Description:His most famous published work was the ‘Poetic Survey around Birmingham with a Brief Description of the different Curiosities and Manufactures of the place, accompanied with a magnificent Directory, with the names and professions, &c, superbly engraved in emblematic plates’ (1800). Bisset charged ten shillings and sixpence to interested parties to have a single address engraved in the general plate of the directory, arguing modestly that it allowed him to ‘lay a magnificent work before the public for only five shillings, which otherwise cost nearly fifty.’
The directory begins with a general address to the public and a poem entitled ‘Ideal Inference’, in which he presents the high-minded aim of the guide. Not only did Bisset intend to use the survey to advertise Birmingham and its large number of small trades and larger industrial and commercial enterprises at local and national level. He also hoped to inspire forward-thinking, entrepreneurial spirits in less-developed countries to follow Birmingham’s lead:
‘For when some progress in the ARTS they’ve made,
Can tell who form’d the HOE, the AXE, the SPADE;
Or when their great utility they feel,
And learn the use of IRON and STEEL,’
Bisset had a high opinion of his own work, and made no apologies for his own vanity. He constantly used words such as ‘grand’ and ‘magnificent’ to describe both the form and content of his book, with a footnote to ‘Ideal Inference’ modestly pointing out:
‘Many hundred copies have been sent abroad, and many manufacturers have received considerable orders, in consequence of the Work having been taken in at Hamburgh, and other cities on the Continent.’
The index of trades devotes some five lines to his own small business and museum, whilst comparatively larger industrial operations, such as Matthew Boulton’s Soho factory, James Watt and Company and Samuel Galton’s gun manufactory only get one line each!
Following this section is a brief description of the town, interspersed with poetry, in which he discusses the history of the area, the main streets and public buildings, a list of its varied trades, even details such as the daily mail coach times. At times he slips into an idealised view of the town, glossing over observations made by contemporaries of the squalid and filthy living and working conditions endured by the town’s less affluent citizens as the town grew rapidly in size.
The Commissioners of the Streets, a small private planning authority established
by Act of Parliament in 1769, and their minute books highlight graphically their unending struggles to improve Birmingham’s inadequate infrastructure as it began to buckle under the strain of unchecked economic and population growth. Bisset did not mention the Commissioners or their work at all in his small section on the government of the town, stating that local government rested with the manor, which had long ceased to have any real jurisdiction in the town. Bisset’s goal was to advertise Birmingham’s many and varied trading and commercial opportunities, not imply that this very intense industrial activity had created environmental and social problems. Hence Bisset stressed the many leisure opportunities and cultural institutions that would appeal to the aristocracy and gentry as well as the ‘new money’, evidently keen to defy those critics who felt Birmingham was one giant workshop dominated by a commercial class only interested in making money.
The advertisements for some businesses are of particular interest, as many are individually illustrated, where most commercial directories would simply print the name of the individual or company, its address and the nature of the business. In some cases the directory provides the only evidence, however idealised, of the physical structure of many old buildings and streets. Some of these properties no longer exist, such as the Dearman’s and Francis Eagle Factory and Lloyd’s New Hotel (beside the Hen and Chickens Inn on New Street). Again, we very often get presented with an idealised view, the industrial buildings are pristine, producing very little smoke and dirt. The advertisement for Heptinstall’s File Manufactories, Ann Street, is shown with bright, spacious interiors staffed by well-dressed, healthy looking workers that do not bear comparison with the accounts of concerned reporters who observed the impact of industrialisation on the country’s working classes.
Bisset continued to write until his death, most notably a series of essays about the young Shakespeare actor, Roscius. In 1813 Bisset moved to Leamington Spa, where he had already opened a museum, newsroom and picture gallery the previous year. He produced a topographical survey of Leamington in 1814, again including verse, but maintained his links with the Birmingham he had grown fond of. He continued to write poems about Birmingham, its inhabitants and its commercial and artistic life right up until his death in Leamington Spa on 17th August 1832.