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

'I know him from the photograph.' – The Man with the Twisted Lip

October 08, 2024 by Ray Betzner

“You have the photograph?”

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October 08, 2024 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Dan Loving, Don Loving, Ben Hecht, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Burton Rascoe, Stanley Starrett, Hugh Young, Robert Polk Starrett, Margaret Dennison Starrett, Vera Cruz, Peter Ruber, The Last Bookman, Oppenheim's, Eugene Hutchinson, Jimmie Lavender, Rachel Latimer, Books Aive
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Walter Klinefelter in Portrait and Profile, Part 2

May 13, 2024 by Ray Betzner

The long relationship between Starrett and Klinefelter

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May 13, 2024 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Walter Klinefelter, Sherlock Holmes in Portrait and Profile, Ex Libris A Conan Doyle, Black Cat Press, Normal Forgue, Dale Nichols, A Conversation with Vincent Starrett, George Steele Seymour, Books Alive, Chicago Tribune, Syracuse University Press, Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, Schocken Books, Baker Street Journal, A Packet of Sherlockian Bookplates, James Lamar Weygard, Private Press of the Indiana Kid, Fridolf Johnson, Origins of Sherlock Holmes, Gaslight Publications, Self Portraits by Vincent Starrett, Gene Markey, Phil K Davis, Sumac Press

VS & TS

January 13, 2023 by Ray Betzner

The Bookman and The Poet

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January 13, 2023 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Conferment by Needle, Michael Murphy, Chicago Tribune, Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, "221B", Baker Street Irregulars Trust, Poetry magazine, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Complete Sherlock holmes Short Stories, Criterion, Murder in the Cathedral, Chris Redmond, Priscilla Preston, Macavity the mystery cat, Cats, Books Alive

Best. Day. Ever. Part 1

November 30, 2021 by Ray Betzner

Starrett is honored by the city’s literary elite.

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November 30, 2021 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Louis Zara, Brillig, Chicago Tribune, Fanny Butcher, Hotel Sherman, Friends of the Chicago Public Library, Society of Midland Authors, Caxton Club, "Books Alive", Robert J. Casey, J. Finley Christ, Carl Sandburg, Lew Sarett, Frederic Babcock, Thornton Wilder, Russell McLaughlin, Baker Street Irregulars, Sherlockians, Burton Rascoe, Lucy Key Miller, Peter Ruber

Far too few words about Ben Hecht

October 28, 2021 by Ray Betzner

Picking Pictures for Ben

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October 28, 2021 /Ray Betzner
Ben Hecht, A Child of the Century, Vincent Starrett, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, Associated Press, Chicago Renaissance, Richard Little, Charles Collins, A Line O' Type or Two., George Wharton, Christian Dane Hagerty, Lloyd Lewis, Sheherezade, Carl Sandburg
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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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Provenance

February 27, 2020 by Ray Betzner

Do we ever really ‘own’ a book?

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February 27, 2020 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Officium Baetae Marie Virginis., Frank Morris, Waldo Leon Rich, Nellie Brown, Saratoga Springs, Silver Blaze, The Valley of Fear, Reading, Freeman's Auctions, Fanny Butcher, Chicago Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Charles Honce
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'A wider circulation'

October 19, 2019 by Ray Betzner

‘221B’ Part 6

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October 19, 2019 /Ray Betzner
Charles Collins, Chicago Tribune, Bookman's Holiday, 221B, Vincent Starrett, A Line O' Type or Two., Hounds of the Baskerville (sic)
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The 1960 edition among the critics

November 16, 2018 by Ray Betzner

Holmes charms them again

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November 16, 2018 /Ray Betzner
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Chicago Tribune, Charles Collins, In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes, Michael Harrison, Rex Stout, Anthony Boucher, The Hounds of the Baskerville, James Buchholtz, Delphos, Ohio, The New York Times, The New Republic, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, A. Mervyn Davies
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A.K.A. Vincent Starrett

May 12, 2018 by Ray Betzner

Starrett used many names in his career.

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May 12, 2018 /Ray Betzner
Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett, Charles V.E. Starrett, Charles E.V. Starrett, Stephen Huguenot, Edgar Savage, Vincenzio, Vinpenny, Banners in the Dawn, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Inter-Ocean, Chicago Daily News, The Editor: The Journal of Life for Literary Workers, Lincolnana, Reedy's Mirror, True Detective, Short Stories, Column Poetrs, Jay Finley Christ, Jay Finch, Poetry magazine, Wisconsin State Journal, Weird Tales, Roy Franklin Dewey, Lucian Taylor, The Great Lakes Review, Charles L.P. Silet, Autolycus in Limbo, A Literary Anthology, The Winter's Tale, Shakespeare, Et Cetera, Pascal Covici, Charles Vincent Starrett, Graceland Cemetery, Christopher Morley

Standing over his shoulder

February 09, 2018 by Ray Betzner

Watch Starrett at work

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February 09, 2018 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, O.Henry, Bennett Cerf, Van Cartmell, The Best Short Stories of O.Henry, Random House, Modern Library, Books Alive, Chicago Tribune, Pete's Tavern, Ely Liebow, Don Yates, David Morrill, Mike Kean, William Sydney Porter

Enter Riley Blackwood

November 15, 2017 by Ray Betzner

Starrett in Disguise

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November 15, 2017 /Ray Betzner
Redbook magazine, Riley Blackwood, Vincent Starrett, Recipe for Murder, The Great Hotel Murder, Jimmie Lavender, Walter Ghost, Murder on B Deck, Dead Man Inside, The End of Mr. Garment, Chicago Tribune, The Century of Progress

221B's First Public Appearance

October 05, 2017 by Ray Betzner

Starrett's sonnet has a coming out party

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October 05, 2017 /Ray Betzner
Charles Collins, The Hounds of the Baskerville (sic), Vincent Starrett, 221B, Chicago Tribune, A Line O' Type or Two., Bookman's Holiday, Two Sonnets, Christopher Morley, Edgar W. Smith, Sonnet on Baker Street, Autolycus in Limbo, Sherlock in the Trib, Ely Liebow, John Nieminski, Bowling Green, Saturday Review of Literature
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The Sherlockian world's most famous bookplate, Part 1

August 02, 2014 by Ray Betzner

How a bookplate created in 1931 became an iconic image of Sherlock Holmes.

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August 02, 2014 /Ray Betzner
Vincent Starrett, Baker Street Irregulars, Edgar W. Smith, W. E. Butler, Sherlockian Bookplates, Fridolf Johnson, Banners in the Dawn, Fifteen More Poems, Charles Honce, University of Minnesota, Philip Hench Collection, Arthur Parsons, Lillian Starrett, Yale University, Arthur Machen, Walter M. Hill, Salome, University of Delaware, Dickson's Close, The Book of Old England, Monologue in Baker Street, Chicago Tribune, Dr. Watson's Mind Read by Master, The Baker Street Journal, Christmas Annual, Susan Rice, A Baker Street Quartette, The Somnambulist and the Detective, The Last Bookman, Graceland Cemetery, Treasury of Bookplates from the Renaissance to the Present
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The 'Starrett Smiley,' and other curious features of his signature

March 29, 2014 by Ray Betzner

The first of a two-part post on the many curious and wonderful autographs left behind by Vincent Starrett.

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March 29, 2014 /Ray Betzner
Arthur Machen, Arthur Machen: Novelist of Ecstasy and sin, Books and Bipeds, Books Alive, Chicago Sunday Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Baker Street Journal, Ambrose Bierce, Autolycus in Limbo, Michael Murphy, Starrett Memorial Library, Chicago Murders
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