Timothy Dexter

Timothy Dexter (January 22, 1747 - October 23, 1806), also known as Lord Timothy Dexter, was an American merchant who was noted for his routine profiting from seemingly ill-advised trades, as in the case of his exporting warming pans and wool mittens to the tropical West Indies, causing him to be described as a "marked example of a man of feeble intellect gaining wealth purely by luck." [T]

Reviews

 * "Of the books which are remarkable for oddity by reason of their contents rather than their appearance, that written by Timothy Dexter outdoes most. This screed, 'A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, or Plain Truths in a Homespun Dress', is without an iota of punctuation, though capitals are sprinkled with a fine frenzy. A second edition of this masterpiece has a page consisting of line after line of commas, semicolons, colons, and interrogation points for the convenience of those finicky readers who wish to 'peper and solt' the text to their liking. The author confides that he speaks with 'the voise of the peopel and cant Help it'."
 * "Of the books which are remarkable for oddity by reason of their contents rather than their appearance, that written by Timothy Dexter outdoes most. This screed, 'A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, or Plain Truths in a Homespun Dress', is without an iota of punctuation, though capitals are sprinkled with a fine frenzy. A second edition of this masterpiece has a page consisting of line after line of commas, semicolons, colons, and interrogation points for the convenience of those finicky readers who wish to 'peper and solt' the text to their liking. The author confides that he speaks with 'the voise of the peopel and cant Help it'."