Edward Kimber Explained

Edward Kimber (1719–1769) was an English novelist, journalist and compiler of reference works.

Life

He was son of Isaac Kimber;^[1] and in early life apprentice to a bookseller, John Noon of Cheapside.^[2] He made a living by compilation and editorial work for booksellers.^[1]

Kimber spent the years 1742 to 1744 in British North America, and drew on his travels in subsequent writing.^[3] In 1745–6 he published a series of Itinerant Observations in America in The London Magazine, at that point edited by his father.^[4]

Works

Kimber wrote:^[1]

• A Relation, or Journal, of a Late Expedition to the Gates of St. Augustine, on Florida (1744). Kimber had served in the militia of James Oglethorpe, and participated in a raid in 1743 that was a sequel to the 1740 siege of St. Augustine, Florida.^[5]
• The Life and Adventures of Joe Thompson, a Narrative founded on fact, written by himself [anon.], 2 vols., London, 1750; other editions, 1751, 1775, 1783. A French translation appeared in 1762. A "ramble novel", it sold well at the time, and was then condemned to neglect.^[6]
• The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Anderson (1754).^[5] A sentimental novel, it was based on a real-life narrative Kimber had heard in Georgia.^{[7] [8]} Kimber denounced slavery, but is now found to be equivocal on the related issue, in the American context, of white supremacy.^[9]
• The Life and Adventures of James Ramble (1754)^[5]
• The Juvenile Adventures of David Ranger (1756)^[5]
• The Life, Extraordinary Adventures, Voyages, and Surprizing Escapes of Capt. Neville Frowde, of Cork (1758)^[5]
• The Happy Orphans (1759), translation from the French.^[5] The French original of 1754 was itself imitated from the Fortunate Foundlings of Eliza Haywood.^[10]
• Maria: The Genuine Memoirs of an Admired Lady of Rank and Fortune (1764)^[5]
• The Generous Briton: or, the Authentic Memoirs of William Goldsmith (1765)^[5]
• The Peerage of England, London, 1766; 2nd edit. 1769.
• The Peerage of Scotland, London, 1767.
• The Peerage of Ireland, London, 1768.
• The Extinct Peerage of England, London, 1769.

He also wrote memoirs of his father, together with a poem to his memory, prefixed to Isaac Kimber's Sermons, 1756. With Richard Johnson he edited and continued Thomas Wooton's Baronetage of England, 3 vols., London, 1771.^[1]

Notes

Attribution

Notes and References

1. Kimber, Edward. 31.
2. Book: Charles N. Baldwin. A Universal Biographical Dictionary. 1842. Grigg & Elliot. 268.
3. 15547. Kimber, Edward. Jeffrey. Herrie.
4. Book: Kevin J. Hayes. The Oxford Handbook of Early American Literature. 6 February 2008. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-518727-4. 527.
5. Book: Edward Kimber. The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Anderson. 13 November 2008. Broadview Press. 978-1-55111-703-4. 35–6.
6. Book: Catherine E. Ingrassia. Jeffrey S. Ravel. Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture. 30 March 2005. JHU Press. 978-0-8018-8192-3. 285.
7. Book: Gary L. Ebersole. Captured by Texts: Puritan to Postmodern Images of Indian Captivity. 1995. University of Virginia Press. 978-0-8139-1607-1. 110.
8. Book: Eve Tavor Bannet. Transatlantic Stories and the History of Reading, 1720-1810: Migrant Fictions. 7 July 2011. Cambridge University Press. 978-1-139-49761-9. 4.
9. Book: George Boulukos. The Grateful Slave: The Emergence of Race in Eighteenth-Century British and American Culture. 10 April 2008. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-88571-3. 126.
10. Book: Betty A. Schellenberg. The Professionalization of Women Writers in Eighteenth-Century Britain. 10 June 2005. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-85060-5. 128.