City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

George Psalmanazar (c. 1679 – 3 May 1763) was a Frenchman who claimed to be the first native of Formosa (today Taiwan) to visit Europe. For some years he convinced many in Britain, but was later revealed to be an impostor. He subsequently became a theological essayist and a friend and acquaintance of Samuel Johnson and other noted figures of 18th-century literary London.