“Lord” Timothy Dexter, eighteenth century inhabitant of Newburyport, Massachusetts, was one of the most outrageous eccentrics this nation has ever produced. He sold warming pans, mittens, and house cats in the West Indies, He wrote a book filled with far-out philosophy and bizarre spelling, and with absolutely no punctuation. He filled the grounds of his mansion with statues of the most famous men of all time, including two of himself. He claimed that he was “First in the East, first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the known world.”

First in the East fictionalizes the life of this remarkable gentleman and records his adventures and those of some of his fellow citizens of eighteenth century Newburyport.