{{Short description|British antiquarian bookseller}} {{for|the Australian cricketer|Simon Beattie (cricketer)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2017}} thumb|right|250px|Cover of Beattie’s Short List 2, published October 2010 '''Simon Beattie''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FSA|}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Mr Simon Beattie |publisher=Society of Antiquaries of London |access-date=24 April 2024 |url=https://www.sal.org.uk/our-fellows/directory/mr-simon-beattie/}}</ref> (born 5 February 1975 in Aylesbury) is a British antiquarian bookseller, literary translator and music composer. He was the first British bookseller to be featured in the ''Fine Books Magazine'' series Bright Young Things;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine-books-news/bright-young-things-simon-beattie|title=Bright Young Things: Simon Beattie | Fine Books & Collections|website=www.finebooksmagazine.com|accessdate=20 January 2024}}</ref> when he became a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association in 2011, the Association's newsletter described him as "a dealer to watch" (October 2011, Issue 364, p. 15).{{cn|date=February 2024}} Beattie was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and the University of Exeter, where he took a double first in German and Russian (1997). He subsequently earned an MA in Lexicography (1998). Whilst at Exeter, Beattie also held a choral scholarship at Exeter Cathedral. After brief freelance dictionary work for Bloomsbury Publishing (''Encarta® World English Dictionary'', 1999) and Oxford University Press (''The Oxford Russian Dictionary'', third edition, 2000), Beattie joined the London antiquarian booksellers Bernard Quaritch Ltd in 1998.
In January 2010 he set up his own independent company in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, specialising in European cross-cultural history. His printed catalogues, entitled ''Short Lists'', won the catalogue category in the 2010 McNaughton Review awards,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antalis.co.uk/news/article/10/Corporate-News/March-2011/orange/Construct-Win-The-Review-2010-Competition.aspx |title=Antalis McNaughton Construct Win The Review 2010 Competition |publisher=Antalis.co.uk |date=2011-03-16 |access-date=2011-10-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729070911/http://www.antalis.co.uk/news/article/10/Corporate-News/March-2011/orange/Construct-Win-The-Review-2010-Competition.aspx |archive-date=29 July 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> a Gold Award at the 2011 Fresh Awards,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.freshawards.co.uk/Awards/Home/Entry/909 |title=Fresh 2016 Shortlist Catalogues – 1, 2, 3 ~ Fresh Awards ~ 2016 |access-date=30 September 2011 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304034225/http://www.freshawards.co.uk/Awards/Home/Entry/909 |url-status=dead }}</ref> two Gold Awards at the 2011 Roses Design Awards,<ref>[http://www.rosesdesignawards.com/nominations Nominations]rosesdesignawards.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025171611/http://www.rosesdesignawards.com/nominations |date=25 October 2011 }}</ref> Best Publication at the 2011 Cream Awards,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://creamlondon.net/nominations|title = Domain parking page}}</ref> and a Bronze Award at the Art Directors Club, New York, 2012.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130223101702/http://www.adcglobal.org/archive/search/?year=&id=2998 Archive search] </ref> Short List 5 won In Book at the D&AD awards in 2013,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Simon Beattie — Short List 5 {{!}} Robin Howie {{!}} Simon Beattie {{!}} D&AD Awards 2013 Pencil Winner {{!}} Catalogues & Brochures {{!}} D&AD |url=https://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2013/graphic-design/19709/simon-beattie-short-list-5/ |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.dandad.org}}</ref> and a Premier Award at the 2014 ISTD Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Premier - International Society of Typographic Designers |url=http://www.istd.org.uk/awards/awards-results/premier |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012120814/http://www.istd.org.uk/awards/awards-results/premier |archive-date=2014-10-12 |website=istd.org.uk}}</ref>
On the publication of Beattie's first catalogue, The Book Collector wrote: 'If you have not got a copy of Beattie Short List 1, get it at once' (Autumn 2010, p. 462). Beattie was a 2012 winner in the Smarta 100 Awards for 'the most resourceful, original, exciting and disruptive small businesses in the UK'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smarta.com/smarta100/2012/simon-beattie |title=Simon Beattie - Smarta 100 Winner 2012 | Smarta 100 |access-date=2012-10-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010220942/http://www.smarta.com/smarta100/2012/simon-beattie |archive-date=10 October 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> He has taught at the York Antiquarian Book Seminar<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yabseminar.com/ |title=Home |website=yabseminar.com}}</ref> since its inception in 2014. It was Beattie who set in motion the worldwide strike by over 450 booksellers against AbeBooks' decision to withdraw from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, and South Korea in November 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/06/booksellers-protest-amazon-abebooks-withdraw-russia-south-korea|title=Booksellers unite in protest as Amazon's AbeBooks withdraws from several countries|website=TheGuardian.com|date=6 November 2018}}</ref> Beattie's new translation of Gottfried Benn's shocking first poem ''Morgue'' was published in 2018. He has also translated Rainer Maria Rilke and Anna Akhmatova. His translation of the novel ''At the Edge of the Night''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hesperuspress.com/|title=hesperuspress.com|date=28 November 2023|website=hesperuspress.com|accessdate=20 January 2024}}</ref> by the German writer Friedo Lampe was published by Hesperus Press in 2019.
Beattie also composes choral music.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://soundcloud.com/simon-42-1|title=Simon Beattie|website=SoundCloud|accessdate=20 January 2024}}</ref> His setting of ''Advent Calendar'', a poem by Rowan Williams, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the 2008 Advent carol service from St John's College, Cambridge. It has since been performed on both sides of the Atlantic. A more recent piece, ''The Angel and the Unicorn'', setting a poem by Rilke (which Beattie himself translated) on the Annunciation, was premiered by the Choir of Selwyn College, Cambridge in 2020.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211208/hFed7Jaw7g4 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20201206193305/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFed7Jaw7g4 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite AV media| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFed7Jaw7g4| title = SIMON BEATTIE The Angel and the Unicorn | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==See also== * Book trade in the United Kingdom
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.simonbeattie.co.uk Official website] * [https://soundcloud.com/simon-42-1 SoundCloud page]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beattie, Simon}} Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter Category:Antiquarian booksellers Category:British booksellers Category:English booksellers Category:English composers Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:People from Aylesbury Category:People from Chesham