Simon, Edith (writer and artist) (1917-2003)
Dates
- Existence: 1917-2003 - 2003
Biography
Edith Simon was born on 18 May 1917 in Berlin, Germany, to Walter and Grete Simon. Educated at the Fürstin-Bismarck Gymnasium, she showed a talent for art and history, and enjoyed early success with the publication of her drawings whilst still only 10 years old. Her father Walter, a decorated Great War veteran and successful businessman, moved with his young family to London when Edith was just 15, as the political climate in Germany became increasingly threatening. Edith, alongside her younger sister Inge, arrived in the British capital in 1932.
Edith studied for a short time at both the Slade School of Fine Art and the Central School of Art and Design. She also became an early member of the Artists International Association (AIA), which formed in London in 1933.
Writing Career
Embarking on her professional writing career, Edith’s first book was a children’s adventure story which she wrote and illustrated, titled Somersaults and Strange Company, published by Lawrence & Wishart in 1937. She had also begun working at this time as a book jacket illustrator, demonstrating her signature style and draughtsmanship. In 1938, she translated Arthur Koestler’s The Gladiators into English, which was published a year later. Her first novel, The Chosen, was published in 1940 by John Lane, The Bodley Head, when Edith was still only 23.
She would go on to author 17 books, including contemporary novels, historical novels, and histories, as well as contributing to edited collections. Her published work includes:
Somersaults and Strange Company (Lawrence & Wishart 1937)
The Gladiators by Arthur Koestler, (UK Johnathan Cape 1939; US Macmillan - New York 1939) (translated by Edith Simon)
The Chosen (The Bodley Head 1940)
Biting the Blue Finger (The Bodley Head 1942)
Wings Deceive (The Bodley Head 1944)
The Other Passion (The Bodley Head 1948)
The Golden Hand (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1952; US edition G.P. Putnam's Sons 1951)
The Past Masters (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1953; US edition 'The House of Strangers', G.P. Putnam's Sons 1953)
The Twelve Pictures (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1956; US edition G.P. Putnam's Sons 1955)
The Sable Coat (Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1958)
The Piebald Standard: A Biography of the Knights Templar (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1959; US edition G.P. Putnam's Sons 1959)
The Undying Past, ed. Orville Prescott (Doubleday 1961) (contributor)
The Great Forgery (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1962; US edition Little, Brown & Co. 1962)
The Making of Frederick the Great (UK edition Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1963; US editions Little, Brown & Co., reprint Greenan Press)
Friedrich Der Grosse, Das Weiden eines Königs (Rainer Wunderlich Verlag, Hermann Leins, Tubingen, 1963)
The Book of Books – A Treasury of Great Bible Fiction, eds. Irwin R Blacker & Ethel H Blacker (Holt, Reinhart & Winston NY, 1965) (contributor)
The Reformation (Time-Life 1966)
Die Reformation von Edith Simon und der Redaktion der Time-Life (Time-Life 1967)
The Saints (UK edition Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1968; US edition Delacorte Press 1968)
Luther Alive (UK edition Hodder & Stoughton 1968; US edition Doubleday 1968)
The Anglo-Saxon Manner (Cassell & Co. Ltd. 1972)
The Makers of Modern Thought (Horizon Books American Heritage Books – subsidiary of McGraw Hill 1972) (contributor)
‘Frederick II the Great of Prussia’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica 1974) (contributor)
In addition, Edith also wrote two plays ‘The Inimitable’ and ‘Love Me, Scum’, neither of which were ever performed, and she completed a film script entitled 'A Perfect Marriage'.
It was in London in 1942 that Edith met the noted scientist Dr. Eric Reeve, whom she married that same year. The couple moved to Edinburgh in 1947 to facilitate Eric’s new role with Edinburgh University’s Genetics Department. They lived first at Mortonhall House, alongside a team of geneticists also working at the University. They would subsequently move to Roseberry Crescent, and Lansdowne Crescent, before settling permanently in Grosvenor Crescent. They had three children, Antonia (b.1950), Simon (b.1952), and Jessica (b. 1954).
