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Vincent Starrett manuscripts and papers collection
Special Collections and Archives
Vincent Starrett manuscripts and papers collection
Special Collections and Archives
Vincent Starrett manuscripts and papers collection
- Repository: Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.
- Title: Vincent Starrett manuscripts and papers collection
- Inclusive Date(s): 1800-1999
- Author: Finding aid prepared by Dean H. Keller and Cara Gilgenbach
- Creation: Finding aid encoded by Cara Gilgenbach using the OhioLINK EAD Application in 2018
- Origination: Starrett, Vincent, 1886-1974
- Extent: .83 cubic feet (1 document case + 1 half-size record storage box)
- Physical Location: 11th floor
- Finding Aid Identifier: OhKeUSC0164
- Abstract: This collection contains selected manuscript materials created by, about, and collected by Vincent Starrett. The material was formerly owned by David O. Borowitz, who added some material to the collection.
- Language(s): The records are in English
Biography of Vincent Starrett
Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett was born in Toronto, Canada, but his family moved to Chicago, Illinois when he was still young. He was an author, bibliographer, and book collector best known for his work related to Sherlock Holmes. He also known for his interest in the Welsh writer Arthur Machen, whose works he helped to reintroduce to Americans in the 1920s.
Scope and Content
This collection is primarily comprised of manuscripts, papers, and publications created by and collected by Vincent Starrett. It includes a series of Montgomery Evans manuscripts, Starrett manuscripts, and an assortment of papers, publications, and other works by and about authors and artists including George Cruikshank, Watts Phillips, and H. P. Lovecraft.
Statement of Arrangement
The collection is organized into three series as follows.
- Series 1: Montgomery Evans manuscripts and papers
- Series 2: Vincent Starrett manuscripts and papers
- Series 3: Other Authors' and Artists' manuscripts and papers
Restrictions on Use
Kent State University does not own the copyright to materials in this collection.
Preferred Citation
Vincent Starrett manuscripts and papers collection. Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.
Acquisition Information
This collection was donated to the Kent State University Libraries by Albert and Helen Borowitz.
Custodial History
The material in this collection was originally created or collected by Vincent Starrett. It was later owned by David O. Borowitz of Chicago, Illinois, who appears to have made some additions to the collection.
Controlled-access Headings
The following are found in this collection:
- Subjects:
- Starrett, Vincent, 1886-1974 -- Archives
- British literature -- History -- 19th century
- British literature -- History -- 20th century
- American literature -- History -- 19th century
- American literature -- History -- 20th century
- Horror tales
- Fantasy fiction
- Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
- Stevenson, Robert Louis, 1850-1894
- Persons:
- Evans, Montgomery
- Cruikshank, George, 1792-1878
- Phillips, Watts, 1825-1874
- Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips), 1890-1937
- Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
- Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William), 1865-1933
- Collier, John, 1901-1980
- De la Mare, Walter, 1873-1956
- Eichin, Fred C.
- Molesworth, Mrs., 1839-1921
- Gedik, Simon, 1551-1631
- Hecht, Ben, 1894-1964
- Middleton, Richard, 1882-1911
- Organizations/Corporations:
- John Lane Company
- Functions:
- Authorship
- Collectors and collecting
- Occupations:
- Authors
- Collectors and collecting
- Material Types:
- Correspondence
- Publications
- Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
- Manuscripts for publication
Detailed Description of the Collection
Series 1: Montgomery Evans manuscripts and papers, 1924-1945
- Box 1 / Folder 1
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, March 28, 1924
- Box 1 / Folder 2
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, June 4, 1924
- Box 1 / Folder 3
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, June 30, 1924
- Box 1 / Folder 4
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, November 27, 1924
- Box 1 / Folder 5
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, November 29, 1924
- Box 1 / Folder 6
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, July 31, 1926
- Box 1 / Folder 7
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, April 17, 1928
- Box 1 / Folder 8
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, November 9, 1928
- Box 1 / Folder 9
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, June 21, 1929
- Box 1 / Folder 10
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, August 11, 1929
- Box 1 / Folder 11
- Correspondence: Sime, Sidney H. to Montgomery Evans, undated
- Box 1 / Folder 12
- Check: Evans, Montgomery to Sidney H. Sime, November 17, 1927
- Box 1 / Folder 13
- Envelopes: Addressed to Montgomery Evans to Sidney H. Sime?, 1923, 1924
- Box 1 / Folder 14
- Publication: Bogey Beasts. Jingles &c. By S. H. Sime. Music by Holbrooke. London: Goodwin and Tabb, undated, but 1923
-
Physical Description: Inscribed by Sime for Evans. Includes Evans' bookplate and a letter from Sime to an unknown correspondent is pasted inside the lower cover.
