Kirkby, John
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(circa 1705-1754) UK clergyman and author whose two main works were plagiarized and who may also have written as Pythagorolunister (see Checklist below for title). He substantially lifted his A New English Grammar (1746) from New Grammar (1745) by Anne Fisher (1719-1778), and is not therefore responsible for the eighteenth-century invention of the convention that "he" can stand for he, or she, or it. Fisher's Grammar remained popular; Kirkby's soon went out of print.
Journey to the World in the Moon [for full title see Checklist below] (circa 1740) as by Pythagorolunister is not likely to have been by Kirkby. A Robinsonade – The Capacity and Extent of the Human Understanding, Exemplified in the Extraordinary Case of Automathes, a Young Nobleman, Who Was Accidentally Left in his Infancy upon a Desolate Island, and Continued Nineteen Years in that Solitary State, Separate from all Human Society; a Narrative Abounding with Many Surprizing Occurrances, both Useful and Entertaining to the Reader (1745), a tale whose subtitle is descriptive – was also partially plagiarized, in this case from an anonymous romance, The History of Autonous (1736), which has no fantastic content. Kirkby's version incorporates Automathes's discovery of a Lost Race: a superior white civilization in the Pacific. [JC]
John Kirkby
born probably Londesborough, Yorkshire: apparently 1705
died Canterbury, Kent: 1754
works
- Journey to the World in the Moon: A Dream, Containing an Historical Relation, (as received from a Lunar Philosopher) from above a Hundred Years last past, to the present Time, of the most Material Occurrences, as to the Religion, Politics &c, of the Inhabitants of that Globe; And particularly Their Manner of Elections (London: Charles Corbett, 1740) as by Pythagorolunister [Kirkby's authorship is speculative: date of publication is speculative: binding unknown/]
- The Capacity and Extent of the Human Understanding, Exemplified in the Extraordinary Case of Automathes, a Young Nobleman, Who Was Accidentally Left in his Infancy upon a Desolate Island, and Continued Nineteen Years in that Solitary State, Separate from all Human Society; a Narrative Abounding with Many Surprizing Occurrances, both Useful and Entertaining to the Reader (London: Printed for R Manby and H Shute, 1745) [binding unknown/]
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