Quick Facts
Biography
Simon Beattie (born 5 February 1975 in Aylesbury) is a British antiquarian bookseller. He was the first British bookseller to be featured in Fine Books Magazine's series Bright Young Things; 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).
Beattie was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and the University of Exeter, where he took a double first in German and Russian (1997) and subsequently studied for an MA in Lexicography (1998), which he passed with Distinction. 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, a Gold Award at the 2011 Fresh Awards, two Gold Awards at the 2011 Roses Design Awards, Best Publication at the 2011 Cream Awards, and a Bronze Award at the Art Directors Club, New York, 2012. Short List 5 won In Book at the D&AD awards in 2013, and a Premier Award at the 2014 ISTD Awards.
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'.
In September 2014, Beattie took part in the inaugural York Antiquarian Book Seminar.
Beattie also composes choral music. 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.