JONES, Richard Robert. Woodcut portrait by William Clements of the eccentric linguist Richard Roberts Jones, a young man with curly shoulder-length hair and thick beard and mustache; whole length, standing to right, looking down to read a book held with both hands, a French horn around is neck; wearing ill-fitting cloak, jacket, waistcoat and trousers; hat lying on the ground at right.  Lettered below image with facsimile of sitter's autograph as the title and printmaker's name 'W. Clements'.  Toning and light foxing to the paper.
220mm x 140mm.  c.1835.

~ Richard Robert Jones (1780-1843) left home to escape beatings from an exasperated father, a carpenter who owned a small cargo boat and shuttled between Wales and Liverpool, but any hopes he may have had of passing on the business to his son were lost in the strange tidal forces of his son’s unusual mind.  He spent much of his life in transit, learning different languages. He had a thick beard, a shapeless hat, often wore an old Dragoon’s jacket and travelled the country with his books and a succession of stray cats, wandering from country house to parsonage looking for support and arguing with inn keepers who were foolish enough to give him lodgings. He always carried with him a large number of books which he decorated with prints of cats cut from old ballad sheets.

Sometimes he had to sell books to buy food but he would always try to buy them back with any money he received.  In December 1843 he died as penniless and alone as he had lived, and was buried in St Asaph Parish Churchyard.