- Box 1 / Folder 15
- Publication: Paintings and Drawings. By Sidney H. Sime. London: St. George's Gallery, 1924
-
Physical Description: Two copies.
- Box 1 / Folder 16
- Publication: The London Program, volume 1, numbers 1 and 2, June 16, 1924, June 23, 1924
-
Physical Description: Cover drawing by Sidney H. Sime on both issues.
- Box 1 / Folder 17
- Correspondence: Sims, Judith E. D. to Montgomery Evans, May 5, 1945
- Box 1 / Folder 18
- Correspondence: Sims, Judith E. D. to Montgomery Evans, undated
-
Physical Description: Accompanied by a birthday card.
Series 2: Vincent Starrett manuscripts and papers, 1920-1971
- Box 1 / Folder 19
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, May 5, 1920
- Box 1 / Folder 20
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, September 13, 1920
- Box 1 / Folder 21
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, February 17, 1921
- Box 1 / Folder 22
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, June 27, 1921
- Box 1 / Folder 23
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, December 15, 1922
- Box 1 / Folder 24
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, February 6, 1923
- Box 1 / Folder 25
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, June 13, 1923
- Box 1 / Folder 26
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, July 23, 1923
- Box 1 / Folder 27
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, October 11, 1923
- Box 1 / Folder 28
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, December 8, 1923
- Box 1 / Folder 29
- Correspondence: Starrett, Vincent to C. S. Millard, March 26, 1924
- Box 1 / Folder 30
- Correspondence: Millard, C. S. to Vincent Starrett, 1920, 1922, 1923
-
Physical Description: Typed copies of letters.
- Scope and Content
- Includes letters from May 5, 1920; May 18, 1920; August 27, 1920; February 21, 1922; July 12, 1922; September 5, 1922; September 25, 1922; November 9, 1923.
- Box 1 / Folder 31
- Publication: Let Shakespeare Speak.... By Wilfred Hansford Gallienne. Chicago: The Norman Press., 1942?
-
Physical Description: Inscribed by Vincent Starrett for Montgomery Evans.
- Scope and Content
- "Note" by Vincent Starrett, signed.
- Box 1 / Folder 32
- Publication: Ink. By John McClure. [Ysleta, TX: Edwin B. Hill], undated, but 1939
-
Physical Description: Initialed by Vincent Starrett for Montgomery Evans. Two copies.
- Scope and Content
- Note by Vincent Starrett.
- Box 1 / Folder 33
- Publication: Fifteen More Poems. By Vincent Starrett. Ysleta, TX: Edwin B. Hill, 1927
-
Physical Description: One of 110 Copies. Inscribed by Vincent Starrett for David Borowitz.
- Box 1 / Folder 34
- Publication: Persons from Porlock. By Vincent Starrett. The Bookfellows, 1923
-
Physical Description: Inscribed by Vincent Starrett for David Borowitz.
- Box 1 / Folder 35
- Clippings: By or about Vincent Starrett, 1964-1971, undated
Series 3: Other Authors' and Artists' manuscripts and papers, 1900
- Arrangement
- This series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the author or artist whose manuscripts or papers are included.
- Box 2 / Folder 1
- Browning, Robert. Notebook of Browning's Father Containing Titles of Books, undated
- Scope and Content
- Accompanied by a note by David Borowitz: "above in Vicent Starrett's handwriting--a gift to me from him in 1960."
- Box 2 / Folder 2
- Bennett, John. Correspondence to Vincent Starrett, 1929, 1930, 1933
- Scope and Content
- Includes letters from February 6, 1929; March 11, 1930; April 13, 1933.
- Box 2 / Folder 3
- Chambers, Robert. Manuscript: "The Mask", March 4, 1929
-
Physical Description: Manuscript dialogue of Act 1, Scene 2 the The King in Yellow. Inscribed to Vincent Starrett.
