Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kimber, Edward
KIMBER, EDWARD (1719–1769), novelist and compiler, born in 1719, was son of Isaac Kimber [q. v.] He gained a scanty subsistence by compiling for booksellers, and died, worn out with such drudgery, in 1769 (R. Johnson, preface to Wotton's Baronetage, 1771). His works are: 1. ‘The Life and Adventures of Joe Thompson, a Narrative founded on fact, written by himself’ [anon.], 2 vols. 12mo, London, 1750; other editions, 1751, 1775, 1783. A French translation appeared in 1762. 2. ‘The Peerage of England,’ 12mo, London, 1766; 2nd edit. 1769. 3. ‘The Peerage of Scotland,’ 8vo, London, 1767. 4. ‘The Peerage of Ireland,’ 8vo, London, 1768. 5. ‘The Extinct Peerage of England,’ 12mo, London, 1769. He also wrote memoirs of his father, together with a poem to his memory, prefixed to the latter's ‘Sermons,’ 1756. With Richard Johnson he edited and continued Thomas Wotton's ‘Baronetage of England,’ 3 vols. 8vo, London, 1771. Kimber's father, not himself, as Nichols (Lit. Anecd. v. 251) asserts, superintended a third edition of Ainsworth's ‘Latin Dictionary’ in 1751.
[Chalmers's Biog. Dict. xix. 349; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. iii. 441; Cat. of Advocates' Library.]