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:
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.
Typescript draft of an unpublished novel entitled 'Reverse Othello', Part/Volume 2, chapters 19-38, ?1960-?1969
Title page of typescript features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence. File also contains the original folder which features the annotation 'Reverse Othello II. (Copy III). Chapters 19-38. pp.283-544'. Typescript contains brief annotations.
Typescript draft of an unpublished novel, possibly 'Mr. Abbs', by Edith Simon, Part 1, ?1950-?1959
Typescript contains annotations by the author and is accompanied by its original folder which has been annotated with a provisional table of contents for the proposed novel. Part one of the novel in this file is entitled 'The Feud', and contains two chapters despite the folder annotation stating three. The original folder also gives the author's London address at the time.
Typescript draft of an unpublished novel, possibly 'Mr. Abbs', by Edith Simon, Part 2, ?1950-?1959
Typescript contains annotations by the author and is accompanied by its original folder. Part two of the novel in this file is entitled 'Mr. Abbs in Paris', and contains five chapters.
Typescript draft of an unpublished novel, possibly 'Mr. Abbs', by Edith Simon, Part 3, ?1950-?1959
Typescript contains annotations by the author and is accompanied by its original folder. Part three of the novel in this file is entitled 'The Agent', and contains six chapters.
Typescript draft of an unpublished novel, possibly 'Mr. Abbs', by Edith Simon, Part 4, ?1950-?1959
Typescript contains annotations by the author and is accompanied by its original folder. Part four of the novel in this file is entitled 'The Brick Wall', and contains three chapters.
Typescript draft of 'Asking for Trouble' or 'At Least You Bounce on a Full Stomach', a play in three acts by Edith Simon, ?1960-?1969
Draft contains minor corrections. File also includes the original folder which features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence on the front cover, and two annotations reading as 'Polymorphism' and '+ Galatea, Double Bill: a ballet', however this latter document is not present.
Typescript draft of 'Hearts You Lose', a play in three acts, by Edith Simon, ?1950-?1959
Title page features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence during the period, while the typescript itself contains minor annotations by the author.
Typescript draft of 'Hearts You Lose', a play in three acts, by Edith Simon, ?1950-?1959
Title page features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence during the period, while the typescript itself contains minor annotations by the author.
Typescript draft of 'Love Me, Scum', a play by Edith Simon, ?1960-?1969
Title page features Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence, and the draft contains minor corrections. File also includes the original folder. ['Love Me, Scum' takes Frederick the Great as its subject.]
Typescript draft of 'Reverse Othello', an unpublished novel by Edith Simon, chapters 1-11, bulk: 1960 onwards
Typescript contains minor annotations by the author, and is accompanied by its original folder which bears the label for David Higham Associates Ltd., London, a literary agency.
Typescript draft of 'Reverse Othello', an unpublished novel by Edith Simon, chapters 12-23, bulk: 1960 onwards
Typescript contains minor annotations by the author, and is accompanied by its original folder which bears the label for David Higham Associates Ltd., London, a literary agency. Title page bears the author's Edinburgh address of residence during the period.
Typescript draft of 'Reverse Othello', an unpublished novel by Edith Simon, chapters 24-38, bulk: 1960 onwards
Typescript contains minor annotations by the author, and is accompanied by its original folder which bears the label for David Higham Associates Ltd., London, a literary agency. Title page bears the author's Edinburgh address of residence during the period.
Typescript draft of 'The God in White', a play in three acts by Edith Simon, ?1960-?1969
File contains two annotated copies of the playscript, and the original folder in which they were kept, bearing the label of David Higham Associates Ltd., London. The cover pages for both copies feature Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence for that period.
Typescript draft of 'The Inimitable', a play in four acts, by Edith Simon, ?1957-?1963
Title page features the author's Edinburgh address of residence during the period of writing, and may point to this draft being a later revised version to that version housed in Acc.13772 Box 33 (2). Page 20 of this draft is missing but has been replaced with a version from 'an earlier script'.
Typescript draft of 'The Inimitable', a play in four acts, by Edith Simon (alternative title, 'Sketches of Boz'), ?1957-?1963
Typescript contains minor annotations by the author, and features her Edinburgh address of residence during that period.
Typescript drafts of an essay entitled 'On Thomas Mann in Translation', by Edith Simon, ?1960-?1969
Both typescripts contain minor manuscript corrections. Both title covers also feature Edith Simon's Edinburgh address of residence.
Typescript drafts of 'Asking for Trouble' or 'At Least You Bounce on a Full Stomach', a play in three acts by Edith Simon, November-December 1969
File contains a briefly annotated and undated full draft of the play alongside revised versions of each of the three individual acts. The revised drafts date from 25 November 1969-[?8 December 1969].
Typescript drafts of 'Love Me, Scum', a play by Edith Simon, ?1960-?1969
File contains one complete draft and one incomplete version with only the first act. Both typescripts also bear the author's Edinburgh address of residence at the time. [Love Me, Scum takes Frederick the Great as its subject]
Typescript drafts of 'Love Me, Scum', a play by Edith Simon, ?1960-?1969
File contains two draft typescripts. Both bear the author's Edinburgh address of residence at the time. One is also accompanied by its original folder which features the label for David Higham Associates Ltd., London, a literary agency. [Love Me, Scum takes Frederick the Great as its subject]
Typescript drafts of 'The Queen's Handkerchief', a play in three acts by Edith Simon, October-November 1967
File contains a typescript synopsis for the play, alongside annotated typescript drafts of individual acts. Drafts date between 23 October 1967-29 November 1967.
Typescript drafts of various 'Short Stories. Shorter pieces', by Edith Simon, ?1950-?1959
Titles possibly include 'Misunderstanding'; 'Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen'; 'The Gentleman Farmer'; 'The Tomb Guardians'; The Story of Aristide'; and 'The Unsuccessful Grandmother'. A seventh typescript is untitled and incomplete, while an eighth is a synopsis for a story entitled 'The Story of a 'Little Devil' in the Chinese Army'. File also includes the original folder cover which features the annotation 'Short Stories. Shorter pieces - probably all for discarding.'