- Box 2 / Folder 4
- Collier, John. Correspondence and Manuscript, 1950, undated
- Scope and Content
- Includes two letters from John Collier to Vincent Starrett dated July 11, 1950; August 8, 1950. Also includes a typed manuscript of Evening Primrose by John Collier, inscribed to Starrett by Collier and bearing the note: "Dear Vincent Starrett / This is the first typescript of the short story published as "Evening Primrose." The M.S. first draft from which this was typed has been destroyed. I like this story better than any other I have written. / Yours v. sincerely / John Collier." The original title of the story Group of Three -- Easter Styles is struck out in ink by Collier.
- Box 2 / Folder 5
- Cruikshank, George. Correspondence to Dr. Elliotson, July 18, 1841
-
Physical Description: Autograph letter, signed, with envelope.
- Scope and Content
- Includes a carte de visite photograph of Cruikshank.
- Box 2 / Folder 6
- Cruikshank, George. Correspondence to Preston, Esq., November 1, 1851
-
Physical Description: Autograph letter, signed, on mourning paper.
- Box 2 / Folder 7
- Cruikshank, George. Correspondence to Mr. Dorsett, October 31, 1864
-
Physical Description: Autograph letter, signed, with envelope, both mounted onto paper sheet by a prior owner.
- Box 2 / Folder 8
- Cruikshank, George? Diary: They Lady's & Gentleman's Annual Pocket Ledger..., 1831
-
Physical Description: This item is very fragile.
- Scope and Content
- 144 pages. Diary contains autograph entries on 64 pages. The plates listed on pages 125-126 as being part of the diary volume are lacking. Diary includes "memorandums" and "cash account" ruled sections for each date, accompanied by other material such as significant events of the prior year, enigmas for amusement, poems, songs, hackney/coach/cabriolet fares, dances, and other printed information.
- Box 2 / Folder 9
- Cruikshank, George. Diary: Harwood's Diamond Diary with an Almanack, 1840
-
Physical Description: This item is very fragile.
- Scope and Content
- "Geo Cruikshank" on first entry leaf (January). Autograph entries on 79 pages, including sketches throughout.
- Box 2 / Folder 10
- Cruikshank, George? Diary: F. Arnold's Monthly Pocket Diary, August 1872
- Scope and Content
- Includes several pages of advertisements at front and back of diary. Autograph entries on 10 pages.
- Box 2 / Folder 11
- Cruikshank, George. Drawings: "If" and "They", July 31, 1873
- Scope and Content
- Two small pen sketches of decorative lettering of the words "if" and "they." In a folder inscribed with Cruikshank's name and addressed to C. E. Mathews.
- Box 2 / Folder 12
- Cruikshank, George? Notebook: Account Book, January 1838-August 1848
- Scope and Content
- Includes autograph entries of expenditures on 50 pages of the volume.
- Box 2 / Folder 13
- Cruikshank, George. Notebook: Account Book, "King Grocer &c. 8. Everett St.", July 1846-March 1850
- Scope and Content
- First page is headed "G. Cruikshank, Esq." Includes autograph entries on 47 pages. Accompanied by an autograph letter, signed, John King to George Cruikshank, April 22, 1852, with a receipt on verso.
- Box 2 / Folder 14
- Cruikshank, George. Title page or cover sheet for Cruikshank print, 1969
- Scope and Content
- A title page or cover sheet presented with an "Impression from Original Steel Plate Engraved by George Cruikshank...For One of the Illustrations for 1851, or the Adventures of Mr. & Mrs. Sandboys....From a plate in the possession of Eugene Stevens, Jr., Printed by Letterio Calapai, December, 1969." At top of sheet is an autograph note, signed, by Stevens that reads "Compliments of the [illegible] from one admirer of the great George to another." Please note that the print referred to is not part of this collection.
- Box 2 / Folder 15
- de la Mare, Walter. Correspondence to Vincent Starrett, February 1916, undated
- Box 2 / Folder 16
- Eichin, Fred C. Publications, 1952-1959
- Scope and Content
- Includes issues of the following periodicals, each of which includes a piece of writing by Eichen: The Bookery (n.1, winter 1952-53); Cerebrations (n.7, January 1959); The Chimes (July 1957). Each is inscribed by Eichen to David Borowitz.
