Timothy Dexter: Difference between revisions
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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Timothy Dexter exported [[bible]]s. Dexter bought a huge estate in [[Chester, New Hampshire]]. He also bought a new house in Newburyport |
Timothy Dexter exported [[bible]]s. Dexter bought a huge estate in [[Chester, New Hampshire]]. He also bought a new house in Newburyport where there was a [[mausoleum]] for himself and a garden of 40 wooden statues of famous men, including [[George Washington]], [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]], [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], [[Thomas Jefferson]] and of course, himself. It had an inscription ''I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western World''. |
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"Lord" Timothy Dexter (January 22, 1748 – October 26, 1806), as he was sometimes termed by admiring contemporaries, was an eccentric American businessman who was peculiarly lucky and never bothered to learn to spell.
Biography
Timothy Dexter exported bibles. Dexter bought a huge estate in Chester, New Hampshire. He also bought a new house in Newburyport where there was a mausoleum for himself and a garden of 40 wooden statues of famous men, including George Washington, William Pitt, Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson and of course, himself. It had an inscription I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western World.
At the age of 50 he decided to write a book about himself - A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress. He wrote about himself and complained about politicians, clergy and his wife. The book contained 8,847 words and 33,864 letters, but absolutely no punctuation, and capital letters were sprinkled about at random. At first he handed his book out for free, but it rapidly became popular and ran into eight editions in total.[citation needed] For the second edition he added an extra page - 13 lines of punctuation marks - asking readers to "peper and solt it as they plese".[1]
One day he began to wonder what people would say about him after he died. He proceeded to announce his death and to prepare for a burial. About 3,000 people appeared for the wake. However, Dexter's wife refused to cry for his passing. Timothy Dexter actually died in 1806.
Dexter's house became a hotel, then a library. Storms ruined most of his statues, the statue of William Pitt being the only identified survivor. His "littel book" remains his primary legacy to this day.
Footnotes
- ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: p. 207. ISBN 086576008X
References
- Samuel L. Knapp, "The Life of Lord Timothy Dexter, with Sketches of the Eccentric Characters that Composed his Associates," 1858
- Dexter, Timothy; Quince, Peter (1881). A pickle for the knowing ones: or, Plain truths in a homespun dress. S. A. Tucker. 36 pages. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|nopp=ignored (|no-pp=suggested) (help)
External links
- The Official Virtual Seat on the "Noue Systom of Knollege & Lite" Assigned the Notable and Most Noble Lord Timothy Dexter
- Complete transcription of "A Pickle for The Knowing Ones; or Plain Truths in a Homespun Dress" ~ with translation and annotations
- NPR’s "Weekend Edition": The 'Literary' Legacy of Lord Timothy Dexter