Art Career
Edith returned to her artistic practice in the early 1970s, participating in an early exhibition at the Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh in 1970, followed by her first one-woman show at Gallerie Balans in Amsterdam in 1971 where she presented mobile sculptures and her signature papercut bas relief paintings. Edith would go on to stage and appear in over 50 exhibitions throughout her career. She experimented with and explored many mediums and forms including continuous line drawings, papercut bas relief scalpel paintings, rope sculptures, mobile and soft sculptures, sculptures in stained wood, ciment-fondue, vacuum formed perspex, cast polyester resin, cold-cast bronze, copper, aluminium, metal sheet, and carved plaster. She also utilised painted glass, as well as undertaking murals in paint and wood veneer. For over thirty years, she exhibited annually at the Edinburgh Festival, with her final show being held in 2001. [A full list of exhibitions (1970-2003) is available on the Edith Simon Gallery website cited below.]
In 1995, Edith contracted a respiratory infection which revealed an existing condition, widely known as emphysema. This necessitated the use of daily oxygen for the remainder of her life. Edith Simon died in Edinburgh on 7 January 2003.
Biographical information has been taken from ‘Moderation be Damned: Edith Simon’, published by Antonia Reeve in 2005, alongside the artist’s biographical note on the Edith Simon Gallery website, available at edith-simon.com.
Found in 446 Collections and/or Records:
"The Sable Coat", 1952-1956
"The Saints" and "Luther Alive", 1966-1967
"The Twelve Pictures", 1952-circa 1960
Notebook contents appear in the tete-a-beche style, with the author writing from both ends of the volumes.
Three art-related notebooks of Edith Simon, accompanied by a group photograph, 1984-1988
Notebooks contain brief sketches; notes on exhibitions, artworks, costings, and materials; and notes on audiovisual projects. File also contains a torn photograph of a group of four men posing by a tree in a snowy landscape.
Three exercise books of Edith Simon containing notes pertaining to the novel 'The Golden Hand', bulk: circa 1946-1948
Manuscript notes concern plot points, character and scene development, draft excerpts, and points of historical interest in Edith Simon's research.
Three packets of loose photographs depicting scalpel bas relief paintings, sculptures, exhibition events, social events, self-portraits, and Reeve family holidays and day-to-day-life, circa 2003
The artist, her husband Eric Reeve, their daughter Antonia Reeve, and other family and friends are also depicted, along with a pet cat.
Three typescript drafts of the play 'The Inimitable' by Edith Simon, bulk: circa 1957
File contains two bound drafts of the play, each with the inner title page bearing the Theatrework (London) Ltd. address. Also present is an unbound carbon typescript of the play, bearing Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence on the title cover, and accompanied by a page of typescript notes entitled 'Notes on the First Revision by Colin Ellis.'
"Thrilleroyal", 1970-1972
Two notebooks of Edith Simon concerning an unpublished novel entitled 'Reverse Othello', bulk: 1963-1964, 1967-1969
Spiral-bound notebook contains dates from 5 August 1963 to 26 February 1964. Hardcover notebook begins on 2 December 1967 and final date is given as 10 February 1969. Both notebooks contain brief illustrations, and manuscript notes concerning a proposed novel set in a ballet school, 'Reverse Othello'. Hardcover notebook contains an inserted sheet at page 89 also concerning the novel.
Two typescript synopses for the play 'In the Afternoon'; two typescript synopses for a possible book or essay entitled 'The Social Impact of Doctor Freud', and two outlines for 'Freud.', circa 1967
File also includes the original folder in which the 'In the Afternoon' typescripts were housed, bearing the label of literary agency David Higham Associates Ltd., London.
