Two Influential Giants of Little Hedgecourt - Andre Simon and Emil Hoppe

Two Influential Giants of Little Hedgecourt, Felbridge

It is a little known fact that two of the most influential giants (in their respective fields of photography and wine and food) of the 20th century both lived at Little Hedgecourt (now known as Hedgecourt House), off Copthorne Road in Felbridge. 

 

Little Hedgecourt had been a farm, initially held as part of the Clayton estate of Bletchingley before its purchase by Charles Henry Gatty, when it was incorporated as part of his estate of Felbridge.  Little Hedgecourt Farm had been farmed by Henry Pattenden since 1823 and on his death in 1874 it passed to his son Amos who remained there until 1912 when he sold off all the live and dead farming stock and moved to Rowplatt Lane [for further information see Handout: Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 06/01].  The move, according to information from family members, was as a direct result of Felbridge estate sale of 1911 when Little Hedgecourt Farm, totalling 19a 3r 16p was put up for auction as Lot 25 [for further information see Handout: 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11].  It would appear that although Amos Pattenden, the tenant farmer of Little Hedgecourt Farm, had moved out in 1912, the property may have not sold as no one is recorded in the electoral roll as residing there in 1913.  However, in the 1914 and 1915 electoral rolls Charles Edwin Curtis was living at the property (sadly no further information has yet been established about Charles Edwin Curtis).  Unfortunately, the electoral rolls cease for the years 1916/17 but in 1918, on their resumption, the electorates recorded for Little Hedge Court are Emil Otto and Marion Hoppé.  Locally it was remembered that the Hoppés ‘arrived around 1915’ and that they were succeeded at Little Hedgecourt by André Simon and his family ‘in about 1920’ [actually 1919, (see below)].

 

This document will cover the lives and achievements of these two influential 20th century giants: Emil Otto Hoppé, who is a world renowned photographer and André Louis Simon, who is internationally known in the food and wine industry and was founder of the International Wine and Food Society.

 

Emil Otto Hoppé

It was a fairly well known fact among the elderly residents of Felbridge that someone with the name Hoppé had once resided at Little Hedgecourt back in the early 20th century.  This someone was Emil Otto Hoppé.  However, when I took my first tentative steps in researching him and his work back in 2002, there was very little information available except that found in his autobiography/book of reminiscences ‘One Hundred Thousand Exposures: The Success of a Photographer’, published in 1954 and a short biography found in the book called Diaghilev by Richard Buckle.  The lack of available information and his relative obscurity outside of Felbridge was largely due to the decision he made in 1954 to sell the majority of his life’s work of photographic images and negatives to the London Picture archive.  As a result, each picture was duly catalogued, filed and stored in the larger library archive, organized by subject matter and not photographer.  This resulted in the body of Hoppé’s photographic work becoming ‘lost’, inaccessible and virtually unknown to curators and photographic historians at a time when the first serious photographic histories were being researched and written.  Thus, by the time of Hoppé’s death in 1972, his work, reputation and importance in the photographic world had almost been forgotten. 

 

However, just before his death, a photo-historian named Bill Jay managed to track Hoppé down, visiting him and recording his oral history.  As a result of this, and together with the help of Cecil Beaton, Hoppé was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Photography, just two months before he died.  Then in 1994, a curator and photographic historian by the name of Graham Howe retrieved Hoppé’s work from the London Picture library and over the following ten years, conserved and reassembled the Hoppé archive, creating the E. O. Hoppé  Estate Collection, which now includes not only his photographs and negatives, but also letters and biographical documents.

 

Early and family life of Emil Otto Hoppé

Emil Otto Hoppé was born in Munich, on 14th April 1878, the only son of Philip Hoppé and his wife Marie née von der Porth.  Philip Hoppé was a prominent German banker and Marie, who had grown up in Prague and Vienna, was a well-read, amateur pianist.  Hoppé began his education in Munich in 1883 before moving to stay with relatives in Vienna in 1890 where he continued his education.  On return to Munich, Hoppé attended Wilhelms Gymnasium from where he matriculated in 1893.  Also in 1893, Hoppé took up painting classes with Hans von Bartels who was associated with the Düssledorf School of painting, who, although proficient in oils, was regarded as one of the leading German water-colour painters of marine and fishing life, painting with vigour and great technical skill.  After compulsory Military Service between 1895 and 1897, Hoppé began training at his father’s bank in Munich, but still continued to visit the studio of the artist von Bartel’s.

 

Sometime around 1901, Hoppé arrived in London where he took up employment at the Deutsche Bank, Lombard Street.  It was whilst in London that Hoppé was first introduced to photography through an old school friend, then living in England, who gave him a camera as a gift.  It was a magazine box camera, with a fixed focus lens and it was this photographic experience as a young man that gave him his love of photography.  This enabled Hoppé to go on to become a professional photographer, making hundreds of thousands of exposures of the most famous (and sometimes infamous) people in every continent.

 

In 1902, Hoppé settled in Barnes, West London, were he cultivated a circle of creative friends including John Cimon Warburg and Alvin Langdon Coburn, who were both photographers known for their atmospheric landscapes and studies of people.  In 1903, Hoppé joined the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) and in 1904 he began to act as the London correspondent for various German-language photographic journals; first for the Photographische Mitteilungen (which later becamethe Photographische Rundshau) and then in 1905, the yearbook Die Photographische Kunst.

 

On 2nd June 1905, Hoppé married Marie Josephine Wilhemina Bliersbach in a Civil Ceremony in Fulham, London.  Marie, known as Marion, had been born in Cologne, Germany, in about 1882.  Also in 1905, Hoppé was successful in getting some of his photographs selected for in the Royal Photographic Society annual show and, despite his amateur status, began to win prizes in camera club competitions and regional exhibitions.  Off the back of these successes, Hoppé began to reconsider his career in banking and take up the camera professionally.  However, in the early 20th century, there was considerable prejudice against photography as a career, but Hoppé felt the hours were reasonable and his hobby of photography gave him ‘pleasant relaxation’.  As to be expected, Hoppé’s father, a banker, was most reluctant to see his son embark on such a precarious career and, in the eyes of the rest of his family, it was totally irresponsible to jeopardise the security of his career in banking for a career in photography at the start of his married life.  However, his new wife Marion supported him, both emotionally and, to begin with, financially; this was probably not surprising as she was the sister of the old school friend who had first introduced Hoppé to photography on his arrival to London.  Thus, Hoppé’s career as a portrait photographer began in a studio-flat in South West London.  In later life, Hoppé would maintain that his success as a photographer owed much to the training he had received in book keeping and the discipline of banking, the occupation that he had decided to leave to follow a career in photography. 

 

Hoppé, fired with enthusiasm and naive ambition, set out to, as he put it: ‘Rescue photography from the mediocrity into which it had fallen, to see it recognised as an art’.  He was determined to break away from the conventions of portrait photography of the day, to use his camera as a servant and not vice versa.   Without photographic training he felt free to explore the infinite possibilities of the medium.  However, because he broke with tradition, his compositions and use of light were at first frowned upon, but gradually he became known in wider circles and began to be accepted in the photographic community. 

 

In October 1909, Hoppé founded his first professional studio, at 10, MargravineGardens, Barons Court, London, and held his first solo exhibition, of 60 photographs, in Munich.  This was followed in 1910 by his first London solo exhibition, of 72 photographs, at the Royal Photographic Society and in April 1910, The Illustrated London News published a special supplement of 16 of the portraits.  Some of his photographs also appeared in The Graphic, after which Hoppé received frequent commissions from both publications.

 

In 1911, Hoppé moved to a larger studio at 59, Baker Street, Portman Square, London, and Marion opened a fashionable underwear and dressmaking shop, Marion Hoppé et Cie [Marion Hoppé and Company], near Portman Square, London.  In 1912, Marion had their first child, Frank Sidney (known as Sidney), born on 18th January 1912, in Munich.  Sidney would later be educated at WestminsterSchool.  In the same month that Sidney was born Emil Otto Hoppé became a naturalized British citizen. 

 

In 1913, Hoppé and his family moved to 7, Cromwell Place, South Kensington, London, which he re-named Millais House, after former owner John Everett Millais, a leading figure in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti).  Millais House was exactly what Hoppé had been looking for, an old-fashioned house within a reasonable distance of prospective clients, near South Kensington Station.  The house had several distinct advantages.  Being old it was roomy and a house was cheaper to rent than a shop front.  Hoppé and his family lived in relative comfort in a flat on the third and fourth floors, which had its own front door and was cut off from the rest of the house, allowing him to operate his photographic business from the remainder of the premises.  The large number of rooms (33 to be exact) also allowed for prospective expansion without moving premises.  It was a four-storey house and every inch of the house was utilised.  The domestic offices in the basement were converted into workrooms, the housekeeper’s room became the enlarging room and the kitchen, which had a large skylight, became a finishing room.  There were two pantries (a butler’s and parlour-man’s) that were ideal for printing and developing because they both had sinks and running water and the silver still-room was used for the storage of photographic chemicals as it had many cupboards.  A small lift communicated with the reception rooms, studio and dressing rooms on the ground floor.

 

Hoppé decided to install two studios, one on the ground floor and another on the first floor, which was used exclusively for artificial light work.  The studio on the ground floor was the studio that Millais had used and was an annex to the house, built out into the garden.  Next to the first floor studio Hoppé created a library as he was a lover of good literature.  The library also made an excellent setting for some of the portraits of famous statesmen that Hoppé took.  The second floor was devoted to offices and negative storerooms, because in the days when glass plates were used, almost exclusively, storage was a huge problem. 

 

The house was decorated by the Hoppé’s in a mix of old and new.  The main studio was quite plain with a few choice antiques that could be used to compliment the sitter’s profession.  Care and attention was given to the dressing room so that the sitter could compose his or her self before being photographed.  In his career as a photographer, Hoppé always advocated plenty of space as he felt that space in the reception areas, studio, and dark rooms put his clients at ease before a photographic session and created comfortable surroundings for the staff.  However, the property did have one major drawback in that any form of advertising was prohibited but Hoppé soon found that leasing such a famous studio attracted visitors from all over the world and although sometimes inconvenient, the Millais association proved to be excellent publicity.

 

Over the next few years Hoppé held many exhibitions of his portrait work that concentrated on figures in literature, the arts and politics, some of the exhibitions being held at Millais House.  Perhaps one of the first exhibitions to consolidate his work was in February 1913 when he held a solo photographic exhibition of society portraits, ballet and theatrical studies at London’s Goupil Gallery.  Among the hundreds of portrait photographs that Hoppé produced during his life were the dancers of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe, including their scenic and costume designer Léon Baskt and dancers Vera Fokina, Tamara Karavina, Lydia Lopukhova, Léonide Massine, Anna Pavlova, even the elusive Vaslav Nijinsky; actress and singers including: Pepita Bobisela, Teddie Gerard, Anita Loos and Ellen Terry; literary figures such as A.A. Milne, G.K. Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Ezra Pound, George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells; society ladies including: Lady Diana Cooper, Lady Edward Grosvenor and Lady Hazel Lavery; members of the Royal family including: King George V, Queen Mary and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons (later the wife of George VI); and ordinary working people such as cleaners, maids and street vendors, both in his studio and on the street, a practise he continued throughout his career as he travelled throughout the world.

 

In 1914/15, with his growing reputation in the photographic world, and presumably a growing bank balance to match, and the birth of his second child, Muriel Marion born on 15th December 1915, Hoppé and his wife began to look for a country retreat. The place they found and settled for was Little Hedgecourt, situated on the northern extent of Hedgecourt Common on the southern edge of HedgecourtLake in Felbridge, Surrey, within easy travelling distance of London. 

 

 

Emil Otto Hoppé at Little Hedgecourt

According to past Felbridge residents, The Hoppé’s purchased Little Hedgecourt Farm about 1915 and the electoral roll definitely recorded the Hoppés as electorates for the property in 1918 after a 2-year gap in the production of electoral rolls.  At the time of purchase, Little Hedgecourt Farm consisted of just short of 20 acres of land with a dwelling house described as a brick-built cottage with a tiled roof, containing a living room, dairy, wash-house and two bedrooms.  There was no running water as the house was served by an EC [earth closet] and a ‘good well of water’, but it did have what was described as ‘a good garden’.  Out buildings that went with the farm included a timber and tiled 2-stall stable, a cart lodge with lean-to, an open lodge, two piggeries and a newly erected timber and tiled cattle lodge.

 

It has been a long held belief in Felbridge that Hoppé asked friend and associate Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the architect and designer, to produce a set of drawings for the extension of the house at Little Hedgecourt.  Hoppé had met Mackintosh when he and his artist wife, Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh, moved to Chelsea in 1915.  The couple became involved in a variety of artistic and dramatic activities and were made honorary members of the Theatre Club in Flood Street through their Scottish friend Margaret Morris, dancer, choreographer and teacher.  The Mackintosh’s then went on to become active set-painters and costume makers for The Plough Club founded by Hoppé, among others, in 1917, which was based at Millais House.  At this time Mackintosh was little known in London and any work that came his way was largely due to the association of this circle of friends, this included a design for a theatre (unexecuted) for Margaret Morris, minor extensions for the J Stewart Hills Studio in Chelsea and a set of drawings for extension work for Hoppé’s country retreat in Felbridge – Little Hedgecourt.

 

Proposed additions to Little Hedgecourt farmhouse are thought to have been two wings, one containing a studio, linked by a pergola encompassing a small courtyard.  Drawings for Mackintosh’s proposal survived the devastating fire that engulfed the Glasgow School of Art in 2014, although it is unclear whether all his drawings survived.  However, the authors of the Mackintosh Architecture: context, making and meaning catalogue, sponsored by the University of Glasgow, were of the opinion that his surviving drawings were not carried out, but regardless of the findings and conclusion, past Felbridge residents were adamant that Charles Renee Mackintosh was instrumental in additions to the farmhouse at Little Hedgecourt under the ownership of Hoppé.  However, the history of the property and the construction and later additions to the dwelling house will not be covered in this document as they deserve a handout in their own right.  

 

Little Hedgecourt functioned as a country retreat for Hoppé who still maintained Millais House as the base for his photographic business, although in 1916 he established Dorien Leigh Ltd at 8, Bruton Street in London’s West End, as a commercial photographic outlet for fashion work.  The address also served as a venue for small art exhibitions mounted by the DorienLeighGallery.  It was also in 1916 the Hoppé became associated with The Decorative Art Group, that was founded by Carlo Norway (also known as Bernhard Carl Scholz), located in Bruton Street.  The Decorative Art Group felt there was still a place for art in everyday living and their main aim was to prove that by providing artworks suitable for interior design, decorative art was not dead, despite modern commercialism.

 

As mentioned above, in 1917 Hoppé, along with others including George Sheringham and Augustus John, founded The Plough Club, turning one of his studios at Millais House into a salon that fostered new, avant-garde performance art.  Young up-and-coming visual artists, dramatists and musicians now had a venue in which to exhibit new art forms and perform experimental plays and new music.  As a result, these new, young artistes rubbed shoulders with the established society dignitaries who frequented Hoppé’s photographic studio and all were captured by Hoppé’s camera.

 

Hoppé was best known as a studio photographer but he often left the studio behind for the outside world, taking landscape photographs and capturing everyday life.  On the streets he often worked with a hidden camera, concealed in a bag or brown paper parcel, which enabled him to capture life as it was happening around him and not as a posed composition.

 

Hoppé owned Little Hedgecourt until 1919 and during this time his reputation as a portraitist continued to flourish and he became established as one of the most famous photographers in Britain.  Rarely in the history of photography has a photographer been so famous in his own lifetime, his name being known by everyone making him as famous as his sitters.  There was not a prominent name in the fields of politics, art, literature, society and the theatre who did not pose for his camera.  This was probably due to Hoppé’s keen power of observation and the fact that he showed an empathy with all his clients, reading their poetry and books, seeing their films and performances and remembering their friends and anniversaries.  However, he was also interested in the nature of success and failure and in the psychology of his subjects and often photographed them in intense and startlingly modern tight-cropped close up, with no background detail, creating a revolutionary and very distinctive style of photographic portraiture.

 

His list of sitters, just for the few short years that Hoppé was associated with Little Hedgecourt, reads like a who’s who of the political, literary, theatrical and artistic world.  The following are a few of the known sitters between 1915 and 1919, but there may have been many more:

 

1915

Bruce Bairnsfather

Artist and Cartoonist, creator of ‘Old Bill’

 

H E Hutchinson

Actor

 

Irene Vanburgh

Actress

 

Ivan Mestrovic

Yugoslavian Sculptor

 

Mademoiselle Raymonde Thuillier

Dancer

 

Malvina Longfellow (Carter)

Actress

 

Ruth St Denis

Dancer

 

Sir Edward Elgar

Composer

 

Ted Shawn

Dancer

 

Terrie Gerard

Singer and Actress

 

Victoria Drummond

Martine Engineer

 

Violet Tree

Actress

 

Violet Loraine

Music Hall Actress &  Singer

 

Yvonne Arnaud

Pianist, Singer & Actress

1916

Adarh Fair

Actress

 

Alan Odle

Artist

 

Arthur Rubinstein

Pianist

 

Arnold Henry Savage Lander

Explorer, Painter, Writer & Anthropologist

 

Beatrice Lillie

Comic

 

Billie Carleton

Dancer & Singer

 

Doris Keane

Actress

 

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount of Fallodon

British Liberal statesman

 

E S Willard

Artist

 

Ivan Novello

Composer, Singer & Actor

 

Jean Barbara Viscountess Masserene

Society beauty

 

Joyce Carey

Actress

 

Lady Diana Manners (Lady Duff Cooper)

Actress & Socialite

 

Lady Hazel Lavery

Actress & Socialite

 

Lady Nancy Astor, Viscountess

First female MP

 

Léon Baskt

Modernist Painter & Costume Designer

 

Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford

Author & wit

 

Max Darewski

Composer

 

Max Reinhardt

Actor and Director

 

 

 

 

Mika Mikun

Artist, performer & designer

 

Phillys Monkman

Actress, singer & Dancer

 

Raymond Hitchcock

Comic Actor

 

Sylvia Gough

Model

 

Sylvia Pankhurst

Suffragette

1917

Clara Butt

Opera Singer

 

Ethel Gabian

Artist

 

Faith Celli

Actress

 

Hebe (Constance Vessellier)

Society Beauty

 

John Copley

Print maker & Painter

 

Kathleen Martyn

Actress

 

Lilas Margaret Frances, Countess Bathurst

 

 

Marguerite Nielka

Opera Singer

 

Maria Di Castellani

 

 

Teddie Gerard

Singer & Actress

1918

Basil Sydney

Actor

 

Dame Katherine Furse

Founder of the Voluntary Aid Detachment

 

Ellis Roberts

Artist

 

Eugene Goosens

Composer & Conductor

 

Ezra Pound

Poet

 

Ruby Lorraine

Actress

 

Thamara Karsavina

Russian Ballerina

1919

Mme. Barnard

Wife of Frederick Barnard

 

Elizabeth Nelvi

Artist, Opera singer & wife of Edmonson Craig

 

Ellen Terry

Actress

 

Indira Devi

Maharani of Cooch Behar

 

Lydia Lopokova

Russian Ballerina

 

Marie Burke

Actress

 

Vreda Esther Mary (Mollie) Lascelles

Wife of 8th Duke of Buccleuch &10th Duke of Queensberry

 

Mary Pickford

Actress

 

Pepita Bobadilla

Actress

 

 

The vast majority of these portraits were taken at one of Hoppé’s studios, however, a series of nude photographs of the actress Ruby Lorriane taken in 1918, have a backdrop of countryside and a lake, which could well be at Little Hedgecourt especially if there was a need for sensitivity and privacy.

 

It is believed that about 1919 Hoppé, by then a well established and much sort-after portrait photographer in Britain, travelled to New York and in the August of 1920, the New York Times announced that he was in search of ‘beauties’ for a proposed book, which was published later that year called The Book of Fair Women.  It is around this time and possibly as a result of his American travels that Hoppé decided to sell his country retreat at Little Hedgecourt, whilst still retaining Millais House in Kensington.  Thus Little Hedgecourt was put up for sale in 1919 and was purchased by André Louis Simon, the second of the influential giants of the 20th century to reside there (see below).

 

Emil Otto Hoppé after Little Hedgecourt

In 1921, Hoppé returned to New York where he opened a studio on West 57th Street and also mounted a major exhibition of his work at the famous Wannamaker Gallery.  From 1921, using London as his base, Hoppé decided to publish a series of short illustrated articles in numerous magazines, an activity that would continue throughout his career.  He usually wrote under his own name but in the 1920’s also used the nom de plume Decarte and later, from the 1930’s, James Carr.  Also from 1921, Hoppé decided to travel around Britain as well as many other countries including: Africa, Australia, Austria, Bali, Bavaria, Central America, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), China, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Germany, Hawaii, Holland, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica and the West Indies, Japan, Java, Kenya, Lapland, Malaya, Mexico, Native America, New Guinea, New Zealand, Nigeria, North America, Norway, Nubia, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, Uganda and Yugoslavia.  His subjects in every country included the natural and man-made landscape and the everyday people.  These photographs were then collated and published as a comprehensive photographic portrait of the people, place and culture of each country.  In his absence, Hoppé’s wife Marion ran the studio and took portraits. 

 

In 1926, Hoppé and his wife acquired Edholf, a farmhouse in Molln, Austria.  This was to become their summer home, an Austrian equivalent of Little Hedgecourt.  In 1927, Hoppé established a studio in Berlin and mounted a solo exhibition of 290 photographs; he also took portrait sittings in Berlin and created several photographs for the Ufa Film Studios including: Marlene Dietrich, Lilian Harvey, Brigitte Helm, Fritz Lang, Victor McLaglen, Mona Maris, Erich Pommer, Conrad Veidt and Anna May Wong.

 

In 1932, as a result of all his travelling, Hoppé was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and would go on to publish over 30 books during his lifetime.   With the outbreak of World War II, Hoppé ceased his travelling and returned to London, concentrating his attentions on making Dorien Leigh, now with a Fleet Street address, into a photographic agency, as well as producing numerous short illustrated essays, many under the pseudonym of James Carr.  At the end of the war, Hoppé and his wife moved to Ram’s Hill House, an old manor house in Horsmonden, Kent, where he published his book One Hundred Thousand Exposures, a book of reminiscences with an introduction by Cecil Beaton.

 

In 1947, the Hoppés moved to Rudge House, Rudge, near Frome, Somerset, where they remained until 1956 when they moved to Raglans, Balaclava Lane, Wadhurst, Sussex.  A year later the Hoppés moved to The Old House, South View Road, Crowborough, Sussex.  Over the next three years Hoppé explored a variety of creative activities.  He held a one-man exhibition of 100 images called A Half-Century of Photography, at Foyles Art Gallery, London; started writing an autobiography that remains unpublished; experimented with abstract and semi-abstract photographs; and established himself as a literary agent under the name James Carr.  Today many of Hoppé’s silver gelatine prints can be found for sale through rare book shops, the prints often bearing a James Carr stamp on the back and sometimes Hoppé’s signature.

 

In 1961, the Hoppés, then in their 80’s moved to Triangle, Wildhern, Andover, Hampshire, to be near their daughter Muriel.  It was here in 1963 that Hoppé’s wife Marion died aged 82.  On the death of Marion, Hoppé moved in with his daughter Muriel at The Coltings, Wildhern, Andover.  In 1968, Hoppé was photographed and interviewed by John Hedgecoe for Queen magazine and an exhibition was held at the Kodak Gallery at High Holborn to mark his 90th birthday.  In January 1969, shortly after the re-kindled interest in Hoppé and his work, Cecil Beaton made a photographic portrait of him and was one of the leading photographers who were instrumental in ensuring Hoppé eventually got the recognition he deserved.              

In 1971, with failing health, Hoppé had a short term stay at Hedley Nursing Home at 52, The Avenue, Andover, where, with the help of a ghost writer, he published his last book, Pirates, Buccaneers and Gentlemen Adventurers.  By 1972, Hoppé had returned to The Coltings, which was where the photo-historian Bill Jay finally met him and recorded Hoppé’s reminisces, both orally and in writing.  It was then, in his final years, that Hoppé revealed he was a little annoyed that the Royal Photographic Society had never given him any recognition for the work he had created during a career spanning more than sixty years.  This led to a campaign by fellow photographers, including Cecil Beaton, that finally won him an honorary fellowship and in October 1972 Hoppé was finally made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.

 

Emil Otto Hoppé died on 9th December 1972, from The Coltings, Wildhern, Andover, aged 94.

 

Photographic Legacy of Emil Otto Hoppé

During the first years of Hoppé’s photographic career he photographed more men in the field of art, literature, politics and science than any other contemporary photographer.  Given the choice between taking a portrait of a man or a woman his preference was for men, as he felt that men, in general, had a basic similarity, they didn’t like having their photograph taken, whereas women, he felt, were prone to idealisation.  In either case, Hoppé thought it essential to establish a good rapport with the client to put them at ease.  On portrait photography Hoppé wrote: ‘The composition must be sound, lighting carefully arranged to minimise shortcomings in the sitter… Light is the photographers brush.  He may accentuate or subdue as he pleases, holding the realism of the lens in check as surely the painter eliminates irrelevant detail.  In addition the photographer must possess the intuition, borne of long experience, to catch the sudden smile, the fleeting expression, which render his work memorable’.  However, although Hoppé did take numerous photographic portraits of eminent men of the early 20th century, today he is more associated with the portraiture of the radiantly beautiful women of the early 20th century.

 

Hoppé’s attitude towards developing and printing was that once he’d perfected his developing solution he did not experiment.  ‘Tried and tested’ was his motto in the developing procedure, however, with regard to printing he was not averse to experimenting with the enlarger.  He eventually dispensed with using a soft focus lens in favour of the ‘split-exposure’ method, where by a sequence of images were superimposed on each other, in varying degrees of definition, to give the photographer complete control over the amount of soft focus achieved or desired.  In the view of Hoppé, it was a mistake to believe that the camera was the sole arbiter of individuality, he believed that the use of the enlarger could also contribute to the finished photograph.

 

Hoppé revolutionised the concept of ‘the studio’ that was prevalent in Edwardian Britain.  His studio was decked with soft drapes of pastel shades to evoke the atmosphere of a drawing room, not too formal in character.  Other contemporary photographers still used painted backdrops and balustrades, a hangover from the Victorian era, creating an atmosphere that Hoppé felt would alarm the prospective sitter.  The aim of his studio was to create a sense of ease in his client.  With this in mind, he felt that his original camera, which he described as ‘a solid mahogany affair, magnificently built, formidable as a howitzer’ did not fit in with the informality of his studio, so he commissioned a well-known London firm to design a studio reflex camera.  There were many advantages with this camera; firstly one could view the sitter on the focusing screen until the actual point of exposure; secondly the focusing cloth, the yards of black cloth that early photographers continually dived under before taking their photograph, was no longer required; and lastly the plate was in position all the time, unfortunately though the noise of the heavy shutter was to his ear, ‘simply appalling’.  In portraiture, Hoppé’s aim was always to produce work in which character rather than flattery was the dominant note.  He didn’t want to be just a photographer, but a photographer of the most interesting people of the era and it was his belief that the closer the studio was to these people the more likely they were to visit. 

 

Although his earliest work was in the field of portraiture, Hoppé soon became acquainted with Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe and began to photograph famous dancers, although, in his opinion, he did not think that photography was an ideal medium to catch and hold the spontaneity of dance.  Although he did wonder whether a more ‘entrancing subject’ for the camera could be found.  Photographing ballet did give him a lot of enjoyment and for some time he was given almost exclusive rights over the photographs of the Ballet Russe.  Another milestone in his career was photographing a production of The Miracle in which the actress Maria Carmi played the leading role.  The photograph was taken during the performance and no special arrangements could be made except that of the ordinary stage lighting.  The photograph was such a success that it appeared in nearly all the daily newspapers and weekly publications during the run of the play in London and later in America.  However, Hoppé never did any large scale serious stage photography, but did become interested in the marionette theatre, which was frequently used for experimental purposes prior to full-scale productions.

 

As photographic equipment became less cumbersome, Hoppé was able to leave his studio and venture out into people’s homes to take photographs, this he said kept him on his toes ‘as you were never sure of what you would find’.  He once said ‘at home photography is always an adventure… There is nothing like it for stimulating development in technique and keeping alert and fresh one’s mental and artistic perceptions’.  Whether he used a studio or did ‘at home’ photography, Hoppé always advocated that it should be conducted in a business-like fashion with the highest standard of workmanship.  After an accident with a box of glass plates, Hoppé started using flat film; this was another turning point in his career, along with the decision to use a miniature reflex camera.  The results achieved were so successful that he decided to replace his studio camera with one as well, using a long focus lens in order that the camera could be as far way from the sitter as possible. 

 

Hoppé was a keen advocator of holding exhibitions, as in his opinion, exhibitions had three benefits.  Firstly they offered a very real incentive to improve one’s technique; secondly they offered a valuable means of publicity; and lastly, they occasionally yielded sales.  After his success with photographic portraiture he entered the field of advertising, creating the original Nippy for the Lyons Tea-Shop.  He adopted the same attention to detail for commercial photography as he had for portraiture.  Another of the advertising campaigns was for the Sunbeam car, touring France and Italy and another was for The Gas Light and Coke Company for which photographs of London by night where taken to emphasise the use of gas.  Hoppé also designed book wrappers and illustrated poetry and short stories with his photographs.  He did not always use professional models, preferring ordinary everyday people for much of his commercial work.

 

Hoppé also entered the world of photojournalism, but this was by accident.  He had been photographing at the first Franco-British Exhibition at WhiteCity, London, when a balloon exploded.  Fortunately he still had one shot left on his camera which he used on the event, although the photograph in question may have been taken by one of his operatives, Heinrich Hoffman.  Regardless of who claimed to take the photograph, being the only camera around, Hoppé contacted the national newspapers and the Daily Mirror gave him a front page spread for ‘his exclusive’ photograph; paying him generously for the photograph.  On another occasion he had just finished a photo shoot with Chancellor Dollfuss and his family at their home in Austria.  A few days later news broke of his assassination and Hoppé’s photographs were used in publications about the grim episode. 

 

In his long and distinguished career spanning more than sixty years, Hoppé not only developed photography as an art form, but entered the world of commercial photography and photojournalism.  Alongside these achievements he also published numerous books on photography, or illustrated using his photographs (see Appendix I), making him one of the most influential giants of photography of the 20th century.   

 

Bibliography

Documented memories of former Felbridge resident, Dora Wheeler, FHA

Handout: Pattenden Family of Felbridge, SJC 06/01, FHWS

Handout: 1911 Sale of the Felbridge Estate, SJC 01/11, FHWS

One Hundred Thousand Exposures: The Success of a Photographer, by E O Hoppé

Diaghilev, by Richard Buckle

Official E O Hoppé website: www.eohoppe.com 

UK Naturalisation Records, www.ancestry.co.uk

Electoral Rolls, www.ancestry.co.uk

Felbridge PlaceSale Catalogue and Map, 1911, FHA

Mackintosh Architecture context, making and meaning, www.mackintosh-architecture.gla.ac.uk

Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Art is the Flower, by Pamela Robertson

The Photobook: From Talbot to Ruscha and Beyond, edited by Patrizia Di Bello, Colette Wilson and Shamoon Zamir

The Decorative Art Group, www.artbiogs.co.uk/2/societies/decorative-art-group

Passenger Lists, www.ancestry.co.uk

Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio and Street, published by the National Portrait Gallery

Death Index and Probate Records, www.ancestry.co.uk

Appendix I

Publications including the work of Emil Otto Hoppé

1911      Photography, edited by Henry P Maskell (contributes chapters and photographs)

1913      Studies from the Russian Ballet (photographs by EO Hoppé and Auguste Bert) 

1917      Tableaux of Angels: after the Great Masters, British Women's Hospital Appeal in Aid of the Nation's Fund for Nurses (15 photographs by EO Hoppé)

1922      New Camera Work

                The Book of Fair Women

                Taken from Life, by John Davys Beresford (7 photogravure plates by EO Hoppé)

                Behind the Machine: An Impression, by Joseph Thorp (10 photographs by EO Hoppé) 

1923      Gods of Modern Grub Street, by Arthur St John Adcock (32 portraits by EO Hoppé)

1924       In Gipsy Camp and RoyalPalace. Wanderings in Rumania (written and illustrated by EO Hoppé)

                To Rome on a Sunbeam: With Camera Studies by E.O. Hoppé

1925      A Collection of Photographic Masterpieces by E.O. Hoppé

1926      Forty London Statues and PublicMonuments, by Tancred Borenius (photographs by EO Hoppé)

                Picturesque Great Britain: The Architecture and the Landscape

                London Types Taken from Life, by W Pett Ridge (photographs by EO Hoppé)   

1926      Gods of Modern Grub Street: Volume 2, by Arthur St John Adcock (32 portraits by EO Hoppé)

1927      Fire under the Andes. A Group of North American Portraits, by Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant (portraits by EO Hoppé)

                Romantic America: Picturesque United States

1928      Glory that was Grub Street, by Arthur St. John Adcock

1929      The Story of the Gipsies, by Konrad Bercovici (8 photographs by EO Hoppé)

                E.O. Hoppé’s Bombay

1930      Deutsche Arbeit (German Work)     

1931       The Fifth Continent

1932      Romantik der Kleinstadt (Romantic Towns) aka Cities Time has Passed By

                Unterwegs (In Passing)

                London

1934       Round the World with a Camera

1935       The Face of Mother India, by Katherine Mayo (photographs by EO Hoppé)  

                The Image of London

1936       A Camera on Unknown London

1937       To Ceylon by Orient Line

The London of George VI 

1940       Country Days (text taken from A.G. Street's BBC Broadcasts, with 8 photographs by EO Hoppé) 

1945       One Hundred Thousand Exposures: The Success of a Photographer (autobiography)

1946       World’s People and How They Live

1951       Rural London in Pictures

1956       Blaue Berge von Jamaica (Blue Mountains of Jamaica), by Karl-Heinz Jaeckel, (photographs by EO Hoppé)

1963       The Saturday Book, Volume 23, edited by John Hadfield (Homage To Hoppé, 16 Photographs, a series of experimental images)

1972       Pirates, Buccaneers and Gentlemen Adventurers

1978       Camera Portraits by E.O. Hoppe, by Terence Pepper

Cities and Industry: Camera Pictures by EO Hoppé, edited by Val Williams and Terence Pepper

2006       Hoppé's London, by Mark Haworth-Booth

2007       E.O. Hoppé's Amerika: Modernist Photographs from the 1920’s, by Phillip Prodger

E.O. Hoppé's Australia, edited by Graham Howe and Erika Esau

2008       E. O. Hoppe Photographic Images from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s

2010       Santiniketan

2011       Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio and Street by Phillip Prodger and Terence Pepper

2012       One Hundred Photographs: E.O. Hoppé and the Ballets Russe, by John Bowlt and Oleg Minin

2013       E.O. Hoppé: The German Photographs, 1925-1938

E.O. Hoppé's Indian Subcontinent of the Cusp of Change

The Photobook: From Talbot to Ruscha and Beyond, edited by Patrizia Di Bello, Colette Wilson and Shamoon Zamir (Chapter devoted to E. O. Hoppé)

2015       E.O. Hoppé': The German Work, 1925-1938

 

Lovable London (Publication date unknown)

 

Achievement (Publication date unknown)

 

A Career with a Camera (Publication date unknown)

 

Exhibitions held by Emil Otto Hoppé

1905      Inclusion in the Royal Photographic Society’s Annual Show, London

1906      Inclusion in the Second Photographic Salon, curated by Rudolf Eickemeyer, New York & Chicago

1908      Inclusion in the Salon des Refusés exhibition, Paris

1909      International Exhibition of Photography, Dresden

1910      Royal Photographic Society, London

1913      Modern Camera Portraits by E.O. Hoppé, Goupil Gallery, London

1914      Studies from the Russian Ballet, Ryder Gallery, Conduit Street, London

1921      Wanamaker's Gallery, New York

1922      New Camera Work by E.O. Hoppé, Goupil Gallery, London

Victoria and AlbertMuseum, Theatre Exhibition

1925      Photographic Masterpieces by E.O. Hoppé, staged by Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo & Osaka

1927      Rural England, Dover Gallery, London

                Solo exhibition of 290 prints, Berlin

1930      79 Camera Pictures, David Jones Limited, Sydney

1933      Exhibits 2 images in the photographic section of the Century of Progress World’s Fair, Chicago

1954      A Half Century of Photography, FoylesArtGallery, London

A Half Century of Photography, Lenbachhaus, Munich

1954/6   A Half Century of Photography, travelling exhibition by the British Council in India

1968      Retrospective, Kodak Gallery, London

1978      Camera Portraits by E.O. Hoppé, National Portrait Gallery, London

Cities and Industry: Camera Pictures by E.O. Hoppé, Impressions Gallery, York

2006      London, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

2007      Amerika, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York

Australia, Customs House, Sydney

2010      Discoveries, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York

2011      Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio & Street, National Portrait Gallery, London

2012      Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio & Street, National Portrait Gallery, Madrid

2015      Emil Otto Hoppé: Unveiling a Secret, Photographs of Industries 1912-1937, Bologna

2016      Emil Otto Hoppé: Unveiling a Secret: Photographs of Industries 1912-1937, Holland

2017      E. O. Hoppé’s Amerika, The First Great American Road Trip, Pasadena

E. O. Hoppé: Unveiling a Secret, Cologne


André Louis Simon

Unlike Emil Otto Hoppé who only spent about four years associated with Little Hedgecourt, André Louis Simon’s association with the property lasted for some fifty years, first as a country retreat but later as his permanent home, and unlike Hoppé, Simon (pronounced sea-mon) became very well known in the Felbridge community, particularly for his annual cricket matches held during the 1930’s.

 

Early and family life of André Louis Simon

André Louis Simon was born in the Rue Taranne, St-Germaine-des-Pres, Paris, on 28th February 1877, one of six children of Ernest Constant Simon, an artist, and his wife Jeanne née Dardoize (daughter of another artist – Emile Dardoize).   André’s siblings include:  Jacques, born in 1875, who followed his father’s profession as an artist; Roger Constant born in 1878 and who sadly died in 1915; Luc Georges Maxime (known as Maxime) born in 1879, who also followed his father’s profession as an artist; Marc Marcel born in 1881; and Anna Madeleine born in 1885.  In 1880, Ernest Simon had a house built at Carolles, overlooking the Bay of Mont St Michel, where the Simon family would spend all their Summers during Ernest’s life.  In the summer of 1883, André Simon fell and hurt his spine, keeping him and his mother at Carolles after the summer holidays.  Fortunately a family friend was a doctor and he managed to manipulate the spine back into position, an act that, although André hated it at the time, prevented him from being disabled for the rest of his life.  However, for some time after the accident, André was not allowed to play sports or over exert himself so spent much of his time reading, which went on to give him his life-long love of books, literature and writing and a desire to become a writer.

 

André Simon was educated at L’École Bossuet (BossuetSchool) in the Rue Madame, near Rue Coëtlogon in Paris and then spent six years at Le Petit Séminaire (Small Higher Secondary [School]) Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Paris.  When Simon left school he entered a trainee job in an office in Rue Duphot and in the evenings attended lectures and classes to learn English, Spanish and Russian.  In 1894, Simon came to England for a month to improve his English, staying with Captain Coombs and his family at Terminus Terrace in Southampton.  During his visit he was introduced to the Symons family who were living at 16, Queen’s Terrace in Southampton.  It was during this visit in 1894 that Simon met his future wife, Edith Winifred Symons, the then fifteen year-old daughter of the head of the Symons family, Henry Bond Symons.  Edith and her older sister Teresa Isabella (known as Isabel) were returning home from being educated at a convent in Angers, France. 

 

Sometime between 1881 and 1884, the Symons family had moved from 23, Lichfield Grove, Finchley, NW London to Southampton.  Henry Bond Symons was a railway clerk and from the birth locations of the family, had moved around England quite a bit.  Henry Symons and his wife Catherine had at least thirteen children: Francis Bond born in Southampton in about 1863; Mary born in Clifton in 1864; Alice Margret born in Southampton in 1865; Catherine Mary also born in Southampton, in 1866; the next three children were born in Nottingham, Agnes Mary in 1867, Henry Herbert in 1869 and Barbara Mary in 1870; and the last six children, including Edith, were all born in Grantham in Lincolnshire:  Gertrude Mary in 1873, George Trefusis in 1874, Teresa Isabella Mary in 1876, William Alfred in 1877, Edith Winifred in 1878 and Gordon Joseph K in 1880.

 

Simon’s says of his first meeting with Edith: ‘She was very sweet.  Fair of skin with two temping little dimples in her cheeks, light auburn hair, and blue eyes the like of which I had never seen before, really tender and true; there was an affection and sincerity in them.  And she spoke French without the trace of any accent.  Of course, I fell in love with her’.  A few days after their meeting, Simon was due to return to France but decided instead to get a job in England, working as an office boy; the wages just about enough to cover board and lodgings with Mrs. Coombs.  However, in April 1895, Simon had to return to France on the death of his father, who had died from sunstroke while painting beside the Nile in Egypt. 

 

As a young man, Simon’s interests were writing and languages and he had hoped to make a living through journalism and this proved very advantageous when in 1896, at the age of nineteen, Simon began his compulsory military service with the 13th Regiment d’Artillerie (13th Artillery Regiment) at Vincennes, near Paris.  For the duration of his service he served on the staff of the Revue d’Artillierie (Artillery Revue), his job being to look through all the military publications and magazines of England, America, Germany, Russia and Spain for interesting articles and then translate them for the Revue.  After his 3-year unconventional military service, Simon accepted the offer from a friend of his father's to join the Champagne firm of Pommery et Greno in Reims.  After a short period of time, Simon became bored with office life and asked if he might be allowed to work in the cellars and in 1899 he began a cellarman’s apprenticeship, it was due to this experience that he developed a great interest in the many facets of wine-making.

 

In 1900, with steady employment, André Simon returned to England and married Edith Winifred Symons on 17th October 1900 at the Corpus Christi Church at Lambeth; the couple moving back to Reims where, they had a French ceremony on 2nd February 1901.  The couple had intended to make their home in Reims but in 1902 Simon was offered a position in the London office of Pommery et Greno at 24, Mark Lane and the couple returned to England where their first child, daughter Jeanne Madeleine D was born in Lambeth in 1901.  André and Edith had another four children before their family was complete: Marcelle Edith Mary born 3rd November 1902 in Wandsworth; André Louis Ernest Henri born 3rd August 1906 and Pierre Jerome (known as Peter) born 8th May 1909, both born in Nobury; and Madeleine Jeanne V Michelle (known as Michelle) born 24th January 1912 in Kingston-upon-Thames. 

 

Of Simon’s children, Jeanne was the closest and she married William E Rouyer Guillet in 1925 and she and her family came to live at Little Hedgecourt from the 1940’s; Marcelle lived at 23, Evelyn Mansions, Carlisle Place, Westminster, with her brother André in the early 1920’s before moving to Little Hedgecourt between 1929 and 1935 when she retired from the world into a religious community and died unmarried, aged 98, in 2001 in Sheffield; André junior married Roseina L H Bates in 1932 and died at Little Hedgecourt on 14th September 1973; Pierre, became a Jesuit priest and died in Cambridge aged 82 in 1991; and Madeleine died in 2003 unmarried, aged 91, a sister at the Convent of the Scared Heart located at 212, Hammersmith Road, London W6.  Based on the birth places of Simon’s children, the family lived first in Lambeth before moving, by 1906, to Norbury in Surrey, and then to Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey sometime between 1909 and 1911; the census records that the family was living in an 11-roomed house at 147, London Road, along with Edith Higgs, a domestic nurse and Elsie Higgs, a housemaid.

 

In 1903, Simon, as a champagne seller, met A S Gardiner, the editor of the Wine Trade Review, who persuaded him to write twelve articles on champagne (for payment) to be included in the 1904 editions of the Review.  What Simon found was that very few English people knew anything about champagne (except how to drink it) and that very few wine traders cared.  During his research, Simon found very little about champagne but a great deal about other wines, table manners, food and drinking habits of the English in times gone by.  Besides the twelve articles for the Wine Trade Review of 1904, Simon had enough material to publish three thick volumes, between 1906 and 1909, on a subject that fascinated him: A History of the Wine Trade in England from the Roman occupation to the end of the Seventeenth Century.  Unfortunately those in the wine trade were not at all interested.  What particularly annoyed Simon was the lack of knowledge and apathy to learn about the subject, particularly amongst the older wine-merchants.  Thus in 1908, a young generation of wine-merchants founded the Wine Trade Club in an effort to educate those within the profession.  This was achieved through a series of lectures and wine tastings for Club members.  However, Simon soon found that no one, other than himself, was willing to provide the lectures.

 

Simon must have been a man of extreme stamina as by 1907 he was already travelling the world (usually alone but on occasion with his wife and one of his children), visiting such places as Buenos Aires, Chile, Bulawayo, South Africa and Martinique in the pursuit of expanding his champagne market.  This was all done by ship, not the luxury ocean liners we are accustomed to today but small passenger ships or cargo ships with very basic facilities.

 

By 1911, the numbers attending Simon’s wine lectures had grown so much that the Vintners’ Company gave the Club the use of their Great Hall for evening lectures which could then be opened to the general public.  It was not long before Simon found himself giving free public lectures, illustrated by lantern slides, to help in the better understanding of wine.  The lectures were a great success but came to an abrupt end in 1914 when World War I broke out.  During the War, Simon, returned to his old regiment 13th Regiment d’Artillerie as a Private.  At the recruiting desk Simon was asked what he did for a living, thinking that it if he said he worked with wine they might put him to work in a canteen he chose to say that he was an ‘Homme de letters’ (man of letters).  Perhaps lost in translation, the recruiting officer assigned him the position of regimental postman, not as an interpreter with the British Expeditionary force which is what Simon had hoped!  To prove that he would make an excellent interpreter, he decided to write and publish two books, one in English and one in French.  The book written in English was called General Joffre, the head of the French Army, and the one in French was called Le Maréchal (The Field Marshal or General of the Army), both published in 1915.  As a result of these two publications, Simon was sent to Le Havre as an interpreter for the remainder of the war. 

