THE BOY AUTHOR OF 224 MONROE ST (1914)
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The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
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In 1914, Gilbert P. Simons was being lauded for his first book.
Simons, however, was no typical writer – he was a 13-year-old Brooklyn boy who had just written and published his very own book.
“Shadorok Tales,” Simons’ work, was a foundational “collection of stories by him and his cousins and friends, none of whom is a great deal older than he.”
WRITING THE BOOK ON MONROE STREET
The entire affair began when Simons, who “in the winter lived at 224 Monroe street (near the corner of Nostrand Avenue), and in the summer at Blauvelt, N.Y.,” was given “a printing press and type by his father on Christmas of 1912,” noted the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Little Simons appears to have had a leg up in his young publishing career by a father who worked for the Daily Eagle, which was Brooklyn’s newspaper of record.
Simons started at first printing invitations, cards, circulars, billheads, &c., but then “the big idea of the book took hold of Gilbert and his father.
“Everyone who was asked to contribute did so,” noted the Daily Eagle of the compilation volume of stories, “and soon there was enough ‘copy’ on hand to begin ‘setting it up.'”
In 1915, the book was finished and printed up by the Shadorok Press of Brooklyn (likely on Simon’s printing press within No. 224 Monroe Street).
PRINTING “SHADOROK TALES”
“It is a handsome and attractive example of amateur bookmaking, one of the most interesting things being the ‘Publisher’s Chat’ at the close, which details the experience of the young printer in the purchase of a foot power press and his struggles in printing a presentable volume from it.
“The other contents of the volume include ‘My First Trip to Europe,’ a reminiscence by William A. Nash, and short stories by Katharine R. Simons, Dorothy Kirkman, S. R. Hartley, Gilbert P. Simons, Sarah Kirkman Taylor and Orrin W. Simons.
The familiar initials of the latter writer are signed to some spirited illustrations.
(Orrin W. Simons, Young Simons’ father, would go on to be a well-known illustrator across the country. He worked under the name O. W. Simons, illustrating over his lifetime for a number of publishing companies, newspapers, and magazines, including Boys’ Life, Outing, and The American Magazine.)
“Shadorok Tales” is a part of the literary works that have been added to the Google Books collection and, thus, it is available online.
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Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
