Thomas Inglefield, an artist born without limbs. Etching by T. Inglefield, 1787, after C.R. Ryley.

[London] (No. 8, Chapel Street, Tottenham Court Road) : T. Inglefield, Publish'd as the Act directs Decr. 1787.

1 print : etching ; platemark 27.6 x 17.7 cm

The portrait of Thomas Inglefield etched by himself, from a drawing made by Mr. Riley; ... The lettering continues: "This extraordinary young man was born Decr. 18. 1769, at Hook, in Hampshire, without arms or legs, as here delineated, occasioned as his mother supposes by a fright she suffered when pregnant with him. Notwithstanding these disadvantages he has by industry acquired the arts of writing and drawing, holding his pencil between the stump of his left arm and his cheek & guiding it with the muscles of his mouth. In order to assist these extraordinary efforts of ingenuity, this drawing was presented to him by Mr. Robertson, & Mr. Fittler kindly superintended the etching. This print is sold by T. Inglefield at no. 8, Chapel Street, Tottenham Court Road, where ladies & gentlemen may see him & many more of his performances."

Identification of the artist 'Riley' as Ryley is speculative

David M. Turner, Disability in eighteenth-century England: imagining physical impairment, New York and Abingdon 2012, pp. 98-102

Wellcome Collection 353i