 

Other publications were to follow during the War including Somewhere in Flanders and Laurie’s Elementary Russian Grammar, both published in 1916; and a book called The Salient, the Somme and Arras that was published in 1919.  As a point of interest, the Russian Grammar book was sold to the British War Office and was issued to all men who went, or were being sent, to Archangel in the vain hope that they might have learnt a little Russian before arrival. 

 

On return to England after the end of World War I, Simon resumed his job of selling champagne at Pommery et Greno at 24, Mark Street and bought two homes, one at 5 (later 6), Evelyn Gardens, Carlisle Place, near Victoria station, and Little Hedgecourt, Felbridge, initially as his country retreat but in later life his permanent home.

 

André Louis Simon at Little Hedgecourt

Simon wrote ‘We bought Little Hedgecourt in 1919.  It was mostly very poor land, 28½ acres of it, some waterlogged, most of it choked by self-sown shrubs and trees of no quality whatsoever, besides brambles and weeds galore.  It stretched along the whole of the south shore of Hedgecourt pond or lake, sixty acres of water twenty-eight miles S.S.W. of Charing Cross as the crow flies.  The whole of the waterside was sheer watery jungle, but the opposite boundary of the land was the Surrey side of Copthorne Road, the boundary between Sussex and Surrey.  No jungle there but two cottages, flowers and vegetables.  The cottage [Little Hedgecourt Farmhouse] nearer the road, but, happily, not by the roadside, must have been built at least 250 years ago.  The owner [Emile Otto Hoppé] from whom we bought it had done his best to modernize it, including a small bathroom; small, indeed, but quite large enough as the only water available was what was pumped from the well some distance outside.  The other cottage [LakeCottage, now the site of LakeHouse] was a late Victorian building [the cottage was older as it appears on the Horne tithe map of 1842] some 500 yards farther away from the road.  The chief attraction was the lake, and the next was the privacy; there was nobody between the lake and the road, we had no fear of next door neighbours.  So we added four bedrooms and two bathrooms to the old cottage [Little Hedgecourt Farmhouse], brought in the main water and electricity, and, in good time, turned the jungle into an ideal playground for our children and their families.  I was well off during the twenties and had five gardeners. The head gardener [George Davidson McKenzie Wilson] and Number 2 [gardener - William Sargent] lived in a bungalow [The Lodge, Copthorne Road] which I had built for him and his wife.  We had two tennis courts, one hard and one grass, a bowling green, a putting green with fairway approach to it and a bunker round it full of sea sand, an open air theatre and a seven-acre cricket field.  Trees, rhododendrons and azaleas by the hundred’.

 

During the 1920’s, Simon continued working for Pommery et Greno but in the autumn of 1931 Britain abandoned the gold standard [the monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold] and sterling crashed against the French franc.  As a result, Simon found that he was unable to pay Pommery et Greno for his stock and the company ended their association with Simon on 30th November 1932. 

 

In 1933, Simon felt down on his luck as he wrote ‘… I had no money and no firm left’ but he ‘still had Little Hedgecourt; I let it but did not sell it’.  However, in October 1933 life began to look a little brighter and Simon and friend and publisher A J A Symons (no relation to his wife) established the Wine & Food Society, with Simon as President and editor of the Society journal, Wine and Food, and Symons as secretary handling the business side of the venture.  The society held their first banquet at the Savoy in January 1934 and in December 1934 Simon travelled to America and founded a branch in New York.  Branches soon followed all across America and were also established in Australia and South Africa, making the Wine & Food Society, the International Wine & Food.  Simon believed that the object of the Society was to ‘bring together and serve all who believe that a right understanding of good food and wine is an essential part of personal contentment and health and that an intelligent approach to the pleasures and problems of the table offers far greater rewards than the mere satisfaction of appetite’.  It is through the International Wine & Food Society and its publications that André Louis Simon became a household name during his lifetime and an influential giant in wine and food that has lasted to this day.

 

In the spring of 1934, Simon began publishing A Gastronomical Quarterly for the Wine & Food Society that was circulated to all the society’s members, worldwide.  Alongside the quarterly publication, Simon also began to make a living by publishing books on wine and food, at last realising his dream of being an author.  Prior to 1934, Simon had published 38 books, mostly in English but a few in French, on a variety of subjects but now he could concentrate on being an author fulltime and during the rest of his life, Simon would go on to publish a further 98 books, nearly all wine or food related (see Appendix II).

  

In 1939, the Simons, who had hoped to make Little Hedgecourt a place to spend their old age with their family around them and a host of grandchildren found themselves alone.  By then the property was proving costly to run and the gardens, maintained by just one gardener, William Sargent, had been reduced to just the kitchen garden.  With reluctance the Simons put Little Hedgecourt up for sale and shortly found a prospective buyer willing to pay the asking price.  However, the prospective buyer turned out to be a developer who wanted to re-develop the site with a row of houses, with garages and gardens stretching from Copthorne Road to HedgecourtLake.  Simon was heartbroken and could not bear the thought of ‘bulldozing my lovely stretch of rhododendrons and azaleas’ so informed the agent that the developer ‘must pay one thousand pounds more than the original sum demanded’.  The developer refused and arguments broke out but so did World War II and as a result Little Hedgecourt was not sold.

 

The outbreak of World War II was a blessing in disguise for Simon.  Simon and his wife moved back to Little Hedgecourt and soon his daughter Jeanne and her family came back from the Continent to live at Little Hedgecourt where they stayed even after the war had ended.  The main reason for remaining at Little Hedgecourt was that Jeanne’s Hampstead house had been badly damaged by a direct hit during the war so they took the decision to modernise, extend and move into the former head gardener’s cottage (LakeCottage) at Little Hedgecourt. 

 

Despite the hardships of war, Simon managed to keep the Wine and Food Society going, even though the premises of Curwen Press, the printers who published the quarterly publication, were put out of action by a direct hit and co-founder Symons died in 1941.  Throughout all this, each society member managed to receive their copy of Gastronomical Quarterly.  Shortly after the death of Symons, Simon was contacted by a member of the Wine & Food Society offering him office space, rent free for the duration of the war, in the building he occupied at 28-30 Grosvenor Gardens, providing Simon once again with office space in London and the ability to maintain and grow the Wine & Food Society to such an extent that by 1947, there were about 1,500 members worldwide.  

 

Despite being fairly busy with publications during the war years, Simon ‘also had a great deal of recreation and distraction at Little Hedgecourt; gardening was both a joy and a tonic’.  Simon continues: ‘Much of the ground, especially at both ends of the property, had gone back to jungle, but we managed to keep the rhododendrons and azaleas clear of brambles and self-sown beeches.  Our only gardener Bill [William Sargent], who had come to us once being demobbed in 1919, and stayed with us until he died in 1968, gave all his time to the sorts of vegetables that were wanted in the kitchen for the table.  I did not compete with him.  I had neither the wish, nor the time, nor the physical strength to do so.  I specialized in plants which the gardeners I knew in our part of the world had never grown or even heard of’.  Then, in the summer of 1941 or 1942, Simon was visited at Little Hedgecourt by the War Office to inform him that Hedgecourt Lake would have to be drained for the duration of the war as the sixty acres of water, thirty miles due south of London, was too good a landmark for the German bombers, especially on bright, moonlit nights.  So the lake was drained for the remainder of the war years, despite Simon’s protests.    

 

As a life-long Felbridge resident and daughter of William Sargent, Jean Roberts, who was born at The Lodge, has strong memories of her childhood growing up in the gardens and surrounding area of Little Hedgecourt during the late 1930’s until the mid 1950’s when she married and moved to Crawley Down Road.  Jean recalls from family memories and her own: ‘In about 1920 [actually 1919], Andr¾ Simon, with his wife and family came to live there [Little Hedgecourt] and that is when my father William Sargent, joined the workforce of five gardeners.  Andr¾ Simon had great visions for the property and work commenced with the house, adding a new kitchen, cellar, larger dining room, four bedrooms and two bathrooms.  Electricity and water had also to be connected, as there was only a well at the back and water had to be pumped to the existing bathroom.  A local builder carried out the building work by the name of Mills, who also lived in Copthorne Road.  There was also a Lodge bungalow built, for the Head Gardener and my parents were then able to live in LakeCottage, later they were moved to The Lodge, where I was born.  By the 1930’s a lot of alterations had been made to the surrounding farmland, of which there was some 28 acres, which had been composed of rough grazing and woodland.  By the time I was old enough to remember the gardens there were many delightful features.

 

Many trees and shrubs had been planted, especially rhododendrons and azaleas, which were heavily scented.  During the late 1930’s I remember the excitement and preparation for Cricket Matches, which were held in the roadside field.  It was still rough pasture and proved quite a tall order to prepare a patch that was good enough to play on.  There would be many cars and coaches from London with teams made up from friends connected with the Wine Trade.  The Felbridge X1 and Lingfield X1 would be challenged, and according to Mr Simon’s memoirs [taken from By Request], the Beer v Wine matches were most amusing as the beer drinkers could not resist the wine, and in his words, ‘Wine and first class cricket were not the best partners’. 

 

There were a line of beech and red oak trees planted on the roadside of this field, which still exist today.  Nearby there was a modest yew garden and then following the long pathway to the eastern end of the property was a raised green called the Fairway.   This was flanked with many large species of rhododendrons, some of which were the Loderii variety that originate from Leonards Lee, home of the Loder family.  At the far end of the property an Open Air Theatre had been constructed by the gardeners in the 1920’s, much earth and stone had been moved for this.  There were four tiers of half-circle grass-covered steps as a sitting area backed by lime trees.  The wings of the stage were golden yew and beech trees.  I can remember the aubretias and alysumm at the front of the stage being reflected in the water below.  My parents used to tell me about the parties of people from London that would come down when this was opened with well-known actors and actresses of the time and especially Mr. Cochran’s Young Ladies.  Unfortunately, this was not used many times due to family misfortunes and the coming of the war. 