Two Visitors' Books retained by Edith Simon, documenting exhibition attendance, bulk: 1970-1979, 2003
Typescript and manuscript notes by Edith Simon concerning her research and writing of the book, 'The Making of Frederick the Great', 1960-1961
File contains annotated typescript revisions of chapter excerpts; and notes on points of research interest and content development.
Typescript and manuscript notes for an unpublished novel, 'Thrilleroyal', by Edith Simon, November 1972
File contains a sysnopsis for the novel and a draft excerpt, alongside substantive notes on plot development, book structure, background, characters, chapter contents, and other editorial notes. Plot notes and structure were begun on 7 November 1972.
Typescript and manuscript notes of Edith Simon concerning chapter structures for an unpublished novel entitled 'Reverse Othello', circa 1965
Notes primarily focus on character descriptions, plot points, and chapter structures.
Typescript and manuscript pages accompanying Edith Simon's copybooks, 1931-1932
Eleven of the thirteen items contained in the file have been written in German. Estimated titles include 'Don Carlos'; 'Ein Vorgang, in dam ein Weib zur Hyane wird'; 'Streik'; 'Regenwetter'; 'Hagen wird vorgestelle'; 'Ostern 1932'; 'Matschwetter'; and 'Blauer Dunst'. Items appear to concern fiction writing.
Typescript chapter drafts and manuscript notes by Edith Simon concerning the book 'The Twelve Pictures', and an accompanying book jacket design, [?1953-?1954]
Typescripts have been annotated by the author, some lightly, and others more heavily. The file also includes a letter from 'W' [Walter F. Simon] to his daughter, offering feedback on 'two chapters' she has sent him for review (27 April 1953).
Typescript chapter drafts concerning a writing project entitled 'Morals & Manners' [later 'The Saints'], by Edith Simon, 1963-1965
Chapter drafts appear to include those for chapters 1-5, and 9. File also contains a typescript outline for the proposed book structure.
Typescript chapter drafts with manuscript annotations by Edith Simon concerning the book 'The Reformation', bulk: circa 1966
Annotated typescript drafts are present for chapters/parts 1-8. Title page features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence at that period.
Typescript chapter drafts with manuscript annotations by Edith Simon concerning the book 'The Reformation' , bulk: circa 1966
Annotated typescript drafts are present for chapters/parts 1-8. Title page features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence at that period.
Typescript concerning a proposed book project on the potted history of Britain, 1923-1933, undated
Typescript, with corrections, was found originally with a series of nine mounted illustrations related to a book project on the 'potted history of England'. Mounted illustrations are housed in Box 2 (14). Typescript is accompanied by a pagination proof, outlining briefly where sections will sit in the book.
Typescript draft of 'A Goldfish Bowl', a play in three acts, by Edith Simon, bulk: 1960 onwards
Typescript contains minor annotations by the author. The title page bears the author's Edinburgh address of residence during the period, which has been used to provisionally date the item, while the front cover page bears a manuscript annotation reading as 'original version.'
Typescript draft of 'A Goldfish Bowl', a play in three acts, by Edith Simon, bulk: 1960 onwards
Typescript contains minor annotations by the author. The title page bears the author's Edinburgh address of residence during the period which has been used to provisionally date the item.
Typescript draft of a narrative text, possibly entitled 'My Wife', by Edith Simon, ?1941
File also contains the original folder, annotated with the title 'My Wife'. Concerns the character David Penn and his wife Eva Penn.
Typescript draft of an essay entitled 'On Thomas Mann in Translation', by Edith Simon, ?1960-?1969
Typescript contains brief corrective annotations and the title page features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence at that period. File also includes the original folder, which features a label for David Higham Associates Ltd., Simon's British literary agency, based in London.
Typescript draft of an unpublished novel entitled 'Reverse Othello', Part/Volume 1, chapters 1-18 , ?1960-?1969
File also contains the original folder which features the annotation 'Reverse Othello I. (Copy III). Chapters 1-18. pp.1-282' and Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence.