Elizabeth Barrett Browning Junior High School, New York Daily News, Buckminster Fuller, Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Born in a Bookshop, G.A. Henty, University of Oklahoma Press, Sonnets from the Sherlockeuse
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Vincent Starrett and the 1934 Baker Street Irregulars Dinner

January 03, 2015 by Ray Betzner

Vincent Starrett, Alexander Woollcott, William Gillette and the 1934 Baker Street Irregulars Dinner

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January 03, 2015 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Christ Cella's, Alexander Woollcott, Baker Street Irregulars, Born in a Bookshop, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, William Gillette, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Henry Morton Robinson, Frederic Dorr Steele, While Rome Burns, Long Long Ago, Best Loved Books of the Twentieth Century, Parnassus on Wheels, The Hound of the Baskervilles
2 Comments

Updates, elaborations and stuff I forgot the first time

December 06, 2014 by Ray Betzner

Things I learned after the articles were posted.

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December 06, 2014 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, John Bennett Shaw, Fran Martin, Stormy Petrels, Margaret Deniston Young, Margaret Dennison Starrett, Martin Gardner, Books Alive, Born in a Bookshop
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Riding 'The Wave': Vincent Starrett's little literary magazine

September 06, 2014 by Ray Betzner

As the wave of experimental little literary magazines was coming to an end, Vincent Starrett entered with his own contribution.

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September 06, 2014 /Ray Betzner
The Double Dealer, Gene Markey, The Wave, Born in a Bookshop, Steen Hinrichsen, Ingred Hinrichsen, The Yellow Book, The Great Lakes Review, William Saphier, Thomas Kennedy, Ray Betzner
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"Dear Mother — "

August 16, 2014 by Ray Betzner

How an inscribed volume of Starrett's poems brings both elation and sadness.

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August 16, 2014 /Ray Betzner
Charles Prepolec, MacLeod's Books, Margaret Deniston Young, Chicago Daily News, Born in a Bookshop, Karen Murdock, Sherlock Alive, Banners in the Dawn, Vancouver, November 24, November 24 1918, Ray Betzner
2 Comments

Irving S. Cutter: Lost Baker Street Irregular or Found Hound?

May 17, 2014 by Ray Betzner

The tale of a Chicago doctor, writer and book collector and his curious relationship to Starrett and the Baker Street Irregulars.

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May 17, 2014 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Dr. Irving S. Cutter, The Case-Book of Jimmie Lavender, The Hounds of the Baskerville, Baker Street Journal, Baker Street Irregulars, BSI, Chicago, Sherlock Holmes, Born in a Bookshop, Books Alive, Galter Health Sciences Library, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Passavant Hospital, Arthur Conan Doyle
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