 

Continuing along the property on the lakeside, there were two rough pastures, which the Saunders family, from across the Copthorne Road, used to cut hay from each summer.  There was still evidence of Hedgecourt being part of the common, with wild heather here.  Further along, returning westwards, there was a boathouse, (so called, but with no evidence of a boat in those days).  The roof of this was covered with house-leeks, sempervivums.  In the winter months, when the lake froze, the locals would strap on their blades and skate on the lake.  In about the 1950’s William Guillet, their son-in-law, acquired a pontoon, which was used for fishing and bathing.  Nearby there was a tennis court, surrounded by Cypress trees and beds of azaleas, which were very heavily scented.  These seemed to thrive on the poor soil, although they were mulched with grass cuttings from the lawns.

 

Another remarkable feature here was an Alpine rockery, referred to as the ‘Mountain’ presumably because of its height of some 10-12 feet (3-3.7m), the base of which, I recently learned, was built from empty wine bottles.  The Welsh granite was purchased from an exhibition with a legacy of £100, which Mr. Simon had received.  Nearer to the house there was a sunken Rose Garden, surrounded by golden yew hedging, this was circular and the beds divided by box hedging.   Closer to the house were clipped yew trees, on the lawn in front of the original part of the old farmhouse and nearer still to the road were herbaceous borders.  This had originally been a kitchen garden, but this was now in front of LakeCottage.

 

At the outbreak of war many things changed, there were only two gardeners and although the appearance of the grounds had to be maintained, work became concentrated on vegetables.  I can remember my father poring over catalogues for seeds, which would thrive on the poor ground, as this was still showing signs of being common land.  He was growing many unusual vegetables for those days, (i.e. blue runner beans, sweetcorn, salad potatoes – Kipfler and Pink Fir Apple, and mangetout peas, to name but a few).  These would often be packed and sent to the Simon’s London home.  Mr Simon was president of the Wine & Food Society for many years and also wrote many books about food, and these were used for this purpose.  We also had our own patch of garden near the roadside behind a hedge of bamboo; this was really poor ground.  One experiment was to grow sugar beet that was boiled for about a week to try and produce a substitute for sugar, but we ended up with a sticky saucepan of dark stuff that would not come out.

 

The largest lawn at Little Hedgecourt bordered the lake and the bottom third of this was still wild common land with at least two sorts of heathers, harebells and a small variety of wild orchid….’

 

In 1961, Simon’s wife Edith became ill and he decided to withdraw from the Wine & Food Society to spend more time with her, however, it was decided that he should be named as their Perpetual President.  On 22nd April 1963, Edith died aged 85, after sixty-three years of married life.  After Edith’s death, Simon felt he needed a complete change of scene so he decided to go and visit the vineyards and the different branches of the Wine & Food Society in Australia and New Zealand, on his own, celebrating his 87th birthday in Melbourne, Australia.  On his return, he wrote The Wines, Vineyards and Vignerons of Australia (published in 1966).   In 1965, Simon sailed for South Africa, spending his 88th birthday in Cape Town.  This was not his first trip to South Africa as he had visited many times whilst working for Pommery et Greno, but he was happy to see it again and also meet the branch members of the Wine & Food Society, whom he had not met before.  On his return, André wrote The Gazetteer of Wines (published in 1972), the culmination of a lifetime's study and work on wines.  It took him two years to write and had just finished reading the proofs when his eyesight failed. 

 

On the completion of The Gazetteer of Wines, André lived quietly at Little Hedgecourt but in 1968 decided to write, by dictation, a second autobiography – The Twilight Years; his first autobiography, By Request, having been published in 1957.  Despite living in England most of his life, Simon, unlike Emil Otto Hoppé, never sort British citizenship and remained a French citizen all his life.  During his long life, the Queen had awarded Simon the CBE; the French Government had made him an Officier de la Légion d'Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honour), the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits; and in 1968 he was made an Honorary Freeman of the Vintners' Company, the first non-Englishman to receive the honour.

 

André Louis Simon died on 5th September 1970, aged 93.

 

Wine and Food Legacy of André Louis Simon

In February 1965, Simon also established the André Simon Award for gastronomic literature, with a prize of 100 guineas.  In 1971, a memorial fund was set up in the name of André Louis Simon to further public education in fields of wine and food.  The international annual André Simon Food and Drink Book award continues to this day, judged by the Trustees of the André Simon Memorial Fund.  They are joined by a wine expert and a food expert invited by the Trustees.  A shortlist of six food books and six wine books is published in November, with the final Awards made in March.  The prize money has now increased to £2000 for the winner in each category and the ‘Special Commendation’ earns £1000.  Past winners of the wine book section include such well know names as: Hugh Johnson – Wine: A Life Uncorked (2005), The Story of Wine (1989) and  Wine Companion (1983); Oz Clarke – New Classic Wines (1991); and Michael Broadbent – The Great Vintage Wine Book (1980).  Under the food section several well know TV chefs  have been past winners like: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall– The River Cottage Fish Book (2007), The River Cottage Meat Book (2004) and The River Cottage Cookbook (2001); Nigel Slater – Appetite (2000); Ken Hom – Easy Family Dishes (1998); Rick Stein – Taste of the Sea (1995); Elizabeth David, Ed Jill Norman – Harvest of the Cold Months (1994); and Jane Grigson – Fruit Book (1982) and Vegetable Book (1978).

 

Besides devoting his life to educating British wine merchants and the general public on just about every aspect of wine and the wine trade, André Simon also founded the Wine & Food Society; was the author of over 100 publications on viticulture, wine and food; and left a plethora of quotes relating to wine and food.  The following are just a few that I came across in my research:  

 

Wine is like a girl of fifteen, who is already a great artist, coming on tip-toe and curtseying herself out with childish grace and laughing blue eyes

 

Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilised.

 

The first of all considerations is that our meals shall be fun as well as fuel.

 

Cooks are in some ways muck like actors’ they must be fit and strong, since acting and cooking are two of the most exacting professions. They must be blessed – or cursed, whichever way you care to look at it – with what is called the artistic temperament, which means that if they are to act or cook at all well, it cannot be for duds or dummies.

 

There is a great deal in common between us and our wines. Wines enjoy, just as we do, the gift of life, a loan rather than a gift since it is ours and theirs for a short time only; and all wines are, as we are, liable to sickness and doomed to death. Most wines are quite ordinary wines, as most of us are quite ordinary people. There are, unfortunately bad wines, as there are bad people, but not nearly so many as the publicity given to crimes leads one to believe.

 

Perhaps the most appropriate quote of André Louis Simon to end this text with is that ‘a man dies too young if he leaves any wine in his cellar’ and on his death in 1970 André Louis Simon had just two magnums of claret left in his personal cellar.  On 28th February 1977, on what would have been his 100th birthday, 400 guests gathered at the Savoy Hotel to drink to his memory with Château Latour 1945; the two bottles of claret that he had left for the occasion.

 

In his long and distinguished career spanning more than sixty years, Simon not only educated the general public on wine and the finer aspects of good food through the publication of over 100 books (see Appendix II) but he was also instrumental in the formation of the International Wine & Food Society that spread his ideas across the world, making him one of the most influential giants of wine and food of the 20th century.

 

Bibliography

Documented memories of former Felbridge resident, Dora Wheeler, FHA

Documented memories of Felbridge resident Jean Roberts, FHA

By Request, by André L Simon

In the Twilight, by André L Simon

André L. Simon: a short biography by his daughter, Jeanne Rouyer Guillet

Birth index, www.freebmd.org.uk

Marriage index, www.freebmd.org.uk

Death index, www.ancestry.co.uk

Census records, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911,

Military Service Records, www.ancestry.co.uk

Passenger Lists, www.ancestry.co.uk

Horne tithe map, 1842, FHA

André Simon, Biographical Summaries of Notable People, www.myheritage.com

André Simon Memorial Fund, www.andresimon.co.uk

André Simon by Hugh Johnson, The Oxford Companion to Wine (3rd Edition)

International Wine and Food Society, www.iwfs.org

Remembering André Simon, Wendler on Wine, 15th Oct. 2015, www.justinian.com.au

Andre Louis Simon, French wine and food authority, www.prabook.com

 

Texts of all Handouts referred to in this document can be found on FHG website: www.felbridge.org.uk

SJC 05/18

 

Appendix II Publications

1900c A Guide to English Cheeses

A Guide to Cooking with Cheese

Testing in the Cheese Making Process

1905   History of the Champagne Trade in England

1906   The History of the Wine Trade in England, Volume I

1907   The History of the Wine Trade in England, Volume II

1909   The History of the Wine Trade in England, Volume III

1912   The Search after Claret

My French Friend

1913   In Vino Veritas: A Book about Wine

Bibliotheca Vinaria

1915   General Joffre

Le Marechal French

Le General Joffre

1916   Somewhere in Flanders

Laurie’s Elementary Russian Grammar

1919   The Salient, the Somme and Arras

Food and Drink

Alcohol        

Wine and Spirits: The Connoisseur's Textbook

1920   The Blood of the Grape

Le Livre De Mon Filleul

1921   Wine and the Wine Trade: Common Commodities and Industries

1923   The Supply, the Care and the Sale of Wine: A Book of Reference for Wine-merchants

Les Pauvers de France en Angleterre – Croquis d’Apres Nature [The Poor of France in England: Sketch after nature]

