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 450 Collections and/or Records:
Children's sketchbook [possibly of Edith Simon], ?1920-?1930
Sketchbook contains colour drawings and writing exercises in the German language. Many of the sketches are titled in German.
Christmas and New Year greeting cards sent to Edith Simon and family, 1972-1981
Identified correspondents include Grete Simon; Inge and Dennis Goodwin; Robin and Diana Philipson; 'Philip and Tina'; 'Rosa'; 'Philip'(possibly Davies); and others. File also contains three promotional flyers for farm and harvesting equipment.
Copybooks of Edith Simon, 1930-1931
File contains twelve small exercise copybooks, with manuscript notes by Edith Simon, all in the German language. One labelled as ‘Geschichten for Inge Simon von Edith Simon’ [Stories for Inge Simon from Edith Simon] contains colour illustrations. Another has been titled as ‘Aufsatze – Deutsch’ [Essays – German].
Copybooks of Edith Simon, ?1933-?1935
File contains two exercise copybooks, one with manuscript notes and the other with typescript notes, both by Edith Simon. The first also includes illustrations by the author and contains writing in English and German, while the second contains only German-language text.
Corrected typescript drafts, and accompanying manuscript notes, by Edith Simon concerning various chapters of an abandoned novel entitled 'An Affair of Love', November 1964-April 1966
Manuscript notes date from November-December 1964, while annotated typescript drafts date from December 1965 to April 1966. Typescript drafts encompass Parts 2-4 of the proposed book.
Correspondence concerning Edith Simon's writing, exhibitions, artistic projects, agreements, and brief family updates, 1981
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1956
File primarily contains letters from individuals, but also includes copy letters of Edith Simon. Identified correspondents include Richard Mealand; Stewart Richardson, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; Ivan Von Auw, Jr., Harold Ober Associates; David Higham; David Harris, G.P. Putnam's Sons; and Ira S. Mothner.
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1957
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1958
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1959
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1960
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1958, 1961
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1962
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1964
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1963
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1974
Correspondence concerning writing projects, 1975
Correspondence concerning writing projects and exhibitions, 1973
Correspondence of Dorothy Thompson concerning a proposed book project, February 1982
Originally part of the general correspondence file for 1982.
Correspondence of Edith Simon with, and relating to, John Mair (d.1942), 1941-1942
Correspondence between Simon and Mair contains references to Mair's experiences in the Royal Air Force; discussion of the writing process by both parties; writing excerpts from Mair; and his thoughts on Simon's as-yet-unpublished book, The Corrupted Angel. File also contains drawings by Simon, illustrating her letters, and subsequent letters with Mair's wife Joan, and other correspondents, concerning Mair's death in 1942.