Edward Coxere
Edward Coxere (1633–1694) was a Kentish merchant seaman, linguist, Quaker convert and autobiographer.
Autobiography
[edit]His manuscript autobiography surfaced in 1943 and was edited by E. H. W. Meyerstein and published by Oxford University Press in 1945 as Adventures by Sea.[1] The small-format book has a map of Europe and North Africa as its end-papers. The text has 19 pages of prelims and 110 pages of text and 22 pages of notes, together with a sourced genealogical table. There are seven illustrations derived from the original manuscript.
Picaresque style of writing
[edit]The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article characterises Coxere's autobiography thus: "His picaresque narrative, written in or after 1685, is one of the most vivid accounts of seafaring life, revealing an intelligent, brave and quick-witted man, hardened by danger and adversity but retaining both humour and humanity.".[2]
Imprisonment in Dover Castle
[edit]After his conversion to the Quaker faith, he suffered several terms of imprisonment, including a long period in Dover Castle.
Pronanciation of his name
[edit]It is likely that his surname was pronounced "Coxery".
References
[edit]- ^ Adventures by Sea edited by E. H. W. Meyerstein, Published at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1945. 19 x 13 cm.
- ^ ODNB article by Bernard Capp, ‘Coxere, Edward (bap. 1633, d. 1694)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 4 July 2011
Further reading
[edit]For a review of The Adventure . . . by Henry J Cadbury, see Bulletin of Friends Historical Studies, Vol. 35 (1946), p. 79-80.
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