Vincent Starrett
Encyclopedia
Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett (October 26, 1886 – January 5, 1974), known as Vincent Starrett, was an American
writer and newspaperman.
. His father moved the family to Chicago
in the late 1890s where Starrett attended John Marshall High School. Starrett landed a job as a cub reporter with the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1905. When that paper folded, two years later, he began working for the Chicago Daily News
as a crime reporter, a feature writer and finally a war correspondent in Mexico
from 1914 to 1915. Starrett turned to writing mystery and supernatural fiction for the pulp magazines during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1920, he wrote a Sherlock Holmes pastiche entitled The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet ; Starrett on at least one occasion said that the press-run was 100 copies, but on others he said that it was 200 copies. The plan was to have half the press-run with the imprint of bookseller Walter M. Hill, and half with Starrett's imprint; the printer misunderstood the instructions and only 10 have Starrett. Randall Stock (http://www.bestofsherlock.com/unique-hamlet.htm) has done a census of surviving copies. He located 9 bound and one unbound copies with the Starrett imprint, and 39 copies (with a possible addition of 4 whose location is unknown) with the Hill imprint. Stock believes that the press run was 100 plus 10, and the number of surviving copies seems to confirm that number. This story involved the detective with a missing 1604 edition of Shakespeare's play, which included an inscription by the playwright. Starrett's most famous work, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, was published in 1933. He retired from The Chicago Tribune in 1967 where he had written a book column, "Books Alive," for 25 years. Starrett was one of the founders of The Hounds of the Baskerville (sic), the Chicago chapter of the Baker Street Irregulars
.
Starrett also wrote horror/fantasy stories, primarily for the pulp magazine Weird Tales (collected in The Quick and the Dead, Arkham House, 1965), poetry (collected in Autolycus in Limbo, Dutton, 1943), detective novels (Murder on 'B' Deck, Doubleday, 1929, and others), and detective short stories primarily about Chicago sleuth Jimmie Lavender (The Case Book of Jimmie Lavender, Gold Label, 1944), many of which first appeared in the pulp magazine Short Stories.
A complete edition of Starrett's works is being published by George Vanderburgh's Battered Silicon Dispatch Box
, a print-on-demand publisher, with 22 of a projected 25 volumes already in print. The most recent publication in the Vincent Starrett Memorial Library is Sherlock Alive, compiled and edited by Karen Murdock. The first printing of this book was in August 2010. Sherlock Alive is a collection of the Sherlockian references from Starrett's "Books Alive" column.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and newspaperman.
Biography
Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett was born above his grandfather's bookshop in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. His father moved the family to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in the late 1890s where Starrett attended John Marshall High School. Starrett landed a job as a cub reporter with the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1905. When that paper folded, two years later, he began working for the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
as a crime reporter, a feature writer and finally a war correspondent in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
from 1914 to 1915. Starrett turned to writing mystery and supernatural fiction for the pulp magazines during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1920, he wrote a Sherlock Holmes pastiche entitled The Adventure of the Unique Hamlet ; Starrett on at least one occasion said that the press-run was 100 copies, but on others he said that it was 200 copies. The plan was to have half the press-run with the imprint of bookseller Walter M. Hill, and half with Starrett's imprint; the printer misunderstood the instructions and only 10 have Starrett. Randall Stock (http://www.bestofsherlock.com/unique-hamlet.htm) has done a census of surviving copies. He located 9 bound and one unbound copies with the Starrett imprint, and 39 copies (with a possible addition of 4 whose location is unknown) with the Hill imprint. Stock believes that the press run was 100 plus 10, and the number of surviving copies seems to confirm that number. This story involved the detective with a missing 1604 edition of Shakespeare's play, which included an inscription by the playwright. Starrett's most famous work, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, was published in 1933. He retired from The Chicago Tribune in 1967 where he had written a book column, "Books Alive," for 25 years. Starrett was one of the founders of The Hounds of the Baskerville (sic), the Chicago chapter of the Baker Street Irregulars
Baker Street Irregulars
The Baker Street Irregulars are any of several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories in which they are a gang of young street children whom Holmes often employs to aid his cases.- Original :...
.
Starrett also wrote horror/fantasy stories, primarily for the pulp magazine Weird Tales (collected in The Quick and the Dead, Arkham House, 1965), poetry (collected in Autolycus in Limbo, Dutton, 1943), detective novels (Murder on 'B' Deck, Doubleday, 1929, and others), and detective short stories primarily about Chicago sleuth Jimmie Lavender (The Case Book of Jimmie Lavender, Gold Label, 1944), many of which first appeared in the pulp magazine Short Stories.
A complete edition of Starrett's works is being published by George Vanderburgh's Battered Silicon Dispatch Box
Battered Silicon Dispatch Box
The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box is an independent, Canadian literary publisher, founded in 1993 by George A. Vanderburgh. Based in Shelburne, Ontario, and in Sauk City, Wisconsin, the company is headed by George Vanderburgh....
, a print-on-demand publisher, with 22 of a projected 25 volumes already in print. The most recent publication in the Vincent Starrett Memorial Library is Sherlock Alive, compiled and edited by Karen Murdock. The first printing of this book was in August 2010. Sherlock Alive is a collection of the Sherlockian references from Starrett's "Books Alive" column.
External links
- Works by or about Vincent Starrett at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned books original editions color illustrated)