The Wine Connoisseur

1924   The Elixir of Youth

1925   Nolite Timere

1926   Almanach du Franc Buvier Pour 1926

Bottlescrew Days

1927   Bibliotheca Bacchica, bibliographie raisonnee des ouvrages imprimes avant 1800 et illustrant la Soif Humaine, sous tous les aspects, chez tous les peuples et dans tous les temps, tome I, Incunables [annotated bibliography of books printed before 1800 and illustrating the Human Thirst, in all aspects, in all nations and in all times, Volume I, Incunabula]

1928   The Bolton Letters: The Letters of an English Merchant in Madeira, 1695-1714

1929   Petit Dictionnaire de Poche Francaise-Anglais

The Art of Good Living

The Art of Good Living, Deluxe edition (London)

1930   The Art of Good Living, Deluxe edition (New York)

1931   Wine in Shakespeare’s Days and Shakespeare’s Plays

1932   Bibliotheca Bacchia

1933   Madeira: Wine, Cakes and Sauce (co-written with Craig and Elizabeth Simon)

Tables of Content; Leaves from My Diary   

Sherry, with an appendix on shippers and a folding map

1934   Champagne

Port

Wine and the Wine Trade

The Wine Connoisseur’s Catechism

Wine and Food, No.1, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.2, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 3, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 4, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1935   Wines and Liqueurs from A to Z

The Wines of France

A Dictionary of Wine   

Wine and Food, No.5, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.6, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.7, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.8, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1936   A Catechism Concerning Cheeses – With a Glossary of Cheeses and Cheese Dishes

Wine and Food, No.9, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly 

Wine and Food, No.10, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.11, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.12, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1937   Star Chamber Revels (Or, The Fountayne of Justice)

Wine and Food, No.13, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.14, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.15, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.16, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1938   André Simon's French Cook Book

The Cellar Register

Wine and Food, No.17, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.18, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.19, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.20, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1939   German Wines

A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section I: Sauces

Wine and Food, No.21, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.22, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly 

Wine and Food, No.23, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.24, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1940   A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section II: Fish

Wine and Food, No.25, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.26, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly 

Wine and Food, No.27, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.28, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1941   A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section III: Vegetables

Wine and Food, No.29, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.30, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.31, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.32, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1942   A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section V: Fruit 

Soups, Salads, Sauces: Wartime Fare For The Fastidious

No Starch No Sugar

Alfred D’Orsay

Wine and Food, No.33, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.34, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.35, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.36, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1943   The Saintsbury Club

A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section IV: Cereals

Wine and Food, No.37, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.38, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.39, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

 Wine and Food, No.40, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1944   A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section VI: Birds and Their Eggs

Notes on the Late J. Piermont Morgan’s Cellar

We Shall Eat and Drink Again: A Wine & Food Anthology (co-written with Louis Golding)

Wine and Food, No.41, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.42, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.43, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.44, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1945   Basic English Fare

A  Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section VII: Meat

Wines And Liqueurs From A To Z

Wine and Food, No.45, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.46, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.47, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.48, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1946   A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section VIII: Wine, Beer, Cider, Spirits, Liqueurs, Cocktails, Cups, Mixed Drinks, Soft Drinks and Mineral Water

A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy – Section IX: Cheese

Let Mine be Wine: The philosophy of wine

English Wines and Cordials

Vintagewise: a postscript to Saintsbury's Notes on a Cellar Book

How to Make Wine and Cordials 

Wine and Food, No.49, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.50, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.51, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.52, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1947   Madeira and its Wines

Wine and Food, No.53, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.54, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.55, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.56, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1948   André Simon’s French Cook Book (New edition revised by Crosby Craig)

Drink           

Wine and Food, No.57, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.58, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.59, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.60, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1949   Food

A Calendar of Food and Wine (co-written with Nell Heaton)

A Dictionary of Gastronomy (London)

A Dictionary of Gastronomy (New York)

In Praise of Good Living: An anthology for friends

Practical Cookery for All             

Wine and Food, No.61, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.62, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.63, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.64, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1950   The Wines of the World Pocket Library:

1. Champagne

2. Port

3. Sherry

4. South African

5. Claret

6. Graves and Sauternes

7. Burgundy

8. Hocks and Moselles

9. Brandy

10. Rum

Wine and Food, No.65, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.66, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.67, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.68, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1951   The Wines of the World Pocket Library:

11. Madeira

12. Italy

13. Yugoslavia

14. Switzerland and Luxembourg

15. California

16. Alsace, Arbois and the LoireValley

17. The Rhône, Provence, Languedoc and Roussillon

The Art of Good Living

Mushrooms Galore - A Book of Mushroom Recipes

Partners       

Wine and Food, No.69, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.70, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.71, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.72, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1952   The Gourmet's Week-End Book

Det Aedlevellevneds Kunst (The Art of Good Living translated into Danish)

A Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy: Complete and Unabridged (London & New York editions)

How to Serve Wine in Hotels and Restaurants             

How to Enjoy Wine in the Home

Wines and Liqueurs from A - Z 

Wine and Food, No.73, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.74, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.75, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.76, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1953   What About Wine?

Bibliotheca gastronomica: A catalogue of books and documents on gastronomy published before 1861 and in the library of the Wine & Food Society 

Wine and Food, No.77, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly         

Wine and Food, No.78, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.79, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.80, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

What about wine?        

1954   Wine and Food, No.81: Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.82: Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.83: Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.84: Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1955   English Fare and French Wines

Wines, spirits and ales for all occasions      

Wine and Food, No.85: Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.86: Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.87: Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.88: Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1956   Cheeses of the World

Know Your Wines: A guide to the Vinelands

The Wine and Food Menu Book

A Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy, Complete and Unabridged

The Wine Primer

André Simons’ Guide to Good Food and Wine

Wine and Food, No.89: Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.90: Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.91: Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.92: Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1957   The Wines of France

The Noble Grapes and the Great Wines of France

By Request: An Autobiography

Lobsters, crabs, prawns & crayfish (Home entertaining series) 

Partners; A Guide to the Game of Wine and Food Match-Making

 Wine and Food, No.93: Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

 Wine and Food, No.94: Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.95: Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.96: Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1958   Let Wine be Mine

A Dictionary of Wines, Spirits and Liqueurs

Die Grossen Weine Frankreichs [The Great Wines of France] (co-written with Louis and Margarete Montgelas)        

Wine and Food, No. 97, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 98, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

 Wine and Food, No. 99, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

 Wine and Food, No. 100, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1959   The Star Chamber Dinner Accounts

Wine and Food, No. 101, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 102, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 103, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

 Wine and Food, No. 104, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1960   André L. Simon's Guide to Good Food and Wines: A Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy, Complete and Unabridged

Cheese of the World

Wine and Food, No. 105, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 106, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 107, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 108, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1961   Menus for Gourmets

Food and wine: an exhibition of rare printed books     

Eating and Drinking: An anthology for epicures 

Wines and Spirits

Wine and Food, No. 109, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 110, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 111, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 112, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1962   The History of Champagne

Good Housekeeping's Cookery Book (co-written with the Good Housekeeping Institute)

Wine and Food, No. 113, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 114, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 115, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 116, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1963   The Great Wines of Germany and its famed vineyards 

Good Housekeeping's World Cookery (co-written with the Good Housekeeping Institute)

Wine and Food, No. 117, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 118, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 119, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 120, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1964   The History of the Wine Trade in England (3 volumes)

Wine and Food, No. 121, Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 122, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 123, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 124, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1965   Ma Cuisine, King of Chefs and Chef of Kings, by Auguste Escoffier (foreword by André Simon)

Wine and Food, No.125: Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 126, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 127, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.128, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1966   The Commonsense of Wine

The Wines, Vineyards and Vignerons of Australia

Everybody’s Guide to Wines & Spirits

All About Wine  

Wine and Food, No.129: Spring: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 130, Summer: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No. 131, Autumn: A Gastronomical Quarterly

Wine and Food, No.132, Winter: A Gastronomical Quarterly

1967   Wines of the World

1969   In the Twilight

1970   A Dictionary of Gastronomy

1972   Bibliotheca Bacchica, Bibliographie raisonée des ouvrages imprimes avant 1600 et illustrant la soif humaine (Bibliotheca Bacchica: Wine & Cooking Bibliography)

The International Wine and Food Society's Gazetteer of Wines

1973   The International Wine and Food Society's Encyclopaedia of Wines

1975   Mushroom Recipes

1978   Bibliotheca Gastronomica, a Catalogue of Books & Documents on Gastronomy

1983   André L. Simon's Dictionary of Wines, Spirits and Liqueurs

1993   The Saintsbury Club: A Scrap Book

2002   André L Simon – 24, Mark Lan (Italian translation)

2005   Top of Form

A Flummery of Food: Feasts for Epicures

2008   The Wine Connoisseur

2011   Vineyards of the World

Cheeses of Europe ‑ A Historical Article on the Varieties of Cheese Produced in Europe

Beverage Wines or Wines Served During Meals

Fortified Wines or Wines at the End of the Meal

Aperitifs Wines or Wines Served Before Meals

Many of André Simon’s books have been re-printed several times, even after his death in 1970, and many titles published after 2000 contain classic material dating back to the 1900’s in which the content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern reader.