Timothy Dexter

Timothy Dexter 1747-1806, American merchant and eccentric, b. Malden, Mass. He gained a fortune from the American Revolution by buying up depreciated certificates of indebtedness that were afterward reclaimed at full value. He also gained money by shrewd mercantile transactions. He was styled "Lord Timothy Dexter" by his fellows, and he accepted the title. Dexter wrote A Pickle for the Knowing Ones (1802), remarkable for the totally individual spelling and the absence of all punctuation. In the second edition he added a page of "stops" so that readers could "peper and salt it as they please."

Bibliography: See biographies by J. P. Marquand (1925 and 1960).

Dexter, Timothy (1747–1806), eccentric merchant of Newburyport, Mass., who dubbed himself “Lord” Timothy Dexter. He gained his wealth by unusual, though shrewd, business transactions and spent part of it for a curious mansion in his native town. His book, A Pickle for the Knowing Ones (1802), is an amusing expression of his idiosyncrasies, famous for its lack of punctuation except in the second edition, which had a page of punctuation marks at the end so that readers could “pepper and solt it as they plese.” J. P. Marquand wrote a biography of Dexter (1925, revised 1960).