Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough (16 November 1795 – 27 February 1837) was anIrishantiquarian who sought to prove that theindigenous peoples of the Americas were aLost Tribe of Israel. His principal contribution was in making available facsimiles of ancient documents and some of the earliest explorers' reports onpre-Columbian ruins andMaya civilisation.
He was the eldest son ofGeorge King, 3rd Earl of Kingston, Lord Kingsborough, the latter aTory, of Mitchelstown Castle, County Cork. He representedCounty Cork inparliament between 1818 and 1826 as aWhig.[1]
In 1831, Lord Kingsborough published the first volume ofAntiquities of Mexico, a collection of copies of variousMesoamerican codices, including the first complete publication of theDresden Codex. The exorbitant cost of the reproductions, which were often hand-painted, landed him indebtors' prison. These lavish publications represented some of the earliest published documentation of the ancient cultures ofMesoamerica, inspiring further exploration and research byJohn Lloyd Stephens andCharles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg in the early 19th century. They were the product of early theories about non-indigenous origins for Native American civilisations that are also represented in theBook of Mormon (1830) and myths aboutmound builders of Old World ancestry in North America.
In 1837, Lord Kingsborough was imprisoned at the Sheriff's Prison inDublin because he was unable to pay a small debt owed to a printer. He contractedtyphus while in prison following which he was released and died three weeks later on 27 February 1837,[1] aged 41, less than two years before he would have succeeded to his title and estates, his father having been declared insane in 1830. The last two volumes ofAntiquities of Mexico were published posthumously.
TheCodex Kingsborough is named after him.
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCounty Cork 1818–1826 With:Viscount Ennismore | Succeeded by |
