Timothy Dexter (1748 – 1806) was an eccentric American businessman whose fortune was on his side in his "crazy" business dealings.
He was a man without any culture who at the age of 8 already worked in the fields and at 16 he was an apprentice leather tanner. He was lucky enough to fall in love with a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Frothingham, who allowed him to enter the world of business. His "brilliant" ideas gave rise to ridicule from his countrymen, but the goddess Fortune made him hit several balls:
- What seemed like a lousy deal, sending coal to Newcastle being the main producer in Great Britain, turned out to be a great deal when it coincided with a miners' strike that caused a spectacular increase in prices due to the shortage of coal. .
- He sold bed warmers and gloves to the West Indies (tropical climate) and was also profitable:the heaters were used as containers to make molasses and the gloves were exported to Siberia.
- he He made huge amounts of whalebone which he then sold to factories to make women's corsets...
All these successes did not serve to win the favor of the wealthiest in society... they continued to despise him. So, he decided to write an autobiographical book in which he criticized politics, the clergy and women: « A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress » (A cucumber of those who know or the truth dressed to be at home , more or less) . The book had 8,847 words and 33,864 letters, it lacked any punctuation marks and the capital letters were inserted randomly . Furthermore, he decided to publish his book for free and distribute it as a gift. It became so popular that up to eight editions were published.
Despite being almost impossible to understand, the originals are now collector's items.