Joseph Hill, the Bell-Ringer (with a stand for his bells), from Costume of the Lower Orders of London

London: Baldwin & Craddock, 1820. Engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and collage on cream wove paper, 7 x 5 3/4 inches (187 x 145 m), margins significantly trimmed. Publishing information has been trimmed out of the bottom margin. Scattered foxing; adhered to grayish wove paper. Thomas Lord Busby's 1820 volume, Costume Of The Lower Orders of London, was part of a genre of popular books that featured images of colorful working folk found in the streets of London. Drawn from life by Busby, the portraits are of real people who were well known street personalities. Each portrait is accompanied with a fascinating and often moving passage regarding the life and circumstances of the subject. The following passage accompanies the image of Joseph Hill:

"JOSEPH HILL, the Bell-ringer.

THE unfortunate subject of the present sketch is a religious enthusiast. He says he was born in Bedfordshire, that he has been married twenty-two years, happily without a family. Formerly he attached the Bells to various parts of his person, and even one was fastened on the top of his head; now they are arranged on a wooden cross, to which hymns and ballads are also attached. After he has performed a peal on his instrument, he draws forth a Bible and expounds a text from the Sacred Volume. To the various questions of the Artist he answered, that he began the trade of bell-ringing when he was under the operation of the spirit, which felt like the prickings of spears; and that he was a cobbler, before the spirit pricked him; that he had once twenty-five pounds and built a Stall, which increased in size until it became Noah's Ark, but no rich man would enter it. That the number of his bells are thirteen, the twelve Apostles, and the Godhead. The remainder of his discourse was unconnected and wild rhapsody. He obtains a precarious livelihood, more from the consideration of passengers than from any apparent delight afforded by his music."

-T.L. Busby, Costume of the Lower Orders of London, 1882, Messrs Baldwin & Co., Pasternoster-Tow, London.