- Box 2 / Folder 17
- Gedik, Simon. Defensio Sexus Muliebris..., 1707
- Scope and Content
- Gedik's work is a reply to the anonymously written Disputatio Nova Contra Mulieres... a copy of which is also present in this file. Both are dis-bound.
- Box 2 / Folder 18
- Goldstone, Dorothy and Adrian. Holiday card, undated
- Box 2 / Folder 19
- Hecht, Ben. The Bewitched Tailor, 1941
- Scope and Content
- One of 850 copies, with an illustration by George Grosz and signed by Hecht and Grosz. Includes a form letter from the Viking Press about Hecht's 1001 Afternoons in New York (in which Bewitched Tailor is one story). Also includes a bill of sale for this item to David Borowitz, dated 1968.
- Box 2 / Folder 20
- John Lane (publisher). Catalog for Keynotes Series, 1896
- Scope and Content
- A catalog for the Keynote Series of Novels and Short Stories, with Twenty-one Designs by Aubrey Beardsley.
- Box 2 / Folder 21
- The Lantern. Volume 2, Numbers 3 and 4, August and October 1913
- Box 2 / Folder 22
- Lovecraft, H. P. Works by, 1916-1945
- Scope and Content
- Includes the following works by Lovecraft: "Celephais" in The Garden of Fear by Robert E. Howard, and Other Stories of the Bizarre and Fantastic (1945); "A Rural Summer Eve" in The Trail, v.1 (January 1916); "A Voice from the Grave" in The Scarlet Cockerel, n.15 (January 1941) (two copies); Two issues of The Conservative, n.12 and 13 (March and July 1923) of which Lovecraft was the editor.
- Box 2 / Folder 23
- Lovecraft, H. P. Works about, 1940-1970
- Scope and Content
- Includes the following works about Lovecraft: Cook, Paul W. In Memoriam Howard Phillips Lovecraft (Driftwood Press, 1941); Kleiner, Rheinhart. "Howard Phillips Lovecraft" in The Phoenix, v.3 (September 1943); The Lovecraft Collector, n. 1-3 (1949); "In Memoriam: Howard Phillips Lovecraft 1890-1937" in The Olympian, new series, n.1 (Autumn 1940); Schevill, James. Lovecraft's Follies playbill for Rhode Island production of the play (1970); Wesson, Helen V. "The Phenomenon of HPL" in The Fossil, v.55 (July 1957); "World fame had not yet come to Howard Phillips Lovecraft..." in The National Amateur, v.72 (December 1949).
- Box 2 / Folder 24
- Middleton, Richard. Manuscript fragment, undated
- Scope and Content
- 1-page autograph manuscript by Middleton from his story The Ghost Ship. At bottom of page Henry Savage has written the following autograph note, signed: "My dear Starrett--Here's an interesting fragment for you--Richard Middleton's great story, The Ghost Ship, as originally conceived and abandoned. Very different, you will note, from the beginning as printed. Yours, Henry Savage 6/30." Also present is a portrait of Middleton by E. Masson.
- Box 2 / Folder 25
- Molesworth, M. L. Correspondence to unknown recipient, April 24, 1896
- Scope and Content
- 2-page autograph letter, signed, on mourning paper. Year of letter has been supplied.
- Box 2 / Folder 26
- Newberry Library. A Selection...from the Louis H. Silver Collection, 1964
- Scope and Content
- Full title: A Selection of Books and Manuscripts from the Louis H. Silver Collection Now in the Newberry Library. A Handlist.
- Box 2 / Folder 27
- Phillips, Watts. Correspondence, undated
- Scope and Content
- 8 autograph letters, signed to "Dicks," "Maria," and "John and Walter." Most of the letters include drawings by Phillips. 1 of the letters is a fragment. Also included is a captioned drawing, a photocopy of an article about Phillips, and an invoice for the purchase of 7 Phillips letters to David Borowitz. Although letters include day and month of writing, no years are included, but they were written in the 19th century.
- Box 2 / Folder 28
- Stevenson, Robert Louis. Advertisement for A Second Collection of Moral Emblems, 1882
