SIMON

SIMON, family of British printers and typographers. OLIVER SIMON (1895–1956) was born in Sale, Cheshire, the son of a cotton merchant. His mother was the sister of sir william rothenstein . Simon was educated at Charterhouse and in Germany, served as an officer in the British army in World War I, and fought in the Palestine campaign. He trained as a printer in London and joined the Curwen Press of which he later became chairman and managing director. In 1923 he was a founder and editor of The Fleuron, a typography journal. He was also a founder of the typographers' Double Crown Club of which he was president in 1929. Simon was a director of the Soncino Press. As a typographer Simon had an enormous influence on the improvement of printing, typography, and type design. He edited with J. Rodenberg, Printing of Today (1928) and the Curwen Press Miscellany (1931), and was the author of Introduction to Typography (1945) and an autobiography, Printer and Playground (1956). Simon had a notable interest in Palestine, founding the Paladin Club, an influential discussion group whose members included chaim weizmann . His brother, HERBERT SIMON (1898–1974), was also a founding member of the Double Crown Club. He succeeded Oliver as chairman of the Curwen Press in 1956. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: ODNB online. (John M. Shaftesley)